Sicily Sport Climbing Meet 2026

Once again in 2026 we are heading to Sicily for our end of season sport climbing trip, yes I know it’s only March but it seems a good time to put up some details on a trip for the wind down after a hopefully full season this year.

The main trip is from the Saturday 17th October to the Saturday the 24th October with the usual shorter options.
The destination is as usual the North Western Sicilian village of San Vito Lo Capo with 6Km of cliff sport crags on the Western side and some nice multi-pitch routes on the Eastern side and bouldering, if that’s your thing, at Bosco Scorace in the hills. The national park (Zingaro) is ~30 minutes away & Hot spring baths are ~45 minutes away near Castellmare Del Gulfo (paid and unpaid options available)

DATES:
Ryanair now flies on Saturday, Tuesday & Wednesday so there are multiple options;
Planned Full week option
Departure Saturday 17th October Ryanair 17:00 Departure arriving Palermo 21:25 N.B. no climbing on day one.
Coming back on Saturday 24th October – Departure 21:50 arriving Dublin 00:25. Poss full day climbing on the last day.
There are also flights on Tuesday 17:50-22:15 & Wednesday 16:55-21:20
Multiple permutations exist other than Sat -Sat for those looking for flexible options. You should take note when choosing as some flights come in late (not all car hire offices open late) and San Vito is 1.5 hours by car and some people have been charged late check-in fee’s for arriving after midnight in accommodation.

FLIGHTS:
Flights currently (late March) Range from €242 up to €320 for full week options and €217 to €328 the shorter options (all including 20kg bag).
EVERYONE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR BOOKING THEIR OWN FLIGHTS.

CAR HIRE:
San Vito is 1.5 hrs from the airport so some cars will be needed. There will (should) be some car-pooling and currently the indicative costs for Airport terminal pickup with ‘full’ insurance from Drivalia/Locauto (I’ve used both of them before) are around €600 for an SUV with prices currently trending downward and may be considerably lower closed ot the trip.
Cheaper options are available – caveat emptor.

ACCOMMODATION:
I have verbally confirmed availability with Marco in the fabulous hostel “Timbuktu” for dorm rooms. The Dorms are secure with keycard entry and Marco usually gives them to us to use for ourselves alone. The hostel has a small number of private rooms which get taken early.
Marco has given us good rates in the past and has again this year with just some small increases;
Dorm room beds were €25 with Breakfast for €6 last year, They will probably go up but not by much. I’ll update here when figures have been confirmed.

Breakfast usually consists of Croissant/pastries, bread, jam, butter, fruit, coffee, cappuccino, cereals, yogurt, tomatoes, eggs. If there is anything else we would like and we let him know ahead of time he will see if he can get it.

You can obviously decide to opt out of it and just have the dorm be for €25 a night.

If you opt in to the breakfast bundle it should be around €31 a night for dorm rooms; This is done before we leave so Marco can arrange the need in advance. Also just to eliminate any doubt if you opt in and you do not actually avail of the breakfast it’s still the extra €6 a night.

We stayed here before and it is a very relaxed place and the hostel has a bar out the back with Hammocks.

There is a large kitchen free for use by the residents and fridges for storage of food

You get bonus points as a resident if you are a decent Karaoke performer!
There is also a wide range of accommodation in San Vito as it is a holiday town for Italians too.

HOW DO I SIGN UP?
To confirm your interest in the event use the calendar on the IMC site and register, once you’re registered you get added to the trip Whatsapp (Sicily 2026 Registered).

It will be presumed that you are looking for a dorm bed unless you say otherwise, there is no need to contact the Hostel as Marco has the week blocked for us.

You can specify if you are on one of the shorter options then and which one, this makes scheduling the dorms in the hostel, if needed, much easier.

We normally do a zoom a month prior to the trip and we coordinate gear and car pooling, local dining and entertainment info and optional tutorials on cleaning sport routes for the newbies.