Start. One of Etna Experience’s expert naturalistic guides will pick you up at 7:15/7:30 a.m. from your hotel in Catania or from an agreed meeting point, to take you aboard one of our 8-seater vehicles (jeep or minivan).
Ascent to 2900 mt. Our driver will drive to Rifugio Sapienza, on the South side of Mt Etna. There you will meet our volcanological guide and together you will take the cable car up to 2500 meters of altitude. Then on board of off-road vehicles, you will arrive at 2900 meters.
Mt. Etna Summit Strong Tour 3300 mt. Accompanied by our alpine – volcanologist guide, you will start a high-level trekking that, in 2/3 hours uphill (for a difference in height of 400 meters with distance equivalent to about 3-4 km), will bring you up to 3250 meters.
You will walk up to the North-east crater, the highest within the craters at 3300 meters. You will have a stop to enjoy the beautiful to listen to the explanations of the guides, and above all to admire the magnificent landscape we can see from that high.
Packed – lunch. You will return to 3000 meters always accompained by our expert guide and here you will have a stop for lunch with a tasty packed lunch (provided by Etna Experience). You will then continue the descent, passing from the North East crater, to reach 2500 meters where we will take the cable car again to reach 2000 meters.
Explore the lava caves of Etna. Our expert guide will introduce you, with basic information on caving, to the fascinating phenomena related to the eruptions. We will provide helmets and torches.
Come back. The Mt. Etna Summit Strong Tour tour will finish at 5.30-6.00 pm, when you will be back to Catania.
From April 1st to October 31st:
• € 169 for adults;
• € 149 for children and students from 16 years to 24 years.
From November 1st to March 31st the tour is not available.
Teenager must be minimum 16 years old to join the excursion. This excursion is not suitable for children.
In case of abundant snow, the snowmobile will be used and the price will be € 169.00. The surplus will be asked of the customer on the day of the excursion, since it is not possible to estimate it in advance.
Please, consider that if weather conditions won’t be good enough, the cable car company may decide to close for safety reasons. In that case, the guide may decide to make some changes in the itinerary, according to the season.
Who can take part. This excursion involves a walk of about 6 hours in total, through a medium-high trek (to reach about 3320 meters).
For this reason, those who are not in a good state of health or suffer one of these pathologies, cannot participate to this excursion:
If you are in one of these conditions, but you still would like to see the summit area, you could opt for the Mt Etna Summit Easy Tour.
Availability. The Mt. Etna Summit Strong Tour on the top rins from April to end of October, it is highly affected by weather and volcanic conditions as it runs on the top of the volcano at about 3300 meters above sea level. Changes may, therefore, happen frequently.