Rock Climbing in Kapetaniana, Crete

Kapetaniana is the best rock climbing area in Crete.  The rock climbing is based around the isolated village of Kapetaniana, and therefore offers remote and peaceful rock climbing.  However it is only 75Km from the capital Iraklio (Heraklion), with its airport, and therefore is very accessible. There are 6 areas offering single pitch sports routes from 15 to 40m long, plus a small amount of traditional climbing on Mount Kofinas, which are up to 150m long.  It total at Kapetaniana there are over 130 routes across a wide range of grades on solid white limestone rock. These routes are detailed in the guidebook called “Crete Topo Kapetaniana”, which is available from our shop.

Close to Kapetaniana is Crete’s other main rock climbing area called Agiofarango, situated within a picturesque gorge that runs down to the sea and is a great sports climbing venue.  The climbing is situated on both sides of the gorge, which means that you can find sun or shade no matter what the season or time of the day.  The routes are generally long and cover all styles from slabs, overhangs, steep walls, chimneys and cracks, across a wide range of grades. Though the “Crete Topo Kapetaniana” guidebook does detail some of the routes in Agiofarango, a more comprehensive guidebook for this area is called “Crete north to south”, and is available from our shop.