UKC

I'm planning a month-ish trip and haven't had a climbing holiday before. Any destination ideas anyone? Some considerations:

High 6s/low 7s
Some variety would be nice
I'm going on my own so needs to be easy to find belay partners
Somewhere I can rent a cheap room
I speak Spanish if that helps
Being able to cycle to the crags would be great.

I'm thinking Costa Blanca or somewhere Northern Spain or Kalymnos but need more data.

Much obliged!

Hey Stevo:
I would recommend Siurana in Spain.
High 6s/low 7s: plenty of everything
I'm going on my own so needs to be easy to find belay partners: This is very much dependent on how you can talk to people...Siurana is mekka of climbing, so there is always somebody to climb with if you can arrange it
Somewhere I can rent a cheap room: campsite very close to rocks. Search for cheap room by yourself
Cycling: Rocks are closed however if you wann go further you will have to cycle not far, but up&down...good warmup though

adam

In reply to stevoland: I would say Kalymnos. I have never seen so many climbs and climbers concentrated in such a small area and IMO it has some of the finest, memorable sports routes that I have experienced.

In reply to stevoland: Southern Sandstone - No leader falls and an easy commute from yours and you won't have to eat foreign food or put toilet paper in a bin.

Also I reckon Siurana/Margalef (would be a good cycle commute between the two) or Rodellar or Kalymnos or Geyibyeiri in Turkey. The last two are really centralised around the climbing so would be much easier to meet climbing partners but I have never had a problem in Spain getting partners either.

In reply to stevoland:

The Orangehouse on the Costa Blanca would tick the following

In reply to stevoland:

Catalunya or Kalymnos is pretty much nailed on to suit your tastes.

Kalymnos is sometimes packed then though. And a lot of the crags are southish facing, meaning early starts and early finishes (2pm mostly). Though, there are now some very good north facing places tho. It is also very holiday-esk. Lots of people, good food, good weather, plenty of bars. You dont need a car either, but its more expensive to get to.


If you want to have a more holiday orientated trip, go to kalymnos. If your more interested in just climbing (especially if you like big multipitch) and don't mind driving about, go to catalunya.

Eitherway, you will no doubt find some of the best limestone routes you have ever seen.

In reply to JM: Arf, arf - must update my logbook to include all my toprope DNFs.

Thanks for the responses everyone - really helpful. Still umming and arring.

Anybody recommend anywhere in France?

Paklenica, Croatia, will be great conditions in early Autumn, if you want to go somewhere different. Great food there too, although that was 10ys ago.

In reply to stevoland:
The prime time to do hard routes in the Frankenjura!

In reply to stevoland: Hey mate

I am considering going to Siurana in early October for 2-3 weeks so if you are keen we could probably meet up.
Planning on staying at the local camp ground, seems to be reasonable priced.

Climbing mid-6's.

Cheers