UKC

Flights all booked for Costa Blanca at the beginning of October. Looking for some advice on where is good to set as a base for first timers for 1 week with a car.

* Climbing 4 - 6a
* Kinda like easy multi-pitch too
* Like quiet places to stay and generally like to avoid crowds (Fully expecting comments such as "why did you chose Costa Blanca then?")
* Will it be too hot at Sierra de Toix?

Thanks

In reply to Zero:

Not clear what you mean by base yourselves. Do you mean accommodation or climbing ? In terms of climbing, the Rockfax gives pretty good general coverage - your crag choice day to day really ought to take into account the weather.

In reply to GrahamD:

By "base ourselves" I mean places to stay or areas to stay. Need to book some accommodation and it would be good to not have to drive far every day to climb.

I know the RockFax book gives good details of the crags but looking for what folk might consider to be good locations to climb at that time of year. We've only ever climbed in Monteneos and the Pyrennes in Spain so the whole Costa thing, weather, busyness, ease f travel between crags etc. of that area are new to us.

In reply to Zero:

We've stayed in Calpe, Pueblo Mascarat (soulless but handy) and Altea in the past, using sites like owners direct and booking.com to find villas and apartments which are not hard to find for October. These 3 areas give you easy access to Toix (not too hot to climb on our October visits in the past), Penon d'Ifach, Echo Valley, Guadalest and not too far to the Puig Campana, a must for the best multipitch trad route in the lower grades.

We have also travelled further afield (1+ hours drive) to Salem, Font d'Axia and Gandia during one week stays. There is so much to go at within an hour's drive of the Calpe area that you'll be spoilt for choice. Toix is an excellent starting point for friendly graded single and multi pitch.

Someone may also mention the Orange House as a base, often highly recommended, but I've never been.

Hope this helps

Dave

In reply to Zero:

Booking at this time the options may be a little limited. Unfortunately some of the best deals will be in the summer holiday hot spots like Benidorm (which is actually a pretty good spot, location wise, but a complete dump. Altea or Calpe may be a good compromise.

When we went last year we stayed at compass west in Finestrat. Finestrat is a good location if you can get anywhere at this stage - close to the coast and main roads but also good access to Sella and Echo

In reply to GrahamD:

Cheers Graham. Am currently panicking about booking. Just took a quick look and you are right so will be addressing that one today. Good advice, thanks

In reply to Zero:

Orange House still had beds rooms etc camping spot! Have you emailed the booking manager?

Regards Sam Orange

In reply to full stottie:

I did villa with pool in Calpe as a boy/girl pair, it was fantastic.

Climbed the same places but also Alcali(?), which was brilliant, steep jug-fest.

In reply to Zero:
Don't panic. There is a huge amount of accommodation. Just choose where you want to be based. Be prepared to drive a lot so consider where motorway junctions are. This has deterred me recently...... Whilst it is nice to visit different areas and crags, I wouldn't drive for over an hour every day for a week to get to crags in the UK but on holiday on the Costa Blanca this is quite often the case.

In reply to Zero:

just booked a villa in Calpe for 8 days at the beginning of November... private swimming pool, aircon/heating... looks pretty nice, cost £350 for the 8 days split between 4 works out at £87.50 per person which seemed pretty good value.. there were plenty of others available when I looked earlier in the week