UKC

We're taking the camper van to Slovenia and Croatia for a holiday (not a climbing trip, as my wife keeps reminding me!) in September but I reckon I could get away with visiting one or two venues in each country. I'd be grateful for any advice on the best places, ideally with climbs across the grades and hopefully with somewhere to camp nearby. Any guidebook recommendations would be really useful, too.
Many thanks, Rob.

In reply to Rob:

Paklenica, Croatia, is one obvious venue. The climbing is mostly sport, but with some need for trad gear on the multi-pitch routes. Excellent quality and popular (do you need to meet up with climbing partners or will your wife belay/climb? - I found partners there on both trips). Good in hot weather as one side of the gorge is always in the shade. No problem camping in Starigrad Paklenica. Reasonable beaches and easy drives to Zadar (pleasant old city) and Plitvize Lakes (not to be missed).

Martin

In reply to Martin Hore:

Hi Martin, that's very useful, many thanks.

In reply to Rob:

The Osp area in southern Slovenia has something for everyone and had (I presume still has) a convenient campsite. I wrote an overview article some time ago that's still online at http://www.thefreeclimber.com/articles/tfcOsp.htm which should give you an idea, although more recent info and a local guide would be best if you're interested.

In reply to Rob:

For Slovenia you could go to mija pech / osp (spelling is a bit dodgy ! Look for osp and you will find both ) there is a campsite in the village so just a short walk to the crags then visit piran for some seaside r and r. The area is well covered by guide books and should be easily available here. If you want more alpine style rather than sport then triglav would be the obvious choice or join the tourists and visit lake bled

In reply to Rob:

Slovenija Sportnoplezalni Vodnik is the book to get. it's in 4 languages.

if you head towards the east, Kotecnik is the place to visit, 400 routes across 12 rocks.

There is a digital guide available here

http://rakkup.com/guidebooks/kotecnik-rock-climbing-slovenia/

There's also a very basic campsite not far away

http://www.kmetija.tratnik.ek.si/

In reply to Rob:

Just picked up a copy of "Climbing on the Karst Edge" which covers the areas around Osp, Trieste, and Northern Croatia. Seems like a nice guidebook. Delivery fast after ordering online.

Can't wait to use it. Cheers!

In reply to Rob:
Can recommend the istrian peninsula, North Croatia. Beautiful coastline, pretty villages, great sea food and some good little venues to visit. Mija pec is magnificent and has a great campsite.

In reply to Rob:
Went to Slovenia in May - Vipava Valley and Crni Kal. There's a trip report and a few photos here:

http://www.cliperati.com/#!trip-reports/c17ns

Hope this helps

Dave

In reply to Rob:

I found the sport grading in Slovenia quite stiff, but I expect being weak and crap had something to do with it.

In reply to davidbeynon:

I guess it's stiff compared to Spain and soft compared to France Crni Kal, however, is a bit old-school and so are the grades there. Older routes are quite polished, too. Avoid Misja pec unless you climb 7a and harder. Go to Osp instead, you'll find plenty of superb routes in 6a-6c range. If you're looking for easier routes, then Crni Kal is still your safest bet.

About Kotecnik: it's my local crag and as much as I like it, I wouldn't recommend it for one reason and one reason only: it's in the middle of nowhere and there's nothing else to do besides, you know, climbing Routes are great, though.

Another useful guidebook is "Climbing without frontiers". It covers area around Osp and Trieste as well as the croatian part of Istrian peninsula.

In reply to Rob:

Many thanks for all of your useful suggestions - much appreciated. Rob.