UKC

Ok, sorry about another post about Kalymnos, but I am torn.

So trying decide between Railay in Krabi and Kalymnos. Been to thailand twice, and you cannot fault it, apart from the heat. How does this compare to kalynmos? Want to go in oct/nov.

Before anyone jumps on me, ive read every relevant post through the search function on the forum.

Pros for Krabi

No car needed.
Food is excellent, and cheap.
Its easy going, and I like a smoke.
Routes are excellent
Dont need to book accom in oct, just turn up.

So, Kaly:

How do this compare?
What is a reasonble price for a flight? (cost me £500 to krabi, which is excessive I think).
Surely it cant be hotter than thailand in oct/nov?

Any input will be welcome. Hopefully have it booked before the day is up.

Si

In reply to snoop6060:
Not really helping you here but I'm off to krabi this xmas - what's the bolting like ? Not a load of dodgy threads ?
Ta

In reply to snoop6060:

Kalymnos would get my vote because of the cost of flying to Thailand (unless I was going for a couple of months). Also I do not think Krabi has world class climbing.
Why not come to Spain in October?
Quicker, cheaper, more routes, no serious prison sentence if you are are grassed up for smoking by some corrupt Thai. (Choose between Siurana Rodellar and El Chorro.)

In reply to snoop6060:

you might want to check if Oct/Nov will coincide with the rainy season in Krabi.

i think Kaly has better routes and they are better equiped. i would have thought that now you could get a flight to BKK for much less than £500. You could then get the BKK-Krabi leg for about £50-£100. At that time of year, if you book now you should be able to get to Kaly for about £200. Bungalow in tonsai would be about £5 per night and apartment in Kaly might be EUR20 per night so for a week there won't be a massive diffderence in cost.

Climate wise i think i prefer the dry heat of the med to the humidity of asia.

In reply to Getmeoffthiscliff:

Yes, there are lots of threads, but you should replace the ones you think are dodgy mate. Take an old rope and and you give something back to the climbing community over there. this is important as they amount of traffic these routes get is silly.

You need to know who bolted what and when as some of the bolts have a short shelf life, you can find this from Wee, or any of the other guys over there. Some of the bolts will make you wish you had threads to clip, trust me.

Its safe climbing on the whole, no worse than the UK, but as with everything, use your own judgement, and always tell someone if you see something really dangerous. Its one big climbing jamobree when you get there. It really is bolted heaven.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Me too, dry heat any day of the week, and I am a mossy magnet. Got battered in thailand.

It is rainy season, thats why I go as its not busy. It didnt cause us too much issues, and I could not bring myself to go in high season, way to hot, way too busy. I'd rather climb 6as in the rain all day to be honest.

We got rained off once, and occasionaly, had to finsh in the rain, but mostly, the showers only last 10 mins, but they are heavy! Two hours later and its dry again.

Looks like kaly may be the place then.

In reply to martin heywood:

"Why not come to Spain in October?"

Thats a good point. Never climbed in spain. El chorro looks amazing.

In reply to martin heywood:




Er, shouldnt that be non-corrupt Thai? Heheh it always makes me laugh when people forget that something is illegal and get furious when they are arrested! Take your chances by all means, but don't try and pretend you're not in the wrong when you get caught.....

In reply to snoop6060: I've been to both so hopefully can help you!

You wouldn't need a car for Kalymnos, if you stay in Missouri you could walk to enough climbing to last a couple of weeks, if you want to try other places you can hire a scooter (around 12Euros per day) to get there.

The food in Kaly from supermarkets is expensive, £2.20 for a small jar of pasta sauce! You could get a decent meal out for around 7Euros- a bit more than the £2 in Krabi!

With regards to price, two weeks in Kaly in June cost me about £550: £220 for flights, £120 accomodation and the rest on food (I don't drink so I spent quite a lot less than my mates). So I think there wouldn't be much difference in price between Kaly and Krabi.

Tha climbing is fantastic in both places. But I think I'd say if you want a hard core climbing hol go to Kalymnos as there's not much else to do there other than climb and lounge around on the beach. Where as if you want a 'proper' holiday head to Krabi as there's loads to do.

Don't forget about jet lag and travel time- that might sway your decision.

In reply to Dr Avid:

I dont get annoyed mate. I just smile and hand it over.

And anyway, you dont caught in Railay as there are no police, the only way to get to Railay is by boat, and you well and truely get the word when its the police on that boat coming your way!

Anyway, this is off topic, Im not encourgaing people to go to thailand and get caned, it may be a very long holiday indeed.

Spain on the other hand....

In reply to Dr Avid:


I think what many object to is the wholesale institutionalized corruption, eg, it can be perfectly acceptable in one village to smoke because the police are paid off, in the next village you could end up rotting in some medieval jail until you come up with the equivalent of twenty years Thai wages for the local police captain. It is not always easy to know the current situation either.

In reply to ck85:

Cheers, ck85. Thats exactly the points I was looking for. £550 for two weeks is pretty awesome, however I like the odd drink.

I dont like the sound of paying loads of supermarkets tho. I would be happy eating out everynight.

Hmmmm. its a pretty tough choice.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

I paid 8 Euro per night to stay in Kaly in a shared apartment last May, and it was a nice apartment (Stefanos Gerakios Climbing House). The downside for some people would be that this is in Panormos so you don't have the walking-distance honeypot crags (we knew we were getting a car anyway)

Whoever complained about supermarket costs in Kaly, maybe you were trying to buy the wrong things? We did OK, we didn't buy pre-made pasta sauce though (I'm not having a dig, by the way...we also noticed in Croatia that some things were STUPIDLY expensive in supermarkets, so we carefully avoided them )

I have no opinon about Krabi as I've never been there.

Interesting Snoop and martin. Last bit of off-topic, but I was interested in your replies, A that theres no police on Railay and the different 'rules' found all over thailand. I dont smoke dope any more but can remember friends being a little sketched out in thailand for that very reason you mention martin.

Anyway, I'd go to thailand. The climbings good and life is more exotic. I shall be there in December. On the other hand I've never been to Kalymnos so my opinion is next to useless....

In reply to Blue Straggler:

How far was Stefanos Gerakios Climbing House away from the crags? Just been looking at it, and its cheap. I could happily get a car as I really do not like walking anywhere. Tho, dont want to if its really not needed.

That why Marine Drive will always be a good place to climb!

In reply to snoop6060:
10-15 mins by car to any of the most popular crags. Those that stay in Massouri with the aim of walking to all the crags, will miss some that I went to and enjoyed, though as someone already said, there's just so MUCH good climbing that this in itself should not sway your decision to get a car (we had to have a car for our diving stuff)

I checked out equivalently-priced accommodation in Massouri and found it lacking. There were three of us in an apartment that had two main bedrooms and a small kitchenette area, a balcony and a small patio. It was quite, away from the hustle and bustle of Massouri (though maybe you WANT some hustle and bustle!). For the same price in Massouri it seemed that you would get a room with three single beds squeezed into it, and a cooker and fridge tucked away in a small corner near the shower. BUT you can walk to the crags! As the saying goes "you pays yer money, you makes yer choice"

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Who did you fly with?

In reply to snoop6060:

We went a roundabout route - flew EasyJet to Rhodes (c£110) and a ferry from there, thinking it would save many vs. the higher flight cost to Kos. In the end we maybe saved £20-£30 rather than the £100 we though we'd be saving, as we ended up having to get an uneconomical hotel for a night and the more expensive (c40 Euro) fast ferry. I'd recommend going to Kos. I don't know who goes there cheaply now that XL evaporated. The Kos-Kalymnos ferries are more frequent/regular/reliable. Longer distance ferry journeys are a bit touch-and-go. Some on here have recommended flying to Athens and getting a long distance ferry from there. My Rhodes experience, though it presented no problems to me, leads me to advise against this if possible. Though if you have 2 weeks and actually fancy a day or two in Rhodes or Athens, then go for it.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Nope, just want to get to the crag as quickly as humanly possible. Rather have higher costs and not waste any time. Will look at Kos.

In reply to snoop6060:

My total holiday price for 9 days in Kalymnos in May 2008, 3 of us sharing a car, climbing and diving with our own gear, was about £500. With better planning and prior knowledge, this could have been well under £400.

My total holiday price for 8 full days in Croatia ( we were there a Fri night till a Sun morning but let's be fair and call it 2 days of travel either side of it) in May 2009, 5 of us sharing 2 cars, climbing and diving with our own gear, was £320.

These prices include the airport car parking in the UK and every little detail like that.

In reply to snoop6060:

There is a bus service that runs round the bay and will drop you off at any crag - €1!


Chris

In reply to snoop6060: they are, as the thais might say "same same, but different". i would recommend kalymnos because the bolting is far superior.

In reply to Chris Craggs:

Does it go as far as Panormos? Do you know when they started running the service? I didn't hear anything about it when I was there last year (but with a green vroom-vroom at my disposal, I suppose I wasn't likely to learn about a bus )

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Not sure when they started it but I think it was up and running when we were there last October. According to DG who came back last month it runs 'all the way round the bay'.

Chris

In reply to Chris Craggs:

"The bay" probably ends at Myrties, at a guess.