UKC

Hi,

I'm booking a week climbing holiday for mid October, and am wondering if there are any recommendations other than Kalymnos?

Travelling with my non climbing girlfriend, so basically looking for somewhere where it's easy to find climbing partners - around 6a/b; Sport or trad.

Am travelling from Switzerland, so shouldn't have to worry about quarantine (I hope). Chamonix comes to mind for summer, as there are always climbers looking for partners, but am wondering if there are many solo climbers in Portugal, or perhaps other spots in Europe?

(This is perhaps more of a question for the future, as I see Portugal is now a bit of travel risk sadly).

The climbing hostels in Costa Blanca, and Tenerife come to mind, but I only discovered those from previous trips.

Many thanks for the tips / advice!

Ulassai, sardinia.

https://www.climbingulassai.com/

Normally partners would be no problem, dunno about right now tho.

The refugio in Margalef might be a reasonable bet. 

Cyprus?

http://cyprusrocks.eu

Costa Blanca, theres always folks to climb with!! The Orange house is a good spot, theres always a clutch of volunteers that climb most days and are happy for you to tag along. Theres also a good clutch of ex-pats that come down searching for partners, worst case Rich and Sam (owners) can put you in touch with someone. Im sure if he's not guiding then Rich would climb with you anyway.

Hi rembo. I'm not sure what your personal circumstances are but with regards to Spain, the situation in Switzerland is the same as the UK and you would have to quarantine for 10 days upon return. Sorry if you already knew that, it's not clear from your post if you live here or are passing through.

My suggestion for a destination would be Leonidio

Kalymnos is usually ok for climbing partner hookups - there's a reasonably active forum and whatsapp group. But from what I'm hearing there are far fewer climbers there than usual at the moment, so maybe this year not so much.

Possibly Arco, though I am not sure if there is a climbing "scene" there as such, and maybe October is a bit late for Arco.

Interested what other people say about this as Italy is an easy and affordable destination, at the moment.

On normal years, indeed numerous places like Costa Blanca, or any of the Catalan crags might fit the bill.

But now with Corona, I would really not count on it.

If you want to climb, I'd look for a place that offers bouldering and rents pads. Perhaps not what you wanted to hear, but this is my gut feeling. The quarantine, travel restrictions seems to be changing on weekly basis...so all bets are off, and that also means a lot of climbers have postponed their trips.

If you're travelling from CH, then some of the locales there might fit the bill. Like Cresciano, Chirinico. Or a bit more to the south like Varezze IT. Bunch of other locales in Northern IT as well. 

Some great tips - thanks all!

I saw on Kalymnos telegram and whatsapp groups that it's quieter, but there's still people looking for partners, so will try my luck. Thankfully there's other activities also.

(I live in Switzerland these days, so yeah, no Spain or Portugal this time around. Italy / Ticino probably would be the safer bet, but it's always tempting to go further afield...)

Cases per 100,000 in Greece still seem low enough to stay under the quarantine list for the next two weeks in Switzerland, so fingers crossed.

What about partners in Leonidio, i am thinking of going over christmas. cant find much info on it.

Just an update for anyone who might be interested - I just returned from Kalymnos - while much quieter than usual for October, there were still plenty of climbers and finding partners was super easy. It was probably the best October in that it wasn't crazy busy in town and booking good restaurants in advance wasn't required.

(Perhaps less Brits, but plenty of Swiss, Austrians, Germans, French - great vibe also)

I'm sure there'll be climbers in Leonidio - try posting on the relevant forum / find the 'partners / climbing' whatsapp / facebook / telegram etc groups and post there to find out.

Turkey is apparently a good climbing destination over winter, perhaps a bit warmer?