Kalymnos

Kalymnos is a European mecca for climbing and completely worth a visit. It is comprised of limestone so grippy that my brand new shoes looked like sandpaper after a week climbing here. Climbers refer to it as 3-D climbing, and it’s clear why; the walls are littered with so many tufas and other outgrowths and that it completely changes the way you climb. One of my all time favorite climbing places… and it doesn’t hurt that accommodations are super cheap and the views are spectacular!

Rock Type: Limestone
Climbs: 64 walls with nearly 2,000 climbs
Location: A Greek island off the coast of Turkey: Map

My Experience

I had always wanted to travel to Greece and have learned over the years that if I can find good climbing nearby, John will be on board. Fortunately for me, I quickly discovered that it not only has climbing, but a single Greek island just off the coast of Turkey contains thousands of climbs that people travel to from all over the world.

A few months after first learning about it, we arrived in Athens. From Athens, you have the option of flying to the tiny airport in Kalymnos, flying to Kos (the island nearest Kalymnos, with a slightly larger airport), or taking a ferry. We opted to take a ferry, which costs about the same as a flight, but also includes a room with beds and a shower. So for the same price as a plane ticket, you also get overnight accommodations (the ferry left at 8pm and arrived at 7am) and a hot shower. Our ferry ride was the first opportunity we had to sleep after flying across the Atlantic, dealing with an 8 hour time difference without getting much sleep, and walking around Athens with all our luggage all day. By the time we arrived on the ferry, I was beyond exhausted (so the fact that I thought the beds on the ferry were incredibly comfortable may carry a bit of bias).

On Kalymnos, we were unable to rent scooters because we didn’t realize we needed an international drivers license, so we settled for bikes. I love getting around by bike, but an island notorious for its rock climbing is unsurprisingly hilly. Each day we battled 10-15 miles of hills by bike to get to our wall of choice, before hiking for another 45 minutes up a steep uphill (for most of the walls). Ten days here left me in great shape… which I quickly erased with three days in Paris with French food.

Anyhow, I got distracted and haven’t even talked about the climbing yet! All I need to say is that it was incredible! We went to a few different walls every day during our trip and yet barely even touched the surface of what’s out there. In addition, they are continually bolting new routes, so the possibilities continue to grow. There are incredible overhangs, massive tufas, incredibly sharp and grippy rock, and every possible climbing style you could imagine. This is a can’t miss climbing destination that I recommend for climber of every skill level.

In addition, we coincidentally timed our trip during the Kalymnos Climbing Festival, a competition where they flew in pro climbers from all across the world. It was incredible to watch them climb with such ease and grace that I occasionally found myself thinking that I could do what they were doing. Then I had to remember that those climbs were 14+ climbs easily more than 100 feet tall. It was so inspiring.

A short journey across the Mediterranean, and you find yourself at an even smaller island, called Tellendos. There are ferries running back and forth from Kalymnos to Tellendos every thirty inutes, so it’s worth taking a day trip (or two) out there so check out those climb as well.

As a side note, the Kalymnos climbing guide is by far the best climbing guide I have ever used. It has color pictures throughout, vivid descriptions of every climb, useful information, ratings and grades for every climb, and tables that list the number of climb within certain grade ranges for every wall.