Arriving in North Macedonia, we were dropped off in Skopje with only our bags, no Macedonian dinar and in search of where on earth our rental car company was. With no guidebook but a name of a city and a Petzl RockTrip video from 2014 we set off on our journey.
POST UPDATED 2026
Montenegro is a small country, the 38th smallest in Europe, in fact. However, despite its small size, it has a huge amount of natural beauty and variety. From the stunning coastline to the inspiring high peaks of Durmitor and many, many canyons filled with beautiful cliffs, perfect for sport climbing! The rock quality is generally really good, and in recent years there has been more and more development of climbing areas and the bolting of many new routes. We first visited Montenegro around 5 years ago, and had a great trip, and we really enjoyed the climbing. We have since returned again in 2026, and had an even better trip! The quality and quantity of new routes was amazing and clearly Montenegrin climbing is going from strength to strength. We thought the climbing was excellent and we were so glad we were able to return for another trip, and we would go back for a third time in a heartbeat!
If you haven’t read part one yet, which is all about the fantastic climbing on offer in Turkey, you can read it here.
This article is going to be about the culture, activities and traditions you can enjoy whilst you’re taking a rest from climbing. Much like the climbing on our trip, this will focus mainly on the Antalya area. However, there are places we visited further a field, all of which are worth the journey.
https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/crag_notes_in_the_moment-13428
Climbing in Turkey revolves around Antalya. When climbers think of Antalya, one name springs to mind: Geyikbayiri. To most climbers this is what puts Turkey on the climbing map. This is the hub of climbing in the country, with the highest concentration of routes and easy access. However, not exploring Turkey’s other offerings would be a mistake. Çitdibi and Olympos are both fantastic places to climb, easily done in a day trip from Geyikbayiri. There are also other areas spread throughout the country, such as Datça, Izmir and Bafa Gölü. We spent three months climbing, mostly based in Geyikbayiri and this will be the main focus of this article. Part 1 will concentrate purely on the climbing and crags, while part 2 will focus on culture, history and rest day activities.
The limestone Mecca. Even when passing through Catalunya it is hard to ignore the bands of rock that surround you. A climber’s heaven where you are surrounded by a lifetime’s worth of quality single and multi-pitch sport climbing.
As well as excellent rock climbing and scenery Catalunya is home to a rich, deep culture and history which you can feel if you spend any amount of time in the region.
The purpose of this article is to provide recommendations for places to climb that may not be on peoples radar when planning a trip to Catalunya. In total we have spent four months climbing here and had a fantastic time. We hope our experiences will be useful to people planning trips for the future.
Continue reading
The Crag Journal 