Climbing in the Philippines

Useful Tips for Climbing and Travelling in South East Asia

TheCragJournal12 Comments

South East Asia is a fantastic region to visit as a travelling climber. The rock is amazing quality, there are areas to suit everyones taste, there is a never-ending amount of culture to learn about & experience and the food is delicious! We decided to write this article to help give climbers an idea of what to expect and how to make the most of their trip. The planning stage of a trip to South East Asia can be quite time consuming. Hopefully the many hours we spent planning before our trip, as well as our experiences on the trip, will yield some useful information and tips for other climbers.

Climber deep water soloing, hanging from only their arms on a steep overhanging roof section of limestone high above the turquoise blue sea.
Fantastic deep water soloing at Koh Poda, Thailand

Below is a map of all the different crags we visited during our 6 months in South East Asia. If you would like to read more about specific areas, please visit our individual posts on Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and The Philippines.

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Climbing in The Philippines: A Journey through South East Asia

TheCragJournal2 Comments

The Philippines was the dark horse of our time in South East Asia, many climbers we spoke to before we went had no idea there was any climbing there at all! In fact, we would often be asked if we were going there just for sight seeing. What makes this so surprising is that the climbing in The Philippines is excellent and there is loads of it, all over the country! Aside from climbing, we really loved The Philippines as a country, it is a truly beautiful place and the people are genuinely some of the friendliest we have ever met. During the 3½ weeks we spent in The Philippines, we barely scratched the surface of what’s on offer and we were sad to leave, we could easily have spent over double that amount of time and still not had long enough.

Climber trying hard on a thin section of vertical white limestone. In the background are mountains and jungle.
Absorbing moves on ‘Firefly’, 6c+
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