Before planning our trip to Georgia, we would often be asked ‘Is there climbing there?’ or ‘Why are you going there for climbing?’. The answer is yes, there is climbing here and that Georgia is worth visiting because it is a beautiful and interesting country. One thing you will hear about before you visit are the friendly Georgian people and you will certainly receive a warm welcome throughout your time in the country. The climbing here is fierce and is a test of your mettle, you will almost certainly leave stronger than you arrived.
Datça is a beautiful seaside town in the South-West of Turkey, on a large peninsular of the same name. Situated in the Aegean Sea, Datça is only a stones throw away from the Greek island Kalymnos, which is famous worldwide for its climbing. We spent three months of 2021 climbing in Geyikbayiri, Turkey’s most famous climbing area. We regretted not visiting Datça, but we are fortunate enough to make the return to Turkey and spend some time in this wonderful place.
The crown jewel of Datça
The location of Datça is perfect, the area is quiet with lots of untouched, pristine coastline and beautiful forests. The area is renowned for pine honey, which is delicious and testament to the quality of the forests in the area. You are never far from the sea and there’s always a quiet, secluded spot to swim and enjoy the clear water. The supply of rock is seemingly endless and hints at how big the area will be in the future.
The official guidebook has been made free to download as PDF, which you can find on ‘theCrag’ here.
Sometimes climbing trips are about adventure, the unknown and pushing yourself to your limit. However, it can be nice to have a trip when you know exactly what you’re getting. Guaranteed good climbing, nice weather and delicious food. Northern Italy is a perfect choice for either sort of climbing trip, with everything from Dolomite and alpine adventures to coastal cragging and relaxing in the sun. This article is going to focus on the fantastic sport climbing on offer in Northern Italy, perfect as a trip in its own right or as part of a bigger road trip, leading on perfectly to countries like of Slovenia and Croatia.
Serbia is right in the heart of the Balkans, but sadly it is not on the radar for most climbers and tourists. For example, Spain receives around 120 times more tourists per year than Serbia. Those who make the effort to go will be rewarded with stunning mountains, rivers and serene forests that can be enjoyed in solitude. For climbers, there are already several great crags to choose from, but like most of the Balkans there is the potential for much more development in the future.
The impressive Danube boilers, forming Serbias eastern border with Romania
Although Slovakia borders some frequently visited countries like Austria, relatively few people visit for tourism. Anybody that does visit Slovakia will be pleasantly surprised as the country has lots of beautiful nature, impressive medieval castles and many interesting places to visit. For climbing, Slovakia has several well established and good quality venues and surely much more areas that haven’t been developed yet.
Frankenjura is a well known climbing destination, although perhaps it is less popular now than areas like Kalymnos or El Chorro. The routes are old school, often being sportingly graded and sportingly bolted. Needless to say any route you climb near your limit, you will feel you’ve earned. Don’t be discouraged by this, endless amounts of quality rock make Frankenjura a really special place.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is hands down one of the best countries in the Balkans, and it is one of the most interesting and unique countries in all of Europe. For climbers, Bosnia is a real treat, with loads of great crags and a variety of styles – tufas, pockets, slabs, overhangs and many multipitches as well. The crags are often near historical sites of great interest or national parks of immense natural beauty, meaning you will always have something enjoyable to do on your rest days. The people of Bosnia are incredibly friendly and welcoming, you will meet lots of great people here and it is easy to feel a connection to the place. Despite all of the great things about Bosnia, it is not yet affected by the mass levels of tourism that many parts of Europe struggle with more and more. This means you often get to enjoy some truly spectacular places completely crowd free, especially if you visit outside of the summer. Considering all this, there really isn’t any reason not to visit Bosnia, so go and enjoy it for yourself!
We love Bosnia so much that we have visited 4 times, totalling around 3 months in the country. This blog post is an amalgamation of all of our experiences in Bosnia across these trips, including from our latest visit in 2026.
Truly excellent climbing and position on ‘Liječeni Rupofiličar’, 6b+, Pecka
Albania is a beautiful country, often overlooked and underestimated. The landscape has everything from dramatic mountains to white sandy beaches. In recent years, Albania has seen more and more climbing development and many excellent new routes have gone up. The number of climbers visiting has been steadily increasing as word gets out about the quality of the climbing on offer. There are many stunning cliffs across the country, and as well as a lot of climbing to choose from currently, there is also the potential for a lot more. Albania also has a lot to offer aside from climbing, the country has a fascinating history and rich culture, there is a lot to love about Albania. We have now visited Albania a few times, this post is an amalgamation of our different trips, with some new crags and lots of updates from our most recent visit in 2026.
After our bouldering trip to Prilep, we decided to spend the rest of our time in North Macedonia sampling the sport climbing. We bought a small information booklet about the sport climbing along with our bouldering guidebook from Hristo, in Prilep. This guide had the same information as this website. We found that it was easy enough to match the list of route names and grades, from the website, to the ones written under the routes.
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.
Pad hauling, looking out towards Prilep from sector Kamena Baba.
The Crag Journal 