Portugal winter climbing?

I'm looking to travel this December and wondering if anyone has experienced climbing in southern Portugal? There is not much on MP but not sure if the guidebook has more. I'm considering other destinations as well -- EPC, Spain -- and would gladly take any advice. I am from the US and this will be my first international climbing trip. Thank you in advance!

You might consider Cayman Brac.   www.climbcaymanbrac.com

And a good video:   https://vimeo.com/225647750 Go to full screen and turn up the volume.

Cassie Papaleo wrote:

I'm looking to travel this December and wondering if anyone has experienced climbing in southern Portugal? There is not much on MP but not sure if the guidebook has more. I'm considering other destinations as well -- EPC, Spain -- and would gladly take any advice. I am from the US and this will be my first international climbing trip. Thank you in advance!

I climbed in El Chorro in late November.  Was awesome.

Some of the med gets fairly rainy in the winter, some dryer.  Maybe try to find a weather site that has precip and temp averages just to see what's possible based on location.

Where folks seem to winter as of late is the Peloponnese.  

What I see for, say, Sintra in Portugal is an average of 8 days of rain in December, and, 94mm of rain in that month on average.  Might be a  little wetter further south to Algarve.  Pretty similar to Leonidio.  More dry, on average, than say Kalymnos.  Warmer than Finale Ligure.

Another spot folks winter is the anti atlas in Morocco.  Newer guidebook too.  I'd look at that for sure.  Way drier, cooler but still warm enough in the sun.  Tafroute.  More rock than you can shake a berber rug at.  Not sure how a single female might fair there...but...I think they see a few western tourists who are climbers especially in the winter.

Short days in winter.  Consider the hang...nice to have something in the dark hours to engage with.

Antalya (Geyikbayiri) in Turkey might be a good Mediterranean option in the dead of winter (not sure how wet though)?  Almost all single pitch sport.  Turkey feels safer than western Europe but still serves up that pinch of the exotic.  Save some time for sightseeing a bit of the country as well.

I have no experience in Portugal, but since it is on the Atlantic coast, is likely to be wetter than further east. I have been in El Chorro, in Southern Spain, roughly an hour from the international airport in Malaga, twice in early January. The first time we had generally excellent weather for 2 weeks. The second was OK, though chillier, but then it snowed the day after I left (the others were climbing again 2 days later). Good climbing scene and possible to meet up with folks at some of the lodging--at least pre-COVID, not sure about now. OK place to be carless, as you can get there by train from Malaga and the bulk of the climbs and lodging are within walking distance of the village. The Costa Blanca,a couple of hours further north, but reputedly having better weather, has a vast amount of climbing, but it is spread over a large area, so harder to get around and meet folks. I have a feeling that Geyikbayiri wouldn't be great in the dead of winter--it is a fairly narrow valley and up in the mountains, so I think that the amount of sunlight hours will be limited--and cold in the shade. I've heard Leonidio, Greece, touted as a great place for winter climbing, but have also seen complaints about extended periods of bad weather there--so must vary from year to year.

I like Catalunya and surrounding areas that time of year. Typically great weather, easy to get around, great for rest days, culture, food, wine. Very cheap rental cars and good accommodations.

Joe

MP coverage is patchy for Europe. It in no way represents the depth or breath of climbing.

I've tried Greece, Sicily, Morroco, southern France and many parts of Spain in December/January. All can be good (Tafroute probably too cold) but I've found the consistently best weather to be in eastern Spain. Chulilla, just inland from Valencia, is great for single pitch limestone sport and has a thriving climbing community at that time of year. Catalunya is great too, though Siurana can be cold midwinter, Margalef is noticeably warmer. The Costa Blanca (Alicante) area is popular with Northern Europeans but I don't think the climbing is as good as Catalunya or Valencia areas.

As Joe says, the practicalities of eastern Spain are pretty low-stress and Valencia and Barcelona are both well worth visiting on non-climbing days.

I live in Southern Portugal and go climbing here frequently. Yes, there is climbing here in the winter. The two primary climbing areas are Rocha da Pena (near Faro) and Sagres (sea cliff climbing in the west). Rocha da Pena is very nice to climb in December. Sagres has highly variable conditions that depend mostly on the wind and surf, but Sagres is also very beautiful. Personally, I tend to climb Sagres more in the summer because it's cooler there and more in Rocha da Pena in the winter because it's warmer there in the winter. Rocha da Pena has some nice climbs, but I wouldn't call it an international climbing destination. If I were in your situation, I would personally look at Southern Spain. I camped there for a month last December and climbed in El Chorro. Wonderful winter climbing. On colder days you can also drive to Marbella and there is some really fun tufa climbing at Puerto Rico (this is the name of the crag near Marbella) and it tends to be warmer in the winter. Feel free to add me on WhatsApp or Facebook if you want. I'd be happy to climb with you while you're in the area. 

Hi everyone, thank you so much for the suggestions and recommendations! I ended up finding a cheap flight to Alicante. For those with knowledge of that region of Spain, what guidebook(s) do you recommend? 

Alicante is the main entry for the Costa Blanca region. There are two current books for this area--each including some areas not covered in the other. Costa Blanca Climbs is the more recent (2020) book and published by locals (in both Spanish and English). It might be harder to find (it is currently out-of-stock in the ClimbEurope website) try Rock and Snow in the Gunks--they have a great guidebook selection for all over. The Costa Blanca book by the British publisher Rockfax is a bit older (2013) but still has plenty to keep you busy. Some folks don't like Rockfax books as they feel they undercut the locals, but I find them more user friendly with plenty of great photos for motivation. I think that book is still easy to find and they often have up-dates in their digital version. This is a very big region, with numerous crags spread out, so a car will be a necessity to get the most out of your visit. Not too far away, in Valencia, is Chulilla--another superb area with its own guidebook. In the same general area is the very extensive group of crags around Montenejos and nearby Jerica--though these seem to be out-of-fashion at the moment.

There's a couple of Rockfax Costa Blanca books on the popular online auction website...

Not been, but, you might check these folks out:

https://theorangehouse.co.uk/

Some topos on their website.

Still might be worth a drive to El Chorro...