Need northern Spain sport climbing recommendations - easy approaches, easy grades

Hi, I'm traveling to Spain to visit our teenage exchange student from Catalonia, tour the country and hopefully get in some rock climbing. We'll be traveling in early July, going from Madrid north to Picos de Europa/Bilbao area then to east and south to the Barcelona area and back to Madrid. There will be 4 of us, me, my husband and adult daughter are all experienced Gunks climbers, the exchange student is a beginner but strong and has gym experience and a little Gunks experience when she lived with us.

So... what we need are easily accessible crags - not too far from major roads with short approaches as we are cramming in a lot and don't have a lot of time to hike in long distances. We're leaving the trad gear home, so sport climbing only. We have a beginner with us, so let's say nothing harder than 5.8 give or take a grade. Prefer a safe area, as we're responsible for her - so no sketchy approaches/downclimbs/rockfall risks. Gorgeous scenery a plus. 

Certainly we want to visit Monserrat and Siurana, especially since we have a place to stay near Barcelona. Planning on at least hiking in Picos de Europa - what kind of climbing is there? Also, would like to try a fun via ferrata if you know of one to recommend. It's not a climbing adventure, this is tourism with some sampling of Spanish climbing. Hopefully we can return someday and have more time to climb. There's just so much awesome rock in Spain it's hard to narrow down where we should go!

Appreciate any recommendations, english-language guidebook recommendations, places to stay near the crags you recommend (unless near major cities), must-do climbs. Also, if you're a local and want to show us around or host us, we'd be happy to reciprocate, as we live next to the Gunks in New York.

Thanks!

Jannette

For the western Spain part of your trip (Picos region), I strongly recommend that you get the Roca Verde guidebook by Richie Paterson ( in Spanish and English). It covers the many excellent crags in the region surrounding the central mountains—quite a few of which will meet all of your criteria. While I haven’t been there, it is my understanding that the approaches in the Picos themselves tend to be long and steep.

For the eastern part of your trip ( Barcelona region),  the closest climbing to Barcelona is Monserrat, the base of which is about an hour from the city. It is a huge mountain covered with crags from short single pitch to 10 pitch pinnacles, some sport, some trad. The rock is conglomerate and a bit of an acquired taste. It is a confusing area and the approaches, tend to be steep—-it is not the Gunks!!!! There are several guidebooks for the Montserrat massif.

About 2 hours south of Barcelona is the extensive high plateau of the Sierra de Prades, which is the location of a number of excellent and famous crags. The plateau is about 20 miles inland from the Mediterranean and the views are fantastic. The rock here is limestone and all sport climbing, with most having short and easy approaches. The most famous of the crags is Siurana, but that is primarily a ‘hard’ crag ( though a beautiful location). Nearby, crags such as La Mussara, Arboli, and Mont Ral will have more of the type of routes that you are looking for. The guidebook Tarragona Climbs covers this area as well as numerous others in that part of Spain.

You'll enjoy Picos more if you are a trad climber otherwise it will be a miserable experience  + as mentioned by Alan expect loooong approaches. Hiking is lovely in the whole massif.

Anyway as you said you'll be leaving trad gear behind so forget about Picos.

Recommended sport crags:

1. Quiros also in Asturias. Quality limestone climbing. All bolted.

Free guide here:

https://trepadas.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/croquis-de-quirc3b3s-piratasfree.pdf

2. Basque country's best crags:

-Atxarte

-Etxauri

-Egino & Aiztondo. Both host multi pitch up to 300m.

Basque country & Asturias are Spain's best areas for summer climbing unless you are from Germany or the UK and love the toasty heat as they generally do. ;)

I'd travel to Riglos (Aragon) anytime. Conglomerate rock multi pitch which offers superb climbing. It hosts one of the world's best multi pitch sports routes: La Fiesta del Bíceps (7a) in "La Visera" section.

Note: In Spain they follow the French grading system for sport climbing and French + UIAA for trad. 

Have fun! ;)

How about Collegats?  https://www.mountainproject.com/area/107939073/collegats .  I haven't climbed there, but biked through last summer, and saw some spectacular roadside limestone.

I haven't either. Know the crag though as I lived in Spain for many years and did there most of my climbing. I recall that area being popular in the 80s. Good spot for sure.

I wanted to follow up with how our trip went. We loved Spain, the only downside is there was a heatwave so it was even hotter than it usually is in July and limited our ability to go climbing. Here's where we were able to find climbs that met our needs. For ease of typing, our former exchange student will be referred to as "fake daughter" (our nickname for her).

• My daughter and fake daughter climbed before we arrived near Madrid on very easy low-angle slab called Paca del Canella in La Pedriza. They climbed in the evening to avoid the heat (stayed light until 10pm!)
• The girls also climbed at Ramales de la Victoria, near where we were staying with fake daughter's father in Villasana de Mena (Basque region). Fake daughter's cousins recommended it. They found easy sport climbs in Sector escaleras. Me & my husband were at the Guggenheim in Bilbao that day, so we didn't get to see it, but it looks like a pretty extensive area.
• We visited Rodellar and saw some lines that could be easier grades - but we didn't have a guidebook and it was super hot. We just planned to hike and dip into the river to stay cool. On my tick list to return to. So beautiful!
• Riglos was beautiful! We didn't plan to climb there - way too hot, mostly multipitch and not appropriate for our beginner fake daughter. But would love to sample it some day.
• We climbed in Monserrat at an area that was supposed to be a short approach with afternoon shade, but they no longer allowed parking closer to the crag and it was 45 minutes hike in very hot conditions. Last part of the approach was a thorny steep loose slope, slipping and grabbing bushes - Not fun! Ended up with some big-ass thorns in my hand. Nothing epic, just a pain in the ass to walk up - we didn't see an easier way up to the base. The crag was El vermell del xincarró and we found 2 grade V routes easy enough for our group (was the 1st time climbing outside for our fake daughter's boyfriend). They found it challenging but both beginners got up the easier of the two. Beautiful setting though. Monserrat is just gorgeous!
• We climbed in Margalef, at a perfect beginner spot on the Bloc del Pork, with multiple sides so you can move with the shade. One side had a 4a and 4c, perfect for our 2 beginners, then my daughter led a 6a on the other side, which was pretty challenging. The others couldn't get up it. Another beautiful valley, worth another visit someday. It was very quiet - not climber season due to the heat.

We loved the hiking in Picos de Europa, the scenery was stunning!  We also did our first via ferrata - what fun! 

Basically along our route, it seemed like every town had a beautiful ancient cathedral, ruins of some old castle, and gorgeous limestone cliffs in the vicinity! So much rock in Spain, the options are limitless! Definitely want to return someday and do more than a quick sample.

Confession: I am now addicted to gazpacho, and I'm having iberico ham withdrawal.

Jannette

Shame you didn't get to explore La Pedriza. That place is endless. A crag where you'll learn to climb from a technical perspective.

More places you can add yo your next visit:

1. Los Galayos (sierra de Gredos, central Spain). Vertical granite. Mostly trad, multi pitch.

2. Leiva (Murcia, Mediterranean region). Great multi pitch; limestone; mostly bolted.

Riglos is magnificent. Bolts are a little spacey but no gear needed, and most routes are 5.8-5.11. Approach is cake

Thanks for the additional comments. Riglos was magnificent. But not on a day when the high was 106 F degrees!

As I mentioned - we couldn't do any multi-pitch or trad, we had beginners with us and didn't bring our trad gear, but I will bookmark the other crags for any potential future visits.

@Michael Creel, Vermell del Xincarro did have an easy path until the last 50 feet to get to the base of the cliff. Are you saying there was a better path to the base of the cliff from the main paths? But the main problem was we had an older guidebook that said you could drive up the farm road and park closer to the crag, and that was no longer the case. Even if the crag is in the shade, because it was a really hot day, the longer approach drained us.

Obviously, July is not a good month to plan a climbing trip to Spain, especially during an unusual heatwave. No choice, that's when our Spanish "fake daughter" was off from college and could join us for 2+ weeks.

Appreciate the beta and hope we can get to go to Spain again while I can still drag my old ass up some moderate climbs!

Jannette