Europe suggestions

hello all. I'm planning a trip to europe this winter and am looking for suggestions on places to go. Any places you have been to or heard about. I will be flying in/out of Germany other than that im open. thanks and keep pulling up!
cheers
t

Les Calanques near Marseilles. "Adventure" sport climbing near the beach.

Font, of course.

Ceuse is out...snow.

Rodellar, Spain

Your query is kind of general. What do you want/like to do?

calanques for sure. I'm going there next month.

Russan, just North of Nîmes, France. It's a classic winter crag: South facing and protected from the wind.

thanks for all the replies! i would like to climb any style: trad sport ect. i snow board and would like to play tourist and site see
thanks
cheers
t

To those planning a trip to the Calanques in the near future, you might want to check the access situation; there's rumours going around of a ban on climbing there: ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php…

To the OP, it depends on the type of climbing you want to do and what your transport situation form Germany is. The main draws during the winter are alpine climbing or, as several others have suggested, sport climbing. For Alpine there's a wealth of good climbing around Chamonix and it's a little cheaper than Switzerland; it's also accesible by rail. Many of the 'classics' are now best done in winter; they're usually in better condition and as long as you can ski approach/descent is much quicker. (If you can't ski, then the approaches will be truly miserable).

There's a wealth of good sport climbing near the med. Sardinia is stunning but difficult without a car, as is Mallorca. The best 'carfree' sport destination that I can think of is probably El Chorro in southern Spain (check out rockfax.com) or as others have said the Calanques; the village is on the rail line between Nice and Marseille.

I am going to be in Spain climbing in Catalunya in December, weather permitting. Lots to do in the region. One cool place I'm doing is Montserrat. It is easy to reach by train from Barcelona.

If weather sucks then we're heading south from Barcelona instead to the Costa del Sol.

Yup, my girlfriend and I got a 100 euro ticket for parking in a "no-parking" zone at the Calanques. We were at En Vau, which if you've never been is worth the 100 Euro ticket.

Even if you hate bouldering, you will learn to love it at Font. It's that good (weather permitting).

If you want to play tourist, snowboard, and stay near your fly in/out. I would: buy a five day Railpass or rent a car. Go directly to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, stay in a guest house for 10euros and snowboard there. There are several castles to see near Garmisch that are worth a day: Neuschwanstein, and Linderhof. There is good ice to climb there. Then go south an hour to Innsbruck and snowboard some more. As for rock: I have never climbed in Arco (Italy) in the winter, but there are thousands of routes of all makes and models, and I assume it is warmer (maybe mid 40s) than Garmisch in the winter, and is two hours south of Innsbruck. Streamline that trip.

Frankenjura may be around 40 during the day in the winter. Spain and Portugal are warm in the winter and have marvelous climbs. You can fly Ryanair.com for sometimes $10 to sites all over Europe. Finally, Le Cinque Terre has great hiking, they are five villages clung on the edge of the Italian Riviera.

Thomas,
Go to Sardegna! I just got back and the climbing there is absolutely sick. Thousands of limestone and granite routes, single or multi-pitch, everything from 5.6's to 5.14's. Tons of climbing near or on the beach that it would take many lifetimes to do. Its a short(2 hrs at most)and cheap flight from Germany. If you have any interest I'll post pics and give some good beta.

Have you refined your plans yet Thomas? I forgot to add, that if you do go to Garmisch, check out Sport Conrad, you may be able to hire a guide to outfit a day or two of ice climbing. Also, is your snowboard a split-touring machine?

Is there a website like MP for Europe. I'm just being lazy and haven't looked yet. I will also be heading to europe late this winter for 6-9 months. I will be living out of a backpack that will also have all my climbing gear so guide books are pretty much out.

Thanks!

You can buy topos from coronn.com/
Also, have you checked the rockclimbing.com, there is a lot more info on international destinations, including europe.
Finally, my advice is to pick a destination you would like to spend time, and find some friendly local people that you can tag along with, this will lend to a more rich cultural experience. This of course takes a lot of asking around.
Oh yeah, and after you do some climbs there, add them to MP.com so we can all enjoy.

Sardegna, Italy.One of the most beautiful places I've ever been.