Kalymnos/Europe October/November

Making a solo trip to Europe in October and November, will mostly be in Spain but also planning to go to Kalymnos for a week or so, as well as maybe another side trip somewhere else.

Regarding Kalymnos, any beta on the best way to get there that time of year? It looks like all the direct flights to Kos end in September.
Also, how is Kalymnos for finding partners? It would be great to line up a partner or group ahead of time but barring that, would it be easy to link up with people once on the ground?

Hey Bill,

Doing my first solo trip like this too. I will be in Kalymnos Oct 24th- Nov 5th. I'd like to check out Meteora as well so I may leave a few days earlier... Thinking about the ferry? Overnight? but looking for travel beta too. If you're going to be there then too, lets meet up.

Joe

Hi Joe,

Thanks for reaching out. I don't have specific travel dates yet, but I would likely be headed there around the same time you will be there. I was hoping to fly in to Kos and then take the ferry to Kalymnos. 2nd preference would be the ferry from Athens. I have not been to Greece before so I don't know much about either option other than what is in the guide book and what I have found online.

Bill

Regarding Kalymnos beta:

Fly to Athens, then take one of the many daily flights to Kos. (The direct flights to Kalymnos are likely to have ended for the season, but it might be worth checking.) From there get a cab to Mastachari (10 min), then take the ferry to Pothia (20 min). I've also taken the overnight ferry from Pireas, and it arrived on schedule at 2:00 AM, which wasn't very convenient. Ugh!

If you're flying to Athens, I think it's WAY more convenient to simply fly to Kos rather than take the overnight ferry from Pireas, which requires an hour cab ride through often-horrendous traffic to the port, then all the hassles of the port. However, if you're renting a car and driving to Meteora first, then perhaps you could find a rental that allows you to return the car to an office in Pireas (rather than the airport), then take the ferry. (We did this, since we needed a car to visit the awesome climbing of Leonidio.)

There's tons of travel beta on climbkalymnos.com, specifically here.

On rare occasions, you may get hung up in Mastichari for a day due to wind or rough seas.

I've been partnerless once there, and found somebody right away at a crag. There are hundreds of climbers there hanging around Masouri restaurants and bars. And you could always show up at one of the popular crags with a rope and draws...plenty of parties of three that wouldn't mind an additional partner.