Kalymnos Climbing Retreat

• Ability to hike three miles over varied terrain while carrying a 15lb backpack.
• Ability to do 20 squats. 
• Ability to top rope 5.9 in the gym without taking or falling. 
• Must know how to top rope belay.
• Must be 18 years of age or older.
• Please note that it is mandatory for all participants to be fully vaccinated prior to attending this trip.

1. The easiest way to get to Kalymnos is with a connecting flight from Athens right to the island. The airport is about 20 minutes away from our hotel, and we'll be there to pick you up. The catch is that flight options are limited, and can be unreliable as they often get cancelled by high winds.

2. Your second and more reliable option is to fly to the nearby (and much larger) island of Kos and take a ferry to Kalymnos. There are more flights to Kos than Kalymnos making it easier to schedule, and the ferry takes about 30 minutes. We'll be there to get you in Kalymnos when you arrive at the town of Pothia, about a 15 minute drive from our hotel.

3. Your third option is to take a ferry all the way from Athens (the port is called Piraeus), which is an overnight adventure, but could be fun if you're feeling up for a sea voyage.

However you choose to do it, if you're on a really tight schedule Kalymnos might not be the best fit for you. Nailing a four-flight, two-ferry sequence all in one go doesn't always go according to plan, and since a delayed flight could spell disaster, we strongly recommend building in some room for error by planning to spend a night in Athens or Kos before continuing on to Kalymnos.

About half of our of climbers come to our retreats alone. Often we do have groups of friends who sign up together, and we have couples pretty often, but we also have a lot of people just come by themselves looking  to meet people and make new friends. If you are hesitating to join  because you would be coming solo, please know that we expect a lot of our participants to be joining by themselves.

You do not need to be an experienced climber to attend, but we recommend some climbing experience before signing up for a week of climbing. We recommend that everyone attending is able to top-rope a 5.9 in a climbing gym without taking or falling. While climbing 5.9 in a climbing gym is different than climbing a 5.9 outside, having the ability to climb 5.9 in the gym will set you up to have a great time in Kalymnos. 

Probably. Lead climbing is certainly not a requirement for anybody on the trip, but we're happy to let you lead as long as you have prior experience as a leader and can pass a belay test similar to those found in most gyms (minus the falling).

Our main goal is to keep everyone safe, so on our first day out together we’ll just want to see that everyone is able to manage the rope, communicate, lead and belay safely before being cleared to do it throughout the week. If you don’t plan on leading, we’ll just want to go through a quick belay test to make sure you’re good to go belaying those who are. 

For those aspiring to lead, we will try our best to coach you through the process  throughout the week with the aim of you learning to do so safely. 

We generally have a wide range of ages at our retreats. The average tends to fall anywhere between the ages of 26 to 45. But we have had quite a few women in their 60's join as well. It really is up to the attitude and physical ability of the participant.

If the trip fills, we'll have 20-25 climbers and 5 guides. Our daily groups will consist of 4-5 climbers per guide, letting us have our ropes on 2-3 routes at a time. 

Also our trips are 90% women. Men are perfectly welcome, but they tend to be outnumbered.

The food we'll be eating is, for the most part, traditional Greek food as Leonidio is a small, rural village. We will not be cooking meals for the group, so we only have as much control over what goes into your food as you would going to any restaurant. That said, we've had participants with gluten-free and vegetarian diets on this trip before and they did just fine. Gluten-free bread and other options are provided at breakfast and are usually available at dinner. Vegetarian options are also available, but vegans may find navigating the Greek love of meat and dairy to be difficult. Celiacs may have a challenging time as well. 

We aren't experts in this area as this is not the lived experience of our current instructor team. But we want you here and we are committed to making your experience a positive one. 

If you can: 

• Hike three miles over varied terrain while carrying a 15 lb backpack
• Do 20 squats 
• Have good balance 
• And maintain a positive attitude 

CLIMBING IS FOR YOU!

Currently the most limiting factor is the ability to fit into a harness. We have harnesses that can accommodate up to a 56inch waist. We are looking into getting a fleet of fully adjustable harnesses before next season starts. 

If you want to learn more from plus sized climbers I highly recommend looking into Climb Big. Climb Big is an organization with a mission to "Make climbing more accessible for fat folx."

We know you love your fur babies but unfortunately, we cannot allow pets on any of our group trips or clinics. 

Yes we have two types of payment options. Please visit our Payment Plan page for more information.

Good question. Let's start with the similarities. Both are world-class climbing destinations, and with very similar styles of rock and movement. They both cater to climbers of all abilities, and are both in staggeringly beautiful settings that are hard to compare. They're also both dreamy, and of course they're both in Greece. 

The three main differences are probably in the feel of the towns, the food, and the ease of getting there. 

Leonidio is gaining popularity as a climbing destination, but is still a small, quiet village and really feels like an authentic experience of being in Greece. Most cafes and shops are filled with locals, and it's not uncommon to feel like you're getting a very undiluted taste of Greek life. Kalymnos, on the other hand (and more specifically the village of Massouri, where we'll be staying), is an international climber's hub that's been a thing for a long time. As a result, it feels a little more touristy, and as Massouri is mostly a climber's town, you won't likely find yourself the only visitor in any setting. You'll still get a taste of Greece in either and you'll still find plenty of climbers in both, they're just different. 

The food is also a bit different in each place. Like a lot of countries in Europe, a lot of dishes are highly regional, so there are certainly some things you'll find in one and not the other. More important though, is the effect that tourism has had on shaping the food in each place. In Leonidio, the food tends to be pretty simple and very little of it isn't Greek. It's delicious too, with some of the best eggplant dishes we've ever had, as well as incredible olives, oranges, cheeses, seafood and local produce. The bakery outside our hotel is also outstanding. What it doesn't have is a lot of fancy restaurants. The breakfasts are amazing and we'll plan on going out together most nights for some really nice meals, some of which will be quite elegant, but a lot are pretty rustic in their charm. Kalymnos, once again, is a little more cosmopolitan in its food offerings. The seafood and Greek food are still incredible, the local Kalymnian Mermezeli salad is to die for, and the locals are magicians when it comes to octopus and squid. Upscale dining options abound there though, and as a result food and drink prices can also vary a lot more than in Leonidio. That's why we've decided only to include welcome and farewell dinners in Kalymnos, and to let you decide whether you'd like to dine on a budget the rest of the time or go big and splurge. In that sense Leonidio is a little more "all-inclusive" as well. 

Lastly, there's the matter of getting there. Leonidio is, we have to admit, a lot easier. On the Leonidio retreat we'll have your travel sorted from the moment you land until you take off again, and you won't have to plan a thing. Kalymnos is a little different. Since there are so many options for how to get there (see the FAQ above for details), we're going to let you make that choice for yourself. You get yourself to the island and we'll be there to get you; the rest is up to you. 

And because nobody is going to be able to resist asking which is better, the answer is neither - they're both incredible!