Kalymnos Pt. 1 - Better than Last Time

Victoria and I went back to Kalymnos for 10 days this September just about a year after the first time we went. After casually discussing the possibility of going back at some point, we got a price alert for $475 round-trip direct flights to Athens and immediately pulled the trigger.

As a first post reviewing the trip, I'll go through some of the crucial things we did better this time that made the trip even better than our first time on the island.

Travel Time

We were able to drastically reduce the travel time to Kalymnos this time around by cutting out a flight and timing the ferry better. We got a direct flight overnight from Newark to Athens (the price on this flight sometimes drops below $500 round trip occasionally so set price alerts), and then just had one more flight to get to Kos. We arrived in Kos around 10pm, and fortunately there was a ferry at 11:30pm from Mastichari to Kalymnos. It appears that, at least in peak season, there is a ferry every night at 11:30pm for all the late arriving flights (see the ferry timetable to the right and in the Kalymnos Guide). We finally got to Masouri around 12:30am for a total travel time of ~18 hours - that was 12 hours less than last year's ~30 hours which was three flights and included an overnight in the Athens airport. It effectively gave us an extra full day on the island and we were able to adjust to the timezone more quickly.

Transportation

This time around I arrived with an International Drivers Permit (acquired at AAA) and was able to pick up an ATV we had reserved. Even with the IDP we could not rent a scooter as I don't have a motorcycle license (I still don't totally understand how most others appear to be able to rent scooters no problem, maybe it's just more common for Europeans to have scooter/motorcycle licenses). Using an ATV is a great way to get around the island and get to crags. They can easily carry two people with packs, and can handle rugged dirt roads well - where scooters may struggle. An ATV is just as easy to park as a scooter. Note that a full-sized car would be a hassle to park, both at the crags and in Masouri, so I would not recommend one. The choices of climbing areas is enormous with a vehicle, and you'll also save a lot of energy on approaches by driving right up to the trail heads. Just from personal experience, I had great success with Kalymnos Scooter Rental.

Plenty of room for 2 passengers and packs on our trusty ATV.

Crag Selection

In the late summer months, it's just too hot to climb once the sun hits the cliffs. The rock gets slick and unless there is a strong breeze you'll bake while on the wall. We did a much better job chasing shade this time around. The majority of cliffs face west or south and get sun in the afternoon. It's definitely worth getting an early start on these, but we also strategically slept in a bit later to go to areas that get shade in the afternoon (e.g. Arginonta Valley, Secret Garden). There are also some crags that incrementally get sunny, so you can stay in the shade by working your way from one side of the cliff to the other (e.g. Simplegades, Ghost Kitchen).

Secret Garden is very shady until late afternoon (photo taken ~2pm)

Breakfast

We stayed in a studio rented though Airbnb located above the Prego restaurant. It included a hot breakfast every morning including yogurt, eggs, sausages, omelettes, and coffee. As it turned out, this was both delicious and wildly valuable because we spent less time grocery shopping, prepping breakfasts, and even packing less crag snacks. If you can find a spot that provides breakfast, it really helps more than I expected it would.

Exploring the Island

This one is a bit of an extension of the "Transportation" section (having the ATV enhanced our exploration opportunities), but this time around I'm glad we checked out every major settlement on the island. While the small towns of Emporios, Arginonta, and Vathy aren't vastly different from each other, they are all worth stopping by for food and a swim. Vathy has some cliff jumping opportunities as well as kayak rental. The Traditional Taverna in Arginonta doesn't look like much but has delicious, very traditional Greek food cooked right next to you. Emporios has several good restaurants where you sit right on the beach. The town on Telendos is another great spot for dinner/drinks - it's just 2 Euro to take a ferry over from the Mirties jetty.

The port of Vathy - kayak rental, a cafe, and a swimming area are at the end of the road.

A restaurant on Telendos right by the jetty.

Pre-download Movies & Bring Books

It is hard to get bored of the climbing on Kalymnos, but it is very easy to tire yourself out. Once you've exhausted yourself climbing and have gotten enough sun for the day on the beach, there aren't a ton of entertainment options available. It's not a bad idea to bring some indoor/evening activities. There is wifi all over the island but it seems to be spotty and slow at best, so we pre-downloaded a few movies to watch during downtime. We haven't really found a spot on Kalymnos yet where wifi was good enough to stream or download much of anything.

I'd also recommend bringing books or a Kindle. We didn't have any luck finding places to buy English books, but luckily we had brought a few with us.

Be Better

As with most climbing areas, you'll definitely expand your options and be able to jump on more of the classic routes by being a stronger climber. Victoria and I have both significantly improved and become more competent climbing outdoors than last year (hooray!), and this made a massive difference in the areas we'd pick and the routes we'd do. It also helped avoid crowds a bit, though honestly we only really felt like a crag was overcrowded once on the trip (at Arhi).

Unlike some areas like the Red River Gorge where you'll find steep juggy routes as easy as 5.8-5.9, nearly all routes under 5.10b will be slab or vertical. Generally the easiest vertical to past-vertical tufa climbing is around 5.10c/d. It seems to me that the highest concentration of 5-star routes is around 5.11b-5.12b, though of course there are classics below and above this range and it varies from sector to sector.

Victoria on a wild tufa route in Ghost Kitchen ("Remember Wadi Rum" 5.11a)

Having been to Kalymnos once before was incredibly helpful for our experience the second time around, and hopefully next time will be even better. I'll update the area guide with some of this additional info as well. More to come on our Kalymnos trip soon!