Leonidio, Greece

Leonidio, Greece has recently appeared on the radar of winter climbing hotspots in Europe. This idyllic village lies about 3.5 hours south of Athens and rests on the coast of the Peloponnese, a historic mountainous peninsula with a deeply indented coastline that juts into the Mediterranean Sea. Having already climbed in Kalymnos, we were curious to see what mainland Greece had to offer, and our short, two-week trip in late December allowed many favourable comparisons.

The Greek island of Kalymnos, a stone’s throw from the Turkish coast, is world famous for its limestone rock climbing. My first visit to the island was with my wife in 2005. We enjoyed it so much that we vowed to return, and we did 4 years later with our young daughter in tow. That was 2009 and I just returned from my third visit to Kalymnos. I was pleased to see much has remained the same from my fist trip almost 10 years ago.