Vlychada

Crag Summary

For a family crag Vlychada seriously has it all. A pristine beach with beautiful pebbles and clear calm water. The crag just a stone’s throw behind the beach – not a huge number of climbs but it really covers the bases. A long vert 6 right up the nose of the wall overlooking the beach, through to some more overhanging territory with cool rock features, round to some shorter technical routes and then finally a little bolted kids corner. There’s a ‘Hidden Gem’ crag if you walk a bit further in which promises more hard climbs too. You can bounce between rock and water all day long.

• Style: single-pitch sport
• Parking: 36.85897, 23.03793
• Topo and Approach details:
  • The Panjika Cooperative climbing guidebook covers Vlychada too
  • The Crag provides route lists and parking/approach info.
• We visited on: Tuesday, 28th November 2024
• Who else was there: a handful of other people – just such a relaxed vibe though!

Nearby

Kyparissi is an hour north, up the coast. The road between Kyparissi and Vlychada winds around through tiny, rural villages.

After Vlychada we carried on south stopping at a very cute village, Limin Leraka, settled along a pretty estuary and providing an easy and interesting little hike to an ancient city Zarakas with 500+BC Hellenistic ruins and cracking views. And then further south we visited the striking ‘tied island’ town of Monemavasia which is a lot of fun to explore.

If the weather had been on our side, we would have ventured to the tip of the peninsula and climbed at Zobolo which looks absolutely wonderful. Instead we headed back north making a rainy stop at historical Sparta (and nearby ancient Mystras ruins) before a quick recce of climbing crag Nestani – which is convenient and kid-friendly (playground at the parking – bonus!) for a sunny day but overlooks a rather busy highway.