Rock Climbing in the Far East and Australia

Rock climbing in the Far East is not as developed as Europe and America, but it still offers some world class locations such as Hampi in India, Krabi in Thailand, Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, Yangshuo in China, and Thakhek in Laos.

India has a number of developed rock climbing areas in south of the country, but it is the stunning bouldering at Hampi that attracts climbers from all over the world. The bouldering at Hampi is on fantastic granite rock that is amongst ruins of temples up to 800 years old, hence providing a unique climbing experience. The Golden Boulders Guidebook covers the bouldering at Hampi. Find out more…

There are many sport climbing areas throughout Thailand, but by far the largest area is around Krabi, in the south of the country. This popular holiday resort is home to the famous Railay and Tonsai rock climbing area. Here there are many excellent single pitch sport routes and some bolted multi-pitch routes, most of which are right off the beach in a magical setting. Find out more…

Ha Long Bay’s towering sea cliffs are the most well-known and popular climbing destination in Vietnam providing many sport and deep water soloing routes. Ha Long Bay lies in the Gulf of Tonkin just off Vietnam's northern coastline where there are approximately 1,600 limestone karst islands. Many of these walls rise directly from the sea and are ideal for deep water soloing. Cat Ba Island is the largest island in the bay where the majority of the sport routes are found. 

The Vietnam rock climbing guidebook details all of the routes found at Ha Long Bay plus the sport climbing at Huu Lung, Quoc Oai, and Mai Chau near Hanoi. Find out more...

Yangshuo is the most well-known and popular climbing destination in China. The stunning scenery is famous for its limestone karst towers that dominate the skyline. The area is huge and climbers have only just scratched the surface in terms of developed routes. The sport climbing found at Yangshuo has something for everyone, with routes ranging from F4 to F9, scattered over 40 sectors. Buy the Yangshuo Rock Climbing Guidebook from our shop.

Hong Kong is a surprising location with plenty of accessible climbing on the edge of a vibrant city.  The majority of the climbing is on granite or volcanic rock, with the majority of the sport routes being up to 20m long, plus with some bolted multi-pitch routes up to 5 pitches long.

The best places to go rock climbing in Australia are around Melbourne and Sydney. Around Melbourne there are 3 great places to go rock climbing, which are Mount Arapiles, The Grampians and Mount Buffalo. Around Sydney the best place for rock climbing is in the Blue Mountains, plus there is some great sport climbing at Nowra. Find out more…

Thakhek and Vang Vieng are the best areas to go sport climbing in Laos. Thakhek is by far the largest climbing destination within Laos, with around 400 sport routes and 60 boulder problems. The rock climbing at Thakhek is very varied, ranging from a huge roof to loads of tufas, face and slab climbing. The huge roof here is unique with routes ranging from F6b+ to F8c. In total there are around 400 sport routes at Thakhek on good quality limestone rock, across a wide range of grades, from F4 to F8c. The vast majority of the routes range from F5 to F7c. Vang Vieng is the 2nd largest sport climbing area with almost 100 sport routes.