To the north and west of Valencia there are numerous rock climbing areas. These include the excellent sport climbing found at Montanejos, Cuenca, Chulilla, Alto Mijares and the bouldering at Albarracin.

Albarracin is the best place to go bouldering in Spain, and is often described as the next best in Europe behind Fontainebleau. Like Fontainebleau, Albarracin has many huge ancient sandstone blocks that are solid, well-weathered and situated in a forest. There are a variety of problems to climb from quality slabs, amazing arêtes, overhanging walls on crimps and cracks, to huge roofs. There is a good spread of grades at Albarracin ranging from Fontainebleau 3 to 8b+, with the majority in the 5 to 7b range.

One of the main advantages of bouldering at Albarracin as opposed to other bouldering areas within Spain is the temperature. Albarracin is at an altitude of over 900m above sea level, making the air cool enough to climb throughout most of the year except high summer and is generally very dry. Find out more about bouldering in Albarracin.

Hidden in the rugged country to the west of Valencia, the small town of Chulilla clings to the northern edge of a massive limestone ravine. Here are nearly 1,000 sport routes across a wide range of grades from F3 to F8c+, with both single pitch and multi-pitch routes to choose from. 

The climbing at Chulilla is mostly on grey limestone, but some of the best routes can be found on orange bands of limestone. The grey technical slabs are fingery, whilst the orange routes provide technical mostly vertical and slightly overhanging routes with tufas. However the routes are long and require plenty of endurance. The average route length is over 30m long and an 80m rope is advisable to get the best out of any trip.

The best time to climb at Chulilla is from September through to June, though there are shaded crags if the temperature gets too hot. December and January are an especially good time to climb at Chulilla with warm days that are sunny and almost no rain.

The Chulilla sport climbing guidebook is the definitive guidebook for Chulilla covering over 1,300 routes at 56 separate crags. All the routes are shown on colour photo topos and is in English and Spanish text throughout. It details 283 routes from F3 to F6b; 500 routes between F6b+ to F7b; and 292 routes over F7b+ including some projects. Buy the Chulilla sport climbing guidebook from our shop.

The medieval fortified town of Cuenca is located around 170km east of Madrid overlooking the Huécar and Jucar rivers. These rivers have created 2 beautiful limestone gorges providing an abundance of single pitch sport routes on good quality rock. The climbing style is technical, powerful pocket climbing on sharp steep limestone rock, providing an exceptionally intense sport climbing experience.

There are over 1,600 routes at Cuenca, mainly in the medium to high grade range (F6b to F8c). The crags generally have easy road side access, and are all fairly similar in shape and size with the routes between 15m and 30m long. The typical route is a slightly overhanging face climb of around 25m long, with a mixture of crimpy holds and finger pockets on alternating sections of orange and grey limestone rock.

Cuenca sits at an altitude of over 1,000m and it is possible to climb all year round. The many different sectors face all orientations meaning it is always possible to find the sun or the shade. However the best time to visit Cuenca is during the spring and autumn as it can get very cold in the winter.

The current guidebook is called “Cuenca Sport Climbing Guidebook” which describes over 1,400 routes in 27 main sectors. There are a few easy routes at Cuenca but the majority of the routes are in the F6a to F8c grade range. Buy the Cuenca Sport Climbing Guidebook from our shop.

Montanejos is situated about 90kms from Valencia and has recently undergone a climbing makeover by local climber Ernesto López, who has re-equipped many of the routes with thousands of new bolts and anchors, plus he has written a new guidebook for the area. The climbing is generally on steep limestone rock with the majority of the routes being from F6b through to F7c. There are over 1,400 routes here, all within a short distance from the village of Montanejos, spread across 57 areas. The majority of the routes (over 1,200) are single pitch sport routes, though there are also some multi-pitch routes up to 260m long – some of which are bolted and others require trad gear.

Montanejos is situated 500m above sea level and due to the orientation of the crags it is possible to climb all year round, though the best time is from Easter to Christmas. Summer is a popular time to visit, alternating between shaded crags and a swim in the river or natural springs. There is a variety of accommodation within Montanejos including a climber’s Refugio.

The current guidebook entitled “Escalada en Montanejos” describes over 1,400 routes and is available to buy from our shop.

The Alto Mijares region is located near the town of Olba that covers both sides of the Mijares River and its tributary, the Palomarejas River. Where these two rivers converge, there a number of limestone crags along the banks of both rivers between 20m and 50m high. The vast majority of the sport routes here have only been developed since 2012 that means the limestone rock is still rough with little to no polish.

There are sport routes situated on either side of the Mijares Gorge meaning both sun or shade can always be found making, hence climbing is possible throughout the year. There are currently over 400 sport routes at Alto Mijares with the majority of these in the F6a to F7c grade range.

The current guidebook entitled “Alto Mijares – Olba rock climbing guidebook” describes over 400 sport routes and is available to buy from our shop.

Other significant sport climbing areas near Valencia are Bunol and Jerica. There are around 300 single pitch routes at Bunol spread across a number of different sectors. There are over 100 routes at Jerica that are generally long, with some routes up to 55m. Both crags have a good range of grades and are covered in the "Roca Espana Costa Blanca North rock climbing guidebook". In total this guidebook covers 40 crags around Valencia and the northern Costa Blanca area. Buy this guidebook from our shop.

To the south of Valencia there are a number of crags around the towns of of Gandia and Bellus offering mainly single pitch sport routes.  Further south is the extensive Costa Blanca area – the original winter sun rock climbing destination.