rock climbing in prades, spain
1 700 rock climbing routes, some bouldering

The mountains of Prades are formed by a range that rises sharply to the north out of the plains of the Camp of Tarragona. This excellent example of Mediterranean mountain range, dominated by high plateaus, broken by crags and gully's built on a complex geology that shows surprising materials as the red clays and white chalks of the crags. We present five rock climbing areas, all of them located near the nice city of Tarragona, about 100 km south of Barcelona.

Some call the area Costa Daurada, though the correct name is The Mountains of Prades. This is an excellent example of Mediterranean mountain range, dominated by a tabular relief with high plateaus, broken by crags and gully's built on a complex geology that shows such surprising materials as the red clays and white chalks of the crags.
We present five rock climbing areas, all of them located near the nice city of Tarragona, 100 km south of Barcelona. The history tells us that La Riba-Farena was the center of rock climbing in this area 30 years ago, but things has changed - now, Siurana is the main target for anyone with a short holiday that is looking for perfect rock climbing, beautiful nature, picturesque villages and a vide* range of routes. Siurana has it all (*There is a lot of hard rock climbing in Siurana, the majority of the routes is graded from 6c and harder).
If you bring a car, or rent one, a couple of days or a week could be spent in La Mussara, Mont-ral or in the area of Arboli. All these areas offer many nice crags, and from La Mussara and from some of the crags in the area of Arboli you will have a beautiful view over Costa Daurada and the Mediterranean Sea. Mont-ral offers a calm and beautiful area with the crags spread in the slopes below the village.
The TOPOS presented here covers each route (from what we know) of each area except from La Riba, produced and published during 2003. More than 1700 rock climbing routes, in a TOPOS covering more than 110 pages.
La Riba was, compared with the other areas, not worth working for and we could not recommend it. In many cases there where obvious that rock climbing was unusual and the tracks was impassable. The main crag in La Riba, which is also the choice of the local climbers, is presented and the area is a good stop if you want a bigger supermarket and has been visiting the town Montblanc.
The mountains of Prades is the kind of place you love as you are there, long for when you have left it and tell yourself that you will return to soon. The only negative factors is that all those places is located so far up in the mountain so that you need a car and need to drive about 10 kilometers to reach a food store, though each village can offer food and bed at the frequent Refuges. In Siurana and Arboli you will find both Bars and Restaurants.
It is not a place for families with children, the access to the crags is often step and the roads and the car parks is often placed near steep slopes.
The summer is to hot, so spring and autumn is the season for rock climbing, and if you are there at the right time the beach isn't far away, but expect from climbing and the extraordinary nature the area don't offer any especial activities for resting days.