Tarragona

The autonomous region of Catalunya lies in the north-east corner of Spain, bordered by France to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the east. It has a rich distinctive culture, its own unique language, and great pride in its history.Tarragona is the most southerly of Catalunya’s four provinces and its landscape is one of great variety and diversity offering everything from sandy beaches on the coast to rugged and impressive mountain ranges inland. The vast majority of Tarragona’s 900,000 inhabitants live in the larger coastal cities, meaning the interior remains very sparsely populated, with few towns having more than 5,000 inhabitants. For climbers, particularly those seeking single-pitch sport-routes, Tarragona is an absolute treasure trove, and widely regarded as one of the finest venues in Europe. To catalogue every climbing area in the region would result in a book so thick as to become unwieldy and we have therefore largely concentrated on the northern part of the province, encompassing the Serra de Prades and Serra de Montsant mountains. The selection of sectors from within each zone has been limited by various factors, not the least of which is space. It is inevitable that some climbers will think we have omitted important sectors, but we feel that the majority will be happy with our choice of venues. Within these pages even a regular visitor should find enough climbing to occupy many happy years.