Does visiting a climbing mecca that's located on some of the world's most pristine beaches sound like a dream come true to you? If you love rock climbing and beautiful beaches, Railay Beach is the place for you, and Real Rocks Climbing School is the school to do it with. Real Rocks Climbing School pride themselves on catering for all ages and abilities. They offer a range of courses, so we went for the half day of climbing and this is what we thought:
1. Real Rock Climbing Experience
We were picked up from the door of our hotel in Ao Nang, and it was just a quick tuk tuk ride and long tail boat ride to Railay Beach. It was so exciting approaching Railay Beach by boat because it's so beautiful:
From the docking station it was a quick walk to Real Rock's shop, where we were fitted with climbing shoes and harnesses. After we'd been given water, we headed on over to the rocks. They were right on the beach and they were beautiful.
2. Our Instructor & Climbing at Railay Beach
Tanbay and I had an instructor to ourselves. His name was Won and he was very friendly and skilled. He taught us how to tie our knot in a figure of eight. He checked it each time and always announced 'knot good' (and each time I thought he meant 'not good'... I'm slow). It turns out, however, that I'm not slow at climbing, and Won agreed with Tanbay that I was the best (yey). Now the site we were on had lots of other climbers, but as there were a lot of different routes, we didn't have to wait long for our turn.
The rock faces were perfect to climb on, with lots of natural foot and hand holds.
Furthermore, the rock was smooth and soft and felt like the fake climbing walls, despite of course being natural - it's as though nature intended us to climb these rocks! The climbing quickly got higher and harder, but made up for it with more and more incredible views:
The last course was incredibly hard, and I was ready to give up and go home, but our instructor really encouraged me and kept saying one more try! And when I finally did it, it felt so incredible and I'm really glad he encouraged me - thank you Won!
Tanbay and I both really enjoyed the rock climbing, partly because of the location, partly because of the challenge and partly because of our super cool guide.
Rock climbing is definitely something we will be doing more of in the future!
4. Railay Beach
After the climb, our half day still wasn't over and we were unexpectedly treated to a trip to the beach around the corner.
This beach was one of our absolute favourites in Thailand and I'm glad we got a chance to visit. It was the perfect place to relax after a morning of climbing.
We also witnessed an elderly man climb up the rock face with no ropes or harness! According to Real Rocks Climbing and to our neighbour who went on another day, this is a regular occurrence. Whilst we definitely don't recommend that you climb without ropes, we certainly recommend that you check this old guy out - he was very entertaining to watch, and worth the donation he expected afterwards.
5. Wrap Up & a Short Note about Real Rocks Climbing
We were extremely impressed to discover that Real Rocks Climbing School is very eco friendly. They offer regular support to local beach clean ups, make charitable donations to NGOs and help spread environmental awareness initiatives in the local schools. This is extremely important in such a beautiful place with such a high number of tourists. Furthermore, for the last two years they have had a work-study program for disadvantaged kids which offers internships for teens who would otherwise not have access to such opportunities. For the above, we give Real Rocks Climbing our Weasel of Approval (like a seal of approval, but awarded by us). :)
Unless you've skipped straight to the bottom of this post, you won't be surprised to learn that we loved our half day with Real Rocks Climbing and highly recommend them. The location is great, the staff are wonderful and the whole company can definitely be admired for their noble actions. You can find Real Rocks Climbing on their website www.realrocksclimbing.com/ or via email - realrocksrailay@gmail.com. In case you're interested, check out our daily vlog, where I summed my climbing experience up well by saying 'it's perfect, it's kinda soft, but hard...'
Disclaimer: Travelling Weasels were invited as guests of Real Rocks Climbing, Railay. As always, all opinions are our own and we would never recommend anything we haven't personally tried and loved. Because that's not cool.
ABOUTME
We overland. We eat plants and fungi. We live outside as much as possible. We are all connected. A female travel blogger overlanding and writing about ecotourism, ethical and sustainable travel, socially conscious travel and housesitting. An online travel magazine since 2015.
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