Travel between the UK and Greece has just become easier and, hopefully, cheaper. Starting in February and in May 2010, respectively, Viking Hellas and Easyjet have added several flights from Manchester and London to Greece.

Travelling to some climbing destinations in nearby Europe leaves you with the feeling that you’ve just stepped through a door. Convenient, admittedly, but you can’t help but regret that you’ve missed out on something; that special ‘going-places’ feeling.

Travelling to Kalymnos never feels like that and there’s little to match the magic of that first visit: a direct night-flight to a nearby Greek island; a crazy hurtling taxi ride to the Kos port of Mastihari, rucksacks hanging out of a wide-open boot; dumped in a dark, silent harbour (where do you get tickets? where’s the ferry?); dozing through the early hours on a beach lounger, waiting for the boat. And then – magic! – first rays of the sun on an island across the water! Kalymnos; it must be! Well that’s how it was for me.

For the last few years, flying via Athens to Kalymnos has been an equally exciting option (with fabulous views of Telendos) though landing isn’t always possible in bad weather. So arriving via Kos remains a popular choice. Easyjet must believe this too because, as from May 2010, the carrier has scheduled direct flights to Kos from the UK, four times a week. Use it and they’ll keep it running! All you need to do now is to e-mail their marketing department to explain how good it would be if their flights started at Easter (or all winter!). Ryanair also have summer flights (late-May to end of October) to Kos from Frankfurt-Hahn (Thursday and Sunday) and from Milan-Bergamo (Tuesday and Saturday). Travellers from the UK could investigate a two-leg link-up to Kos via one of these two airports.

Flying out-of-season currently involves a change-over at Athens… but here’s something new! Viking Hellas now fly Manchester-Athens three times a week for what seem to be very reasonable prices. This started in February 2010. Apparently, Viking Hellas have established agreements with Olympic Air (Athens-Kos, Athens-Kalymnos) and Aegean Airlines (Athens-Kos) to provide ‘convenient connections’ to the Athens flight network and onward to the islands.

The Kalymnos airport

All this is very good news with even more options for your travel to Europe’s best all-round climbing venue.

-Carl D.