Suppose you quit your daytime job and follow your heart... and decide to move (abroad) to live in the centre of a climbing area. What would be the best place to go to? I'm an average climber, so combined with my partner i'm interested in places with plenty of routes between 6b and 8b, but feel free to give other options. You should be able to occupy yourself the most of the year, so places like Kalymnos rule out unfortunately. Housing and cost of living should be relatively cheap, i'm thinking Spain is a good option.. but where in Spain? +1 for all tips!
The villages around Lleida if you just wanna climb and live cheap. If you want a good payed parttime job then Innsbruck is the place to be. A bit more expensive but very easy to find a good job and the climbing is almost as good as in Catalunya.
I agree with lleida as a good possibility. But from personal experience, Madrid is a great place. There are about half dozen great places to climb in less than an hours drive, a few of which that are really great are El Vellon, Patones, and La Pedriza. About an hour and fifteen minutes away is Cuenca, which is amazing climbing on 35 meter, vertical limestone. Plus Madrid will always have something to do even when not climbing and even though it is the capital there is cheap living to be found.
A good place is Tarragona, and the villages around it. There are a lot of good climbing areas, Siurana, Montsant, la Mussara, La Riba, Margalef,...And the Lleida climbing areas are in half past hour drive. I think it's better than Lleida because the weather isn't so extreme.
Thanks for all the feedback! @KINGCLIMBERS Tarragona is at the coast... I guess that increases the cost of living a lot, since it's also a popular touristic destination? And, how "extreme" is Lleida weather? I think Lleida's a very good option. The area has a lot of potential climb-wise!
Best area to live as a rockclimber