🧗‍♂️ The Best Indoor Climbing Gyms in Paris

Are you an avid rock climber looking for new challenges in the city of lights? Or perhaps you’re a beginner eager to try out this exciting and physically demanding sport? Either way, climbing in Paris has never been so easy, with all the climbing gyms which have been built in the past few years. In this article, we’ll introduce you to the best places to climb in Paris. Whether you prefer bouldering, top rope, or lead climbing, you’ll find a gym that caters to your needs. So if you’re ready to discover your next climbing challenge in Paris, read on!

🧗‍♂️ Types of Climbing

In this article, we will talk about two types of climbing you could find in a climbing gym:

• 🧱 Bouldering: You climb on an artificial wall, with routes made with different levels of difficulty. You have a bouldering mat for falling safely. You only need climbing shoes.

• Roped Climbing: You can find three types of roped climbing in a climbing gym:
  • 🪢 Top Rope: the climber is securely attached to a rope which then passes up, through an anchor system at the top of the climb, and down to a belayer at the foot of the climb.
  • 🪢 Lead: It requires that the climber brings the rope up with them and clips each quickdraw on the way up. This is a more advanced form of climbing than top rope.
  • 🧲 Top Rope Auto-Belay: An automatic belay device takes up the slack as you climb, thereby negating the need for a belayer on the ground. When the climber reaches the top, or if they fall, the device automatically catches the climber and slowly lowers them to the ground.

📍 Where to Climb in Paris

In Paris, the majority of the climbing gyms are dedicated to bouldering. However, you can still find a few climbing gyms which offer all types of climbing such as lead/top rope climbing or auto-belay climbing.

Moreover, the different companies have more or less the price, so you will need to evaluate the climbing gyms more on how you feel there.

Now, you will need to answer a few questions, so I can show you a selection of the best climbing gyms based on your needs. Let’s go!

🗺️ The Paris Climbing Gyms Map

You can see in the map below all the climbing gyms in Paris colored by what type(s) of climbing they have:

Press to open the legend, in the top left of the map
Press to open the map in the Google Maps app

Bouldering
Top Rope Auto-Belay
Top Rope/Lead Climbing
Bouldering, Top Rope/Lead Climbing
Bouldering, Top Rope Auto-Belay, Top Rope/Lead Climbing

👟 Which Climbing Gear to Buy

To climb, you would need different equipment:

• Climbing shoes
• Liquid chalk
  or
  chalk + climbing chalk bag (if authorized in the climbing gym)

In the case of top rope auto-belay or top rope/lead climbing, you will need in addition:

• Harness

In the case of top rope/lead climbing, you will need in addition:

• Climbing carabiners
• Assisted-braking belay device

Let’s see where you can get them!

🛒 Where to Buy Climbing Gear in Paris

Sometimes, you will be able to buy your climbing gear in the climbing gym. However, if you want a more specialized or cheaper shop, here are my 2 recommendations to try and buy your climbing gear:

Conclusion

To summarize:

• If you want to climb in Paris and be able to practice bouldering as well as lead/top-rope climbing, Climb Up or Arkose is a great choice, you can find everything in one spot. Climbing District can also be interesting if you are ok with auto-belay climbing as well as bouldering, as their climbing gyms are close to many trendy neighbourhoods of Paris.
• If you don’t mind doing bouldering only, Vertical’Art is an interesting choice, as they manage two bouldering spots in Paris downtown.
• If you are looking for the cheapest solution, you might try to be a climbing club member, but the spots are rare, so you need to be lucky 🍀.

You have now all the information to practice this trending sport where everybody is very friendly and respectful to each other.

Enjoy 🧗‍♂️