Majorca or elsewhere

garetjax

hi,

i have a week end of February and am considering heading to Majorca. I will be going with my family.
Looking for suggestions as to whereabouts to stay on the island. Want good cycling obviously (I like hills and scenery,) and which would have some decent places to shop and stroll around for the family. We want to avoid the tower blocks. Fancy a villa or something.
Any suggestions?

Any other destinations worth considering? I went rock climbing in costa blanca once, looked ok but plenty of traffic. There was a leg of some bike race going on also, which was good to watch.

Just wondering about transport of the bike. Any suggestions getting the bike from the airport to our accommodation. Maybe hire a car + bike rack? I could cycle, but the wife might want me to drive.

synchronicity

I've not yet been to Mallorca.

If you want to focus on your climbing, Tenerife is also worth considering (but they're not in the same league I imagine). Traffic is fairly heavy along the North + South coastal routes of Tenerife now. So you really have to know where to go to get the most of it.

What Tenerife does have going for it is the weather, especially in Feb. Even then the major descents will be cold. Have a look at my sitefor further info about routes, weather, bikes, etc.

Why not consider renting a bike? I have a list of 24 places that rent road bikes in Mallorca :!: :shock:

Richie G

I went to Majorca for the first time this May. We stayed in Puerto Pollenca, which is an excellent base if you're cycling. I hired a road bike from here: http://www.procyclehire.com/pch/index.html
If you decide you don't want the hassle of transporting your bike i would recommend this place - i found them helpful and even though i had their cheapest bike it was a delight to ride. Puerto Pollensa is quite quiet (it's mainly an older persons resort) and in a nice location, as it's close to the mountains of the north. I'd recommend the road to Formentor - fantastic views and some fun climbing/descending. I personally found it a bit of a revelation riding round this part of the island - motorists were very respectful, probably because there are so many cyclists about.
I was only on a family holiday, so i didn't get a huge amount of riding in but i'm sure there are others on here who can give you a bit more info about where to ride.

Cheers
Rich

Roadie Rods

I'll second the area around Porto de Pollenca in the NE corner of Majorca. From here you're in good strking distance of three or four major climbs (Puig Major, Sa Calobra, Soller, etc), as well as being a good base for flat rides through the middle of the island, where you can also find some shorter climbs up to monastries such as Randa. Fermentor is a pleasant ride, but the road surface is terrible. I've been several times now, and if you're going in February you will be well before the main tourist season. My cousin recently hired a villa in Pollenca, which is a couple of miles inland from Porto de Pollenca, and is a little quieter than the Port area.

Thoroughly recommended cycling - great variety of roads, friendly and respectful car drivers, and generally pretty good weather. Do bear in mind that it is an island though, and can be windy and wet. Take clothing for every eventuality.

Cheers.

garetjax

Pollenca sounds ideal. I will read all about it in my Rough Guide. I really like the idea of renting a bike for a week - that would solve a few problems. I can take my own pedals and so on to adjust the bike set up.

Great stuff. Thanks.

synchronicity

Have a look here for more places to rent bikes in Mallorca:
http://www.tenerife-training.net/Foro-C ... .php?t=166

BigDarbs

I have recently returned from 10 days in Mallorca, it was my first time out there with my bike, and it was excellent.

I took my bike in its bag on Easyjet. I packed it well, and it survived both journeys unscathed. (I had carbon wheels, so I was a little concerned!) They were well set up at Palma airport to handle it, as they must see thousands of bikes during the year. We hired a car and stayed at the Hotel Formentor near Porto de Pollensa.

Most of the roads (Except the one out to Cap de Formentor) are very well surfaced with extremely light traffic, especially in the mountains. What they call a busy road in Mallorca is equivalent to a very quiet B-Road in the UK. I had no problems with drivers or traffic during my trip; my only advice is beware of the coaches on the mountain roads. Some of the descents are 50mph plus and the coaches have no choice but take some of the bends on completely the opposite side of the road. You have been warned!! :shock:

The best place to be located is the North East of the island, the mountains are easy to ride into from there or you can ride south across the flat areas if you don’t fancy climbing. Some of the climbs are epic, I had 10 days of blue sky, light winds and great roads. Have a look at this website for some well researched routes http://www.globalspokes.com/Mallorca/ma ... routes.htm These are all of the main climbs on the island. The road to Sa Calobra is a very, very serious climb!

I will definitely go back, it was a great 10 days.

snipz

I'm off to Pollensa in a week or so's time.

Anybody know the best way to transfer there from Palma airport?

Roadie Rods

There is a bus service from the airport. Alternatively it is a 45 minute - 1hour taxi ride.I've used a company called Janerbus in the past. Very reliable, but I'm afraid I can't remember their details. Should come up on Google though.

wibe12345

Hi,

This February I went to Nice (Castagniers/ Saint Paul de Vence), southern France. Plenty of relatively cheap accomodations and more importently: the cycling is spectacular. La Madone de Corbio is/ was Lance Armstrong's favourite training-climb. You might even run into him next year! (He named his Trek bike after it: Trek Madone.) Anyway, we found lots of different routes, the weather was nice (15-20 degrees).

Good luck,

Wibe, Holland.

garetjax wrote:

hi,

i have a week end of February and am considering heading to Majorca. I will be going with my family.
Looking for suggestions as to whereabouts to stay on the island. Want good cycling obviously (I like hills and scenery,) and which would have some decent places to shop and stroll around for the family. We want to avoid the tower blocks. Fancy a villa or something.
Any suggestions?

Any other destinations worth considering? I went rock climbing in costa blanca once, looked ok but plenty of traffic. There was a leg of some bike race going on also, which was good to watch.

Just wondering about transport of the bike. Any suggestions getting the bike from the airport to our accommodation. Maybe hire a car + bike rack? I could cycle, but the wife might want me to drive.

webboo

Wow a 10 year old thread resurrected.