Malaga area or Majorca mid-Feb?

snipz

Which would you choose for 1 week to put in the miles...weather, roads, etc as part of the equation?

vitesse169

I'm off to Majorca last week in Feb. There will be 18 of us - most went last year & had a great time - I didn't go, but am looking for the long rides this visit. Apparantly the climbs are fantastic, the weather great but it can snow so I'm told. However, looking forward to the time devoted solely to the training....

kozzo

Tenerife

Blonde

We are off to Mallorca in January. We wanted to go to on of the Canaries (Tenerife, Gran Canaria etc) as it will be warmer, but although the hotel prices are similar, the longer flight is too expensive for us. I guess it will depend on your budget. If weather is your main consideration, check BBC world weather and average conditions before making your decision on where to go. I have never been to Malaga so can't comment on that area. Do get a good (AA or similar) map before you go out anywhere - the tourist maps available on the islands (Canaries and in Mallorca) are absolutely pants.

Rich-Ti

Check out Lanjaron a little way from Malaga, south of Granda - much quieter and some awesome riding

macstaffs

i have been to Nerja on 2 separate occasions (45 mins drive east from Malaga) the weather on the whole is good, but you can get some iffy days, the terrain is excellent rolling roads to mountainous on the way to Granada.
I take it your taking your own bike? The one let down i found with the area is the lack of bike\hire shops, on my first visit i expected to be able to hire a bike, but none of the towns had any shops to speak of, which i couldn`t believe.

Ectomorph

Rich-Ti wrote:

Check out Lanjaron a little way from Malaga, south of Granda - much quieter and some awesome riding

+1 for Lanjaron & that whole route east along the Alpujarras. Stunning scenery, very quiet in early spring and a LOT of climbing. So much nicer than the coast. Bit cold at night though...

yogi

Check out Lanjaron a little way from Malaga, south of Granda - much quieter and some awesome riding

Rich-Ti

You've obviously been here; what was it like? Other than what you've already said. I've had look at the website and it looks very reasonable.

I've been to Granda and Nerja and liked the area. The roads were pretty quiet once you got away from the main ones. Also been to Mallorca which is very nice but a bit busy in the main resorts.

I'd probably be looking at April though as I'm all out of holiday. Always good to see feedback on training destinations. Ideally somewhere with a pool to keep the family happy while I get a few hours in.

Rich-Ti

yogi wrote:

Rich-Ti

You've obviously been here; what was it like? Other than what you've already said. I've had look at the website and it looks very reasonable.

I actually went there on a FreerideSpein trip, rather than road ride. However we did do some road sections to get to places, and as a lot of our riding started with a minibus drop-off we got to see a lot of the roads in the area.

All I can say on that basis is that there were times that I desperately wanted to be on the road bike! The roads out there were silky smooth, quiet and looked like they'd be AMAZING to ride on! My mates were planning to return in early June for another MTB holiday - I was actually thinking about going at the same time but with the road bike rather than the mtb... and that is saying something!! :shock:

Also Simon, Emma, Lee & Ryan are lovely people and great hosts (and great cooks!). Lee was our guide for the trip and he was both a great rider and a great guide.

ut_och_cykla

We spent last week of an unseasonably cold February in a B&B (English run) in Alora about 50 mins from Malaga. Nice, quiet road cycling & train into Malaga if a day off is needed but jolly cold at night and even some days. OUr hosts assured us it wasn't usually quite do cold but down near the coast it was positively balmy.

liversedge

i'm off to Majorca in April, North coast. Never been before. There appears to be some lumps to ride and sunshine - what more do you need?

Grimone

Could anybody recommend a place to stay? Prices etc for Majorca?

I wouldn't mind going out there myself!

liversedge

we're doing a family easter break for a week £1,800 for all 5 of us. I reckon better bargains are definitely out there but £350 a head seems reasonable.

snipz

Would love to go to the Canaries again as went to Las Palmas last year and the riding was the best I've done in all of the islands, however the prices are vast for 3rd week of Feb (half-term and I'm a teacher).

Been to Coin (inland from Malaga) and cycled most of Majorca before (and had a chilly one there a few few Febs ago) but thinking maybe the coastal roads south of Malaga may be warmer...however by the looks of things they are all busy routes linking the big resorts...would I be right?

The Other McHoy

I've trained a lot in Spain (there now) and my preferred destination is the Costa Blanca. The pro teams are often there in December and January and we were riding earlier this week for an hour with the Quickstep team who were based in Calpe - couldn't believe our luck! Last year we managed to hitch a ride for a couple of hours with Contador and the Astana team who were based in Javea. They are pretty relaxed about this if you sit at the back.

The Costa Blanca area around Denia provides a huge variety of routes on quiet roads and there are climbs galore. It is def. much quiter than Majorca with fewer riders and less traffic. Weather is nornally a bit better as well but recent winters all over Spain have been less predictable than usual.

The Vuelta will be in and around the Marina Alta mountains (on the Costa Blanca) this year on 2-3 days as well so it's a great chance to ride some of the routes and then watch it on TV in September.