Riding around Nerja, Southern Spain

KulaBen

Hello Bikeradarists,
In June i'm heading out to a place called Torrox in Spain, with Nerja being the nearest large-ish town. Thinking of taking my bike but had a few questions, and wondered if you could help.
First up which bike to take- hybrid or roadie. Not planning any mountain biking this time, but wondered how good the roads are and whether the Hybrid would be a better bet is it has a triple and can run wider tyres.
Second- any advice on where to ride, routes, that sort of thing. Any links to websites or maps would be greatly appreciated.

please let me know if you have ridden nearby and have some gems to pass on, thanks!

Ben

andymiller

Roads in Spain are, IME, generally excellent (the Spanish have investedvshedloads of money in new infrastructure). There are (or at least it depends to some extent on where you go) also unsurfaced caminos whuch might be worth exploring. You could always try checking the maps for the area (eg Viamichelin.com, and there's a Spanish government site with detailed topographic mapping.

KulaBen

Cheers Andymiller!

Garryboy

Been on holiday a couple of times to Nerja, very nice and fairly quiet.

Fraid it was before the cycling bug bit though, so cant help with routes - but as mentioned Spanish roads generally excellent

The N340 coast road was fairly quiet and there is a road up past the Nerja caves (worth a visit) if you want some hills.

Have a great time!

Cannon71

I'm off to Nerja in September too.

Can anyone comment on bike hire? (I see someone at Milton Keynes Bike Club lives out there (from their forum posts) but I can't get hold of him to ask about bike shops/hire.

I'd be looking for a decent (read >£700) road bike to hire for a couple of days throughout the week.

Anyone know of any shops that I should try?

Cleat Eastwood

Ive been to nerja and I can't recall seeing any bike/bike hire shops (i make a point on hols to come back with a local kit) although they must be there, as i recall the nearest one was in malaga.

I googled and found this:

http://www.sedikisandalusie.com/en/acti ... ur_MTB.htm

If you can find a bike I'd recommend having a look at the caves of nerja, its only a couple of miles up the road from and a trip to the mountain village of frigliana. It;s also worth your while trying to hunt down the dutch clock bar, full of....well clocks but a great dutch host/hostess.

suffolk rider

I rented a bike from Bike Iberia in Portugal last year: they were super-efficient and helpful, and I began to think about a further. As we discussed possibilities, they told me they could arrange to rent me a bike anywhere in the Iberian Peninsula, so it might be worth contacting them and seeing if they would drop one off there for you.

suffolk rider

I rented a bike from Bike Iberia in Portugal last year: they were super-efficient and helpful, and I began to think about a further trip. As we discussed possibilities, they told me they could arrange to rent me a bike anywhere in the Iberian Peninsula, so it might be worth contacting them and seeing if they would drop one off there for you.

suffolk rider

I rented a bike from Bikeiberia in Portugal last year: they were super-efficient and helpful, and I began to think about a further trip. As we discussed possibilities, they told me they could arrange to rent me a bike anywhere in the Iberian Peninsula, so it might be worth contacting them and seeing if they would drop one off there for you.

KulaBen

Cannon 71- you'll love it! We did a great loop from Torrox to Competa up the A7207, down the hill to Algorrobo (I think ma111) then coast road to Nerja, up the hill to Frigliana then back from Frigliana to Torrox. About 45 miles, mostly good tarmac (apart from Frigliana to Torrox) and great downhills. I'm told the coast road beyond Nerja is good too.
As for bike hire try Velez Malaga, they have a couple of reasonable bike shops, though not sure if they hire bikes. Torrox Costa does have a bike hire place though not sure of the standard of steeds!
Had you considered taking one? Jet2 charged me £30 each way, which I didn't think was too bad.

Cannon71

Thanks Cleat. I found that place too - the problem is that you've got to hire the bike for 4 days. In itself, I have no problem with this, but as the break is a 'family holiday', I'm under orders not to be out cycling "the whole time"!

And thanks Suffolk. BikeIberia seem to be geared up more for MTBs. And I'm not sure their price would be competitive for just 1 or 2 days hire if the bike is to be delivered from Lisbon!

KulaBen, I'm sure I would! Thanks for the route suggestion btw. Taking my own is not really an option as I don't have a box (yet!) and we're taking all the 'baby-stuff' so having another box would be logistically impracticable

I think I need to arrange a specific 'biking holiday' so I can justify a bikebox and 7 full days of exploring!

Thanks all!

suffolk rider

Ben, for the record, bikeiberia rent out road bikes (MTBs as well), and - if I'm not mistaken - may use a franchise system when supplying outside Lisbon. Total cost was 25 euros a day for. But it's up to you if you want to contact them or not.