Cycling Holiday In Spain

Lawman1965

Folks,

I'm looking to sort out a cycling trip to mainland Spain in June 2016 but have no idea of good areas. I'm OK with hills/mountains, but my wife isn't. Therefore, I need somewhere that suits us both, ie. easy(ish) access to climbs for me but flat roads for my wife. We have just come back from Majorca and stayed in Port De Polenca and that was perfect - so, somewhere like that.

I was thinking of the area around Alicante or the area around Malaga/Nerja.

Does anyone have any good advice regarding towns or villages that I could research on Trip Advisor? Any help will be much appreciated.

Rich

HertsG

If you're OK with hills, there are some great roads around Nerja eg up to Frigiliana and Competa. But even the old coast road from Nerja towards Motril has got some chunky rises.

Most importantly, remember that in June southern Spain can be fooking hot! Personally, I'd be sweating cobs just looking at a bike.

wide phil

I go a few kms outside Denia and have yet to explore it fully but for a couple of years now I do the flat lands between Javea to Oliva. Beautiful. Only an hour drive from Alicante

Wardster00

Mojacar is a coastal town about 40 mins east of Almeria and 90 mins west of Murcia. It has recently been the winter training base for Rabobank,Nett App Endura, Saxo Tinkov and lots of other teams.

Mojacar village is a lovely Moorish town and the beaches are great.

http://www.andalucia.com/villages/mojacar/home.htm

bernithebiker

Cambrils is a good base for cycling, about 80km South of Barcelona. Good roads with easy access to quiet moutains and pretty villages.

However, the coast around there is nothing write home about.

Majorca is pretty hard to beat as a package; having tried the North, why not try the South? Palma is a fantastic city.

bikingjohn

Did anyone try the Strava Local guid for Barcelona? They seem very interesting. I plan to visit Barca next Feb and ride those routes.

https://www.strava.com/local/es/barcelona/cycling/routes

fudgey

I am going to frigiliana again this august and taking the bike this year.
I have only planned a couple of rides so far but there looks to be some beastly climbs into the mountains! Not too sure how i will get on so we will see!

As for the weather, its bloody hot in august so ill have to be out the door very early to avoid the heat so i doubt ill be doing massive mile rides but what i have plotted on strava look like 4000ft of climbing over 20ish miles.
I dont know the area all that well tbh so i guess a bit of exploring will be in order.

If anyone has any routes for around there please let me know, either pm or post.

nferrar

If you're looking for a guided/supported holiday then I can highly recommend ACE (I've only been on their winter training camps but they do other sorts of rides). The area where they're based has a mix of fairly flat/undulating riding and big mountains so it's pretty easy to sort out routes that would suit you both
http://www.andaluciancyclingexperience.com/
If you're not looking for a guided/supported holiday then the area around there is still well worth checking out but you'd probably be better off basing yourselves in Rhonda as it has more accommodation and restaurant options etc.

cerutticolumn

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19625483#p19625483]bikingjohn[/url] wrote:

Did anyone try the Strava Local guid for Barcelona? They seem very interesting. I plan to visit Barca next Feb and ride those routes.

https://www.strava.com/local/es/barcelona/cycling/routes

I live in Barcelona and with the exception of a weekly commue, I always either put my bike in the car or take the train to the start of a ride. Getting out of the city by bike is not a pleasant experience. That said, less than an hour outside the city by train, there are some truly speactacular routes.

bikingjohn

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19627041#p19627041]cerutticolumn[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19625483#p19625483]bikingjohn[/url] wrote:

Did anyone try the Strava Local guid for Barcelona? They seem very interesting. I plan to visit Barca next Feb and ride those routes.

https://www.strava.com/local/es/barcelona/cycling/routes

I live in Barcelona and with the exception of a weekly commue, I always either put my bike in the car or take the train to the start of a ride. Getting out of the city by bike is not a pleasant experience. That said, less than an hour outside the city by train, there are some truly speactacular routes.

Thank you Cerutti. I will certainly consider hotels a bit near the outside.

How's the weather in February? Is it rainy?

markhewitt1978

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19558285#p19558285]bernithebiker[/url] wrote:

Cambrils is a good base for cycling, about 80km South of Barcelona. Good roads with easy access to quiet moutains and pretty villages.

However, the coast around there is nothing write home about.

Majorca is pretty hard to beat as a package; having tried the North, why not try the South? Palma is a fantastic city.

I've stayed in Cambrills and I can concur that it's a nice area, very similar to Port de Pollenca in fact. I didn't go cycling there but we did drive up to some mountains which were similar in nature to the Mallorca mountains, no idea how accessible they are by bike, but it's worth looking into.

Edit: It looks like about 15 miles crom Cambrills will see you into the mountains - which isn't too bad. Of course it's flat along the coast.

Bar Shaker

Jalon valley (also spelt Xalo) area is incredibly popular and you will see many teams training there in the spring.

The climb to Col de Rates is superb (worth a Google for the images) and riding onto to Guadalest, if you feel up to it, will be a good work out for anyone.

You also have the beach at Moraira, sea food restaurants at Calpe and even Benidorm if you fancy a post ride piss up.

Plenty of rental shops in the area too.

cerutticolumn

How's the weather in February? Is it rainy?[/quote]

TBH difficult to say, although probably drier than in the UK. Perhaps the other thing you need to bear in mind is that the further you get away from the coast, the bigger the drop in nightime temperatures. Beware of frost/ice on the roads.