Help with a chavvy holiday....

londoncommuter

pppp

sungod

tbh october will be a weather lottery anywhere in europe, might be warm/sunny, might be cold/wet

lanzarote can be good, it's my default for a cycling getaway, if people are ok with it you could get a big villa with multiple bedrooms, pool etc., otherwise hotel availability/pricing should be good that time of year, i'd aim for playa blanca, it has (small) beaches, plenty of shops, bars, restaurants etc., and is a good base for cycling as you can be on one of the two quiet roads out within a few minutes, unlike the bigger towns on the east coast where it'll take longer to get away from town/traffic

janwal

Look at Majorca.We go every year early October,weather and temps still very warm/ hot.Base ourselves in C''an Pastilla about a 5 minute bus ride from the airport , 12km from Palma.Lots of rides within easy reach either climbing such as Col de Soler or flatter inland routes for good sprint runs.Berganti bikes on prom is very good and you book bike online before you go.About 15€ day for good carbon with Ultegra.Good range of bars etc.
Lanzarote also good but can be windy most of the time you just have to put up with it.Costa Tequise is good for reaching all parts of the island.Can recommend Blue Bay Hotel.

Matthewfalle

Lanzarote - check out the H10 Rubicon Palace and pay the extra to get the select bar/restaurant/room package away from the chavs and their football shirts.

Brilliant cycling and running, seven pools for the kids, top food and wine so long as you don't mix with the chavs.

pinno

Menorca is supposed to be very good for family, kids and cycling.

It's next on my list of holiday destinations.

alan_sherman

Menorca is not good for road cycling. Pretty much one main road down the spine of the Island IIRC. Mallorca much better.

trek_dan

I went on a stag week to Tenerife at Playa de las Americas and similarly couldn't stand sitting around all day. Managed to fit in a few days cycling when I wasn't dieing hungover. The bike hire shop is right next to the resort and its easy to navigate if your riding solo as every route goes up a giant volcano. Good chance the weather will be very pleasant in October.

cazhadfield

Alcudia ticks all the boxes, it's got everything you'd want in terms of 'main resort tackiness' (shops, pubs, big resort chain hotels with kids clubs etc), the beach is perfect for families, especially young children, not too far from the airport and it's got all/most of Majorca's best cycling on the doorstep (relatively speaking) with plenty of high quality bike rental options in resort.
You've got a very good chance of the weather still being great in October as well I would have thought.

mrb123

Mallorca all the way but if you can't swing that then Benidorm would be a good choice from the ones you listed as it's very close to a popular area for pro teams to train.

martinperry

Nothing Chavvy about Calpe - between Alicante (Benidorm) and Valencia
Really nice smaller resort with great beaches and loads of nice apartments / hotels.
Cycling is fantastic - lots of pro teams base themselves out there in the winter - Easy to do 5000M days if that floats you boat!
Specialized Roubaix SL4 20 Euro / day to hire from Vuelta Turistica
No connection - just done my second short week out there this year.
Also fantastic local walking to keep the non cyclists entertained
If you want to check ot the area, Strava is your friend!

sheffsimon

londoncommuter wrote:

Shouldn't grumble but I'm being forced to arrange a weeks holiday in October for 6 adults and 3 kids. Looks like it's going to have to be some nasty resort somewhere with a beach and pool and I've given up suggesting more interesting places.

The path of least resistance seems to be Canaries/Mallorca/Spain etc etc. Personally, I'd probably rather be at work than sitting on a beach all day but at least if I can smuggle a bike on the plane (or hire one there) I can get some rides in.

I've never been to any of those places riding and they do sound great (Flanders is as exotic as I've managed). Mountains and spring weather in October sounds brilliant.

I don't think I'll be able to steer the location far from an airport (and that might work better anyway if I have to make my own way to the hotel/villa/apartments with an enormous bike box). Probably end up being a package holiday I guess.

So what do people think, of the tacky places where is best for riding, Malaga, Palma, Benidorm, Alicante, Valencia etc etc?

It sounds like there are better places e.g. Port de Pollenca, Denia but, as mentioned, I can't really drag them away from the main resorts without a good non-cycling reason.

I guess I can fit mainly 4 hour rides in so better if half of that wasn't spent riding out of a city. Actually starting to appeal a bit, early start and then fat boy greasy breakfast every day.....

Sorry the above is so vague but I'm a bit clueless on this.

Rent a villa with a private pool, then you don't have to deal with anybody.....is what we always do.

homers_double

Matthewfalle wrote:

Lanzarote - check out the H10 Rubicon Palace

We stayed in a different hotel there but MrsHD and her friend went for a spa afternoon and they gave the hotel a massive thumbs up.

First.Aspect

You can make any holiday chavvy by behaving like one. Just pretend its all about you and that no one will be annoyed by your children.

I think what you really need though, is a snobby holiday. That would be a much better fit.

londoncommuter

ppp

napoleond

Alcudia-
Big family resort but with good bike hire shops and easy access to good cycling

londoncommuter

NapoleonD wrote:

Alcudia-
Big family resort but with good bike hire shops and easy access to good cycling

Still need a good excuse for dragging them there and would have to practice a surprised face as they spot all the bike hire shops.

webboo

Poor you. You've got organise a holiday but you would rather stay at work than lie on a beach and you never been to any of these places but you have deceived they are chavvy.
If I was part of your family I would make you stay at work you grumpy bastard.

napoleond

Ok, the beach at alcudia is fantastic, really good, and there's a good water park and good variety of nightlife, a family oriented resort with loads of good restaurants etc.

awavey

just be aware around the Costas in Spain in October/late autumn the weather can be changeable and you get these storm fronts develop that detach or get stuck so they basically dont move away till they blow themselves out, and then you get the most bonkers weather, torrential downpours, thunderstorms, hail, high winds, they call them locally Gota Fria

was a while back now,stayed somewhere near Calp certainly that part of Spain,looked great for cycling albeit none of my travelling companions were interested

had 3 days of glorious sun,sangria and high temps all very nice, and then one of these weather systems developed and it was torrential rain,hail the size of golf balls,storm force winds for nearly the next 3 days,all the local roads flooded and were basically impassable so we were stranded in our villa, which lost power periodically for hours on end and then got hit by lightning which really didnt help the power situation. and then on the seafront of the local town once we escaped the villa, all the seafront bars/shops/restaurants were wrecked, broken windows, flooding, mud, sand, the beach was littered in bits of broken boats. it was an experience type of holiday thats for sure.

this wasnt the storm we had but this is similar to what its like
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34409667

not that Im trying to put you off but Id never heard about these types of storms, till we encountered it, and we'd just assumed chavvy holiday in Spain, October weather will be nice sunny and warm.

trek_dan

londoncommuter wrote:

Tenerife - are there many routes there? Looks (again from Google) to be link Gran Canaria and all about the one big thing to climb.

Plenty of routes but they all go up a yarking big hill. You can do boring flat stuff at home, nothing like smashing out a 20 mile long, 7000ft in one go climb before breakfast. Grow a pair.

londoncommuter

ppppp

trek_dan

Mallorca is a lot more varied then Tenerife. Teneife is generally just a big volcano with coastal resorts dotted around the outside. For Mallorca I've only stayed on the quiet side (Porto Pollenca) of the island, I'm guessing if your going with the family you'd be over the Shagaluf/Parma side.

bernithebiker

londoncommuter wrote:

I love the closeness of Can Pastilla to Palma airport but is it the wrong side of Palma to be near the hills (basing this on a non-scientific gazing at Google maps)? Having that bike hire so close is pretty cool though.

Can Pastilla is a good choice, but so is anywhere near Palma, (Bendinat, Illetes, Arenal, etc.) so that you have access to one of the nicest small cities in Europe. (My family love the shops, restaurants, museums, etc.). And the transfer is super quick (taxi <20 Euros, <10 mins).

You're right that Can Pastilla is the 'wrong' side of Palma, but only by 5km and the bike path along the coast to Palma port is pretty.

The cycling in the South West of the island is excellent and varied so you'll be happy there too.

andcp

londoncommuter wrote:

So what do people think, of the tacky places where is best for riding, Malaga, Palma, Benidorm, Alicante, Valencia etc etc?.

I'm in Malaga as I type, and it's not that tacky, in fact it could be considered quite cultural. Plenty of galleries and museums, decent bars and restaurants, several beaches nearby, and it's very cosmopolitan. Ridings excellent too: http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/find.do? ... &q=Malaga+ Never been before but I will definitely return.

crescent

Can't see past Mallorca for holiday/cycling. Menorca is nice but, as others have said above, doesn't have an abundance of good routes - I was there last year and a bit frustrated by the lack of decent rides to be honest. Mallorca can be as chavvy or as unchavvy as you want to make it but as long as you avoid the likes of Maglaluf you should be able to find a nice resort that meets the requirements of your family (pool, beach etc) and yourself (cycling routes etc). I have been to Alcudia a couple of times with my family and it definitely ticks the boxes for pools, beach etc but now that it's just me and the mrs we prefer quieter resorts like Port de Pollenca. There are numerous cycle hire outlets throughout the island and quality bikes are readily available to hire, personally I wouldn't bother taking your own bike over. As far as routes go, you can pick flat coastal roads, mountains, stunning scenery, hairpins, iconic climbs - the list is endless.

durhamwasp

Mallorca.

Beautiful island, unbeatable cycling.

janwal

You are not lacking hills from C'an Pastilla at all.Take coast cycle path to Palma,up through centre on cycle route and out onto Soller road.Within an hour you are climbing the Col de Soller.You can come back over if you want to.Or go through Soller and turn right and climb up Pugh Major! Then come down through Inca and back to lowlands.If you turn left instead come back via Deia and Valdermossa . You will certainly know you have been climbing .If you don't go over Soller first, turn left on way to Soller up to Valdermossa first,a long climb but Valdermossa is a must visit village with great and welcome cafes.Then over to Deia and back over Col de Soller.For gentler days head out the other direction through Arenal and up into centre of the island and then back down to the coast and come back along it.Some good head down roads if you want them.You can do Sa Calobra from C'an Pastiila it's just a longer ride to get to it up through Inca.If you were feeling masochistic you could do Sa Calobra after you have done Soller and Pug Major!!Plenty people do.
You can go out from Palma right up the coast to Santa Ponsa and Andratx,mainly on a large cycle pathway.Then climb back over plenty of hills to get back.To be honest having stayed at both ends of the island the Palma end is our preferred one as we feel it gives more variety.