La Gomera/Tenerife

tubaonwheels

I've booked a much needed holiday for me and my wife in Feb. Having a week on La Gomera (Hermigua) then a week on Tenerife (Puerto de la Cruz). The wife is not a cyclist so we do lots of walks together. My plan is to hire a bike at La Gomera for the week and get out exploring the island in the mornings, so getting lots of hill training in. Anyone any experience in the bike hire there? Not sure if it might be better to get a mtb hardtail so I could do a few trails as well as road.

As for Tenerife, I really want to ride Teide so plan just to hire a bike on one day for that aim, then give riding a miss rest of week to try and keep in the good books! I'd rather do Teide with a group as I'm not the best at sorting mechanicals should the unexpected happen.
The last three times I've been to Tenerife I've bottled Teide due either to weather or the expense..... Must do it this time!

Steve.

culverwood

I have hired and cycled on La Gomera. You are right you will get lots of hill or more accurately mountain training. The Island is like a volcano with the towns and villages around the edge and the roads all leading to a small plateau and then down again to wherever you want to go. I cannot remember what type of bike we hired but suspect it was a hardtail MTB as we wanted plenty of gears for the climbs.

tubaonwheels

culverwood wrote:

I have hired and cycled on La Gomera. You are right you will get lots of hill or more accurately mountain training. The Island is like a volcano with the towns and villages around the edge and the roads all leading to a small plateau and then down again to wherever you want to go. I cannot remember what type of bike we hired but suspect it was a hardtail MTB as we wanted plenty of gears for the climbs.

Yes, that's my thinking too, I love hills so no problem there and should set me up nicely for Teide.

durhamwasp

We did Teide in November 2015 from Puerto de la Cruz.

Tbh Puerto de la Cruz isn't the best for weather, as tends to get a fair bit of rain in the winter months compared to the South of the Island, so if your wife is wanting to sunbathe you might be better in the South! We actually ended up hiring bikes from the South of the island too, although I believe there is one hire shop in Puerto de la Cruz.

We wrote about our trip there at this link... https://snookcycling.wordpress.com/teide/

tubaonwheels

Cheers Wasp. First time we went to Tenerife was on a cheap last minute deal to Las Americas...... Loved the Island but after hiring a car realised that the North was way better than the South - for us that is. Have been back about ten times since and always stayed in Puerto de la Cruz, We love it!
The walking is fantastic, the night life is much more to our taste ( we probably are a bit older than you ), it feels more like real Spain to us.
I've emailed the hire shop there but as yet not recieved a reply.

I may suss out hire shop in South when we come off La Gomera and keep options open for the Teide ride.

Steve.

durhamwasp

tubaonwheels wrote:

Cheers Wasp. First time we went to Tenerife was on a cheap last minute deal to Las Americas...... Loved the Island but after hiring a car realised that the North was way better than the South - for us that is. Have been back about ten times since and always stayed in Puerto de la Cruz, We love it!
The walking is fantastic, the night life is much more to our taste ( we probably are a bit older than you ), it feels more like real Spain to us.
I've emailed the hire shop there but as yet not recieved a reply.

I may suss out hire shop in South when we come off La Gomera and keep options open for the Teide ride.

Steve.

We had a good time there, no doubt about that! Just thinking if somebody wasn't cycling and loved the sun...

I eventually got a reply from that shop, but he wanted the money upfront transferring to him, so didn't bother.

carbonclem

Last year I stayed in Playa Parasio in the South and CanariasXperience delivered my bike, a Pinarello Razha d12, to the hotel for about 30 euros - with helmet, pedals and basic tools. On reflection, I could have got a bus to the shop and collected for nothing, but I didn't know that in advance. Still, it made life easy. Three days hire was about 80 euros.

I rode up Tiede via Arona and Vilaflor, refuelling in Vilaflor. I then used the cafe at the Parador which had the slowest service ever for some food and drink at the top. I descended towards Los Gigantes. The upper roads were awful and made it really hard work, it was only after a few miles that it smoothed out and once below the clouds it became enjoyable! Take arm warmers and a gilet for going downhill.

90 mile route with about 12k feet of ascension overall. Brilliant ride and highly reccommended. Pretty easy to find your way about too - I just used some key towns jotted down to head for, and a free tourist map.

tubaonwheels

There's a bike hire shop in Puerto de la Cruz so I think I'll just hire a bike for the day and go for it. I can suss out the route out of town prior, once over the main dual carriageway and onto the Oratavo roads it's just a matter of following El Teide signs....I may stop at La Caldera where there's a cafe, it's only about 1/3rd of way up but nothing after that until El Portillo at the start of the plateau, top up drinks there and ride to Parador - photos - then nice ride back down to Puerto. I need a poo now just thinking about it

carbonclem

Cool, have a good one. Just thinking back, you may still get snow up there in Feb so roads may be closed?

tourdriving

Nearby the airport you can find bike hire http://www.gomeracycling.com/bike-hire 38811 Playa de Santiago (ROAD-MTB-E-BIKE) also a link for La Gomera http://www.lagomera.info here you also can find buses for the Island

This shop maybe closed Telemaco Rent a Bike 38820 Hermigua +34 657 06 91 11 (MTB-E-BIKE)

tubaonwheels

tourdriving wrote:

Nearby the airport you can find bike hire http://www.gomeracycling.com/bike-hire 38811 Playa de Santiago (ROAD-MTB-E-BIKE) also a link for La Gomera http://www.lagomera.info here you also can find buses for the Island

This shop maybe closed Telemaco Rent a Bike 38820 Hermigua +34 657 06 91 11 (MTB-E-BIKE)

Cheers, we are staying in Hermigua so if the shop is there I'll find it .

tubaonwheels

Well, didn't get much riding on the trip after all. Did hire a mtb for 3 days on LaGomera and got three short but very hilly rides in. It's a fantastic island for walking so at least got lots of that activity.
Teide once again eluded me! The bike shop was closed in Puerto due to the owner passing away recently. I didn't want to spoil what was a fantastic holiday by worrying about finding another option to get a days riding. I decided instead to add a couple of steady runs to our daily walks to maintain a reasonable level of fitness.

I will conquer the beast one day!

Steve.

spooky28

I am trying to decide between staying on La Gomera or La Palma.

I suppose I am asking if anyone has been to both and could compare them for me. (I know this is a difficult ?)