Barcelona is a great cycling destination, that’s for sure. And cycling the hills around Barcelona is a must for any keen cyclist.
Even if it is a big city, cycling is great in Barcelona, with nice climbs, smooth road surface, very good weather, and polite drivers.
Very close to Barcelona there are several hills very interesting for us cyclists. Not big first category mountains, as they are a bit further, but from the same Barcelona there some very nice ones, really worth cycling up there. The average range would be about 350-400 mts height with 5-6 km of climbing. As said before, very interesting to put together some of them to do some nice workout!
10 hills around Barcelona
- Tibidabo is the main hill around Barcelona. The church on top overlooks the whole city and is the main destination of every keen cyclist arriving in Barcelona. 500 mts height.
- Forat del Vent (literally “Hole of the wind” in the Catalan language). Very interesting loop including this climb and Tibidabo, a classic for the after-work local rides. The road to Forat del Vent is very nice especially on the Cerdanyola del Valles side, with scarce traffic and nice views of Montserrat from the top.
- La Vallensana. In the north of Barcelona, belonging to Serralada del Prelitoral. Especially recommended from Montcada i Reixach, no traffic. Very interesting (and steep) add-on the climb to Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol (Can Ruti), on top of the hill, on the seaside of the climb.
- La Conreria. Vallensana and La Conreria is another perfect loop, very similar climbs. Nice views over the sea from the top.
- Coll de Parpers. Very much recommended. About 30 km from Barcelona, it is the road from La Roca del Valles to Argentona. A classical loop would be climbing Parpers from La Roca del Valles and returning to Barcelona on the flat (and busy) coastal road NII. Coll de Parpers has become a road just for cyclists since a tunnel for cars was open a few years ago.
- Creu de l’Aragall. Nice climb especially from Gelida. Not so interesting the side from Corbera de Llobregat as the road leads to the busy N340
- Port de l’Ordal. A classical climb to get from Barcelona to Penedes wine region. Ordal is on the road N340, which can be busy. A very popular climb for locals.
- Ullastrell. From Terrassa to Martorell. Very nice climb, not so nice when getting the busy cities at the bottom. Another classical ascent around Barcelona, and a classical approach to get to Montserrat.
- Coll d’Orrius. Very close to Coll de Parpers, and again a perfect loop including both climbs. Some steep parts, though!
- Els Cassots. In the Penedes wine region, starting at Sant Sadurni d’Anoia. No traffic, very easy to put together with its neighbor Port d’Ordal.
There are other nice climbs which should be mentioned in the list as Alella-Font de Cera (much better on the side from Vilanova del Valles than the coastal side), Can Bordoi (pretty much used in Volta a Catalunya to get to Montseny mountains from the coast) and El Collet (maybe the easiest way to get from the coast to the inner road leading north from Barcelona).
