If you ever decide to visit Catalonia and ride a bike, these are our best 5 loops you can try. Montseny mountains loop. 90 km, 2 big climbs (Coll Formic and Santa Fe del Montseny) and 1900 mts elevation. A true gift of catalan roads and a demanding ride (especially if you add the climb to Turó de l'Home!). On a working day, you will find zero traffic (or close to zero). The best part is the 25 km descent (yes! 25 km descent!) once you get to the top of Santa Fe. Stunning. See Strava route here: https://www.strava.com/activities/11650429207 Montserrat loop. Being close to Barcelona, some would try to cycle to Montserrat from the city of Barcelona, but we suggest an unbeatable loop with 80km, 2 climbs (Montserrat and Coll de l'Obac) and 1500 mts elevation . The starting point is Monistrol de Montserrat and a very good place for parking is the Cremallera train station. The views of the sacred catalan mountain are just amazing during most of the ride. We see how the mountain change shapes while we are surrounding the big mountain. See Strava route here: https://www.strava.com/activities/18358976330 Girona province north loop: Col de Banyuls and Sant Pere de Rodes. 96 km, 2 major climbs and 1700 mts elevation Starting at Perelada, a small town in Girona province, famous for the Casino and its summer concerts. The route gets to Espolla and climbs Col de Banyuls in a very little road with no traffic. Very steep descent to France to Banyuls sur Mer and back to Spain in the hilly coastal road. Once in Port de la Selva you climb to the Sant Pere de Rodes Monastery, a challenging and superbeautiful climb overlooking the sea. See Strava route here: https://www.strava.com/routes/3518895907270440540 The beginning of the Pyrenees: Coll de Bracons
If you ever decide to visit Catalonia and ride a bike, these are our best 5 loops you can try. Montseny mountains loop. 90 km, 2 big climbs (Coll Formic and Santa Fe del Montseny) and 1900 mts elevation. A true gift of catalan roads and a demanding ride (especially if you add the climb
Camino de Santiago is an amazing trip that you can do in so many ways: walking, on a mountain bike (gravel bike), on a road bike... There are also many different Caminos, depending on your starting point and the different ways you can follow. The trip we suggest is a road bike trip following the classical french Camino, starting at Saint Jean de Pied de Port in France, and getting to Spain through Puerto de Ibañeta. Some trips start at Roncesvalles, already in Navarra (Spain) avoiding the climb to Ibañeta. There is also the Northern Camino (along the coast), the Via de la Plata, or the Portuguese Camino (see map above). The Camino de Santiago road cycling trip we suggest here includes stages about 100 km long, and the end is at the Atlantic Ocean in Finisterre (the end of the earth in Galician language), instead of Santiago de Compostela. Obviously it is very easy to shorten the trip in one stage and arriving at Santiago de Compostela in just 7 stages and 790 km. The trip gets all the highlights of Camino de Santiago as Roncesvalles, Puente la Reina, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Burgos, León, Ponferrada or Monasterio de San Julián de Samos. The villages, the cathedrals, the paths, the hostels, the restaurants... Such an amazing experience the Camino is! The stages: Stage 1) Saint Jean de Pied de Port-Estella 120 km, 2300 mts elevation including Ibañeta Stage 2 Estella-Santo Domingo de la Calzada 100 km, 1500 mts elevation Stage 3) Santo Domingo de la Calzada-Fromista 138 km, 1800 mts elevation including Puerto de la Pedraja. Stage 4) Fromista-León 112 km, 700 mts elevation Stage 5) León-Ponferrada 107 km, 1400 mts elevation including Foncebadon-Cruz de Hierro Stage 6) Ponferrada-Sarria 100 km, 1300 mts elevation including O Cebreiro Stage
Camino de Santiago is an amazing trip that you can do in so many ways: walking, on a mountain bike (gravel bike), on a road bike… There are also many different Caminos, depending on your starting point and the different ways you can follow. The trip we suggest is a road bike trip following the
