Bicycle Touring In Spain

sp-lgflag.gif Capital: Madrid
Currency: Euro
Population: 40.4 million
Food: Tapas, ham
Drink: Wines, sherry

Spain has some great off-the-beaten-track cycling waiting to be discovered.

You’ll find yourself in beautiful little towns, munching on tapas and drinking with the locals in the village bar.

Very flat fields!!On the other hand, beware the over developed eastern and southern coastline, where holiday resorts and busy roads dominate the scenery. There are some small gems among the highrises but they’re few and far between.

Our trip took us through Spain three times during winter and spring 2006/2007. The first time our route followed the Mediterranean coast from the French border, south via Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Malaga, from where we took the ferry to Morocco. We returned to Spain again with a ferry to Tarifa and spent a few days along the coast, taking in the Sherry-making towns of Jerez and Sanlucar, turning north to Seville and then crossing into Portugal. Our third and last entry into Spain was from northern Portugal and we crossed through the areas of Rioja, Navarra and the Basque country as we made our way towards France.

Wine, i don´t think they make wine hereSPANISH HIGHLIGHTS
The highlights for us were the Sherry-region of Spain, particularly the towns of Medina Sidiona, Jerez and Sanlucar de Barameda. The Delta d’Ebre rice fields along the Mediterranean coast were one of the few nice breaks from the sprawl, memorable as well for their unique landscape and varied bird life. Not far from Malaga, the Alpujarra mountains offered beautiful if challenging cycling. During our last few days in Spain we followed parts of the Santiago pilgrim trail and were amazed at the wealth of cultural sights in this area: churches, monasteries, Roman ruins and no end of picturesque towns, not to mention the wine!

Afternoon lunches on the beach were another frequent pleasure. You’ll find lots of beaches to eat your lunches on. Soak up the sun and while you’re eating and then use the water taps (normally for washing your feet) to do your dishes!

Although we generally loathed the cities because they were so hard to get in to, once you’re there Valencia is great with lots to offer including an amazing food market, a cathedral, roman ruins, a lovely park and beaches. A really nice stop to rest your legs for a few days. Malaga surprised us as we expected the city to be overrun with expats but it is actually has quite a lot to see including a Picasso museum, cathedral and fortress.

A fun, twisty road to navigateA MIXED BAG
Spanish roads vary in condition. Some of the back roads are bumpy after being patched over several times. Our bigger concern was finding a quiet alternative to busy routes and in cities like Barcelona it seemed almost impossible to leave without running into endless motorways. Unless you are determined to cycle every mile, it’s worth taking a train or bus into the bigger cities.

We used a Michelin road atlas of Spain and Portugal at 1:400 000 scale and found it adequate in most cases, although sometimes it would have been nice to have a more detailed map to find back road alternatives to the busy highways. Certain roads seem to have recently been renumbered in some of the provinces.

PRICEY CAMPING
We camped as much as possible in Spain but often you pay a lot for not very much in the campgrounds. They are ranked from 1st class (the most expensive) to 3rd class. If you see a sign that says 1st class you can expect to pay the better part of €20 for a tent and two people. This falls dramatically as you go down the ranks. If you go a bit inland, however, and away from the main tourist drag it is easy to wild camp.

A big loaf of bread in Jerez!!Accommodation costs took their toll on our budget. We tried to live within €25 a day and this was a challenge, although possible if you wild camp a bit and limit beers and other treats. The supermarket chain Dia is a good place for budget shopping and they sell museli at just over €1 for a kilo, great for breakfast! You can expect to pay €50-60 for a two-star hotel, around €1 for a coffee and €7-10 for a set menu in a simple restaurant.

Comments

  1. Tim
    21st March 2013 at 11:55 pm #

    Dear sirs,

    We are group of 3 people from Russia and wish to join a group for cycle tour on period from 27-Apr (or a bit earlier) to 7-May (need to arrive to Moscow on 8-May).

    Is any guided tour are available for us? We will need one double and one single accommodation.

    Ideally we wish to join to 6-10 days tour for intermediate/advanced cyclists on road bikes. However we will consider all available tours during these dates.

    Thanks in advance.

    Regards,
    Tim

    mob.tel 0041 531 97 33

  2. America Abroad
    27th March 2013 at 8:45 pm #

    I assume this is an old post considering you mentioned 2006 but it would OBVIOUSLY be useful if a date was at the beginning or end of the text.

    My hope is to go from Barcelona to Tarifa and maybe continue on to Cadiz or Portugal beginning somewhere after the middle of April. The bicycle I use is a basic mountain bike with gears but I plan to relax and probably do some camping in the wild if without any weather problems. A little hoping to find a few or atleast one more to join me because my Spanish is below intermediate but the locals have always been friendly to me in the past IN THIS WONDERFUL COUNTRY.

    • Tim
      28th March 2013 at 8:49 pm #

      Hey man, nice to hear you! Are you ok with our dates? We can not shift it anyhow… if yes, drop me a line to [email protected]
      cheers
      Tim

  3. James
    21st August 2014 at 1:44 pm #

    Hi there,

    Do you have a route you followed from BCN to Malaga that you perhaps might like to share with me?

    James

  4. Steve Hammond
    7th July 2017 at 5:36 am #

    Hi there.

    Great site and resource – thanks for your efforts.

    I’m 10 weeks into my European trip….started in Amsterdam, heading for Morocco, currently in France and about to cross into Spain in the coming weeks.

    I’ve read, heard differing things re the camping situation in Spain and the costs, I’m considering picking up a Pilgrims Passport here in France as I plan to ride the north coast through Spain which is considered the Norte Route for those doing the Camino, that way, if I can’t find camping I can look to stay at a Refugio / Auberge.
    What are your thoughts on this approach??

    Also, what are the helmet laws in Spain. Is it illegal to ride without a Helmet?? I’ll google it now, but just putting it out there….I’ve been enjoying riding without one tbh.

    OK! Thanks if you can help me out.
    Cheers,
    Steve.

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