Cycling in Spain, Valencia to Gibraltar.
- Thread starter Polite
- Start date
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jay clock
Massive member
- Location
- Hampshire UK
I have done the coast from Almeria north to Valencia and there is a LOT of development. The southern bit is similar. I have also done UK to Gib, and the northwest corner. I would head inland personally.
My blogs here https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/directory/?user=julian
In terms of camping there are loads on the coast but tend to be on an industrial scale. Inland they are either remote and in national parks etc or on the fringes of big towns and full of long term residents (aka semi homeless). Put it this way, on my last two trips to Spain I posted my camping kit home each time. On the longer trip I stayed one night in a campsite for €14 and the hotels/hostales were in the range of 22-30 inc wifi and aircon.
France is the opposite, with cheap camping and pricey hotels
My blogs here https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/directory/?user=julian
In terms of camping there are loads on the coast but tend to be on an industrial scale. Inland they are either remote and in national parks etc or on the fringes of big towns and full of long term residents (aka semi homeless). Put it this way, on my last two trips to Spain I posted my camping kit home each time. On the longer trip I stayed one night in a campsite for €14 and the hotels/hostales were in the range of 22-30 inc wifi and aircon.
France is the opposite, with cheap camping and pricey hotels
xilios
Veteran
- Location
- Maastricht, NL
We rode part of this route going the opposite direction (Malaga to Alicante) last fall. While some sections were OK at best there were a lot of terrible sections.
We will never do this again.
Portugal on the other hand was fantastic and we will definitely be cycling there again.
Our advice find a inland route or another country.
What part of Portugal did you cycle through? We're for the Algarve next week and I'm hoping to keep my eyes peeled for some decent routes to return solo and maybe do the cycle to Gibraltar. I was there as a teenager and always said I'd like to return.
Dave Davenport
Guru
- Location
- Hampshire
We've cycled a fair bit in northern Spain, it's a good country to tour in IMO. We rode the coast road south out of Barcelona for about 70 miles before turning inland, it's not a particularly nice route, busy and not very scenic and as has been mentioned, the camp sites tend to be expensive 'resort' type ones on the coast, you only need to go a few miles inland and it's much nicer (and cheaper), also if you're going in summer it's much cooler away from the coast. Although camp sites are scarcer and more expensive that in France, food and drink is much cheaper.
If you're coming out of Barcelona airport there's a bike path that runs around the airport periphery that you can access via an underpass from the ground level car park outside the terminal (it wasn't signposted when we were there a couple of years ago) CGOAB blog here; https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=tS&doc_id=13062&v=8g
If you're coming out of Barcelona airport there's a bike path that runs around the airport periphery that you can access via an underpass from the ground level car park outside the terminal (it wasn't signposted when we were there a couple of years ago) CGOAB blog here; https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=tS&doc_id=13062&v=8g
xilios
Veteran
- Location
- Maastricht, NL
From Porto to the Algarve, check it here.
That looks incredible, although even thinking of planning something like that would give me a headache! Some of those cycle paths look fantastic. Do you have a map of the route?
xilios
Veteran
- Location
- Maastricht, NL
I don't have a map, we just winged it and generally followed the coast line as close as possible.
We used the maps.me app to follow the least traveled (smallest) roads.
We find it more interesting to make our own route as we go along, much more fun that way
We used the maps.me app to follow the least traveled (smallest) roads.
We find it more interesting to make our own route as we go along, much more fun that way
jay clock
Massive member
- Location
- Hampshire UK
I have done Portugal three times. I would stay away from the south coast and you will be fine www.crazyguyonabike.com/julian
xilios
Veteran
- Location
- Maastricht, NL
I second that. From Lagos to the Spanish border was not much fun.
Lagos to Porto was by far the best part of Portugal. Next time were in Portugal we'll be going inland a bit.
jay clock
Massive member
- Location
- Hampshire UK
The coast road from Faro to SPain was actually ok, it was west of Faro was worse. Main benefit of Portugal is the empty interior and cheap food and lodging. I didnt camp there. I also did Porto to Santiago that was great
The built up bit west of Faro wasnt that bad - only one day out of 20 odd - the remainder of the coast between Santander and Malaga yielded a lot of interesting places - Im glad that ive been and seen - I knew it was a Brit enclave but it was a bit of an eye-opener that it was so Anglicized
