Fixed base cycling in Girona area?

[User269]

Hi everybody, and I hope you've had/are having a jolly festive season.

We're planning our next trip, late May early June, and (gulp) I'm thinking of going somewhere other than Mont Ventoux or Mallorca!

So, any recommendations or advice about the general area around Girona or northish of Barcelona? We'll be renting a villa, and would like to stay put for 2 weeks, and enjoy riding from our doorstep, preferably with a few challenging climbs, and of course in a generally rural setting.

If you know the area, I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts. (preferably on this forum, as I find telepathy quite distressing at times).

Standing by!

 

[Cathryn]

Probably not that useful a post but we got stranded in Girona in May and it was an utterly gorgeous little town! If you contact the tourist office, they had loads and loads of leaflets on cycling in the area, I'm sure they'll be able to help.

 

[Proud2Push]

A few years ago in June we flew to Girona with the bikes and did a two centre cycle camping trip spending a week near Santa Pau in Garrotxa (extinct volcanoes and the Pyrenees on the doorstep) then cycled down to Calella de Palafrugell on the Costa Brava for the second week - loved every bit of it. BTW isn't Girona where Lance Armstrong was based to train for the tour? So you should find plenty of climbs. The area has lots of natural springs, even in towns and villages, so cold drinking water is freely available almost everywhere. (And the small grocery shop in Santa Pau sells wine en vrac ) There are some amazing little villages rescued from dereliction following the civil war - Pals and Peretellada for example. Along the coast there are a number of small resorts - Llanfranc, Calella de Palafrugell (not to be confused with Calella), Agua Blava (?).

These tours by Inntravel might give you some ideas:
http://www.inntravel.co.uk/Holidays/Cycling/Spain.aspx

 

[rualexander]

Two weeks would be quite a long time for staying in one place and having sufficient routes not to have to repeat them, especially if you are riding most days. So I would recommend a two centre option.
Maybe a week in or near Girona itself, a fantastic town, with good rides in all directions, you could get down to the coast and back in a day, or up into forested hill country.
For a second week, maybe somewhere further west near Berga, from where you can get to the higher mountain passes, and lots of nice small towns and villages.
We spent three weeks touring in Catalunya in October this year and it was excellent.
Girona Airport is excellent for bike access, nice quiet rural road straight from the airport, and handy hotel at the airport if you are arriving late/leaving early.

Photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/rualexander/sets/72157622669990277/show/

Videos (still some to put up) : http://www.youtube.com/pedallingalong#g/u

 

[gavintc]

We went to Girona on a training week about 3 years ago in Mar. It was a with wives (non cyclists) trip. They found the area excellent and had enough to occupy them while we cycled. There are some good roads, but we did note that we although there are some quiet backroads, we seemed to hit busy main roads for at least part of every day. We probably did not know the roads well enough. The hills near and on the coast are excellent. A word of warning, we had glorious weather most of the week, but from nowhere a snow storm appeared when we were on a hard climb (and then descent). We froze on that day.

Nice city, good food and we had an excellent hotel - Historic Apartments.

 

[andyfromotley]

if you know where you will be staying, www.bikely.com has a search facility where people store routes for rides. i have found this useful for the costa blaca area. hope this helps.

andy

 

[User269]

Wow, thanks everyone, certainly lots to check out there.

No doubt I'll have more questions when I've checked out some of those links and searched some of those places mentioned.

 

[jay clock]

I have been going to that area since 1975 and it is stunning. The town of L'Escala is a superb place - busy fishing town but good tourist infrastructure, and outside July and August very few tourists. Ideal for a base, and if you like triathlons as I do, a perfect swim and run location too