Level
This week itinerary goes through the inland and along the coast of l’Empordà, one of the most beautiful landscapes in Catalonia. This allows a perfect combination of bike and beach holiday.
The great tour of the Empordà starts in the magnificent city of Girona and offers a complete itinerary across the Empordà (inland area of Costa Brava) that is one of the most beautiful landscapes of Catalonia. Cyclists will have a fantastic view of this region, inland and coast. In few kilometers, riders will see a great variety of landscapes, such as medieval villages, olive trees, vineyards, and traditional fishing villages.
It’s a challenging route for medium level cyclists, due to its gradients that include safe mountains passes of 5 and 10km. This route takes you also to Cap de Creus, the eastern point of the Iberian Peninsula.
The route starts and ends in Girona and combines a rocky coastline, a soft countryside and a rural atmosphere. Following the coast to the North you’ll find the important Greek-Roman ruins of Empúries and the natural park “Aiguamolls d’Empordà”, important centre of birdwatching. Towards the interior you visit an area with rolling relief and picturesque medieval villages. You will visit the most important spots of the area like La Bisbal d’Empordà, the region’s capital with its beautiful castle, and also the medieval historic monumental village of Peratallada. You return to the coast to the picturesque fishing village of Calella de Palafrugell that still retains it original charm with its typical colored houses by the sea. On your way you’ll find excellent gastronomy, both from the sea and the field, impressive wild coast, large sandy beaches, and charming little medieval villages.
*Bike routes for road or gravel bikes
Day 1: Arrival at Girona
Accommodation: Double tree by Hilton
Arrival at your own. 1h by train from Barcelone.
In Girona there is plenty to see and to do. The city is famous for having one of the best preserved Jewish old towns in the world, the Cathedral boasts one of the largest stone vaulted spaces in Gothic architecture and the walk along the cities ancient walls is a recommended highlight.
Day 2: Girona
Route: 65kms / 680 mts
Accommodation: Double tree by Hilton
Welcome meeting in our office to pick up and bike bitting.
The first day we will discover the inland country side of Llémena Valley with his big ancient farms. After surrounding the small volcano of Adri , we continue crossing some humid and wooded areas. Today is a warm up ride.
Day 3: Sant Feliu de Guixols – Torroella de Montgrí
Route: 61km 483m+
We start south through a plane until Llagostera. From there we start the climb of Sant Grau (465m). After passing the col a great descent with fantastic views over the Mediterranean sea will be recorded on your mind for all your live. This coastal road has been used for the Tour de France in 2009. We finish our ride at the beach of Sant Pol, just beside the Sant Feliu main beach.
Day 4: Torroella de Montgrí – Castelló d’Empúries
Route: 52 Km 190m+
Today is an easy ride. This stage enables riders to cycle quietly towards the plain the beaches in Empúries and l’Escala. In Empúries you should take the time to visit the archeological site Empúries with Greek and Roman ruins dating from 600BC, the gateway of the classic cultures to the Iberian Peninsular. The route finish in Castelló d’Empúries with a stunning cathedral that shows how powerful was the village in the ancient time.
Day 5: Castelló – Perafita – Figueres
Route: 69Km 1052m+ / 80km 1300m+
From there we will cross a small wetland with an ornithological reserve, then the ride climbs the mountain pass of the Perafita one. Optional ride (11km) reach Cadaqués, where famous artist Dalí use to live and coming back climbing again Perafita col. From there you start descending to the flat until reaching Port de la Selva. From there, another climb brings us up to the abbey of Sant Pere de Rodes and later we descent to Figueres where we will overnight. Really worth to visit the Dalí Museum, with it’s surrealist paintings.
Day 6: Figueres -Girona
Route: 65Km 627m+
Today we will ride on quite back roads through the undulated inland combining pines forest and agriculture areas, with many cozy villages. Finally you will climb up to the Sanctuary of Els Àngels as a “happy end”, with spectacular views. You will finish the route in Girona, where you can have dinner at one of the good restaurants
downtown.
Day 7: Departure Day
Breakfast and departure or extra night.
The uniqueness of the tour, cities visited, and the ability to rent a tandem bicycle, the closeness to Barcelona was also a significant factor! The web site is pretty good. I would add the elevation profile to the itinerary. It’s always helpful to see in advance how much climbing there is on the tour. The accommodations were very nice. We enjoyed all of the hotels and the service was great!
The service was great. The written instructions had good suggestions for stops and places of interest.
The tandem that we rented was great. We have rented tandems several times over the years and this was the best bicycle that we rented. Previous tandems were too heavy and climbing was difficult. The Viking tandem is certainly not lightweight but is a nice entry level hybrid tandem. The tandem was maintained well and shifted well. Braking was also not an issue. Very pleased with the choice of tandem.
On the way from St. Pere Pescador to Madremanya we stopped in the small town of St. Miquel de Fluvia. The church was closed as we arrived early in the morning. A woman noticed us and opened the church for us and we toured it. She explained the history of the church to us and told us about other things to see near the church. My Spanish is limited by I was able to understand some things and the kindnes of this woman will not be forgotten. She gave us some pamphlets in English about the church.
The countryside was beautiful and the small towns wonderful.
And, at the end of the day we were always treated with fabulous food
