My girlfriend and I are planning to visit Spain in October, and may stay in a villa between Barcelona and Girona. We really would like to take our bikes and explore the local area, as well as maybe being able to get trains/’planes to other places, possibly Granada, Seville and Valencia (These could be incorporated into a mini-excursion for a few days). Basically we’d like to see a bit of Spain, and take out bikes.

Easiest option in terms of time, is to fly (north London based so Stanstead/Luton), then train to the villa (3km from station). Or, we were thinking about going by train, as that would be a nice journey in itself. Does anyone have experience of this? We’re imagining trains will be a lot easier with bikes than ‘planes.

Still very much in the planning stage, but ideally we’d like a ‘base’ rather than ‘tour’ with luggage. Just wondering if others had experience of cycle holidays in Spain, and any advice for us.

Thanks.

I´ve done the train from the Basque Country to Barcelona and also to the North of Scotland. Both really easy and whilst not cheap not expensive either. I did a “how to” for taking the train to the Basque Country, it might help for you, it´s here: Taking the train to the Basque Country

The train from Barcelona lets you get to lots of nice places. You can get here in around 5hrs. Zaragoza is lovely as well and there is nice riding around there. Also there´s loads of areas for cycling to the south of Barcelona.

I love getting the train from place to place. It´s really mellow and you see some of the country. Far better than flying if you have the time.

Hi doug; we think it would be nicer to get the train, although that might change the nature of the trip, because we’d want to stop off in some of the places along the way.

The Elipsos trainhotel seems like a lovely way to do it:

http://www.seat61.com/Spain.htm#London_to_Spain_by_sleeper_train

Old fashioned and ‘romantic’! Plus travelling with bikes should be a lot easier. Will undoubtedly be a lot more expensive though.

Do airlines insist on bikes being boxed up? Or can they be transported as they are?

Last time I travelled with a bike in Spain, I had muchos problemas. You can take a bike on Cercaniás (ie suburban services), or sleepers if you book a cabin. Not on the ‘media distancia’ services. This meant it took me almost 24hours to return from Santiago to San Sebastián (it had only taken 4 days to cycle it…). This was 4 years ago, but a friend had problems last week getting a train from San Sebastián to Girona with a bike, and took the bus instead. Buses are fine if the bike is bubble wrapped with the wheels off, but I don’t think you can guarantee a place for it (if the bus is full, you have to wait for the next one even though you have a ticket.)

edit: MTBing round Girona is amazing. After being used to slithery slimey Basque trails, I was blown away by the amount of grip I had!

If you’re heading down south you’ll probably have to pass through Madrid, so you might as well see a bit of that too – although I wouldn’t say the city itself is particularly bike friendly, at least not in the centre. (There is a “green ring” around the city for riding, but other than the bit round the Royal Palace it’s not massively exciting/pretty). There’s good riding to the north and west of the city (I’m in the west).

One trip I’d love to do would be to take the train down to Plasencia, then ride up Jerte, then onwards to Avila, then over the top to Madrid. Depending on fitness it’d be about 3-4 days riding, a trip through rural Spain on fairly quiet roads: http://tinyurl.com/kumllnv

The basic plan is to have a ‘base’ from which we can do day rides. We’re planning to take panniers for the main baggage, and small rucksacks for the days. The vila we hope to rent would serve as the base for the main duration of our stay. So we won’t be doing any epic rides. There is no shortage of beautiful countryside in that area to keep us happy. Nice relaxing stop at cafes and bars type riding. Plus being near Barcelona and Girona gives us fantastic city stuff to do.

Our main worries are about bike transportaion; some friends say they’ve (air) travelled with bikes as they are (just a bit of bubble wrap on strategic points), others have had to completely box them up. The main problem is getting suitable boxes either end, and disposing of them. We won’t be using a car, so we need to be able to ride from airports/stations. The villa is just 3km from the station.

Barcelona and Girona are great places, I’ve been to both recently. I’m not sure I’d be that bothered to get away from there (at least with bikes), there’s plenty to do in the area. Using panniers you could easily do trips like riding up to Cadaques, spend the night near the sea, then head back the next day.

How long are you planning on staying?

You could use a fold-up bike bag. Like this…
http://www.groundeffect.co.nz/product/BAG/BOD/

Stick some cardboard in to stiffen it up and to protect bits then remove them at the airport, fold up the bag and away you go.

Mogrim; the plan is to stay for two weeks, maybe a bit longer. So we’d have a bit of time to perhaps fly/get a train to somewhere like Granada, for a day/overnight.

A friend tells me you need to book bikes onto Eurostar a day early, is this correct? No problem is fo.

The logistics involved in flying seem increasingly fraught with potential issues (would be fine if we were driving at each end), because of the need for bike boxes.

Mackem; that looks ok, but it’s still another thing to have to deal with at each end (storage being the main issue), and it’s very expensive. Cardboard boxes I can get this end, and we could easily get a lift/cab to Luton/Stanstead, but coming back would be problematic.

Mogrim; the plan is to stay for two weeks, maybe a bit longer. So we’d have a bit of time to perhaps fly/get a train to somewhere like Granada, for a day/overnight.

Did the night train from Granada to Madrid a few years back (depressing thought: actually over 10 years ago), very romantic in a private cabin. Certainly a lot better than the usual train journeys. If you can safely leave your bikes behind it’d certainly be worth doing that kind of journey, and Spain’s got loads of towns that are good for overnight stays and a bit of tourism.

Hadn’t thought of it earlier, but if you take your bike to Rioja the wine cellars are nice, and the countryside pretty cool for bike touring. Logroño and Haro are both nice small towns.

So are Spanish railways ok about bikes? Cn you take bikes on all trains, or are there restrictions? Do you need to book in advance?

If you decide to go by car, check out the bike park in Vallnord, Andorra. And yeah, it’s a good place to fuel up as well. Andorra has some of lowest prices of petrol you’ll ever see in Europe

You need to check the air line regulations for specific flights. I’ve not done this stuff for years but for a tour of Tunisia we boxed our bikes with free boxes from our LBS. These were thrown away in the airport. We the just bought card and tape in a market for the return flight.

But lots of air lines don’t insist on boxing

We once cycled from Malaga to Granada onto Alicante then back to Granada. We then got the train to Malaga.

Brilliant trip. I think travelling really light with panniers (change of cloths and a few tools) is a great way to travel. Could you do a week in the villa and a week touring?

Our flight was just a charter and we didn’t need boxes. But this was a long time ago….

So are Spanish railways ok about bikes? Cn you take bikes on all trains, or are there restrictions?

Looking on the RENFE website, seems my info above is out of date. There doesn’t appear to be an English page, but the gist of it is that a folded/dismantled bike can go on AVE (similar to TGV), Long & Medium distance services provided the whole thing measures less than 120x90x40 (LxHxD). Pedals off & bars at 90º.

Without dismantling, you can take it on all the above services except AVE. Limited places per train, 3 euro for journeys over 100km. You can only book the bike if the train has a special area (doesn’t say which these are).

Cercanías (Suburban/Local) services are no problem with bikes IME.

If you want me to look into a specific journey, let me know.

I’ve just been talking to a woman who runs a rural guest house near Breda, which is about 70km east of Barcelona. £500 for two people for two weeks (self-catering) doesn’t sound too bad, but I don’t know about prices for accommodation there. It’s €45 for a taxi from Girona airport, although the train will probably be fine.

Yesterday I had the brainwave to buy 2 Bromptons, and just put them in cases with our other stuff, but my girlfriend has put the kybosh on that plan! Shame, as that would make things a lot simpler. Bromptons wouldn’t be great on the dirt tracks and trails though.

Is there any secure bike parking in Barcelona? We won’t be bringing heavy locks.

Bob summers; thanks for hte offer, will let you know. Great info, but a little confused at this:

“That bike is folded or disassembled in a pillow case“

I don’;t think even a Brompton would fit into a standard pillow case!

A friend tells me you need to book bikes onto Eurostar a day early, is this correct?

Think you can pay a tenner extra and they go on the same train. A tenner certainly worth paying if you have onward connections, and probably worth paying anyway just for less hassle, unless you’re staying a couple of nights in Paris and would prefer not to worry about getting bikes stored while in the hotel.

We’ve booked flights (Luton-Barcelona) as it’s most probably the easiest and certainly the cheapst option. We can get the train from the airport to right near where we’ll be staying. With taxis at either end, the entire holiday is coming in at under £800, which is fantastic. We were expecting to pay a lot more really.

So, any tips on places/trails to ride?