Catalonia Cycling Climbs

Mountains

The Pyrenees dominate any discussion about mountains in Catalonia. While they are not as high or quite as dramatic as the French Pyrenees, they still are a lot of fun to climb. The Pyrenees in Catalonia are mostly quite long, gentle climbs, but there are still several opportunities to go above 2,000m altitude.

Elsewhere in the region, the whole inland part of Catalonia is a series of mountains and plateaus, and you can find climbing in almost any part (even within the city of Barcelona there are some climbs!). And we have also listed the climbs in Andorra, pretty much all of which are accessible from Catalonia.

The city of Girona has a strong reputation amongst road cyclists, but the bigger climbs actually lie further west. Girona is popular mostly for it's relatively warm weather winter training, but it is a poor base if you want to ride in high mountains.

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Scenery

The scenery is varied throughout Catalonia. In the north it is spectacular high mountains in the form of The Pyrenees. As you head further south it becomes dried and increasingly rocky; as vibrant greens are increasingly replaced with sandy brown colors.

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Roads

The road surfaces are of a consistently excellent quality throughout Catalonia and are a pleasure to ride on a road bike.

The traffic varies depending on the climb. Some are completely empty, while others can carry a lot of heavy goods traffic. Local knowledge of the area is essential.

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Getting There

Catalonia is probably the best connected region in Spain. Barcelona and Girona both have busy international airports, and both cities are also very well connected by train throughout Spain and Europe.

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Weather

The weather is generally very good for cycling, with even the highest passes open throughout most of the year. The south and coastal areas are very much a Mediterranean climate and is pleasant for cycling all year round.

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Cycling Holidays

We have several cycling holidays that run in Catalonia. The only one, however, that is really mountain based is our Pyrenees Coast to Coast holiday, which tackles some of the climbs in French Catalonia.

On the Spanish side we offer two tours both guided and self guided around Barcelona and Girona & the Costa Brava. Both have the opportunities to do some medium length climbs, although they are more aimed towards leisure cyclists, with a focus on exploring the culture and history of Catalonia.

You can find out more details about our tours in the links below.

If you would be interested in arranging a cycling holiday in the mountains of Catalonia or Andorra, please get in touch and we would be happy to work with you to customize a tour.