Where to try the best cycling in Spain for beginners

For many travellers, a holiday in Spain involves sangria, sun, sea and sand. Sitting back and soaking up the sensational weather, sumptuous food and beautiful sunsets are what holidays are all about.

But if you’re feeling that little more adventurous, Spain offers so much more in the way of a biking holiday.

Adding some cycling into your Spanish holiday offers fresh air, stunning views and some invigorating exercise into your break, and we’re sure that you’ll love every minute of your biking experience. Cycling in Spain takes in seaside panoramas, mountainous adventures and sleepy villages, and can be a great escape if you’re looking to get the legs moving during your biking vacation!

Even when you’ve already decided that you’re going the biking route, you still have choices – the volcanic mountain landscape of the Canary Islands makes for great mountain biking terrain for the more daring in you, while the downward slopes towards the deep blue ocean vistas in the Balearic Islands offer a milder respite for those slope-worn legs. Whichever part of Spain you settle on for your cycling holiday, you will not be disappointed.

Where should I go?

Once you’re sold on the idea, there’s so much choice for your cycling holiday in Spain. Family and beginners’ cycling are very popular throughout the Canary and Balearic Islands, and their suitability for the sport is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that Team Sky, the leading Tour de France team of recent years, have chosen to make the region the base for their altitude training camps.

But fear not, you don’t need to be the next Bradley Wiggins to enjoy an enthralling and energising experience on your bike in Spain!

Your choice of where to go really depends on what you’re looking to do and how tough you want the terrain to be.

Tenerife

Tenerife is a great spot to set up base for your cycling holiday in Spain. The unmissable Mount Teide provides a stunning centrepiece to any cycling tours of the island, and the volcanic environment creates a network of hilly terrain that offers breathtaking views along with some intense climbs.

In terms of difficulty level, Tenerife does have some of the more challenging terrain for mountain biking, but it also boasts an extensive network of more gentle roads that allow families and beginners to sample the amazing coastal and mountainous scenery, while not over-extending themselves on the bikes. What’s more, a strong network of support services provided by the Tenerife Tourism Office, geared especially for tourists, can be found all across the island.

If you’re not planning to stow your bikes in the hold of an aeroplane, there’s also plenty of bike hire options across the whole island. A great place to start is Bike Point Tenerife, who offer all sorts of options, such as road bikes, mountain bikes, or even electric bikes if you’re starting to creak a little (or want to take on some of the tougher climbs with a little extra support).

Saddle up and check out our Tenerife hotels.

Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands are also a wonderful spot for a cycling holiday in Spain, and from a bike you gain a different perspective than you would from any other form of travel.

The islands offer many gems for cyclists, with a quirky network of roads, tracks and trails linking the archipelago’s quaint towns and villages, rugged countryside, and coastal coves and bays. You’ll find intriguing monuments that, without a mountain bike to help you off the beaten track, you may never have found.

The Balearic Islands are also a fine part of Spain for a family cycling holiday because the terrain and tracks are, for the most part, relatively flat, and therefore not too daunting – particularly for younger members of a family. The whole network of islands (including Majorca, Ibiza, Formentera and Menorca) is set up to be cycle-friendly with good terrain, signposts and information boards set up to make family cycling holidays to this part of Spain absolutely ideal.

Just like Tenerife, most of the Balearics have a wide range of bike shops and hire options to choose from, most of which open all year round. Tourist offices also offer advice on routes, their severity, distance and landmarks and places of interest for each option.

Mountain biking and cycling holidays in Spain are like surfing holidays in Australia, skiing holidays in Switzerland or safari holidays in Kenya – they are, quite simply, a perfect match.