Two Spains On Two Wheels: From The Basque Coast To Andalucรญaโs Back Roads
Spain is easy to underestimate as a cycling country if you only think of it in fragments. A training camp in Mallorca. A few days around Girona. A sunny escape somewhere on the Mediterranean. All good choices, of course, but they only tell part of the story. The real pleasure of cycling in Spain is how much the country changes under your wheels. Ride in the north and Spain can feel Atlantic, green and dramatic, with mist on the hills, fishing towns, coastal roads and food that could make even a tired cyclist forgive another climb. Ride in the south and everything shifts: the light gets warmer, the roads stretch through olive groves, villages turn white against the hills, and the rhythm of the day becomes slower. There are three EuroVelo routes crossing Spain, including EuroVelo 1, which enters the country at Irรบn near the French border and runs all the way to Ayamonte by the Portuguese border. That route alone hints at the scale of the contrast: from the green north to the open south, Spain is not one cycling destination but several. Two regions show this especially well: the Basque Country and Andalucรญa.
