My friend and I are casting around for ideas for next year's tour (probably in April), and the idea of Mallorca has come up. I hear it's great for cyclists, but has anyone toured there? I had a quick look on Crazyguyonabike, and saw some journals, but not that many. Just wondering how people found the experience.
One thing - I hear there are loads of road cyclists there. My friend and I were hoping for a bit of solitude, Is the place swamped?

THanks

No one? I'd heard it was a Mecca for cyclists.

3rd hit on google: https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?...c_id=1110&v=FS
friends and parents went, i heard a lot of (road) cyclists train there all year around because of the good climate, and its hilly
i dont know about swamped though..
Corsica, Sardinia, Tenerife also seem viable options
good luck!

Pro teams do tend to train there because of the climate. I had a friend who did some road riding there a while back and she really liked it. But it doesn't seem like that large of a place. Only 1,400 sq. miles. How long are you planning to tour?

Back in '00 I spent 7 weeks cycling around Andalucia. I planned my trip using the "Rough Guide to Andalucia." There is one for Majorca:

https://www.roughguides.com/website/s...a-Menorca.aspx

I highly recommend this series. They are usually incredibly detailed. More importantly, they do not pull any punches when it comes to evaluating accommodations, restaurants, sites, etc. If something sucks in their opinion, they will tell you that it sucks.

Thanks for that - We're looking to tour only for a week or so, so the size of the place shouldn't really be that much of a problem.
Indy, funnily enough. one of my other options is Andalucia, esp the area around Grazalema. I went there a few years back (non-cycling) and really liked the area. There was a wonderful road from Arcos de Frontera to Gaucin, which lasted about an hour and half driving and on which we saw about two cars. It rose gently but steadily along a river valley and looked like something out of the Americas. I'd long to go back, but not sure about the practicalities of getting there from the UK with bikes.
Our other option is the German Baltic, which while totally opposite to Spain, is a place I'd love to see.

I was in Ronda for much of Semana Santa. When it ended, I rode through Grazalema to El Bosque and then to Arcos. Arcos is an easy day ride from Sevilla, which is where I started and ended my trip. I flew from the states to Heathrow, took the bus to Gatwick and then flew to Sevilla, all with my bike. There is a campground literally right next to the Sevilla airport. Little noisy when planes land, but there wasn't much air traffic, and it's an easy bus ride into town. I got in after dark and took a cab there. They had a storage building and were nice enough to hold my box for the duration of my trip.

A week of riding around the white towns and that general area would be terrific. Ronda has a great (and popular) campground on the southern edge of the city. When I was there, the owner spoke 4 or 5 languages and had actually travelled to Alaska at one point. As you probably know, Michelin makes a great map of Andalucia. I planned my entire trip using the Rough Guide to Andalucia and that map and never really ened up on a bad road except for along the coast. I pretty much decided where I wanted to go and then picked the remotest looking roads between the points. I remember riding a 56 km stretch of road between two towns in the north of Andalucia and encountering only one vehicle.

Thanks for that. I know the roads on the coast are brutal. I was figuring we'd fly (if we did it), to Malaga and probably catch the train to Gaucin, but will look at flying to Sevilla. How did you find the hills? I seem to remember the one to Grazalema was a doozie.

You may have moved your sights away from Mallorca but here are 3 links for Mallorca you might find interesting.

Ray

Most of my trip was nothing but hills, and they all seemed to be steep at one point or another. But that's the way I designed it. From the very start, I headed north west from Sevilla and turned east through the Sierra Morena.

Later on, I did the Puerto del Viento (the Pass of the Wind) from El Burgo to Ronda. I think it's a Cat 2 climb. Some racing team out for a training ride caught me and a few of the guys rode along side me for a minute looking at my load. I joking asked one of them to help me with my baggage. He smiled, politely declined and then dropped me with his amigos. I remember the map showing at least one section between 7 and 14% on the stretch from Puerto de Boyar, which is west of Grazalema, to El Bosque. Fortunately, I got to go down that stretch. Ronda to Grazalema involved a lot of huffing and puffing in places.

I went west along the coast until Torre del Mar, which is not to far west of Malaga. There, I tunred north towards Antequera. The climb away from the coast started out gentle, but got steep later. I lent my map to someone years ago and never got it back, but I have to imagine that if you were to start in Malaga, you would have a good climb one way or another. The flip side is that it would be downhill at the end.

Thanks for that, Ray, but the link doesn't seem to work. Have you got it again, or can just give the addresses. Thanks.

Thanks for that. It sounds like a great trip. I don't mind hills per se. Well, I like to look back on them from the comfort of my bed with a rosy glow and a glass of wine.
It's such a great place it would be worth the pain.

I lived in Minoraca (sister island) for over a year and cycled ALOT! It was beautiful, easy, wonderful, beautiful, great people, GREAT FOOD, and did I say...beautiful? Go and enjoy!

Best regards
Bob

I fixed the link. I'm on tour and tried to do it with an iPad. So much for that idea.

Ray