Bikepacking Spain has been high on my wish list for many years and researching different routes here has made my craving for bikepacking or touring Espana so much more.
There’s so much history, endless picturesque coastlines and epic mountains to discover. I love the different vibe that the northern Basque region has versus the southern Sunshine Coast, you really feel like you’re in a different country.
Then I get thinking about the food, the beer and the wines and I just can’t wait to ride there! Imagine how amazing refuelling on tapas would be!?
I’ve spent hours reading through personal cycling blogs and bikepacking.com suggested routes and I’ve narrowed my favourite bikepacking routes in Spain down to 4.
Usually I go exploring for off-road routes but I’ve tried to combine touring with bikepacking in this article. The touring routes through Europe are so good and well established that I can’t ignore them!
Top 4 bikepacking and touring routes in Spain:
- GR247
- EuroVelo8
- Camino del Norte
- Transnevada Trail
GR247 – Andalucia Southern Woodlands Trail
The GR (Gran Recorrido) routes are established hiking and biking trails across mainland Europe, they are marked with red and white marks along their way. As they were established as hiking routes, some areas require you to pick your bike up and hike it, but that’s what we love about bikepacking isn’t it!
They make for super fun off-road adventures all over Europe and we have picked the GR 247 as our starting bikepacking route in Spain.
It’s a 310km loop route which sees you through craggy limestone, quaint rural spanish villages and some of the most beautiful southern mountains.
It should take around a week to complete and will be easy enough to start you out in Spain but tough enough to have you panting through the 9700m of combined ascent.
This route is mainly double and some single track starting from Silas at the North of the loop and winding through the national park southwards to Belerda and back up.
There is plenty of accomodation options, some camping and small towns to refuel at. If you’re thinking of bikepacking Spain, this is a great place to start!
Eurovelo8 – The Mediterranean Route
While we are looking at established well marked routes we can have a look at the epic coastal Eurovelo8. We touched on the Eurovelo network in our article about bikepacking France.
These are routes designed for cycling, rather than hiking unlike the GR routes. They tend to be more roadie and touring routes than off road bikepacking ruggedness but I like the sea breeze in my hair just as much as the sound of wilderness silence.
If you’re after some epic cycling through some big hitting spanish must-sees, then this is your route!
The whole route goes all the way from Spain to Greece but the Spanish section we are looking at is nearly 2000km in length and summates nearly 20,000m of ascent, so get your sun cream and your strong cycling legs ready.
Your best North to South option is to fly into the French city of Perpignan and head into the Pyrenees from there. After some seriously beautiful mountain passes you cross over into Spain and head south towards L’Escala on the coast.
You then ride inland to the next coastal destination of Palamós and find the coastal route to Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia and Alicante. After this beautiful Mediterranean experience you head slightly inland to Murcia before heading to the South coast and enjoying the route all the way through the national parks to Malaga and ending in sunny Cadiz.
Because you hit so many towns and cities the accomodation and food supplies are plentiful. Meaning you can pack lighter and power up those hills!
Camino del Norte
Another coastal route but this time in the North of Spain from San Sébastien in the Basque region through to Santiago de Compostela. This is a pilgrim route that is largely paved and full of history and is well travelled.
If you start from San Sébastien you are in for a foodie treat, this city has the second highest number of Michelin stars in the world, (not for everyone’s bikepacking budget but good to know!). You head West across the North coast through Cantabria, Bilbao and Asturias.
There will be lots of tourists and pilgrims but this makes the areas of solitude overlooking the rocky outcrops all the better. Bring your climbing legs because there’s a few serious hills and 10,000m of combined ascent.
You’ll probably need around 2 weeks to complete this 800km route and still enjoy yourself. If you want rugged scenery, history and more paved road than single track this should be high on your list. Spring and summer time is the best time to visit.
Transnevada Trail
This is not for the faint hearted. We are talking serious climbing, serious hike-a-bike and serious vistas. The Sierra Nevada range should be on most cyclists bucket lists.
It’s not far from the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea but it sure has a different feel. With a high point of 2,340m the pain is real. The route is well established and signposted.
It is a 490km loop starting and finishing in Granada and you can wild camp along the way! There are a fair few little towns on the way to fill up on tapas and cervesas.
Best time of year to go is probably in Spring so it’s warm but not boiling, chilly enough for a soup and a coffee on your stove and the flowers are in bloom.
I hope these routes wet your appetite for a Spanish adventure. It’s not always in people’s top choices for epic riding but it really should be.
I love how easily you can just ride from one country to the next in Europe so maybe you could start in Spain and find my favourite routes in France and the UK to link up!
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