The Costa Blanca and Alicante region is a great place for cycling and is a popular training base for professional cycling teams in the winter. It has a sunny and warm climate throughout the year and
has superb mountains for cycling, offering a wide range of climbs of differing lengths and gradients.
The road surfaces are almost all fantastic and if you go to the right areas you will encounter very little traffic. In addition, the region is served by Alicante airport, which is linked
to many European destinations.
On our website you can find plenty of information about cycling in the region. Check out our mountains section for full profiles and details
of all the climbs in the region. And, in this article, we will look at five of our favourite routes in different parts of the Costa Blanca area.
The routes are adapted from our cycling holiday in the region, which tackles all the best routes over six tough days in the saddle.
The routes suggested on this page are for information purposes only
and are to be used at your own risk. We can't guarantee that there won't be short term road closures or other issues, but hopefully you will find them to be of some interest!
Port d'Ebo & Coll de Rates
View interactive route and download on Ride with GPS
This tough circular ride begins from Calpe on the map above, but can start from any of the towns near to this part of the coast. Over 116km, it tackles two of the best climbs in the region: the
Port d'Ebo and Coll de Rates.
Port d'Ebo is a particular favourite of ours thanks to the winding road, with great views overlooking the Mediterranean. It takes you away from the busier coastal area and into the tranquility of the inland
mountains. To get across to the Coll de Rates, you also ride over the beautiful Pla de Petracos, which actually contains the steepest gradients of the route, peaking at 17%.
Coll de Rates is the final climb of the day. It is an extremely popular with professional cyclists thanks to its consistency, which makes it a good choice for interval training. But for cycling tourists, it is again the scenery that stands out more, particularly
on the descent down through Tarbena and back to the coast.
Sierra Mariola Circle
View interactive route and download on Ride with GPS
This is probably our favourite route in the entire Costa Blanca region. At 90km and with 1,500m of climbing it is a circle around the city of Alcoy which is of challenging difficulty, but not overly hard.
The ride crosses the Sierra Mariola Park - a beautiful natural area which is full of pleasant forests and dramatic rock formations, with vultures hovering above.
The climb out of Alcoy is a reasonably demanding way to start the day, but most of the route is rolling with quite gentle gradients.
Highlights include the historic towns of Bocairent, Muro de Alcoy and Planes, as well as the fantastic undulating route which leads back into Alcoy via the
Alto del Revolcat.
If you are cycling in the region, we highly recommend this route.
Alto del Tigre & Port de Benifallim
View interactive route and download on Ride with GPS
This medium length route begins from the town of Finestrat - a popular cycling destination situated a few kilometres in land from the coast. But it is also not far to extend it to nearby towns like Benidorm, Villjoyosa or Altea.
It is climbing nearly from the start of the route as you ascend Port de Tudons - one of the highest and most famous road passes in the Costa Blanca area. However, on this route you don't go all the way
to the top of Tudons. A few kilometres before the pass, you take a left turn and head towards
Alto del Tigre.
This alternative route has much better views than the main road - and even more of a surprise awaits near to the top - as you will see where the climb gets its name from!
The occupants of Alto del Tigre are usually friendly
From Alto del Tigre the route follows rolling roads, before tackling Port de Benifallim - another pass which rises to over 1,000m altitude. It is then mostly downhill, on a fantastically fun descent through the
cherry and almond trees that line the side of the road.
There are fantastic views of the highest peaks in the Alicante province - including Aitana and Puigcampana - which make for an impressive backdrop.
Xorret de Catí & Guixop
View interactive route and download on Ride with GPS
This ride is one for cyclists who really like to challenge themselves. This is a circular route from the city of Alcoy, which is the most scenic route. But with a few adjustments it could be started from other locations.
It tackles two of the most formidable climbs in the Costa Blanca region - Xorret de Catí
and Guixop. Neither ascent is particularly long, but both are famed for their very steep gradients.
Xorret de Catí features regularly in the Vuelta, where its maximum slope of 24% has tested the resolve of some professional riders! Nearby Guixop is slightly less steep, but is just as relentless with gradients consistently well into double figures.
Guixop (also known as Balcon de Alicante) was featured in the 2021 edition of the Vuelta, and has some spectacular views looking over the coast.
After tackling these two monsters, the ride continues to the town of Xixona, which is famous for its production of both ice cream and turrón (a kind of Spanish nougat). So not a bad place if you need to stock up on some sugar!.
The route ends with the 10km climb of La Carrasqueta. With an average gradient of just 5%, and with no steep sections, this will feel like a piece of cake compared with the early climbs, and
you will love the fast and windy descent back down into Alcoy at the end of the ride.
Castell de Guadalest
View interactive route and download on Ride with GPS
The rides above have all been quite sport and challenging routes. This one is a bit more leisurely and explores some of the cultural interest in the Costa Blanca region. The map above is a circular route starting and finishing in Benidorm,
but the route can easily be adjusted to begin from other towns along the coast.
This is also a good route for families or riders who are not so confident, as much of the riding is on cycle lanes. The day begins by following gently rolling roads along the coast, passing the ruins of an
interesting Roman villa in the village of Albir.
From Altea, the route heads through orange and lemon fields and becomes very picturesque after passing the town of Callosa. There is a modest climb (the first part
of this profile) which leads to Castell de Guadalest - the highlight of the route. Guadalest was founded when the region was under Muslim control over one thousand years ago, and the castle
from that era remains standing.
The village is incredibly picturesque and overlooks a beautiful reservoir as well as the high mountains of the inland sierras. Guadalest is a great lunch stop, because from there it is downhill pretty much all the way back to Benidorm, with most
of the route on off-road cycle lanes.
More Great Routes
These are just a few examples of some of the many great rides you can do in the Costa Blanca. But there are many more possibilities including those featured on the
climbs section of the website.
Many of these routes are partly taken from the rides on our cycling holiday in the region, which you can find more information about below, along with similar tours in other regions.
Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you would like to book a holiday with us or for any other information.
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