Catalonia's chunk of the Pyrenees is having a moment with cyclists, and it's easy to see why. The region packs mountain climbs, quiet valley tracks, volcanic craters and vineyard roads into a compact area, with food worth the trip on its own. Wanderlust has rounded up five areas to ride, each with a different personality.
Start in Cerdanya if easy-going is your style. A 30–35km loop linking Puigcerdà, Llívia and Bellver de Cerdanya runs mostly on gravel tracks and sleepy rural roads, with flower meadows, river crossings in the Segre basin and long views over the Cadí-Moixeró massif. The valley's Romanesque churches make good excuses to stop, and the mountain stews, artisan cheeses and cured meats make even better ones.
Serious road riders should aim for Alt Urgell, based around the historic town of La Seu d'Urgell. The climbs here are proper leg-testers, but the rewards include one of Catalonia's great Romanesque cathedrals, the monastery at Anserall, and a local dairy scene famous for creamy cheese and butter. Hard earned calories, well spent.
Solsonès splits the difference: a mix of mountain roads and gravel through the Vall de Lord, past the Llosa del Cavall reservoir, the village of Sant Llorenç de Morunys and the Port del Comte ski area. Solsona itself is a produce hotspot — time a visit for autumn and you'll find wild mushrooms, prized truffles and trumfo, the local mountain potato.
Garrotxa is the weirdest and arguably the most memorable of the five. Its volcanic zone natural park holds around 40 dormant volcanoes, and the Via Verda del Carrilet — a converted narrow-gauge railway — rolls from Olot through medieval villages like Santa Pau, past Romanesque churches, Art Nouveau mansions and grass-covered craters with farmhouses sitting on top. Other routes pass the Croscat volcano and Olot's Malagrida garden district. The region's so-called volcanic cuisine is reason enough to linger.
Finally, Alt Empordà, just inland from the Costa Brava, offers the gentlest riding: flat gravel routes through poppy and rapeseed farmland and the wetlands of the Aiguamolls de l'Empordà natural park, plus vineyard roads around Vilamaniscle, Rabós and Espolla. Figueres, Salvador Dalí's home town and its excellent Dalí Theatre-Museum, works well as a cultural stop. If you want one last climb, the Albera mountains and Cap de Creus natural park sit on the eastern edge.
Who's this for? Pretty much anyone with a bike. Gravel riders get Cerdanya, Solsonès and Empordà; road climbers get Alt Urgell and the Albera; casual pedalers get flat, food-filled railway paths. The mix of small villages, Romanesque architecture and serious regional cooking means non-cycling travel companions won't be bored either. Base yourself in one valley and you can sample several areas in a week — the distances between them are short by mountain standards.
