Trip around Península Ibérica

[Kay77]

Hello Dear Moto Fellows!

Just got in your forum to get some advice.
Unfortunatelly I do not speak spanish at all, so I will write in english. If it is easier for you to write in spanish go ahead I will use google translator

We are 9 motobiker friends from Poland. Every year we choose one destination and traveling on our bikes to visit beautifull places and enjoy our bikes.
This year we are going to ride around Península Ibérica. So I am writing here to ask you for some tips, advices, great places to see, magnificent roads to take.
I believe that this is the best place to get some helpful information or great tips.
Any advice will be highly apreciated. You probably know places worth to see and roads worth to ride in your country. So, please share if you can.
Briefly, we are planing to go to Spain on second half of May till beginning of June.
We take ship from Savona and go to Barcelona, we will go north through mountains to Santander, than along coast to A Coruna, next we will go to Porto, Lizbona and Gibraltar and then to Barcelona again, on the ship back to Genua.

So if you know any great places along our ride, or some nice roads please share with us, it will be very helpful and with your help we will be able to see things we probably wouldn't see by ourselves.

I have a question which comes to my mind at this moment.
As we will go from lets say Santander to A Coruna, what would you suggest is it better to go along coast or would you chose road through the mountains, lets say from Santander to Torrelavega than road CA180 into CA182 than CA202 towards N-621 than south to Riano on the lake, than N-625 north into CL635 (or shall we stay on N-625) toward N634 and go along N634 towards coast to Canero...and than along the coast up to N640 towards Lugo and than straight to Porto or shall we go to A Coruna and from there down to Porto?

So that kind of questions?
If you can advice on that I will be very grateful.


Thanks in advance for your time.
Greetings,
Kay

 

[hiperbertone]

Hi Kay and welcome to the best forum to get information for Spanish trips.

I can't help you regarding yours questions about Cantabria, Asturias y Galicia the three regions that you have to cross from Santander to A Coruña, but I'm sure a lot of fellows will help you quickly.

What bikes do you ride?

Your planning trip is awesome you will enjoy a lot.

Saludos

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[Kay77]

Hey hiperbertone!
I am sure I will get best feedback possible form your group ?

Well we mostly ride BMW motorcycles:
Three of us ride on BMW 1200GSA - including me ?
One of our ladies goes on BMW F750GS
Second our ladie rides on BMW R nine T
One friend goes on BMW K1300R
One goes on Kawasaki Versys 1000
One goes on Triumph Tiger Explorer
And last one goes on HD Road Glide ?

So we have real mix of machines ?

Cheers!

 

[brigadier69]

Hello!!! In the south of spain...

From gibraltar you can go to grazalema and zahara de la sierra and Ronda, its next to gibraltar and is wonderfoul.
After i think yo can 2 options, one drive to lanjaron and trevelez or see granada. Maybe you can join both options and from there go to Barcelona.

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[Kay77]

Hey guys! Thanks for feedback! Feisbuk will send you PM!
brigadier69 thanks for your suggestions will check it out, and if I will have questions will write to you for some details

Greetings,
Kay

 

[Surtees_F1_500]

Hi Kay! Welcome to this forum and you will be welcome to our contry as well.
One question: where are you thinking to enter Spain through?
I recommend you to do it through Puigcerdà and take way to Ripoll by the N-260 road. Then you'll have 2 great options.
1- Follow the N-260 to Ribes de Freser, this road is called Collada de Toses and it's one of the most famous biker's roads of the zone.
2- Go to La Molina ski station and look for BV-4031 road. This road is called Coll de la Creueta and it's another great biker's road. Maybe not so well known as the 1st one but, for me, better than that.

If take one of these options you will have a very good first view of our country.

 

[Twiky]

Hi Kay,
Yes, you’re right. This is probably the best place to find the places to ride, visit and eat during your upcoming trip to Spain. I’m sure than with the help of all of us you will have a great time here.
I can help you on the first days. I suggest you to do the Transpirenaica (TransPyrinees). The route starts 150km north Barcelona on the beautiful Cadaqués Village where Salvador Dalí was born and lived and finished at Hondarribia (Cantabric sea). There is not one road but there are multiple variations, you can search here for Transpirenaica en Mayo?
I’m going to do it by May also and we will follow that track, https://es.wikiloc.com/rutas-motociclismo/transpirenaica-en-moto-10055536#wp-10055557 but surely, some deviations will be done.
I let the northern guys to help you on next stage (Hondarribia - A Coruña).
Have a great trip.


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[Asoloedu]

Hi @Kay77,

We are living close to Santander and we know enough the roads from Santander to Coruña.

The coast road is boring for me, too much villages does not allow to enjoy, but there is a highway in case you want to go faster. However, there are some beautiful places (like Gijón city, "Cueva del Soplao (picture 1)" or "playa de las Catedrales") for visiting near to the coast.

Ca182 (picture 2), Ca180, Riaño (last picture), etc are really funny roads with a lot of curves and pass, a motorbike heaven.

Anyway, you can drive by the coast and when you are boring to drive there, go to mountains, because are really close to the coast.

If you need a plan to cross Cantabria, I can help you to design a plan. Also Palencia and Asturias.

And If you do not any problem with one bike more, I can drive with you through Cantabria and show you some places.

Good trip!

Edu

 

[Carolus]

(...) I have a question which comes to my mind at this moment.
As we will go from lets say Santander to A Coruna, what would you suggest is it better to go along coast or would you chose road through the mountains, lets say from Santander to Torrelavega than road CA180 into CA182 than CA202 towards N-621 than south to Riano on the lake, than N-625 north into CL635 (or shall we stay on N-625) toward N634 and go along N634 towards coast to Canero...and than along the coast up to N640 towards Lugo and than straight to Porto or shall we go to A Coruna and from there down to Porto? (...)

Hi Kay; welcome to our Forum and to our country. Regarding your question:

My choice would be to ride the coastal highway -free from Bilbao- towards Unquera, take N-621 (and N-625 from Riaño) heading to León visiting there its old town: Cathedral and surroundings. After this I'd go on to Coruña via AP-71 (payable) and A6 (free).

Some other information: there are toll highways in Spain in which the payment method is the same as in Poland, but be noticed that in Portugal there are some of these highways where there aren't toll stations and you have to pay the ride using another methods that -if you don´t know- we can explain in other posts along this thread...

Regards,

Translation into Spanish:

Hola Kay; bienvenido a nuestro Foro y a nuestro país. En relación a tu pregunta:

Mi elección sería seguir la autovía de la costa -gratis desde Bilbao- hasta Unquera, tomar la N-621 (y la N-625 desde Riaño) en dirección a León visitando allí su casco antiguo: Catedral y alrededores. Después continuaría hacia Coruña por la Ap-71 (de pago) y la A6 (gratuita).

Otra información: en España hay autopistas de pago que se pagan de la misma manera que en Polonia, pero te informo de que en Portugal no hay cabinas de peaje en algunas de éstas habiendo otros métodos de pago que -si no los conoces- podemos explicártelo en otros mensajes de este hilo...

Saludos,

.

 

[Aponso]

Welcome to Spain, guys.

Not a bad route, but I should make some suggestions depending on the time and pace you have for the trip. From Gibraltar to Barcelona there are two main routes you can do. Following al the coast up or crossing through the middle of the country. Both of them have amazing spots, so both are a good idea. Send me a PM and let’s talk about the trip .

Safe travel


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[Kay77]

Hey Surtees, Twiky, Asoloedu, Carolus and Aponso thank you very much for your response. You are great help all together!
I will write you PM to those who asked me and we will get in touch.
I am sure that will be unforgetable experience we all cant wait for that! ??

Greetings motofellows!
Kay

 

[niclaus]

Hello!!! In the south of spain...

From gibraltar you can go to grazalema and zahara de la sierra and Ronda, its next to gibraltar and is wonderfoul.
After i think yo can 2 options, one drive to lanjaron and trevelez or see granada. Maybe you can join both options and from there go to Barcelona.

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Hello Kay!!!. Another one from the south of Spain. I also high recommend you ride around Grazalema and rest of "Pueblos Blancos" (White Villages) . Wonderful roads and great landscapes. Ronda is an essential destination in that area (you should not miss Tajo de Ronda, Plaza de Toros, and the downtown and its restaurants)

I know people from Poland, and I know how important is for you enjoying gastronomy. For sure, Spain is a very interesting country to ride around, but also is one of the best in the world to taste and enjoy gastronomic offer. Please, take a bit of time to planify about it, you wont regret.

If you need futher information about that area, dont hesitate to ask here or sending a PM.

Vs Greetings!!!

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[seyeulb]

Hello Kay,

A motorcycle trip starts when you begin to prepare it. So I hope you are enjoying your trip to Spain starting now.


I'm from A Coruña, so yes..... I'm think its worth visiting, but the truth is you all are going to find beautiful cities and villages in this country.
Regarding the roads and places towards and around A Coruña I can suggest some routes:

Coming from Asturias to Galicia, the road AS-14 from Puerto de El Palo to Grandas de Salime reservoir is impressive and quite good for your motorcycles, even for that H&D.

Then AS-28 towards Fonsagrada and then take LU-530 from Fonsagrada to Castroverde.

Close to A Coruña there are beautiful coast roads and also good places to have typical meals at good price. From here riding to Portugal along the coast, visiting Finisterre lighthouse and some other places in the coast.

I know it is dificult to describe a route in a text so I’m going to send you a private message with a link to download a GPX file.

Have a great and safe trip!!!!



Vsssss

 

[Carolus]

Hi Kay; here's a link to a web site where you can get information -in English too- about electronic payment methods for some motorways in Portugal: http://www.portugaltolls.com/es/web/portal-de-portagens/home

Take a special look about one of them (for foreigners): EASYToll

Translation into Spanish:

Hola Kay; aquí tienes un enlace a una página web en la que puedes obtener información -también en inglés- sobre los métodos electrónicos de pago para algunas autovías en Portugal: http://www.portugaltolls.com/es/web/portal-de-portagens/home

Echa un vistazo sobre todo en uno de ellos (para extranjeros): EASYToll

.

 

[Apolonio]

Hi Kay77!

I am sure that Spain will not disappoint you!

I understand that your "entry" and "exit" point will be Barcelona.

In order to give you the best advice it would be useful to know the route that you have planned in advance, how many days you have and the budget you have for accommodations.

If budget is not a problem, Paradores is an excellent option for accommodation.

Going to the "far west" from Barcelona, I would ride all the "mythic" mountain ports of the Pyrenees passing by France. Going to Galicia you can take the pilgrims Saint Jacques way following the coast or the "normal" "French way" between vineyards and mountains always with a fantastic gastronomy.

You will need being equipped for the cold and for the hot! That's Spain!

Regards

 

[Kay77]

Hey niclaus thanks for your input! Surelly we will take you advices into consederation especially that you and birgadier69 agree on that so it means something

@seyeulb you are absolutelly right m8! I am all on that trip already ? can't wait for that great time.
We will take your advices into consederation and will go to A Coruna! If you can please send me that GPX file.

@Carolus thank you very much for you help my friend that is nice input and good things to know. We are planning to avoid highways and paid roads as much as we can, because highways are boring and we will get enough of that going from Wroclaw to Savona ~1500km on highways ? but we dont know if we will be able to do it all the way, because time is our enemy ? thanks a lot again for that info!

@Apolonio yes I do know the same...even without your amazing help we would be delighted with Spain, but that way we have more opportunities to see things where we would probably never go or things which are not in tourist guides... ?

You are right our "entry" is Barcelona and it is also our "exit"
I already wrote how our trip will look like briefly in my first post we go from Barcelona north to San Sebastian (already planned through Pirenejes) passing french border and than comming back to Spain we get to San Sebastian (one of you members) sent me great route so we already made changes to our first pick and we are going through Pirenejes ?
We take hotels through booking because it is most convinient for us/easiest way. We also dont pick fancy hotels because we are comming late in the evening, getting up in the morning and riding again so we do not need 5 star hotels we just choose what best fits us. There is a lot of good choices ?

Yes we know we will have good protection against weather! You have to be always ready riding on bike to get bed weather
Last year when we were in Croatia in May we got really nasty weather for 10 day trip we got like 6 days of rain, rain storms and even (I dont know how it is in english little round frozen balls) ice storm in spanish it is "granizo" i belive and on our way back in Austria we got temperature drop from 24 to 1 above 0 and snow, snow trucks on highway...that was nasty! But we surviwed ??

I really hope we get much better weather in Spain ?

Greetings all!
Thanks again!
Kay

 

[Bandit GS]

Hi Kay77. I sent you a PM.
Regards.

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