| Meet the SFIDA Cycling staff at Barcelona Airport (BCN) or at the designated hotel.
We will transfer to our hotel in the heart of the Penedes Cava region. After Check in, lunch and bike build up, we will go for a ride. Our ride will be close to Sant Sadurni d’Anoia, Cava’s capital and where most of the important wineries are located. Also we will climb the short Els Casots, once at the top, we will return to our accommodation. Dinner will be in Sant Sadurni, with a cava tasting of course.
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Day 1
52km / 740m
CLIMB: Els Casots.
HOTEL: Hotel Font de la Canya
Today we will have our first SFIDA Signature Ride of the trip, we have designed a very unique ride for each region we are visiting. We think that doing this big loop rides will give us the opportunity to show you how diverse each region is. And very important too, expect quiet roads most of the time.
We will start heading towards the Garraf, an interesting county that borders the Penedes and the Mediterranean coast. Then we will head inland again via the scenic Panta de Foix, followed by the beautiful climb up La Talaia. This will bring us to some of the most quiet Penedes roads you can imagine all the way to Font Rubi.
From Font Rubi it is an easy ride back to our hotel.
Day 2
125km / 2,050m
CLIMBS: La Talaia, La Llacuna.
HOTEL: Hotel Font de la Canya
Today we leave the Penedes behind and head East. We start retracing part of yesterday’s ride in the opposite direction.
Font Rubi and La Llacuna climbs are a great way to start this ride. Then we will head towards the Monestir of Altes Creus via Vila-Rodona, on one of the most beautiful segments of the trip.
Altes Creus is part of the three Cisternian monestirs in the area, the other ones are Vallbona, a bit north from our ride and Poblet, this one is our destination today and also where we will be staying.
This middle part of the ride leaves the grapes landscapes for a while for more olive trees, this is a drier part of Catalonia.
Day 3
124km / 2,260m
CLIMB: Font Rubi, La Llacuna.
HOTEL: Hostatgeria de Poblet
DAY 4: Poblet to Priorat, Escaladei.
We leave Poblet and start climbing the Coll d’Arena, this will bring us to the town of Prades, one of the most important in the area.
From Prades we will continue to the massif of La Mussara, this is an expectacular mountain range with great views over the Mediterranean on a clear day.
Shortly after we will enter the Priorat, and the first place to visit is the cliff hanging town of Siurana, this is an amazing place overlooking the Montsant range and beyond. Once we descend back to the main valley, we will head up towards Escaladei, near our final destination.
Escaladei is a Carthusian Monestir and one of the most important places to visit in the Priorat, near Escaladei are some of the most famous wineries.
Day 4
85km / 1,850m
CLIMBS: Coll d’Arena, Alt de Capafonts, Siurana, La Morera de Montsant.
HOTEL: Terra Dominicata Boutique Wine Hotel
For the second SFIDA Signature Ride, we have prepared another great loop starting from our hotel in the heart of the Priorat region.
As you can expect this ride involves a good amount of climbing and some very scenic landscapes. We start heading towards Vilaplana via the Coll d’Alforja. For the next climb, the Coll de Llebres we are riding in the Alt Camp, another beautiful region next to Priorat.
At the top of Coll de Llebres we are in the Mussara area, where we rode yesterday in the opposite direction. After Prades we head to Ulldemolins and Margalef, this is in the Montsant range, the northern part of Priorat.
Back to our hotel, we will have dinner and enjoy some local wines.
Day 5
129km / 2,765m
CLIMBS: Coll d’Alforja, Coll de Llebres, Alt de Capafonts, Coll de l’Arena.
HOTEL: Terra Dominicata Boutique Wine Hotel
We plan for an easier ride today, this will take most of the morning, including a coffee stop in Falset, one of the main towns in the Priorat.
Back early to our hotel, on time for lunch and later on in the afternoon we will visit one of the wineries that make some of the precious Priorat wines. This area has a very specific type of soil, mostly clay, that makes its red wines very distinct and valued internationally.
Day 6
55km / 1,380m
CLIMBS: Multiple hills.
HOTEL: Terra Dominicata Boutique Wine Hotel
Today we are riding from Priorat to Terra Alta, after Gratallops we will soon arrive to Garcia, here is the first place we will ride along the Ebro river.
The Ebro is the longest river in Spain, flowing from the mountains of Cantabria, in northern Spain, it flows all the way to Tarragona province where it forms a delta once arrives to the Mediterranean sea.
Along the Ebro we will visit the town of Miravet, in a very scenic location. Then continue our ride to Pinell de Brai, here we will admire one of the most spectacular buildings in the area, the Wine Cellar Cooperative, a fine example of modernist architecture.
Soon after the Pinell de Brai we will ride along the Via Verda de la Terra Alta, an spectacular cycle path using an old train line. At Fontcalda, we will leave the Via Verda and climb up the Serra de Pandols via an incredible 4 km short climb with 20 switchbacks.
From the top it is an easy ride to Gandesa, the Terra Alta capital and where we will spend the next three nights.
Day 7
78km / 1,520m
CLIMBS: Gratallops, La Fontcalda.
HOTEL: Casa dels Abeuradors
As mentioned in the introduction to the SFIDA Terra Alta trip, this is the land where some of my ancestors lived some generations ago. We have visited the area in the past with my family and it is always great to know where part of the family comes from.
Now I have the honour to bring clients from overseas and show this beautiful region.
Today we will have the third SFIDA Signature ride, the ride involves crossing into Aragon region, then entering Catalonia again and ride along the Ebro on some spectacular and quiet roads.
This region was part of the “battle of the Ebro” episode during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, this was a key point of the war. There are a few monuments and a couple of museums worth visiting, we will try to visit the one in Gandesa during our days here.
Day 8
128km / 2,140m
CLIMBS: Multiple climbs on this amazing region.
HOTEL: Casa dels Abeuradors
Our last ride of the trip will be a shorter one, this is a trend that we implementing on some of our trips. It is good to have some time to relax after such a big trip and have some spare time in the afternoon.
We will head to Horta de Sant Joan via the easy and beautiful climb up Prat de Compte. Horta is a nice town with more than one thousand years of history. More “recently”, Picasso spend some time here when he was young in the 1897-98. There is a museum dedicated to his works.
After Horta, we will ride back to Gandesa using part of the Via Verda de la Terra Alta up to the town of Bot.
In the afternoon we will visit the Gandesa wine cooperativa and taste some of the wines and olive oil produced in the Terra Alta.
Day 9
50km / 850m
CLIMB: Prat de Compte.
HOTEL:Casa dels Abeuradors
After breakfast transfer by van to Barcelona Airport (BCN). Expect to get there by 13:00, so plan your flights accordingly.
MORE INFORMATION
PRICES:
TWIN room: 4,150 Euros pp
SINGLE Supplement: 750 Euros
Rental bike: 750 Euros
Rental ebike: 800 Euros
PAYMENT TERMS:
800 Euros when making the booking. Balance to be paid 120 days before the trip starts.
INCLUDED:
9 nights accommodation between 2 – 4 Stars
ALL MEALS INCLUDED.
9 breakfasts.
9 lunches, picnic-style on longer days.
9 dinners, including wine.
NOT INCLUDED:
International flights.
Travel insurance.
Hotel extras: mini-bar, spa, massage.
Tips for the staff.
SUPPORT:
We will have ride leaders and at least one mechanic on our trip.
Our staff/client ratio is 1:4 staff.
Our passenger vans come fully equipped with all necessary to give the best support during the rides.
We carry gels, energy bars, powder mix, water, fruit, riding food, tools, pumps, spare tubes and tyres to make sure our first-class support helps you through the trip.
Professional first aid kit.
CANCELLATION POLICY:
Adapting to the changes in international change after the COVID-19 pandemic, and incoordination, with most of the hotel’s terms and conditions, we are adjusting our cancellation policy accordingly as follows:
120 days before the trip starts – the return of your deposit minus any expenses that we may not be able to reimburse.
90 days before the trip starts – partial refund of the amount of the trip less 300 Euros cancellation fee, plus any amount that we can’t recover from Hotels, and other costs that we may have already incurred in the trip preparation.
Less than 60 days before the trip starts – no amount will be refunded. We will, however, try to credit as much as possible towards a future trip. This depends on the amount that we can get back from the hotels and other costs that we have already incurred in the trip preparation.
We highly recommend to contract travel insurance as soon you pay the deposit and buy your international flights.
Make sure your travel insurance covers:
- Refund of the amounts paid in case you need to cancel for any reason.
- Covers the cost of possible damages to your rental bike. Check our T&C for this.
For the reasons, we won’t be holding any spots until the full deposit has been paid.
Hotels are now more strict with how many rooms they are willing to have on hold for groups, so until deposit payments are made we won’t be able to confirm your spot.
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