Our ideal vacation these days usually involves two wheels. There is something especially intimate about seeing a country’s landscape from the seat of a bicycle. We recently took a self-guided cycling tour in the Andalucía region of Spain from Sevilla to Cadíz with Cyclomundo. If you’re considering a cycling holiday, this one offers lush landscapes, captivating towns, and exceptional accommodation.
What’s a self-guided cycling tour?
A self-guided cycling tour includes a route map, a bicycle and gear, accommodation booking, luggage transfers and support should you run into any difficulties along the way. The tours we’ve taken have always included breakfast. Other than that, you are on your own to get from place to place and can move at a pace that’s comfortable for you. Read my previous post for more on self-guided cycling tours and tips.
Cycling Andalucía with Cyclomundo
When we booked the Sevilla to Cadíz: Essential Andalucía tour with Cyclomundo for May I was slightly anxious about the 3.5 (out of 5) difficulty rating. My knee was still in recovery from meniscus tear surgery in January, and I hadn’t been running much, and my cardio shape kind of sucked. The 50 – 70-kilometre daily distance didn’t concern me, but the hill climbs did. As a prairie city dweller, hill training is a challenge. I resolved that I’d just have to cope and added ibuprofen and an ice gel pad to my packing list. It turns out I was up to the challenge!
We’ve done several self-guided cycling tours over the years in Europe and Canada. Our first one in Italy included turn-by-turn paper sheets of directions. We got by but spent a good deal of time retracing our steps because we got off course.
This was the first tour we took that offered a GPS device and was it ever a game-changer. Steve used the app MapMyRide with the GPS coordinates Cyclmundo provided, and I used the GPS device, which came programmed and ready to go. As a back-up, we had the turn-by-turn paper instructions. We rarely used them other than to read the description of the day’s route each morning. Having both of us connected to GPS meant we never missed a turn.
Snapshots of the tour
Starting in Sevilla
We took an extra day at our tour’s start in Sevilla and were we ever glad we did. Sevilla has a tourist-friendly yet relaxed vibe and is perfect for exploring on foot. Even though it’s Spain’s fourth largest city with 1.5 million in population, it doesn’t feel that big – especially in the central old town. Narrow streets lined with cheerfully decorated local shops and restaurants make it easy to spend the day wandering while stumbling upon points of interest.
Streets like this are everywhere in Sevilla—turn the corner and get wowed by an unexpected burst of colour!
It’s worth a visit to explore the spectacular rooms and grounds of the Real Alcazar royal palace, built late in the 18th century. Parts of the 5th season of Game of Thrones was shot here and guess what, the line-ups to get in without tickets are colossal from morning till afternoon. Avoid the agony – we bought tickets online for early evening and walked right in.
The lush Parque de María Luisa is the perfect spot for a big drink of nature.
Officially called the Metropol Parasol, locals dubbed it Las Setas (the mushrooms). The astounding piece of architecture claims to be the largest wooden structure in the world. It contains a market, plaza, and Roman and Moorish antiquities on display.
Cycling day one – The road to Carmona
The first day of a cycling tour is always an exciting mix of anticipation and trepidation for me. You never know just what the road conditions will be like, how your rental bike will perform, and how your butt will feel at the end of the day. The answer to the latter is tender evolving into uncomfortably sore in the days following. Yes, even with padded shorts.
Nevertheless, the beautiful scenery always overtakes any body soreness, and I’m always surprised at how comfortable the rental bike is after a few minor adjustments.
We had blue skies for most of our tour. We were thankful that the morning part of our ride on the first day was relatively flat, giving us the chance to get into the groove before anything too gruelling.
The flatlands didn’t last, and as we’ve often found on European cycling trips, the prettiest and most spectacular towns are at the top of a hill. The pool at the Parador de Carmona made it worth the climb.
A word about parador hotels
We’ve always found the accommodation on our bike tours to be of excellent quality. Some have even been a cut above. On this tour, Cyclomundo booked us into a series of paradors, which are state-run hotels that have been converted from castles, fortresses, convents, and monasteries. Rates are surprisingly reasonable. We were blown away by our parador stays. Sleeping in a castle feels like a rare luxury.
Our first taste of authentic Spanish gazpacho in Carmona. So fresh and delicious! We resolved to start making our own upon our return home. We haven’t.
Cycling day two – The road to Montellano
Cyclomundo’s description of this leg of the tour was that we would be enjoying flat terrain and wide open spaces filled with beautiful sunflower and olive groves. That was all true. The guide book also cautioned us to save some energy to “climb a bit” to your final destination. Well, one person’s “bit” is another person’s “Oh my God, where is the freaking hotel already?”
Psychologically, once we hit the town of Montellano, I thought we were done. I wasn’t paying attention to the endpoint displayed on my GPS screen. However, the hotel was on the outer edge of the other side of town and up a hill (after having done one other significant climb prior to reaching town that I had thought the guide book was cautioning us about). I had a wee meltdown. Steve managed to talk me down, though, and we sailed into the lovely Hotel Hacienda La Morena. It had a pool. I was fine.
It was market day in Arahal en route to Montellano. One of the great things about a self-guided cycling tour is that you can stop anywhere you like.
The modern Hotel Hacienda La Morena was built as a traditional Andalucian hacienda by the couple who run it. It is a good distance outside of Montellano, so unless you want to hop right back on that bike, you stay put at the hotel. That’s no hardship as it is a perfect spot to relax, sip sherry in the courtyard, and recover from the day’s ride.
Nothing feels better than sitting back after dinner and a day of cycling to enjoy the sunset. Well, bed feels pretty good too.
Cycling Day Three – the road to Arcos De La Frontera
This was the most challenging day of cycling. I don’t want to sound like I am complaining about the tour. I LOVED it. Part of what was great about it is that it required me to push myself after a year of being less active than usual. It was all manageable. But, those end-of-day hills! Yowza!
Who wouldn’t want to start the morning pedalling across this gorgeous landscape?
We cycled through a few of these tunnels in Vía Verde de la Sierra national park. It got VERY dark, and Steve was glad I discovered we had lights on the front of our bikes!
It isn’t all rolling mountains and olive groves. Spain grows cereal crops too.
It’s impossible not to be impressed with this view of Arcos de la Frontera when you first come upon it. Guess where we stayed? That’s right – the top of the hill.
View from the stunning Parador de Arcos de la Frontera – a former magistrate’s estate. See that bridge in the distance on the right? It’s the same as the one in the photo above. That was a long climb!
Parador de Arcos de la Frontera
Every room and courtyard in the Arcos de la Frontera is grand.
Arcos is a pretty town, right down to the yarn bombing that decorates the streets. If you visit, be prepared to walk a lot of inclines and declines.
Cycling day four – the road to Jerez de la Frontera
A relatively easy 55 kilometres, this stretch of cycling took us down quiet country roads with gently rolling hills and pastures of cotton, sugar beets, sunflowers and other crops. We had perfect weather the whole trip with low winds, sunny days and temperatures not exceeding about 26C. I’m declaring May as the ideal time of year for cycling through Spain.
The Dia grocery chain seems to have a presence in every small Spanish town. It has a good selection of prepared foods and fresh produce for the perfect roadside picnic. The Cyclomundo guide book often gives suggestions for places to stop and eat, but we’ve always opted for picnics on the road. I never feel comfortable sitting in a café or restaurant in my cycling gear with a morning’s layer of sweat on my skin. Picnics are the way to go.
The flowering jacaranda trees in Jerez add a romantic hue to its parks and boulevards. Aside from its pretty trees, Jerez is the home of sherry, which Steve and I had not tasted a lot until this trip. Contrary to our impressions that it was on the sweet side, that’s not necessarily the case. We tried very dry white sherries and sweet dessert sherries and everything in between.
El Gallo Azul is a landmark building in Jerez built in 1929 to make this corner more beautiful. I’d say it was a success!
Cycling day 5 – the road to Cadíz
On the final day of our tour, we had an option of shortening our pedal time by hopping a ferry from Puerto de Santa Maria to Cadíz. We seriously considered this so that we could squeeze a bit more time out of our final destination. In the end, though, we decided not to, and it turned out to be an easy ride along designated bike paths, which allowed us to ride side by side and have good conversations along the way. It was a nice way to end the tour.
Cycling through the Bay of Cadiz Nature Reserve offered very different vistas from our previous days’ cycling.
Reaching Cadíz and seeing its spectacular beach for the first time made me glad that we extended our stay there an extra day.
People swim and sun at Cadíz beach till late in the evening, and when the boats come in it’s time for a pretty sunset.
After seeing many people eating this seasonal snail dish (hay caracoles), we gave it a go. The broth has a rich earthy flavour. The eating technique involves grabbing the head with your teeth to slide the body into your mouth. Yum, right?
Our final parador hotel was modern compared with the others. Our jaws dropped when we opened the door to our room and the blinds automatically retracted to reveal the terrace and breathtaking view.
Every place we visited along our tour was spectacular in its own way, but Cadíz stole our hearts. It’s a wonderful mix of beach, sun, and city. This port city dates back millennia but seems to be a best-kept secret to foreigners. Compared to Barcelona and Madrid, it’s much less touristy, and the seafood is outstanding.
Overall impressions
This was our second Cyclomundo self-guided bike tour. Both outings were well-organized, and anytime we had a question, concern or something to clarify, the company was responsive.
We would cycle in Spain again in a heartbeat. The routes we took were bike-friendly, and the towns and cities included on this tour were all a bit different and equally lovely.
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