La Porta del Cel

A 360 km gravel circuit from Girona — through the Gironès farmlands, up into the Pyrenees foothills, across the French border through the Vallespir, and back down to the Costa Brava on traffic-free greenways. The route follows the Pirinexus on well-maintained gravel tracks and quiet secondary roads. Five days of riding through terrain that shifts from Mediterranean lowlands to mountain passes and back, with daily stages of 55–85 km and moderate climbing. You pass through villages where Catalan and French blur at the border, ride along the Ter river delta through rice fields, and climb into valleys where the only traffic is livestock. A route built for endurance riders who want the full circle — not a highlight reel, but the whole landscape.

Three days riding a loop from Girona through the Costa Brava coastline and the Empordà interior — 220 km with 3,200 metres of climbing. Day one heads southeast through the La Selva forest towards Tossa de Mar, then follows the dramatic coastal road to Sant Feliu de Guíxols. Day two climbs into the Gavarres massif, drops back to the coast at Palamós, and rides north through Palafrugell and the medieval villages around Pals and La Bisbal de l'Empordà — the heart of the Baix Empordà, where Iberian settlements at Ullastret and stone-walled towns like Rupià and Parlavà sit between rice fields and farmland. Day three pushes back into the Gavarres for the climb to Els Àngels — the sanctuary where Salvador Dalí and Gala married in secret in 1958, with only five witnesses, and one of the finest balcony viewpoints above Girona — before descending home. The route mixes coastal tarmac with forest gravel and unpaved farm tracks, shifting constantly between sea views and interior ridgelines. This is Girona province at its finest: Mediterranean light, Catalan stone, and terrain that never stays flat for long.

A 300 km loop through the heart of cava country — starting and finishing at Vilafranca del Penedès, 35 minutes by train from Barcelona. Three days of mixed-surface riding — 60% road, 40% dirt — across the vineyards, olive groves, and almond orchards of the Alt Penedès, with 4,500 metres of accumulated climbing. The route threads through the historic towns of Pontons and Sant Sadurní d'Anoia — the capital of cava production, where Freixenet and Codorníu have their cellars — before climbing into the forested ridgelines that separate the Penedès basin from the Garraf coast. You pass the Pantano de Foix, cross into the limestone Garraf massif, and loop back through the vine-covered slopes beneath the silhouette of Montserrat. The terrain climbs and drops constantly between river valleys and ridgelines — this is not flat vineyard cruising. Between the vines you'll ride through wheat fields, past Romanesque hermitages, and along unpaved farm tracks that connect one valley to the next. The Penedès is emerging as one of Catalunya's best gravel territories: close enough to Barcelona for a long weekend, serious enough to feel like a proper expedition.