Half my Strava feed has ridden Girona. No one's ridden the Costa Daurada.
Words: Chris McKnight | Photos: Chris McKnight
I was looking at my Strava heatmap on the flight home from our recent trip to the Costa Daurada. I’d been going through the leaderboard for the climbs we rode and was amazed at how few people I knew had ridden there.
Four people I follow had ridden the main climb in the area, two of them were a couple.
I started thinking how good it would be if there was a way to see a heatmap of each destination and who had ridden there — ask them what they thought, how they found it. Probably a nightmare from a security point of view, so maybe not the next feature Strava rolls out.
But it's the feeling I kept having all week on the Costa Daurada, an hour south of Barcelona. If that map existed, I'd guess this stretch of coast would be nearly empty.
And not because it isn't good for riding. Because it really is.
And not because it’s hard to get to, because it’s not.
Noisy Neighbours
The Costa Daurada sits quietly next to some very loud neighbours. Look at a map of Catalonia and it sits at the south-western edge of the region. Girona sits north-east, and I'm guessing you've heard of Girona.
If you zoom out further, but really not much further, you get to Calpe. Across the Balearic sea, Mallorca. Three of the world’s biggest cycling destinations within a very small in-the-grand-scheme-of-things radius. No wonder then, that the Costa Daurada has gone unnoticed by the cycling world.
But therein lies it’s appeal.
A sense of calm
It’s like someone’s turned the volume down. We started our first proper ride - after a shakedown pizza grab ride on our day of arrival - and picked up a stunner of a bike path after we had navigated our way easily out of Cambrils where we were staying.
I said to Nick, of Amo La Ruta, that the cycle path would be dropping us off at the base of the first climb of the day. And sure enough, as the bike path finished, the climbing began.
And the noise disappeared.
“It’s like this, all the time”
I asked one of the staff at the hotel reception whether the mountains behind the Coast ever get busy…
Quiet, calm, and beautiful to ride on. Both from a luscious green vistas point of view and the exceptional Spanish tarmac we were rolling on.
The riding may not have the drama and breathtaking scenery of some of the more northerly areas of Catalonia. It may not have the instant recognisability of the hairpins of Sa Calobra. But it’s got a calmness to it that makes a long day in the saddle, even in a fairly spicy heatwave, super enjoyable.
Ticking all the boxes
It’s a charming Spanish seaside resort, it’s two hours away from the UK. The riding starts with steady flat roads before the climbs wind upwards and the traffic drops away.
The Costa Daurada struggles to compete for attention, but as a cycling resort it really needs to be on the map. And at Altus Collective we’re on a mission to do just that.
Costa Daurada — the handy guide
Getting there: An hour south of Barcelona, easy transfer from BCN or the closer Reus REU airport.
Where to Stay: We stayed in Cambrils with Salou just up the coast (it all merges into one along a beautifully long beach). Tarragona for a larger town, with stage two of the 2026 Tour de France starting from there.
What to expect: Flat coastal roads to start into beautiful climbs all with very sociable gradients. Some of the best tarmac in we have ridden in Spain.
Best for: Riders who know Girona, Mallorca or Calpe well enough to want something new, somewhere quieter.
Fancy having La Mussara and the Costa Daurada's climbs to yourself for a week? Get in touch with Altus Collective and we'll help you plan the trip — before everyone else finds out.
Thank you to @catalunyaexperience for inviting us to experience the Costa Daurada.
The opinions, recommendations and photographs in this article are entirely our own.
