If you want to relax near the sea and enjoy a good holiday, Castellón is your cycling destination. Kilometers and kilometers of roads and paths for you to fall in love with a territory that will make you forget the cold of this Covid winter in which we have been immersed for a year now.
2020 will be remembered as the year of Covid, the year of confinement and the year in which we have had to postpone most of the activities that we are passionate about. Luckily for everyone, each day that passes is one less day left to reach normality, a normality that in our case involves discovering new territories at the stroke of the pedal. If, like us, you are already planning where to pedal in 2021, here we present the latest cycling destination that we have discovered, Castellón.
Castellón, destination for great cyclists
The Valencian community has a long cycling tradition, this is not something that we are going to discover ourselves. Mass marches like the Great background Alberto counter or be the place chosen by many professional cycling teams to train during the winter they show that The Valencian community is the favorite destination for thousands of cyclists from all over the world, especially when it snows and is cold in their countries.
El Winter is high season for cycling in Castellón and it is easy to see groups of cyclists training at breakneck speeds due to their huge network of secondary roads.
A privileged climate for filming
One of the main reasons for the popularity of the province of Castellón among the international platoon is its weather. The Valencian community has many sunny days and it is very difficult for us to go for a week and not be able to go pedaling.
During our stay in Castellón at the beginning of December we were able to enjoy a very pleasant temperature, with maximum temperatures of 15-20º at midday that allowed us to pedal in short cycling shorts and jerseys. In these conditions, who doesn't want to go out pedaling?
Cycling routes, what does Castellón offer us?
Once you have chosen the destination, the most important thing is to have a good selection of cycling routes to choose. To decide without making mistakes, we chose the routes that the Playa Castellón Golf Hotel, a great hotel Red Bikefriendly located on the seafront. Using this hotel as a base we were able to enjoy a good selection of cycling routes in Castellón, both mountain and road, which delighted us during our stay. If your idea is -when they let you- take a few days to disconnect and train in Castellón, in this hotel you will play it safe because it has everything you, as a cyclist, may need.
Of the numerous routes that Golf Playa Castellón has, all downloadable from their website and from the Bikefriendly app Completely free of charge, we were able to choose between short and easy routes to long routes that became a real challenge.
If you are not coming alone and want to enjoy the area with your family, don't worry. The Hotel del Golf Playa Castellón has routes of all kinds, including family ones, taking advantage of the dense network of bike paths that extend through the area. Walks at the end of the day enjoying the bike path along the seafront are perfect for letting the little ones start taking their first pedal strokes.
Road cycling routes in Castellón
Our stay at the Hotel del Golf Playa Castellón was divided between road and MTB routes. Both modalities coexist perfectly in the area, although for our taste the road was superior. The amount of secondary roads and ports of all types that we found in the area were quite a surprise.
Desierto de las Palmas Natural Park
Our idea of Castellón was that of a flat area, since the surname “de la plana” that accompanies Castellón indicated this to us, but nothing could be further from the truth. Just behind Castellón we have the Desierto de las Palmas natural park, a protected territory of more than 3000 hectares that extends parallel to the coast and has a road that runs from end to end, from Castellón to Benicàssim.
This port has some stunning views of the coast and it has first-class asphalt, making it one of the most visited points by cyclists in the area. In 2015 the Back to Spain He crowned this port and since then he has been a regular, which is why many cyclists visit it every year. If you don't want to be scared, don't look at the Strava section of the climb to the Desert de les Palmeres. Mathieu Van der Poel's time is from another world.
Bartolo climb: 3 km of pure hell
Although it is a pleasant port, the most difficult ones have at the end of the port the beginning of another port, the climb to Bartolo. If you are not one of those who like challenges, it is better to continue straight because this detour gives us almost 3 kilometers of pure hell.
If the average slope of 11% or its ramps of 20% were not enough, in this climb you have to deal with a asphalt destroyer. Be careful not to climb with long Ironman type developments or with show-case tires, this climb is for pure-bred cyclists, those who do not get wrinkled when the asphalt is broken, with stones or skids. Of course, if you manage to overcome the challenge, the Bartolo will reward you with impressive views.
In winter, with the road empty and on a sunny day, the climb to Bartolo was one of the best cycling moments we experienced in Castellón. The descent, yes, was something else. The asphalt even made us lose the water bottle and we remembered a lot about our beloved mountain KTM Scarp. Luckily for everyone, this climb can also be done by MTB on the side of the Pobla Tornesa and the hermitage of les Santes, so we can go up without fear of losing the fillings on the way down.
Sierra de Espadán
Curiously, from the top of Bartolo you can see another point of interest for cyclists in Castellón, the Sierra de Espadán. Just 25 km from the Playa Castellón Golf Hotel We placed ourselves at the beginning of this mountain range and quickly realized why it was one of the best kept secrets in Castellón.
Going up its roads we discover the authentic Valencian Community, a region full of tradition and beautiful corners to discover at the stroke of a pedal. We will especially remember the climb up the Artana pass, a beautiful climb that definitively separated us from the coast to fully enter the mountains, where we pedaled for hours without hardly seeing a car. Cyclists in the area told us that this climb was one of the most legendary in Castellón and that in winter is when it can be best, since in summer there are usually more cars on the road.
Puerto de Marianet, pure cycling peace
We pedaled another of the entrances to the Sierra de Espadán from Vall d’Uixó, continuing towards Alfondeguilla and climbing the well-known Marianet. This port connects Alfondeguilla with the towns of Chóvar or Azuébar and takes us directly into the Sierra de Espadán. The road has some stretches of straights that allow us to pick up speed, but in the upper area the tight and fun curves are the trend. As in the rest of the routes, at this point we were still pedaling alone and we had only passed through small towns that rest in the shelter of the mountains. Pure cycling peace.
Paquita's carajillo
The descent to Eslida was more fun, especially because four drops had fallen and the asphalt had gotten wet, which, together with the sharp curves of the descent, made us go carefully to enjoy it as much as possible. As we knew that the route was going to continue towards Ahín and Alcudia de Veo, the locals recommended that we stop at the Bar Paquita in Eslida.
We had just come down to the wet road and we were a little cold, so when we entered the Paquita we ordered what they had recommended to us, a “carajillo de Castellón”. We all know what a carajillo is and surely more than one of us drinks it on cold days, but we can assure you that Paquita's carajillo is the best carajillo we have ever had. With honey, coffee beans and lemon, we assure you that it changed our faces and we were able to continue on the route with our batteries well charged.
MTB routes in Castellón
Since the cyclist does not live on asphalt alone, We went to Castellón with the mountain bike, a brand new KTM Scarp MT that we took advantage of to test in Valencian lands.
To get ideas and go on the route with the maximum guarantees, we choose to follow the advice of the Hotel del Golf Playa Castellón and They provided us with several MTB routes What we could do during our stay.
The longest ones entered the Desierto de las Palmas and crossed the mountain range along paths and tracks of varying difficulty, climbing again almost to the top of Bartolo. Without a doubt, this is one of the most beautiful areas of the mountains but, as we had already climbed it on the road bike, we preferred to save our strength. The Coll de la Mola or the Hermitage of les Santes were some of the points we visited and we linked a good number of fun roads with sections of asphalt that allowed us to ride at a good average speed.
Castellón, gravel paradise
By not finding each other virtually no technical points or trails, we started to think about the gravel option. We spent several days riding in the area and some cyclists we saw there confirmed it to us; “Castellón is a gravel paradise.”
It is certainly a bicycle that we did not have with us but that after riding in the area, we will take with us next time. The speeds and distances covered with these bicycles are greater than with a double suspension mountain bike, as long as the terrain is favorable, and in the case of the Desierto de las Palmas we are sure that we would have ridden the same or even better with wheels. finer.
Hotel Golf Playa Castellón, a historic hotel in the area
El Playa Castellón Golf Hotel It is a cycling institution in the area. Its construction began in the 60s and it was one of the pioneers in uniting sport and accommodation, building a golf course a few meters from the main door. Sports have been an inherent part of this hotel since then and that is why they have been committed to pampering athletes for many years. When we decided to spend a few days in Castellón we knew where we were going to stay.
As we said before, the location of this hotel is privileged and is one of its great attractions. Is located just 100 m from a beach of very fine sand awarded the Blue Flag for its quality and environmental respect, so taking a dip in the sea after training is really easy. Towards the interior is the city of Castellón de la Plana (7 km) and to the north Benicássim, known worldwide for hosting one of the independent music festivals Most important in the world.
Bikefriendly space
One of the hotel's many services is that it belongs to the Bikefriendly Network because it offers infrastructure and services specially designed for cyclists. In this case you can find a safe space to store your bike (with individual lock), washing area, workshop to do basic maintenance after each outing and have own tracks for routes of all kinds so that we don't have to worry about anything, something that in our case we were very grateful for.
If you travel by bicycle and usually take routes, you will know that the most important thing about a hotel, food aside, is that they respect our beloved companion in fatigue, so having exclusive services for her is a great success. In our case we did not have any breakdowns that forced us to readjust the bicycle in the workshop, but we did have to clean the bicycle after an outing in which it had rained, so we took advantage of some of the facilities offered by the hotel.
Services for families and relaxing moments
Beyond the comforts received from being a cyclist, the Hotel del Golf Playa Castellón has much more to offer. At the family level they have all kinds of facilities, something that we even saw in the mountain bike routes they have (they have specific routes for families), and they have outdoor pool for the little ones.
In addition to this they have sauna and massage service, something essential to completely relax. In this area they are specialists in elite athletes, so they can give you a complete “body and paint” if you arrive damaged because your group mates have not respected you even in a single port. Going into the sauna and receiving a massage was the way we got rid of the hot flashes from climbing Bartolo.
La Bicicleta Café, a cycling temple in the heart of the city
In the heart of Castellón de la Plana there is a beautiful cycling corner, “The Café bicycle.” This place, a mandatory stop for every cyclist who visits the area, is a real cycling temple and world-class professional cyclists have passed through it who did not want to miss the opportunity to meet it.
Its walls are decorated with classic bikes, vintage jerseys and all kinds of details about cycling and its culture. Many professional cyclists have left their mark there and it is easy to see world champion jerseys signed by the likes of Peter Sagan. Its good repertoire of beers or the quality of its coffee can only accompany a unique environment, where as a cyclist you will feel extremely pampered.
In case you didn't know, this establishment It is also a brand and you can buy its clothing and all kinds of quality cycling accessories in the store they have right in front of the cafeteria.
