Familly cycling - Spain?

Hi,
A canadian friend of mine wants to do a three week cycle with her partner and her three year old. She's thinking of Spain. I myself biked a lot but always solo and never in Spain, so I don't have that many advises to give her. So, I would welcome any tips about :

1. Cycling in Spain - keeping in mind the three year old (what region is the best? What to expect? Would Portugal be better?)
2. Familly cycling in general. Does anyone have references, sites or personal experience about cycling wiht a child?

many thanks! Cheers!
Maika

Hi,

One idea will be to perform the famous route to Santiago of Compostela. A lot of people is doing it every year by foot but of course is possible by bike. Actualy there are several routes to arrive on there, the most used is from the border with france, another one from the south called la ruta de la plata (Silver route). There is plenty of information on the net.

http://www.jrnet.com/travel/articles/santiago.html

well I guess the main thing here is to evoid the climbing routes....and spain has plenty....hmmmm.....so the route to santiago by the "traditional Route" the perigrimige route is the best,no too many climbing....or just go to south spain ....is really nice ,,now what time or season?....summer is the hell in some parts os spain....I like portugal by the sea....from the north of spain,to Lisbon....has to be spain?...if has to be any place in europe try better the routes besides the Rhin River from France to Germany,like Cologne,Bonn,Vienne,is just great and fresher areas and flat!.....yeah a little bit crowded but organized.

Hi Maika --

Provided they're not considering going in summer, Andalusia is a good option. In spite of having a lot of mountain ranges, there's a good selection of rail trails (you can see them here on the Vías Verdes webpage. The trick of riding Andalusia is to stay close to the various river systems (fewer mountains) and take advantage of secondary highways.

If they're thinking about the summer, one good option is to consider the cycling trail system around Gerona. The Gerona region has about 400 km of trails (secondary roads, offroad paths) that attract a lot of different kinds of riders - diehard roadies, families, mountain bikers... plus you've got the advantage of being very close to the beach! Cicloturisme i Medi Ambient organizes tours in that area, if they'd like to think about them as an option.

Best,
Dawn
SPANISH CYCLEPATHS

Hi
I just came back from a 1,000 k ride in Andulusia. There ARE mountains but you can avoid them (I did not). There is the old nothing-to-eat-or-drink-in-siesta-time problem as with all Spanish countries. As mentioned above, Summer is way to hot. But the other think you need to know is that whilst riding in the country and the city is fine, getting from one to the other can be really tricky if not impossible. The big cities that I came in and out of (Seville, Cordoba, Cadiz, Granada in particular) all had full-on expressways around them and the only way I could do it was to go on those expressways. They had all the signs banning bikes. They were pretty dangerous and I can not recommend them.

Finally the busses are good and it is easy to go on a bus with a bike. No carton required. You put it on (underneath) and get it off yourself.

The cities there are quite amazing.

Have fun!

Maika, I recently completed a 3 week tour from Santiago to Lisbon, riding through the beautiful inland regions of Portugal. I would urge more people to condier Portugal as a cycle touring destination, although I can't really comment on its suitability for a 3-year old! Have a look at my website www.globalspokes.com I have recently put a section on there called "Portugal Discovered", which may be useful for you.

helen