murcia area cycling base

henrik · Post by **henrik** » 1 Dec 2014, 7:15pm

this summer instead of touring i think i'll do long day trips from a base............anyone know of a inexpensive hotel in a small town (murcia region) where i could base myself for a week.
i've tried the usual search but end up getting condos near the brit pack golf courses. i'll be arriving in san javier.
cheers

iviehoff · Post by **iviehoff** » 2 Dec 2014, 12:12pm

Won't you fry in the summer around there?

The problem you have is that along the coast there is the typical coastal tourism, (and lots of very busy roads unpleasant for cycling); and then if you go inland just there it's a rather tedious sparsely populated plain, with some isolated hill areas the roads mostly go around, and a few big towns like Murcia itself.

To find a network of nice roads which provide enough variety for several days touring, and some smaller places with accommodation, I'd suggest the Costa Blanca mountains. A lot of cyclists favour Cocentaina as a centre for that. That's 150km via main roads from the airport. But it has a railway station on the main line inland from Alicante so you can probably get there by train. There are also plenty of small villages in the mountains which have small inns. I doubt you'll find anything particularly cheap in that region of Spain.

megilleland · Post by **megilleland** » 5 Dec 2014, 8:17pm

You may want to consider where you fly to next year as the new airport at Murcia La Covera is still beset with problems. Flights to San Javier may be tranferred to La Covera, but things are still are still up in the air (excuse the pun). Alicante may be a better bet.

iviehoff · Post by **iviehoff** » 8 Dec 2014, 11:48am

Sounds like this Corvera airport is as much a boondoggle as the Ciudad Real airport, which closed in 2012 after just 3 years in operation as it had attracted hardly any scheduled flights.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciudad_Rea ... al_Airport says "A BBC News magazine report suggests [Ciudad Real] airport was planned to fail by its investors, who benefited from construction contracts awarded to their own companies."

Anyway, OP seems to think he is flying to San Javier. It seems the Murcians have no power to insist that San Javier closes, so maybe the airlines will continue to fly there, even if Corvera opens.

rualexander · Post by **rualexander** » 8 Dec 2014, 3:55pm

San Javier is a nice small airport with easy access on a bike, and there is a campsite directly next to it which is very handy if arriving late or leaving early. Shame if the airlines move to the new airport.

HarryD · Post by **HarryD** » 9 Dec 2014, 10:01am

Alhama De Murcia (70km from the airport) is at the foot of the Sierra de Espuna and has some great rides as does the area to the south. There are two hotels in/near town; Los Bartolos and the Mariposa

Also have a look at Owners Direct as they often have cheap holiday rentals

henrik · Post by **henrik** » 9 Dec 2014, 6:11pm

Re: murcia area cycling base
Postby HarryD » Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:01 am

Alhama De Murcia (70km from the airport) is at the foot of the Sierra de Espuna and has some great rides as does the area to the south. There are two hotels in/near town; Los Bartolos and the Mariposa

Also have a look at Owners Direct as they often have cheap holiday rentals
HarryD

Stayed in the Los Bartolos last year.....considering it again, nice wee town with good access to the hills. just thought there might be others, cheers.

CJ · Post by CJ » 9 Dec 2014, 9:57pm

iviehoff wrote:A lot of cyclists favour Cocentaina as a centre for that. That's 150km via main roads from the airport. But it has a railway station on the main line inland from Alicante so you can probably get there by train. There are also plenty of small villages in the mountains which have small inns. I doubt you'll find anything particularly cheap in that region of Spain.

Cocentainia is a nice old place, but no trains from Alicante, only Valencia. And it's at the junction of three Vias Verdes: Maigmo, Xixarra and Serpis, so good for those on fat (or sensible) tyres who want to explore rail trails. Alcoy, a few miles to the south is a workaday but interesting town with cheap hotels (e.g. Hostal Savoy where I have stayed several times) is also a good centre for exploring the 'Comtat'.

I think Murcia itself would be a good base. It's not such a big place to get out of with quite a mixture of different terrain within a day's ride, from groves of date palms at Elche to rugged mountains in several directions, to tasty Jumilla vineyards, to the coast and the Mar Menor, and even a Via Verde - del Noroeste.

EDIT: Or if you'd rather not stay in a city: to the East, halfway between Murcia and Elche, is the nice little town of Orihuela, full of pretty squares, fine old churches, mansions, even palaces - you could even stay in a palace, 4-star, for £33 a night B&B, assuming there's two of you.

iviehoff · Post by **iviehoff** » 11 Dec 2014, 1:27pm

CJ wrote:Cocentainia is a nice old place, but no trains from Alicante, only Valencia.

I now see the problem is that I misunderstood the line through Alcoy and Concentaina as being the through route from Alicante to Valencia, but actually it is a dead end branch coming south off that line. So you can catch a train from Alicante to Cocentaina via Xátiva, which is a bit of a long way around, but possible. The alternative would be to take a train from Alicante to Villena, which despite the approx 25km it left you to ride would be rather quicker. There are railway stations at Balsicas and Torre Pacheco which are reasonably convenient for San Javier, from where there are trains to Alicante.