Do you like riding a bike, but you don’t know where to find accommodation that cares about your bicycle? Are you tired of taking your bike to your room, because there is no other place in the hotel where they can keep it safe? Are you worried about what happens if you need spare parts to fix your bicycle?
If you travel around Spain, you don’t have to worry about these things anymore, Bikefriendly takes care of everything!!
Bikefriendly is a seal of quality for the tourist traveling by bicycle. All the hotels and hostels (there are already more than 90 of them in Spain) that carry this guarantee seal of Bikefriendly have to fulfill some minimum quality requirements:
– providing a room where the bikes can be kept safe (all bicycles have their own space)
– having spare parts and accessories
– having a small garage with tools
– providing an area for cleaning the bikes
– giving information about the roads and bicycle routes in the zone (with the grade of difficulty included)
– organizing transport between hotels
All this for that tourists traveling by bike can have a pleasant stay without being worried about their bicycles.
You might already know that before recommending something, we like trying it. Last weekend we had the possibility of knowing this innovative idea and evaluating it based on our personal experience.
In Gandia, Valencia, we had the pleasure to enjoy a weekend on two wheels, while we stayed in one of the Bikefriendly Special Seven hotels. The hotels that belong to the circuit of Bikefriendly have 4 different levels, hence independently from your budget, you will find a Bikefriendly accommodation that fits yours.
If you travel in your own bike, you can get the most out of what these hotels can offer you, and the basic services we mentioned above (apart from the transport between accommodations) have no additional cost. If you don’t have your own bicycle, Bikefriendly will help you rent one, while they give you all kinds of information about routes and their difficulty.
It was a weekend of loads of fun. The seaside town of Gandia and its beautiful surroundings offer many different routes of different difficulties. On Saturday we did a 30 km route, and we don’t have to say that fear appeared in many of our journalist friends’ face when we were told about the length of the route, the night before. In the end, it was much easier than expected, the weather was nice and sunny, and we enjoyed really the company of the people we met in this press trip. The itinerary followed the beautiful esplanade of Gandia, and after a short urban part, we continued pedaling in a rural area between orange tree plantations.
In a typical Spanish way, we stopped during the route to enjoy a glass of beer on the esplanade accompanied by some interesting conversations. In the afternoon, we enjoyed the facilities of the Special Seven hotel of Bikefriendly, the RH Bayren.
On Sunday we tried electric bicycles provided by Moustache Bikes and Go Cycle. You can ride these bikes without the sweating too much, that’s for sure.
After that, Gábor who was really eager for some more physical effort, went for a ride in the mountains with a small group (with Sergio Pérez, a former pro-cyclist and once Vuelta de España runner included). Although there was some serious climbing included in the route, riding these amazing bikes provided by Bikefriendly, we overcame the difficulties without any problem.
On the other hand, Rachele couldn’t resist the temptation of riding these electric bikes instead of making more effort, so she joined the group that visited the center of Gandia.
We really loved these bike excursions and we seriously consider this as a new alternative for us to travel around in the near future. We would like to thank Bikefriendly for showing us this new and very entertaining way of traveling!
I had no idea you could rent electric bikes! That sounds great for popping into town without mussing up your outfit! : )
Yes, electric bikes are great to avoid sweating. I still felt strange when trying them, riding a bike and making almost no effort, it’s just not my thing:)
I’d love to try an electric bike too, though somehow it does seem a little like cheating 😉 Looks like the perfect place to enjoy getting around without the noise and pollution of a car, we’ll certainly check it out if we’re ever in the area!
I also see electric bike as a way of cheating:) However, it lets people do bike excursions who are not in good physical conditions.
I love the idea of bike friendly hotels! My bf and I had to go to 5 different hotels in Auckland to find one that would let us bring our bikes into the room–they thought they were dirty I guess? Which is especially funny because they were brand new and just out of the box and OBVIOUSLY sparkling clean. Finally we were like fuckit and just found a hotel that had a back door and snuck them in. SO stupid.
I see that finding bike friendly hotels is not an easy task in many other countries either, and there is need for this network of hotels. I hope people will “copy” the idea of Bikefriendly in other countries!
I cycle a lot so I think this is such a great idea that bikes are freely available. I keep seeing these electric bikes – I nearly brought one home from India with me actually hahaha. I really want one! Good to see you’re all wearing your helmets ;)!
We actually had a discussion about the issue of wearing helmets, some people don’t agree about the obligation to wear them. The electric bikes are a little bit of cheating for me:) but are great for people who want to bike without making a lot of physical effort.
I will take an electric bike please! I like to bike but just like beach cruisers and nothing hardcore. I’d love to bike the countryside buuuut I think I might need some help 😀
There are fantastic electric bikes available nowadays, some of them look like a normal mountain bike. I prefer normal bikes, but electric bikes are really amazing!
Is Bikefriendly stamp an international or Spanish only guarantee seal? What kind (brand) of bicycles have you been provided with? Electric one looks really nice.
At the moment it is a Spanish brand, but they would like to extend their network to other countries too! The bicycles were provided by Gocycle, I don’t really remember the brands, but they were really high quality mountain bikes!
Totally want to try this. I like being active and bike excursions are a great way for some excellent sightseeing. Tx for the tip!
Yeah, the idea of doing excursions by bike also attracted us! It’s a great way of traveling around and doing sport at the same time.
This is an excellent idea, thanks for spreading the word. Are you aware or any similar networks for cyclists in other European countries?
I asked them the same question, and they told that in France there’s something similar. Bikefriendly would definitely love to extend their network to other countries in Europe!
It seems biking around is getting more and more popular for tour groups in cities – In Rome I see these groups a lot! Very cool experience – and a great way to see a city and not on a bus the whole time 😉
I prefer biking excursions outside the city. I ride the bike a couple of times every day between my home and work, and drivers are sometimes really annoying with you!
Electric bikes! Finally, something we were promised by The Jetsons is real! LOL! Looks like a fun fun time 🙂 Great review.
Haha, the Jetsons also promised this?:) We had a lot of fun, no doubts about that!
Sounds like a great adventure!!!! Amazing!
Thanks Raphael! It was really cool!
This is awesome and really great information to know for anyone planning on heading to Spain and wanting to take some excursions on two wheels. Over the last 18 months, Heather and I have started riding bikes fairly frequently at home in Arkansas as we feel its a great way to get out and explore. But at the same time not every location is well suited to these two wheeled form of transport.
I agree with an earlier comment that we much prefer taking biking trips outside of the CBD in rural areas, but after reading this it is nice to know there are options available in urban settings.
I fully agree with you Chris! We also find riding a bicycle a great way to do excursions, the problem is that in most places cyclists are considered as weird, and most of the accommodations don’t help them at all (there’s no place where the bikes can be kept safe, etc..) Bikefriendly tries to change this situation, and I really hope that in many other countries solution of similar type will emerge. Thanks for your great comment, I hope we can bike around one day together somewhere!:)
This is awesome. I remember seeing lots of bikes for rent in Barcelona when I was there – can’t recall if they were electronic or not though…
In Barcelona more and more companies rent bikes, but I don’t think they are electric:) Actually we have a local bike-renting system called bicing, which is not the greatest but helps to move around by bike.
thats cool – have heard of Elec bike before but have always thought them to be a little lazy 😛
I think the same Sam:) riding electric bikes is a little bit lazy.
I think more people should start using the electric bikes in Barcelona too…This way there will be more on BICING left for us 🙂 But it´s true though, might solve the sweat problem!
Haha, another outraged BICING user:) It’s a great idea from you, let’s offer electric bikes to people, especially to those who live in the Guinardó neighborhood (where I live) and take the bicycle to go down to the city center, but they never climb back here by bike…
We love riding bicycles. Bikefriendly is a really great idea! We’ll definitely check it out next time we’re in Spain!
I also think that Bikefriendly is an awesome idea! I hope you will have the chance to go on some bike excursions around Spain!
Love the idea of the weekend on two wheels! Electric bikes sound interesting too, probably not for me though! Thanks for sharing, I wonder if they organize something similar in Italy!
I think in all countries something like this should be developed. Most of all in Italy where there are so many cyclists! Thanks for your comment!
As a Dutchie I love to cycle! Great to see you also got good options in Espana :)!
So now Dutch cyclist girls can also feel at home in Spain:)
This makes me want to be more athletic! I can walk and even run for miles but cycling has always seemed a pain in the behind. Literally! I love the romantic idea of cycling through Spain or Amsterdam and those European countries are so set-up for bikes. It is a great post for inspiration. If I ever take the plunge and do a cycling tour, I’ll let you know!
You will see, cycling is a lot of fun! Although I bike every day to work and back home, this weekend was the first time I really thought about traveling around for more days by bicycle! Bikefriendly is a really good initiative to help you in that!
cycling is such a great way to explore and see a town/ village/ city etc – you always end up seeing more than you would by other means but can sometimes be quite risky (especially on crazy asian roads)
I fully agree with you! We loved biking around in Asia, although you have to be really careful there.
Looks a nice way to spend the day!, I like the idea of stopping for a beer, I think I would skip the mountain section or try it with the cool looking electric bikes.
Rachele would fully agree with you, she also prefered the lazy version, while I sweated myself in the mountains!
I love jumping on a bike and exploring a new town/surrounding countryside – the best way to get around I think!
I agree with you! I love exploring places by bike!
This looks awesome!!!! I must do it next time I’m at Spain!
Thanks Raphael! You can find Bikefriendly hotels in many places around Spain.
I try to ride bikes when I travel. It is so easy to cover more distance than walking and see more than public transit. I have rented bikes in San Francisco, New Zealand, and Denver. Such a great time!
I agree with you, renting a bike is a great way of exploring a place that provides you a lot of freedom. We also like renting one when we travel around the world.
What an awesome idea… I never thought of it before but it sure makes sense!
And thank you for the info… I’m loving the idea of hiring an electric bike the next time I’m in Valencia… all hail the lazy bikers!
I’ve added you to Twitter and look forwarding to connect sometime.
selina@mightytravels.com
Thanks Selina! I also think that this is an awesome idea, and I hope you will have great time biking around Valencia!
Thanks Selina! I also think that Bikefriendly is an awesome idea, and I hope you will have a great time biking around Valencia!