Bycicle Touring - Turisme La Costera

Return, roll, travel

Cyclotourism

The region of la Costera is the cyclotourism dream, offers us everything that a cyclist wants to find on their trip. Open landscapes, mountains, towns with a lot of history, friendly people, pleasant climate and excellent gastronomy. Discovering a new territory or rediscovering an already known landscape is always a rewarding adventure and continuous learning.

Traveling by bicycle in stages is the purest form of sustainable tourism. La Costera Cycling Tour has been designed to be done during several days and adapt our rhythm to the landscape. From a minimum of two days for those with a higher level, to four or more, for those who want to take it easy, enjoy the inheritance and gastronomy, visit the wineries and museums, or complete it with the thematic routes.

Crossing in stages

A cycle tourism trip in stages allows you to turn a weekend into a small vacation. The five stages that are described in this guide allow each cyclist to adapt the journey to their own needs, either due to their physical level or availability of days. Each starting and ending point has the essential services for cyclists, such as supplies, water, restaurants, accommodation or a bicycle workshop in case of emergency. Designed for mountain biking BTT, it can also be done on a Gravel bike or even with saddlebags but in this case we advise following the indicated variant between km. 32.4 and 48.5 to avoid the complexity of the La Hoz ravine.

FROM XÀTIVA TO MONTESA

FIRST STAGE

The starting point for the great cycling tour of la Costera is the Xàtiva station. This stage has excellent accommodation possibilities and a wide variety of restaurants for those who wish to spend the night before in the city. A highly recommended experience both on the way out and on the way back, as well as a detailed visit to its historic center.

FROM XÀTIVA TO MONTESA

FROM MONTESA TO NAVALÓN

SECOND STAGE

In this stage we will go fully into the Serra d’ Enguera (Enguera mountain), the southern most buttress of the Caroig massif. An immense and lonely territory considered one of the most depopulated regions in Europe. No civilization was ever established in its confines, except for the prehistoric communities that left their mark on the slopes, ravines of spectacular layout and grandeur like the one that we will cross at the end of our stage. The cave paintings recognized as a World Inheritance Site are preserved in the shelters hanging from the deep river beds.

FROM MONTESA TO NAVALÓN

FROM NAVALÓN TO LA FONT DE LA FIGUERA

THIRD STAGE

We are in the highest part of the Serra d’ Enguera (Enguera mountain) and of our entire journey. About to enter la Costera region again, we are pedaling through border lands. The strategic value of this mountain range, which acted as a natural boundary with the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile, especially after the Almizra treaty, lies in the fact that it was the alternative crossing area in front of the Canyoles valley. Already the Iberians, and later the Romans, had important channels of communication here. The presence of springs, the abundance of game and the easy defense led to human settlements since ancient times.

FROM NAVALÓN TO LA FONT DE LA FIGUERA

FROM LA FONT DE LA FIGUERA TO MOIXENT

FOURTH STAGE

We are now surrounded by a delicious landscape of vineyards and farmhouses. A rural landscape that has not changed much in recent years, but that has been converted into much more profitable crops, including the vineyard that is the main protagonist. A sea of white earth covered in colors according to the season of the year: vines, sunflowers and fruit trees alternate as we pass. Continuing our journey through the lands of the Alforins, we will continue to find large estates, stately homes, dry stone margins and white earth. A landscape that someone once defined as the Valencian Tuscany.

FROM LA FONT DE LA FIGUERA TO MOIXENT

FROM MOIXENT TO XÀTIVA

FIFTH STAGE

We are facing the fifth and final stage of our journey. About thirty kilometers through what was the Via Augusta, a very humanized environment and very different from how this landscape was just a few decades ago. The new communication channels, the railway lines and their expansion, as well as the industrial and urban growth of the towns through which we will pass, have profoundly transformed the territory.

FROM MOIXENT TO XÀTIVA

Thematic Routes

The thematic routes are variants or alternatives to the general route that allow us, on the one hand, to get to know the territory in depth and visit places of cultural and natural interest that are far from the circuit and, on the other hand, to extend our trip in days and distances. Some of the themed routes are essential visits, others are small circular routes that start and return to the same starting point and others are variants that allow us to decide the route to follow until the end of each stage. There is a gravel variant that avoids the passage through the La Hoz ravine and another more intense and mountainous variant, with a greater unevenness, that crosses the Serra Grossa mountain between Moixent and Vallada through the Bosquet and Camp Redó, only suitable for cyclists with more experience.