The second day of the Girona holiday was simply amazing! After cycling in the hills during the first day (see details here), for the second day we chose the seaside – the gorgeous Costa Brava!

We started our day again in style with breakfast at Coffee & Greens – a lovely coffee place with delicious healthy food and specialty coffee. Plus they have a designated place to park your bike inside the café! ❤

After breakfast we put our bikes in the car and drove to the starting point of the route – Llagostera. Girona to Llagostera is a 30 minutes ride by car, getting closer to the Mediterranean Sea. Once there, we found a perfect parking place (for free) in front of a locals-friendly restaurant where we also had a quick bite after we returned, before driving back to Girona.

The cycling route

Distance: 38 km | Elevation gain: 910 m

Route: Llagostera – Sant Grau – Tossa del Mar – back to Llagostera (Komoot link – the whole Komoot route has 54 km; we did stop earlier on the coastline)

Llagostera – Sant Grau

Despite the fatigue from the previous day (see the post here), we were so very excited for this ride to the coastline! As you can see, it was quite chilly 🙂

The beginning of the ride was a nice warm-up. The winding roads were friendly again, with no cars and plenty of cyclists passing by.

Slowly but surely we started to feel the slopes of Sant Grau – almost 9 km with an average gradient of 4%. Not terrible, not great 🙂 But the views … oh, those curvy roads!

After reaching the top of Sant Grau, the sea started to make its appearance! It’s such a special feeling to cycle while seeing the sea or ocean – I remember this feeling from the trip to Lisbon when we rode on the coastline of the Atlantic ocean ❤ (see that cycling trip here)

Sant Gran towards Tossa del Mar

The descent from the top of Sant Grau to the coast was very pleasant. Still no cars on the road, so we took our time and enjoyed the sunny weather.

Descending for 5 km with these scenic views … Heaven on Earth!

Climbing Sant Grau … for the second time!

What comes down … must go up again. But first a pit stop was needed for nutrition, hydration … and pictures, of course!

Then we started climbing again the beautiful hill Sant Grau. The climb on this side of the hill was a bit more punchy, with an average gradient of 5,5%.

The scenic views of the sea were now behind us, but the vegetation from this area was so rich and interesting that it provided observation material while slowly pedaling uphill. At one point I was advancing so slowly that I had time to notice tiny mushrooms on the side of the road :))

During the descent (second time descending Sant Grau!) it started to get quite cold, as the sun was already setting. But as the descent was coming to an end, so was our ride in the land of Costa Brava. It was an amazing day, maybe one of the most beautiful cycling days ’till now. Hope to see you soon, Sant Grau!

The bike

Model: Factor O2 VAM Disc Size 48 

The bike was rented from Eat Sleep Cycle. It was in excellent condition and we were upgraded to the electronic shifting option – for me it was the first time I tried electronic shifting, thank you! 🙂

Regarding renting places in Girona (and Spain) – be aware that there might be a siesta break during the lunch hours and that the autumn/winter schedule might be different than the spring/summer one. You might want to double-check the schedule if you plan to pick up or return the bike at around lunch time.

What other cycling routes would you recommend in this area of Spain?

‘Till next time … happy cycling!

Georgiana