February. Bucharest. Freezing cold. Snowy ❄️

Pack your bike. Take a 3-hour flight ✈️

Malaga. Welcome to Spring! 🌸

Route in a nutshell

Distance: 55 km | Elevation gain: 1200 m (max elevation 947 m)

Route: Malaga – Puerto de la Bolina – Puerto del Leon – Malaga

This is a classic ride for road cycling in Malaga – the one that everyone recommends to start with 🙂 With 1200 m in 55 km, I’d say it’s an intermediate ride – you get to enjoy the views while also adding up quite quickly elevation gain.

Malaga → Puerto del Leon

From Malaga city center we started with an easy ride along the coastline, enjoying the waves and the palm trees. There is a marked side for cyclists, and the promenade is wide enough for everyone to feel comfortable – cyclists, runners, kids, wanderers & more.

Then we started to climb towards Olias, and then climbed some more until we reached Puerto de la Bolina and Puerto del Leon. The climbs are nice and accessible, with very few cars (great if you are doing your first rides!), low gradients and amazing views ❤

However, keep in mind there is a painful section with 17% … short, but very painful.

If you would like to do a longer ride, one option is to go to Comares – from Puerto de la Bolina we started going a bit towards Comares (the line which is outside the loop). That was an exposed area, and the crosswinds were quite strong … so we turned back quickly in the protected areas of the hills.

Puerto del Leon → Malaga

From Puerto del Leon there’s only a long descent. Usually this is the part I enjoy the most, but now – being windy and quite cold already – it was less enjoyable than I expected. But leaving the freezing apart, the descent is wavy and gradients are mellow – could be a joy during a hot summer day.

The climb from Malaga from Puerto del Leon (in the opposite direction compared to the ride we did) is also worth doing, with 1.000 m elevation gain and super quick access to and from Malaga. Perfect for a training ride 😉

The bike

I rode a lovely rusty-red Basso Astra Disc 45. The bike was brand new, so I had the privilege to show it for the first time the hills of Malaga ❤

The bike was rented from Eat Sleep Cycle Malaga. We knew about Eat Sleep Cycle before, as we also rented bikes from their store in Girona.

If you are curious what rides we did in Spain, you can check it out here – Spain cycling adventures.

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Malaga offers plenty of opportunities to have a good meal after the ride – we chose to enjoy traditional tapas at Casa Lola.

One more note: if you enjoy combining cycling holidays with a bit of art, Malaga is a great place, as it is the birthplace of Picasso. There are plenty of opportunities to discover Picasso during an after-ride walk through the city 😉

Have you ever been cycling in Malaga? What rides would you recommend in Costa del Sol?

‘Till next time … happy riding!

Georgiana