The best road bike route from Dénia – COLL DE RATES

Despite not offering road bike routes within the offer of our activities in AVENTURA PATA NEGRA. It has always been and remains one of my passions. I also worked for several years as a guide of this modality for the Hotel Los Caballos, where I met a lot of cycling enthusiasts who came to enjoy for a whole week of this privileged place for road cycling due to the good condition of our roads and the magnificent climate that allows us to ride throughout the year.

So today and after my hours and kilometers pedaled, without a doubt if I had to recommend a road bike route leaving from Denia would be the Coll de Rates and return through Castell de Castells.

We assume that you are a regular road cyclist and that you are fairly fit, since it is a demanding route of about 85 km and 1,300 m of positive elevation gain. If you have been cycling for two days I assure you that this route is going to be difficult for you. Depending on your average speed it should take you between three and four hours of “effective cycling” (real time on the bike).

The Coll de Rates pass can be considered “The Mecca” of cycling in our area. All cycling enthusiasts who live here and those who come to visit cannot leave without having climbed it. And if you come during the winter season, it is very likely that you will meet (or rather that they will “take the stickers off” you while climbing) with one of the many professional teams that come to prepare their season in our area.

The beginning of this pass is located in the town of Parcent. To get there, we go to La Xara, where we take the CV-724 road to Pedreguer and then the CV-720.

In Pedreguer begins a fairly steep climb of about 6.5 km passing through the village of Llosa de Camacho. This section has an average gradient of 3% with some bits that “stings” a little more as we approach the area of Llosa de Camacho and until the end.

From there a short descent to the town of Alcalalí.. Halfway down you will find a fountain on the left hand side in case you want to refuel with water. From Alcalalí we have a little less than 3 Km of up and down to Parcent (more uphill than downhill) and in Parcent the nonsense is over. As soon as you reach the village and turn left (on the CV-715 road) you face the beginning of this famous pass of just over 6 km. It is a fairly steady port with an average gradient of around 6% in which you will not find breaks and some more demanding sections with slopes of up to 10%. The views as you go up are impressive and you can see the sea in the distance in the bay of Javea and the Montgó and Cap de Sant Antoni, which act as a natural border between the towns of Jávea and Dénia.

Once the pass is crowned, there is a long stretch of descents and ascents up to Tárbena. (we continue on the CV-715). The views from this other side of the mountain are also impressive, seeing the interior of the valley, the Bernia mountain range and once in Tárbena you will be able to see the sea and the skyscrapers of Benidorm.

Nowadays I can’t conceive a bike ride without a stop for lunch. On this route I always stop in Tárbena in a little bar that is a bit hidden, just in front of the detour that we will take to Castell de Castells. The bar is called Ca’s Pelut and it is one of those places that are left in these small towns where you can eat a typical lunch, a coffee and toast with tomato or even order a paella (they make it very good) and all for a very reasonable price. Besides the views from the terrace are incredible. Be careful on Tuesdays when they close for a break.

Once we have regained strength we still have a tough stretch to crown our highest point of the route (780 m). This is the port of Sa Creuta better known by the locals as “el Somo”. To get there from Tárbena we take the CV-752 towards Castell de Castells. It is about 6Km quite “leg-breaker” with final ramps up to 17%. But once there it is already “coser y cantar”. Downhill quite “ratonera” to Castell de Castells (be careful because there are a few curves quite dangerous). And from there we meet again with the CV-720 that we take in direction Benigembla.

This section is a “bicycle highway”. It is 10Km on a super wide road, with plenty of shoulder and very well groomed. It does not have any dangerous curve or too much slope (between 5% and 2%). So if you want to fly you will have to pedal. But you will see that as you go down you will wonder how they have “planted” that piece of road there, in the middle of the mountain.

After Benigembla we have a “repechito” to Murla. (CV-719). We drop down to Orba by the CV-715 and then by the CV-731 we will return riding on the flat or slightly downhill passing through the towns of Benidoleig, Beniarbeig and Ondara before arriving back in Dénia.

As a curiosity, tell you that a few years ago, before the existence of Strava and other similar applications, a system was installed to time the ascent. There was a hut down in Parcent and another one once the mountain pass was crowned. You had to take a card at the bottom hut and fill in your data by hand. Once ready, you ticked to know the exact start time of the ascent and when you got to the top you ticked again at the other hut and put the card in a box. These cards were collected every week and manually entered into a web site where the data and rankings appeared. Incredible today, isn’t it?

We leave you a link of wikilok of Dénia Turismo with the Track of the route in case you want to download it:

https://es.wikiloc.com/rutas-ciclismo/ruta-8-coll-de-rates-48100152

Within the same user you can find another 15 circular routes starting from Denia. These are routes that we planned at the time at the request of the Dénia Tourist Office.

And finally, if you have not brought your bike and you want to rent one in the area, we recommend some reliable places where you can find good quality rental bikes that work all year round:

CAFÉ CICLISTA: Bikes, Cycling Guides & Coffee – Cafe Ciclista Denia

HOTEL LOS CABALLOS: Radsporthotel Auswahl (costablancaradsport.com)

KUNZ: Rental bikes | CYCLISMO DENIA KUNZ (radreisenkunz.ch)