Cycling in Zaragoza
Leave the city in any direction and the gravel starts.
Zaragoza is a beautiful, lively city. The Basílica del Pilar is enormous and genuinely impressive, the old town is full of fine architecture, and there is plenty of public space, including the huge Parque Grande. A top-tier Spanish city.
The gravel and mountain-bike riding is great too. Leave the city in any direction and you'll find empty roads and great gravel: flat tracks along the Ebro and its riverside cliffs, or the open, dry hills to the south, where farm tracks climb up to the wind farms above Valmadrid.
Getting there is easy. Zaragoza is well connected, sitting on the high-speed rail line between Madrid and Barcelona, and right on the motorway network if you're driving down with your bike.
Best time to visit
Plan your cycling adventure during the optimal seasons for the best experience.
Zaragoza sits in the Ebro valley, and the weather is defined by two things: heat and wind. The best time to ride is spring (April-May) and autumn (September-October).
July and August regularly go past 35°C, and the steppe south of the city has next to no shade. In winter, the cold north-westerly cierzo can blow for days and fog often settles over the valley.
Routes
Gravel: Juslibol & the Ebro
A flat gravel loop from the old town along the Ebro, past the white cliffs of Juslibol and out across the fields towards Utebo and Sobradiel.
Gravel: Valmadrid & the Canal Imperial
South out of the city onto the empty steppe and the wind farms around Valmadrid, then back via María de Huerva, the Canal Imperial and the Ebro.