Distance: 25.1 miles / 63.3 km
Elevation: 4,825 feet / 1,470 m
Colls: Coll de sa Bastida (298m); Coll des Pi (240m); Coll de sa Gramola (360m); Coll de sa Coma (226m); Coll de n’Esteve (238m); Galilea (410m); es Grau (468m)
This relatively short route to Andratx via Banyalbufar and back via Galilea is a hilly beast! For nearly the full distance you’re either ascending or descending, with little to no distance on flatter terrain.
Whilst there are loads of colls to climb, you don’t necessarily descend down to sea level after completing each of them. This causes a discrepancy when adding together the elevation of each individual coll vs the total ride elevation.
On average there is 23m of climbing per 1km. Considering that around half of the distance is downhill, that’s fairly significant.
Note: if on a mobile device, it’s much easier to see the picture above if orientated landscape
Coll de Sa Bastida
I opted to start today’s ride not far from the summit of Coll de sa Bastida. The route is a circle, so I would be climbing the majority of this coll at the end of the ride. From the top you can see Port de Canonge to the east and Banyalbufar to the west.
A strange encounter
After taking the above two photographs, lots of cars started to park all around me. Out of them spewed lots of people dressed in red robes and white face paint. As more cars with camera equipment arrived, I thought they were filming a movie. I did see them display what I think was a climate change banner eventually. Mark this down as the weirdest thing that’s happened to be yet on a cycling holiday.
The winding roads of Banyalbufar and Estellencs
From here to Estellencs, the road is mostly rolling. There are some great vantage points where you can see the winding roads far ahead of you, as well as views out to sea.
The descent in to Andratx and climb to Galilea
After climbing the Coll de sa Gramola there is a long and fast descent in to the town of Andratx. There’s a good variety of cafés and shops here if you need to replenish your energy. From here to the end of the ride are three colls to tackle of ever increasing altitude, so I recommend it! Personally I had a bite to eat at one of the cafes on the Plaça España.
Three climbs back to the start
Whilst I had ridden the climbs before Andratx once before – albeit in the other direction – the three upcoming climbs I’d never attempted before. All of them can be completed at quite a steady tempo, and the descents give you a breather. It took me about 2 hours to ascend all three with a selfie at the summit of each. Generally I don’t like to stop part way up a climb – preferring instead to complete all in one attempt where possible. I am planning to ride these roads in the other direction on another day.
I completed the Galilea climb in 33 minutes, which was the longest one of the three.
If you attempt this route and still have some energy in your legs, you can descend all the way to sea level at Port de Canonge. The climb back up to the coast road will involve an additional 320m ascent via a series of hairpin bends.
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