Guadalest is the most visited town in Spain with more than 2 million visitors a year. The picturesque Guadalest bell tower perched on a rock pinnacle is now the icon for the Alicante province of Spain. It’s well worth a visit and the only Spanish village in the region thats remotly like the perched villages of southern France, and while this place is a nice spot for a walkabout the real reason for a ride up here is the roads and a great motorbike museum that has a number of real gems if your into old bikes.
Taking exit 64 off the AP-7 motorway just north off the high rised hell hole of Benidorm you start the climb into the mountains on the well maintained CV-755 passing orange, olive and lemon groves the road passes a couple of uninteresting little towns before becoming a wonderfuly steep twisty road which is great for just about any type of motorbike. There is a petrol station just to the left as you join the CV-755, it’s the last one you will see before dropping back towards the motorway so dont miss your only oppertunity to reload your tanks as there are almost no petrol stations in the mountains.
About 3/4 of the way up to Guadalest on the left is the motorbike museum “Vall de Guadalest Vehicles Historics” where just a 3 Euro entry fee will allow you to see some real old motorbike eye candy with makes and models I never knew even existed. Beside the museum is a tourist shop selling local produce and beside that again is the best place in the area for lunch, if the smell of chickens or pigs/boar roasting over a wood/charcoal BBQ here does not wet your appetite nothing will. Better to get a good lunch here as the eateries in Guadalest village are best avoided if you have any self respect.
The tourist shop is also worth a visit as it’s very different from the tourist shops selling the usual junk along the coast. Almost everything here is sourced locally, a couple of Euro will get you some of the most wonderful cured sausage Spain is famous for, 10 Euro will buy you a kilo of some of the best honey I have ever tasted, as well as a long list of cheese, jams etc. The local moscatel is also really good and almost as cheap as water and for the more adventuress Spain is the only country where absinth is still legal, although at 70% alcohol this stuff is best left alone if you intend riding your motorbike within 48 hours after drinking it!! Remember Spain has a zero blood alcohol tolerance while driving which is strictly enforced..
The roads all round Guadalest are great for spending an afternoon blasting around, you cant really go wrong which ever direction you choose. Loads of great twisty’s, sweeping curves and good road surface with little or no traffic except for the CV-755 to Gaudalest village which is well used by coaches dragging hung-over tourists up from Benidorm. The only word of warning I’d have extends to all Spanish roads, they are bloody terrifying when wet! Fine dust blows up from north Africa which quickly polishes the road surface’s to that of glass, add water and the usual build up of oil/grease into the mix and the roads here become as slippery as black ice. In the 7 years I have been riding in Spain I have learned that if anyway possible it’s better not to ride a bike at all if the roads are wet, all the local Spanish and ex-pat bikers have the same opinion so be warned as I really cant stress enough how dangerous a wet Spanish road is!!
As usual you can download the gpx, gdb and kmz files of the route in the GPX Route BOX.
Downloadable files for this route:
Moto_Museum_route_to_Guadalest.gpx
Moto_Museum_route_to_Guadalest.gdb
Moto_Museum_route_to_Guadalest.kml
GPS Republic - Routes for Bikers 