I’m looking to get away from the Canadian winter and get some cycling mileage in. Does anyone have experience riding in Majorca vs Gran Canria islands? Pros ? Cons?
Did Majorca on a cycling training hol 2 years ago. Fantastic! great roads, local drivers were cool having hundreds of bikes. Some amazing countryside and really pretty decent climbes. Just google it and see some of the pictures. You also have beaches. I would go back. I have hold on Gran Canaria but not cycled, again could be nice but Majorca ticked the boxes for me.
Antequera, Andalucia, Southern Spain merely 40 minutes north of Malaga provides better terrain and road surfaces than both of those places!! (that’s based on comments from athletes who’ve visited here from US and Europe who have also been to Mallorca and GC). Prices have not been biased by “tourism” and you have far far more cultural opportunities such as Ronda, Selvilla, Granada for those days off. To visit Malaga is easy to fly to from North America.
The area has options to do amazing 10-20km climbs or flat - rolling routes across plains, you can even nip over to Granada and ride the Pico Veleta to 2500m+ (a regular feature in the Vuelta Espana). Running wise you can head into the mountains on scenic trails or get some flatter routes in, there’s even an indoor 200m track should that be your cup of tea for interval work.
Weather wise, it’s 55-65F at the moment and within a few weeks that’ll be closely to 75F, by the summer we’re easily into 85-100F territory midday.
We get many visitors here from all over the world and currently I’m helping out some regular’s from New York, coach John Hirsch and his ‘Strong like Bull’ camps.
FYI… I train and live in this area.
PM me if you’re interested in more info.
Regards
David
Just spent six weeks in canary islands.grand canaria was. Best of the islands but you need to love climbing.did many climbs of 3,000 ft. In six- seven miles.lots of teams on the roads.was on top of a climb and saw a lone rider climbing towards me and took a quick photo of fabian cancellara.the main difference between mainland Spain, mallorca and canaries is that the canaries are much further south so will be warmer than the other two in winter and the water is 65 degrees and quite swimmable.the sea in Spain is too cold.until late april.have cycled in Spain about twelve trips from one to two months each trip.enjoy
Look for Stephen Roche training camp in Mallorca. Great organization and you don’t need to bring your bike.
I went there last June and thought it was great - both on and off the bike.
I’m looking to get away from the Canadian winter and get some cycling mileage in. Does anyone have experience riding in Majorca vs Gran Canria islands? Pros ? Cons?
Been to both. Both are great. If you stay on the East of Majorca near Pollenca then its away from the holiday makers and there are lots of good rides to the north into the “mountains”, and south for flatter TT or recovery. It is very popular with cyclists and pro-teams so getting bike bits is easier and it feels ‘safe’ when out riding (always other cyclists around). I was there in April '09. Sa Calobra is amazing.
Gran Canaria is smaller and has some great climbs too, but less of a cycling culture, so not so easy to get bike bits and the roads can be really really fantastic or really really bad. There are lots of climbs and up into the mountains there are some epic views. I might be wrong but there weren’t so many cyclists about when I was there, but that was November '11.
If I had to choose it would be Majorca at Club Polenca - I have no affiliation with them.
http://www.clubpollentia.com/index_english.html
The reason I enjoyed it there, btw, is it has an onsite bike shop/hire and gym and is full to the brim of tri-geeks and cyclists.
OK, so the tri-geeks make it less appealling 
Been to both several times and a couple of times to mainland Spain. GC will Most certainly have better weather. But you have to like hills not really any good flat sections. If you are to spend some money on hotel Meloneras is the nicer place to stay with lots of 5 star hotels. If on budget Playa de Ingles I think is the better option. Access into the more quiet roads on to the mountains. And the cycling shops is in playa de ingles if parts or rental is needed. Puerto Rico is maybe a couple degrees warmer, but you will need to bike out on a narrow busy road everyday and no bike shop.
Majorca is not as warm as GC this time of year but still my favorite with lots of route options. And club Pollentia as mentioned in earlier post is just brilliant for focusing on cycling and swimming. You could also search Max Huerzeler that is present at a few other nice hotels in Alcudia area
Mainland Spain have been rather ok, but personally I enjoyed Majorca and GC far more