The 6 Best Gear Rentals in Province of Cordoba, Andalucia

Reviewed By PrairieMan721 - Winnipeg, Canada

We decidedto get a break from the crush of tourists in Granada. We took the bus to Baena and Antonio picked us up and took us to our Hotel Antonio picked us up at the bus station in Baena and took us to Hotel Subbetica in Dona Mencia close to his shop. We picked up the bikes on a Sunday night to get an early start Monday morning. Monday we biked to Nevas del Selpillar - not quite to the end of the bike way but that gave us time to bike back to Dona Mencia.That is a good direction to bike because Cabra and Lucent are good places to stop for a drink or some food or a bathroom break. The bikes (1 trekking bike +1 electric bike) were excellent. The next day we explored Zuheros locking bikes up behind a maintenance shed and doing a big walk up to the fortification built by Arabs in the 9th century ( 4 Euro ticket). Nice and after Alhambra, peaceful. Went on to Laguna (coffee stop) and back to Doña Mencia. Zuheros is amazing (cold drinks in hotel near fortification). Day #3 we got an early start (hotel cafe 24 hours so got toast + coffee) by 7:15 am. At Jaen by 2:15 pm (76 km). This section is not as enjoyable as the Via Verte just before + after Dona Mencia. It does have an interesting curved tunnel closer to Jaen and some impressive viaducts. However there were no places to stop and relax at a restaurant and no bathrooms (east of Luque I think). We highly recommend west of Luque just because of having the options of the restaurants every 12 km or so. We are seniors and my wife loves having an electric bike to balance our biking speeds. The front wheel motor design she had is not as good as a mid-motor design on hills but it was OK on the Via Verte. She also had at least half the battery power left at the end of each day. We got a shuttle back to Dona Mencia arranged by Antonio. My mistake was not to call him an hour before we arrived in Jaen- I thought it would be interesting to look around in Jaen a bit but there is nothing to see where the trail ends. In summary, great experience with Antonio, enjoyed the Via Verte (best Luque west), Zuheros was a highlight (and worth the substantial climb on foot) and Hotel Subbetica was a good choice.