EVERYTHING We Learned After 1 Week in GIRONA! (watch this before you go)

Water is Spain is like 20c/liter at the food store, otherwise they like to charge tourists for it
As a Canadian retired, i have been living in Spain for 15 yrs now, so biking is very important form me and the best.
I would add another positive point about cycling in Spain compared to North America: you can ride 100km without stopping for a red light. The roundabout are so great and respected by car drivers which is so amazing. Few weeks ago, my ride of 160km, i slowed down once at the intersection, no red lights and no stop signs.
You should also know that Spain has the highest number of bar/resto/coffee places per habitant in Europe and coffee/beer and wine are way cheaper than Italy and France.
Another advice for cyclists is to start your ride early like 7:30-8am, so your ride could end by 2pm, time for lunch and rest with the beer/wine.

L'eau va devenir gratuite, application d'une loi européenne.

hi Charles. we are on our way there on April 17. my question is, aside from covid vaxed anything else you need before arriving there? im from Toronto. thanks in advance.

3€ for a glas/bottle of water is cheap already here in Europe 🙂

Yeah for car drivers, you should still be more cautious in your commentary Charles, as there's always the one driver making it look bad for the rest of them who are supernice, they've been a number of severe accidents in and around Girona the past few years. Fairly recently Alina, whom you've met, came very close to losing her dear friend (and Ireland national champ) Imogen Cotter to a van driver who attempted an overtake where he should never have. So please guys, if you go to Girona for cycling and although most drivers will be the nicest, stay alert and careful, do not play it too cocky with overconfidence taking wider lines, stay safe.

Thanks guys some great tips

poor Girona seems to be overrun with cycling youtubers recently…

Happy that you felt safe on the roads. Ask lmogen Cotter what she thinks.

This is so informative. This is definitely way more realistic and practical review on a cycling location for sure. This will help me plan all of my headaches in advanced haha.

Riding around cars in the US is a nightmare I hate it

Which group ride did you join? Heading there in July 🙂

Great Video. What time of the year were you there?

Great video. A question, is it affordable if one wants to spend most of the winter there(ie Nov to March)?

super helpful. thanks soooo much. you guys are great.

Lived in Spain off and on – asking for water from the tap: agau del grifo. Literally, water from the tap. Works. Also, surprised that since you don't speak much spanish you didn't get a good phrase book for both day to day stuff and especially, food. There are small pocket size guides to food in Spain which help a lot. Looks like a great trip I hope to make next spring! Hope you made it to the Cinema Museum – really neat small museum on the history of film.

Great video. We just returned from a stay in that area and other areas of Spain A few comments and observations based on that.
Cars – While the Spanish drivers are generally very good when dealing with cyclists, there are exceptions so as others said, be careful, especially in the city. There also can be lots of French tourists in the Girona/Costa Brava areas during the school breaks and I had a couple close calls with them. Mallorca is also bad because so many of the drivers are rubber-necking tourists, not locals
Trains – in theory, bikes can only travel on the fast trains if they are in quite small bags. We had to use regional trains because we had loaded touring bikes. There are no designated bike areas, like on the French trains, and there is no limit on how many tickets are sold so you may be standing holding your bike for your journey. Also, I'm not sure if there are any regional trains to Girona on Sundays – I couldn't find one but that may be because the local and regional train websites are terrible and the apps are non-existent. In contrast, the French ones are fantastic.
Planes – flying from Vancouver, Lufthansa allows you to take your bike as your checked bag if you only have carry on bags. The checked bag fee was $75 Cdn each way. Air Canada, Westjet and Air Transat (and many American airlines) have relatively low bike fees but suck. KLM/AF's bike fees are high.
Spanish/English – I was really surprised how much English was spoken by people working in the supermarkets in Girona. You expect the bike stores to speak English but often I would speak in (poor) Spanish and clerks would respond kindly in decent English
Prices – if you are preparing your own food and drink, Spain is really cheap compared to Canada and the US
Stay – I now find Booking.com much better than AirBnb for quality and quantity of listings and prices. Plus you can see the exact location before you book and you get the name of the property and/or listing agency so you can look online to see if it is cheaper to book directly. We got a beautiful 2 bedroom apartment in the old town in October for a very reasonable price.
Apologies for the long comment but thought it might be helpful to others

I spent 2 weeks there this past June. I didn't ever get charged for TAP water, you have to ask for it specifically. Maybe you guys were eating at the high brow type places. LOL. I tried to meet some of the local riders that are on Zwift and FB before I came, many of the well known are pretty aloof and weren't as helpful as I would have been if someone contact me coming to my city. I found the best method is to meet at the stone bridge (Pont de Pedra) as its a gathering place for many rides and you can just ask to join. Get a local to take you around as many of the best roads are the back roads that don't always show up on a large scale map, also don't worry about being lost you can always find your way back. I agree about the drivers! They are world class friendly, but please don't abuse their friendliness!!!!!! My biggest challenge was often finding a public water spigot: Churches and playgrounds/parks often were great places…..I would drink what was left in my bottles, then drink one bottle and fill 2 up and head out, worked out great. Girona is a great place to ride with friends; I've gone to other places in Europe to bag some of the famous climbs only to find myself riding alone for most of the time. Its "lumpy" terrain so you will get some elevation without much effort.

Okay, so let me get this straight because I cannot believe what I am seeing. In this video you complain about and/or advise having to pay for water in Girona restaurants, mentioning that to avoid paying for water while dining out you would slide into the restroom to fill up your cycling bidon with water… Okay, that is your prerogative.

BUT… then you sign up for the EF coaching camp paying EUR 9,500 for five days of training camp, seven days in total if you count arrival and departure day!!! What am I missing here? You are complaining about paying for water at the occasional dinner out, but, you are more than happy and willing to shell out EUR 9,500 for a few days of training camp…?? Maybe a reality check is in order? Heads off to you to be able to afford this steep price tag for a relatively ho-hum-hah training camp, in a place, like Girona, where it is more than easy to arrange a "training camp" on your own, if that is what you want. But whatever… with the money you spend on training camps I can see that you can not afford to pay for water… #sarcasm

Any routes you strongly recommend?

This is super helpful thanks! Does anywhere do organised rides do you know?

You don't need to speak spanish in Girona, just catalan, the local language

Don’t drink tapwater in Spain !!