3 Star Granada to the Sea - Discover Andalusia Tour Reviews — 1 to 1 of 1

First the good parts. The scenery was beautiful (after the first day) and the towns we overnighted in were lovely. The roads were low traffic and the drivers were very considerate. Five of the six hotels were luxurious, much nicer than we have experienced on other self-guided bike tours. Jorge, co-owner of the tour operator AntsOnTrack.com, communicated with us daily via WhatsApp with restaurant recommendations and other tips.

Unfortunately three of the nine bikes in our group had mechanical problems right from the bike shop. One had a rear tire where the tread was so worn that the tire casing was visible. The bike got two flat tires the first day. We replaced the tire on day two. Another bike had a severely out of true rear wheel that rubbed on the frame, had loud creaks from the bottom bracket, and shifting problems. The third bike had a very creaky headset and shifting problems. Jorge tried to help us by connecting us with a bike shop in Antequera. The bike shop sold us a new tire and tube (paid for by the tour operator) but showed no interest in fixing the out-of-true wheel. He wanted six hours to change the tire so we did it ourselves. We were able to adjust the axle so that it did not rub on the frame but the bike wobbled at speeds over 30km. Clearly the bikes had not been thoroughly examined prior to our tour.

Another issue was that the Tripsite registration form did not clearly specify the bike options. We selected e-bikes and received e-mountain bikes. Apparently electric touring bikes are available but this option is not provided on the Tripsite registration form. We assumed we were receiving electric touring bikes which are much more comfortable for touring than mountain bikes. Tripsite should modify its registration form to be more specific and list all of the bike options.

The Tripsite tour description should also mention that the first day includes 10 miles of bumpy, gravel road with lots of trash and motorcycles that produce clouds of dust.

I agree with another reviewer that this tour should probably be rated as "moderate to difficult." The day riding to Ronda has 4,714 feet of climbing over 37 miles. Even with e-bikes this was a big day since we needed to keep the bikes on low boost so that the batteries would make it to Ronda. Despite our efforts to conserve power one battery died on the outskirts of Ronda and several were almost depleted. Five members of our party were so tired from this day that they elected to take a taxi for all or part of the route the follow day.

We were an older group, eight people between ages 67 and 74 plus one 58 year old. We have enjoyed several other self-guided bike tours. However between the long climbs, the mechanical problems, and the less-than-comfortable mountain bikes this tour was a bit too much for us.