5 Best Cycling Climbs on the Costa Blanca (From Calpe)
The Costa Blanca has some of Europe’s finest road cycling climbs, and five of them sit within 40 kilometres of Calpe: Coll de Rates, Cumbre del Sol, Val d’Ebo, Port de Bèrnia and Castell de Guadalest. Together they form the core of what draws WorldTour teams to this coast for winter training, and they’re just as rewarding for anyone building fitness for the season ahead.
Starting from Calpe, the natural hub of Costa Blanca cycling, all five are reachable within a short drive or ride of each other, which makes it easy to combine two or three into a single loop once you know them.
The Five Climbs
1. Coll de Rates — The Icon
6.4 km · 5.5% average grade · 275 m elevation · Category 2
Difficulty: Accessible, all levels welcome
If there’s one climb that defines cycling on the Costa Blanca, this is it. The approach from Parcent is steady and rhythmic: the road winds upward through a rocky limestone landscape, with the gradient building gradually through the second half. The views from the top open across the entire Marina Alta valley toward the sea. It’s not the region’s hardest climb, but it’s the one every visiting cyclist rides first.
It’s also become one of the most closely watched Strava segments in professional cycling. Tadej Pogačar set the current KOM at 11:57 during a training ride with UAE Team Emirates. For the full breakdown of the climb, its stats and its Strava history, see our complete guide to Coll de Rates.
2. Cumbre del Sol — The Vuelta Wall
3.7 km · 9.6% average grade · 356 m elevation · Category 1
Difficulty: Challenging, intermediate to advanced
Short, sharp and unrelenting. The climb to Cumbre del Sol averages nearly 10%, with ramps that regularly push past 15%, rising from sea level in under 4 kilometres. It’s a genuine race climb: a La Vuelta a España summit finish in both 2015 and 2017, with Tom Dumoulin winning there in 2015 and Chris Froome taking it back in 2017. Start steady, because this one punishes anyone who goes out too hard.
Route it yourself with our Jávea to Cumbre del Sol route guide.
3. Val d’Ebo — The Hidden Gem
8 km · 5.7% average grade · ~426 m elevation · Category 2
Difficulty: Accessible, all levels
Val d’Ebo is what happens when a climb gets everything right. Eight kilometres of well-paved, well-graded road wind through a dramatic gorge deep in the Marina Alta interior. The lower section is sheltered by trees with wide, sweeping hairpins; the upper section opens up to panoramic views back toward the sea. On a quiet weekday you may not see another cyclist for the entire climb, and that’s the appeal, not a drawback.
It’s one of the standout routes covered in our self-guided cycling tours hub, if you want to build a longer trip around it.
4. Port de Bèrnia — The Scenic Test
8 km · 5.7% average grade · 280 m elevation · Category 3
Difficulty: Accessible, great for first-timers
Narrower, quieter and arguably more beautiful than Coll de Rates, the Port de Bèrnia winds up through dramatic limestone scenery with the Sierra Bernia ridge towering above. The gradient is irregular, with plenty of steep, punchy sections interspersed with recovery stretches. The views looking back toward Calpe and the Peñón d’Ifach are among the finest from any climb in the region. It’s often paired with Coll de Rates for a full day out, and both feature in our top 10 cycling routes in Costa Blanca.
5. Castell de Guadalest — The Cultural Climb
7.5 km · 5.0% average grade · ~380 m elevation · Category 3
Difficulty: Accessible, ideal for building base fitness
The road to Guadalest passes through citrus groves and dramatic rock formations before arriving at one of the most spectacular hilltop villages in the province. The climb itself is steady and manageable, making it ideal for building early-season base fitness. The reward at the top is a genuinely ancient one: the castle’s origins date to the 11th century, built during the Islamic period of the Iberian Peninsula, making it close to a thousand years old. Stop for coffee in the village, you’ve earned it.
For the full ride, see our Benidorm to Guadalest route guide.
Training Tip
For an early-season fitness benchmark, ride Coll de Rates first: it’s the most reliable climb on the coast for tracking form across the season. Once you can ride it comfortably, add Cumbre del Sol for intensity and Val d’Ebo for endurance. All three in a single day is a serious 130 km challenge that will tell you exactly where your fitness stands.
It’s also good preparation for the region’s best-known cyclosportive: the V Aitana Tour, a gran fondo based in Callosa d’en Sarrià that takes in several of these same climbs each spring. If you want a fuller sense of what a structured, multi-day trip around climbs like these looks like, our self-guided cycling tours hub is the place to start.