A tribute to Costa Brava’s most beautiful road to ride

It is the GI-682, Ruta del año, Carretera Blanes a Sant Feliu, or – as the foreigners call it – the ‘coastal road’. It doesn’t matter what you want to name it, one thing is for sure, this stretch of 20 kilometers of tarmac is Costa Brava’s most beautiful road.

It is twisty and turny, goes up and down, has the best views over the Mediterranean Sea, has well-paved surfaces, is normally not too busy, has a number of spectacular ‘miradors’, connects two beautiful towns. It will be hard to express all our affection to the GI-682 in just one, small tribute.

It is so picturesque that it was declared a ‘European Monument’ by the European Union.

Most impressive are the dramatic views down the cliffs from the side of the road, down to the Mediterranean Sea. There are plenty of ‘miradors’ along the way, however, we recommend riding the route from Tossa de Mar to Sant Feliu de Guixols.

The carretera is nicknamed the Road of 1000 bends. Strictly, this is wrong. The coastal road ‘only’ has 365
bends. All kinds of bends. The GI-682 has chicanes, hairpins and sweepers. That means that there is no straight
stretch between Sant Feliu de Guixols and Tossa de Mar. There is literally nowhere on the street where one curve
does not go directly into the next one.

All those corners will make you fall in love with the Carretera Blanes a Sant Feliu. Riding the GI-682 for the first
time offers a new adventure after every turn. It keeps you wondering every single time what is behind the next
corner. There is almost no other road in Catalonia where it gives such a great adrenaline rush to hit the apex than
here.

Obviously, you should stay on your side of the road. We recommend taking it easy on our favorite road in the Costa Brava. In this extraordinary case, we can truly say: the longer the GI-682 lasts, the better it is.

In the first edition of Nafent Magazine, we are checking out the road between Tossa de Mar and Sant Feliu de Guíxols, also known as the Ruta del año. Buy Nafent Magazine online, or in the partners’ stores.