Vilassar de Mar is a Maresme town with salt in its blood. It stretches along the coast northeast of Barcelona, between the railway, the main road and a broad sandy beach, with fishing boats pulled up on the sand and an old centre of narrow streets and low whitewashed houses. Behind the town, fields and greenhouses climb toward the wooded hills of the coastal range, and on a clear day you can see along the shore toward Mataró and back to Barcelona.
The town's history lies at sea. In the nineteenth century Vilassar de Mar produced many sailors and ship captains who traded with the Americas, and the town still has a maritime museum and a long tradition of nautical schools. Some of the grander houses in the centre were built with money made in Cuba and elsewhere. Today the Maresme is better known for its agriculture: strawberries, peas and especially flowers, grown in greenhouses on the slopes, and Vilassar de Mar hosts the large flower and ornamental plant market of Catalonia.
The coast road, the N-II, runs along the shore beside the railway, a slow and often congested route through a chain of towns, with traffic lights and roundabouts. It is pleasant early in the morning, with the sea on one side, but on summer weekends it is crawling with beach traffic. The C-32 motorway inland is faster and tolled on some sections. The better riding lies behind the coast, where small roads climb through the hills of the Serralada de Marina and the Montnegre-Corredor park to cols with views over the sea, before dropping into the Vallès plain.
The rides from here go north and south. The Cap de Creus ride runs up the coast through the Costa Brava, with its cliffs, coves and coastal roads, to the rocky peninsula near the French border. The Priorat ride heads the other way, past Barcelona and inland to the terraced vineyards and slate hills of one of Spain's great wine regions. Both deserve an early start to avoid the city's traffic.
Vilassar de Mar has fuel, cafes, bakeries and restaurants, many serving seafood and rice dishes. The beach is clean and popular in summer, and a swim at the end of the day is easy. Parking near the beach can be scarce in high season, but bikes usually find a spot. Keep an eye on the speed cameras along the N-II.