Why this ride
Rolling secondary roads, villages and strong food-and-culture stops. It also links naturally to Monasteries of San Millan and Rioja landscape.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Rioja Alavesa Wine Loop
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 93 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 29
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Access context
Check heat, mountain weather and seasonal access restrictions. Specific flag: seasonal traffic.
Seasonal context
Apr-Oct
Scenic road chapters
La Rioja Wine Route
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 15 km this is La Rioja Wine Route, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 15 km
- Named road
- La Rioja Wine Route
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Logroño
Logroño sits on the south bank of the Ebro, in the centre of La Rioja, and for a wine lover it is as close as it comes to a capital. The city has around a hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants and a pleasant old quarter, with a cathedral, an old stone bridge and a very tasty pedestrian street called Calle del Laurel, where bar after bar serves a single speciality, such as mushrooms with prawn, or small skewers of grilled pork, along with a glass of the local red. Locals walk from bar to bar, eating one or two things in each, a ritual called the pinchos crawl.
Read the complete Logroño write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Logroño sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Laguardia.
2. Laguardia
Laguardia stands on a ridge above the Ebro valley, a walled hill town with the long blue wall of the Sierra de Cantabria rising behind it like a stage backdrop. It is the main town of the Rioja Alavesa, the part of the Basque Country that lies south of the mountains and produces some of Spain's best-known wine, and it has about fifteen hundred permanent residents, most of whom seem to have a cellar.
Read the complete Laguardia write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Laguardia comes up 24 km in. Next is Haro.
3. Haro
Haro is the capital of the Rioja Alta, a mid-sized river town with twelve thousand inhabitants and an astonishing density of wine. It sits where the Tirón river comes down to meet the Ebro, with the Sierra de Cantabria on the north side and the blue ridges of the Sierra de la Demanda far away to the south, and the soil of the surrounding slopes gives the wines their reputation for elegance rather than muscle.
Read the complete Haro write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
47 km in you reach Haro. Next is Logroño.
4. Logroño
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Logroño write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Logroño, late in the day.