Badalona sits on the Mediterranean just north of Barcelona, and its cycling splits cleanly along that line.
Toward the sea, the seafront promenade and the Besòs river path give easy, flat kilometres for a warm-up or a recovery spin. Turn inland, though, and the road climbs fast into the Serralada de Marina Natural Park, where routes like the Conreria pass gain real elevation in a short distance, with panoramic views back over the city and Barcelona beyond.
The town has its own place in Spanish cycling history: Sergio Celebrowski, born in Badalona in 1926, rode as a professional through the 1950s and won a stage of the Volta a Catalunya in 1951.
Badalona works well as an easy, unglamorous base — city convenience with genuine climbing a few pedal strokes from the seafront.
