On Your Bike

El Puerto de Barx is a popular climb among Valencian cyclists, due to its proximity both to the La Safor coast and to the mountains of the Sierra Grossa range. At around 5 kilometres in length, it's not a long climb, and it's not too hard, either, enabling cyclists to take in the magnificent views towards the coast as they tackle its numerous hairpins.

Work is to begin shortly on the first section of Valencia’s Metropolitan Green Ring Road, between the towns of Moncada and Meliana to the north of the city of Valencia, at a cost of around one million euros.

Once completed, the Valencia Metropolitan Green Ring Road will form a circular cycling and pedestrian route of more than 52 kilometre running through the outskirts of the Mediterranean city. In order to facilitate its development and construction, the Green Ring Road has been divided into 9 sections that will be undertaken in progressive stages.

The project forms part of the 2014-2020 ERDF Program, which includes a budgetary item of 34.8 million euros dedicated to the cycle paths and bike lanes to be developed by the Valencia Regional Government. A significant amount of this sum, 50% of which is to be covered by European Union funds, will be allocated to the development of the Valencia Metropolitan Green Ring Road.

Carlos Domingo, the Valencia's Director General of Public Works, Transport and Mobility, recently announced that the contract for the construction of the first section ('Section 6, Moncada-Meliana’) has been awarded for the sum of 908,151.16 euros, and that the works will begin in the coming days.


Measuring a total of 6.5 kilometres, section 6 will follow the “Barranco del Palmaret” and “Carraixet” service roads and cross through the municipalities of Moncada, Alfara del Patriarca, Vinalesa, Carpesa (Valencia), Bonrepòs i Mirambell, Cases de Bàrcena (Valencia) and Meliana, terminating at the CV-300 regional road, which lies at the western end of the municipality of Meliana.

From this point, the route will be extended in the future via section 7 to the village of Port Saplaya on the coast.

The entire route of Valencia's Metropolitan Green Ring Road will be marked with its own, distinctive signage, with Mr Domingo adding that, "information and informative posters relative to the environmental and cultural characteristics of the area and its surroundings will be included in the project."

Likewise, the metallic barriers currently installed on the “Palmaret” and “Carraixet” service roads will be replaced by safety elements which will both blend with the surroundings and provide the levels of safety appropriate for cyclists.

This section of the Valencia Metropolitan Green Ring Road will also include rest areas every 1.5km-1.8km, which will be equipped with informative signs about the areas of interest close to the route. The areas adjacent to the main route will be regenerated, and cleaning and revegetation will be carried out in several zones.

The Director General has emphasized that the road surfaces to be used have been chosen “taking into account the concept of sustainability: the current surfaces are to be recycled and stabilized with cement, reducing the generation of dust and combining durability with lower maintenance requirements.”

Future connection with Ojos Negros Greenway 

A proposal has been made to connect the future Valencia Metropolitan Green Ring Road with the Ojos Negros Greenway, which runs between the village of Ojos Negros en Teruel and the town of Sagunto en Valencia.

The plan, which would see the two routes connected at Las Molas in the municipality of Paterna, is backed by the association Per l'Horta, the Paterna Neighbours Associations Federation, Valencia en Bici-Acció Ecologista Agró and La Mola Verda Platform.

With plans already underway to connect the Ojos Verdes and the Via Xurra (Valencia - Puçol) Greenways, connection with the future Valencia Metropolitan Green Ring Road at Las Molas would extend the route to the areas lying to the south of Valencia via the El Saler coastal bike path and the network of rural tracks that exists in the comarques of l'Horta Sur, la Ribera and la Safor. The resultant greenway would be the longest in Spain.

Further information:

Ojos Negros Greenway
Xurra Greenway
Per l'Horta
Valencia en Bici 
Acció Ecologista Agró