Empordà Rice Fields Trail Odyssey

The day begins at Pont de Pedra, where the stone arches of Girona’s old bridge still hold the morning cool. You’ll roll out on an MTB that’s been tuned for the task, leaving the city’s cobbled lanes behind as the route finds the first loose gravel of the Montseny foothills. A shuttle takes you up past the fire road’s monotony—a quiet concession to time—and sets you down where the real work starts. From there, the trail narrows, and the forest closes in. Cork oaks, their bark scarred and silvered, throw dappled light across loamy switchbacks that climb with a steady, insistent rhythm. This is where the moderate rating earns its keep: nothing brutal, but enough gradient to remind your legs they’re alive.

The riding flows between two distinct worlds. On one side, the technical singletrack demands focus—roots like exposed tendons across the path, rock slabs that tilt just enough to make you pick a line and commit. On the other, the land opens into the Empordà Rice Fields, a patchwork of flooded paddies that mirror the sky in sheets of pale blue and green. You’ll cross above them on traverses that feel suspended, the tyres humming on stone while herons lift lazily from the water below. It’s a terrain that rewards patience and punishes haste, which is why your guide—a local who knows every bend of this dirt—will call a brief skills coaching stop on the steepest section. Not a lecture, just a few minutes to adjust your weight, drop your heels, and read the trail ahead with fresh eyes.

The route carries you through Besú, a hamlet that barely interrupts the quiet, and on toward Puig d’Àligues, where the ridge offers a rare vantage point: the rice fields stretching to the horizon, the Pyrenees a faint blue smudge in the distance. By now, the singletrack has given way to forest road, broader and faster, letting you spin out the kilometres with the satisfaction of earned speed. The elevation gain—885 metres of it—has been parceled out in manageable doses, never a single punishing wall, but a series of rolling challenges that keep the ride engaging from start to finish.

The final act is the coffee stop at Cafe del Pont, a weathered spot where the espresso is short and strong, and the terrace overlooks the same river you crossed at dawn. You’ll sit with mud-flecked calves and wind-burned cheeks, the day’s trail still vivid in your mind: the cork oak shade, the slab traverses, the rice fields turning from silver to gold as the afternoon light shifts. This is a half-day ride that fits neatly into a broader Girona itinerary, yet it carries the weight of a full adventure. It suits riders who are comfortable on varied terrain—not beginners, but not racers either—those who want a guided, premium experience that moves with purpose and pauses for the details that make a landscape memorable. The bike stays where you left it, the coffee cools, and the trail waits for the next turn of the pedal.

Ride highlights

• Loamy switchbacks under cork oak canopy
• A shuttle-assisted climb to skip the fire road
• Rock-slab traverses above Empordà Rice Fields
• Technical singletrack through Montseny foothills
• A skills coaching stop on the steepest section

How the day unfolds

1. start

   Bike fit and briefing

   Meet your guide at Pont de Pedra, Girona, dial in saddle height and run through the route for the day.

2. +30m

   Out through Montseny foothills

   A steady warm-up along quiet lanes into Montseny foothills.

3. midpoint

   Cafe del Pont stop in Besú

   Coffee and a snack at Cafe del Pont in the heart of Besú.

4. final

   Back to Girona

   A gentle return leg with the best light of the day behind you.

What is included

On the road

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