Advice for European Winter sun mtb holiday

[Bullseye]

It’s been a long winter. We are planning to get some winter sun next year, around February time. We are looking for mountain biking - XC with plenty of single track.
Nothing too expensive as we are also saving for New Zealand.
We are considering Madeira.
Has anyone been on a great holiday that fits for us?

[OreoCookie]

@Bullseye

We are considering Madeira.

I have been on Madeira once, and it is spectacular. I did not do any MTBing, but I explored the island a bit with a rental car. The colors (especially the greens) are surreal.

[mtbjones]

Some discussion on winter trips here:

Cycling Getaway for Winters (Where are you going?)

I Imagine a lot of people, especially those in the northern part of the United States, all of Canada, anyone living north of the Alps, or countries like China, Japan or South Korea, are looking to get away from the winter cold, rain, dark and wind. Where are you headed in the next few months? I imagine this thread can be used as an inspiration for some, who seek for cool (errr hot) places to ride a bike, and also as a potential places for people to organize meetups etc. I’ll start with sharing…

[Aeroiseverything]

I‘m not an MTBer and therefore cannot give too much advice on the quality of trails. However, I can tell you a lot about weather, accessibility from Europe and where I saw a ton of MTBer (incl pros).
I‘d say your best bet will be the southern side of Gran Canaria (Maspalomas area). No place in Europe has nearly as great weather as the souther sides of Tenerife and GC. Both islands boast a cool 360+ sunny days a year, have hardly any rainfall (on their respective southern sides) and have the longest nights in Europe. GC is the island I‘d prefer for MTB, as I saw tons and tons of people riding trails there.
The weather is also significantly more stable than Madeira for comparison. GC and Tenerife are the only places where I go on sports vacation and just don‘t check the weather app, ever. It‘s just that stable.

Another place for „late winter“ (like February) would be Malaga/ Marbella. Warm, Dry, long nights, tons and tons of trails. Also Costa Almeira could be an option, however, you will NOT get the 20+ Celsius GC and Tenerife will have EVERY DAY (and nights never dip below 15 either).

[HLaB]

My friend last year changed his usual road biking holiday in Soler, Mallorca to a mtb holiday last year and it looked fab, February might be too soon for there though. The only place I’ve been at that time of year is Tenerife, road biking though, but I googled mtb’ing and it looks fab LavaTrax - Tenerife Mountain Bike Holidays - Mountain Biking Tenerife - Biken Auf Teneriffa - Mountainbike Teneriffa

[ndmufc]

@Aeroiseverything

No place in Europe has nearly as great weather as the souther sides of Tenerife and GC.

Probably due to the fact that they’re in Africa!

I jest as I know politically and culturally they’re Eurpoean

[Bullseye]

Well it’s looking like Gran Canaria or Tenerife are the places to go in February !
Thanks guys
Such a great forum we have

[Aeroiseverything]

@ndmufc

Probably due to the fact that they’re in Africa!

I jest as I know politically and culturally they’re Eurpoean

Yeah of course. However, it being part of the EU is a huge advantage for me. Visa and passport free travel, Euro as currency, no customs, daily direct connections from many places in Europe, cheap flights, low political risk (which was a big thing during covid)…
I‘ve traveled to Morocco for cycling before. It’s a beautiful country, but significantly less suited for cycling imo (snow in the mountains, bad roads, hardly any shops along the way…)