Sant Grau d'Ardenya
Climb · Girona
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Sant Grau d'Ardenya is a 6.2 km cycling climb averaging 5.9% (+369 m), rising from 107 m to 474 m in Girona.
6.2 km · +369 m · 5.9% avg · ~13.4% max · 107 → 474 m · 5 hairpins
Stats computed from OpenStreetMap and satellite elevation data — approximate.
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Gradient by colour: ● <3% ● 3–6% ● 6–9% ● 9%+
Where it bites
Steepest 500 m: 13.4% (km 0–0.4).
| km | to | avg |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 191 m | 8.5% |
| 2 | 249 m | 6.2% |
| 3 | 301 m | 4.9% |
| 4 | 348 m | 4.9% |
| 5 | 381 m | 3.4% |
| 6 | 458 m | 7.8% |
What it’s like to ride
The road leaves the Tossa de Mar to Sant Feliu coast road at Salionç and turns inland, narrow and barely wider than a single track, winding up through the woods of the Cadiretes massif with the sea dropping away behind you. The first kilometre or two sit around 5 to 7 per cent, then the middle section relaxes to 3 to 5 and lets you breathe. From about kilometre five it stiffens into a set of hairpins at 7 to 8 per cent that thread through the streets of a hillside urbanisation, and the last kilometre is the hard one, close to 10 per cent on average with ramps well into the teens. The surface is good and the traffic is close to nothing, so you climb with the coastline reappearing between the pines the whole way up. At the top the sanctuary of Sant Grau d'Ardenya has a bar and restaurant in its courtyard, which is where almost everyone stops; from there the road carries on over the top and drops away towards Llagostera.
History
The pass is named for the sanctuary of Sant Grau d'Ardenya at its summit, whose relics of the saint were carried there, by local tradition, by Maria de Montpeller, mother of Jaume I, around the year 1200. The sanctuary was restored in 1462 when the farmhouse beside it was built, was abandoned during the Peninsular War, and was reconstructed in neo-Romanesque style in 1882 by its owner Grau Rodés Moré, with the doorway designed by Joan Guàrdia. In modern times it ended up enclosed by a private urbanisation, and a hotel put up next to it has since closed. Tossa de Mar bought the site in 2009, the lower floor has run as a bar and restaurant since 2013, and the town still holds its annual gathering there on 13 October.
Worth stopping near the climb
More climbs in Girona
Common questions
- How long and steep is Sant Grau d'Ardenya?
- Sant Grau d'Ardenya is a 6.2 km cycling climb averaging 5.9% (+369 m), rising from 107 m to 474 m in Girona.
- Where is Sant Grau d'Ardenya steepest?
- The steepest 500 m averages 13.4%, between km 0 and km 0.4 of the climb.
- How many hairpins does Sant Grau d'Ardenya have?
- Sant Grau d'Ardenya has 5 hairpin bends, counted from the road's map geometry (a hairpin here means at least 150 degrees of turning completed within 150 metres of road). Painted corner numbers on some climbs count gentler bends too, so the two figures can differ.