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| Cihuatlan, Isla Navidad, Colimilla... |
Tour time: 4-5 hours,
Riding time: 3-4 hours. |
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This and our Barra to La Manzanilla Rough Rider mountain bike tour are the only of our 4 to 7 hour mountain bike tours, that run without a support vehicle. While we do ride off road on this tour there are little stores along the way here and there where we can replenish water supplies and there is only one required 2km climb at the start of the tour and another two small climbs almost at the end of the tour so a sag wagon is not really necessary. |
| Mountain Bike tours depart from Barra de Navidad, 1 hour north of Manzanillo and 10 minutes from Melaque by bus. The Manzanillo and Melaque buses stop in Barra de Navidad 1 block from our office. Get off the bus and walk towards the centre of Barra on Avenida Veracruz, the main street the bus stations are on. We are located one block down, at 204 Veracruz, next to the Cristal ice factory, directly across from the town square (Jardin) and catty corner from the ATM. |
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The Cihuatlán, Isla Navidad, Colimilla and Laguna mountian bike tour starts between 7:30 and 8:00 am. because its cooler then for that one big required climb at the start of the tour. Please arrive at the office about 1/2 an hour early so we can get you outfitted with a bike and helmet. |
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The total tour runs about 38 km on mainly flat land. Staying at Playa de Cocos, Colimilla or Isla Navidad? If so you can end your tour there and we'll get the bikes home. |
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For details on what's included and answers to frequently asked questions please click on f.a.q. below.
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| Difficulty: moderate |
| Leaving Barra on bicycle we ride on the flat dirt roads passing ranchos, palm groves, the Cemetery, and the village of Aguacate. At Aguacate we cross Arroyo Seco and climb about 2 km through shady mango orchards to the town of Cihuatlan. A short ride along the cobblestone streets at the top of Cihuatlan offers a breathtaking view of the palm groves below us with the Pacific Ocean in the distance. |
| Heading downhill we explore the town of Cihuatlan a bit before heading across the highway to the banana, mango, coconut and other plantations located there. |
| If the climb up the hill made you hungry we can stop for a taco snack before heading out. |
| Once we cross the highway we enter the part of Cihuatlán between the highway and the sea. From here to Rebalse we ride the shady paths through the banana and coconut plantations along the extensive irrigation canal system. The deep and swift flowing canal system was developed because Cihuatlán is a major fruit growing area, supplying markets as far away as Japan. |
| From Rebalse we head over to to the penninsula where Playa de Cocos and Isla Navidad are located. We get there either through the swamp using a Coconut palm "bridge" (see photo on the left) or along the secondary highway from highway 200. Once we enter the penninsula we do ride about 7 km along the lightly travelled secondary highway but there are so many pot holes and topes it's almost off-road. Once we reach Playa de Cocos we always pickup a nice ocean breeze that stays with us through the Isla Navidad Golf Course where it's shady. There are a couple of steep but very short hills at the very end and then it's down hill to Colimilla where we can stop in one of the lagoon side restaurants and you can buy yourself a refreshment or food. From Colimilla we cross the lagoon in a panga with the bikes for our return to Barra. |
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