Coll de SóllerCat 2
Same climb, other sideColl de Sóller (Bunyola)5.12 km · 5.0%
- 7.5 km
- Length
- 5.6%
- Average
- 422 m
- Elevation gain
- 496 m(GPX)
- Summit
The Sóller side is the harder of the two — steeper than the Bunyola approach, and with a lot more hairpins. The bends still do some of the work: the road flattens through each one, so you get a breath and something to accelerate out of. The lower slopes run through forest and stay in shade for much of the day.
How long will Coll de Sóller take you?
A rider at 3.0 W/kg takes about 32 minutes to climb Coll de Sóller.
Put in your weight and the average power you hold on the gradient. We add 9 kg for bike and kit. The model works the time out from physics, and it has been tested against real rides.
Riders
The road
The Túnel de Sóller opened in February 1997 and took the traffic between Palma and Port de Sóller. It runs for three kilometres and carries the Ma-11; the old road over the pass was left as it was.
The tunnel was a toll road for twenty years. In January 2017 it cost 5.10 euros for anyone not resident on the island, which made it the most expensive tunnel per kilometre in Spain. The toll came off in December that year, ahead of schedule.
The climb
The steepest part of the Sóller side comes early. You are barely warm when it tightens, and that stretch lasts a couple of kilometres. Go too hard there and you will feel it later.
After that the road settles onto a more even gradient where you can just find your rhythm. The rest of the way is about the bends. The hairpins come thick all the way up, and that is exactly why people choose this side. You soon stop counting kilometres and ride from bend to bend instead. Some put the count at around thirty on this side alone, others at over fifty for the whole pass — there is no reliable figure.
Best of all, the cars take the tunnel. That leaves the road more or less to you. There is barely a car in sight, just other cyclists.
The last kilometres are the gentlest of the climb. If you have saved something, now is when to use it. The top is the pass itself, and from there you pick which side to roll down.
