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Cycle touring in Portugal
Lucky me, its my year to plan the annual week long touring trip, and I'm pretty keen to try Portugal. Does anyone have experience of riding there, specifically in the north? - we'd fly into Porto and do a big loop out and back. Usually its a case of planning the route using Google but a lot of the roads looks pretty main road-ish, and the smaller roads look pretty poorly surfaced. Any advice would be great, thanks.
The alternative would be Austria - downside of that is they have blocked Google from mapping their roads, so I may well end up planning a week of dual-carriageway riding!
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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7 comments
Thanks for all the info. I like climbing, when I arrange these trips its always the hardest one for years (Switzerland a few years ago was the top in terms of metres climbed - 15,000 in a week or something). I've already got a route plotted around Austria but without being able to view roads on Google its a bit harder to judge.
Austria is brilliant for cycle touring, any decent size town will have a tourist info with a cycling map of the area. You will be able to much of your touring on either "bike friendly roads" which are very quiet or dedicated cycle routes "radlerweg"
I've done some cycling in the Algarve (near Lagos). I found that the main roads weren't advisable, but as soon as I moved away from the coast into the hills I couldn't have asked for anything better. Great road surfaces with no cars, I'd maybe see one an hour, if that! Mind you, not fun if you don't like climbing....
Yes, I agree. It really depends on the roads and the timing. Stay away from multilane roads that are similar to highways. In case you are coming to Braga or near this city, please feel free to ask about a road, I will try to help if I can.
Also, please take a look on this website about cycletouring in Portugal:
Ecovias de Portugal
http://www.ecoviasportugal.pt
Best regards and nice trip!
You would very welcome to come by Braga, here in the north of Portugal. We have a very bike-friendly hostel (Braga POP Hostel) and as a society, we are fighting everyday to reclaim a better cycling infrastructure, at least in the city. You should be able to come comfortably with your bicycle from Porto to Braga by using the train.
It is true that a lot of main roads (what we cal "national roads") are not very well prepared for cyclists, but not all are built the same and depending on your schedule and the route, you could end up with having a great journey around here.
By the way, people love to cycle in the historic area of Braga. It is a beautiful city with lots of history and a big "pedestrian zone" that is in fact a shared trafic zone (bycicles, pedestrians and very limited motor trafic). It is a real pleasure to use a bike in that area.
Thanks for the reply - as I feared. We went to the Picos a few years ago (amazing, highly recommended) and have been west of Madrid as far as Salamanca & La Alberca also, so fancy somewhere different, is all.
I did some cycling in Portugal about 10 years ago.
Wouldn't be tempted to do it again as i found the main roads very dangerous due to the low standard of driving. How about just over the border in Northern Spain ?