Portugal cycling holidays, self guided
| country: | Portugal |
| location: | Algarve |
| trip type: | Self guided, moderate / adventurous cycling holidays |
| departures: | This cycling holiday in Portugal can be arranged at any time to suit your requirements although we do not recommend trips in August due to high temperatures |
| price: | From €529 - €599 (8 days) excluding flights. Bike rental €70. Price depends on tour chosen and includes bed and breakfast accommodation, airport transfers, luggage transports, maps and descriptions of the area. With back-up service. |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
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the amazing things you'll be doing
Portugal Cycling Holidays, self guided: Terra de Caldas
From €529 (8 days) ex flights
The Terra de Caldas self guided cycling holiday offers you the history and culture of fishing villages and picturesque towns with plentiful street cafés and restaurants featuring authentic local cuisine and fine wines. The start of this cycling holiday is in the town of Loulé, well-known for its market. While cycling the inner roads between Loulé and Alte, you will discover a world of peace and tranquillity. Alte is one of the most attractive typical villages of Portugal well-known for the quality of its spring water. The cycling continues to Silves, a lovely old town situated on the river Arade.
You will move to the northern part of Algarve, a brightly-coloured region with fig trees, orange groves and almond trees. "Caldas de Monchique" owes its fame to the hot mineral baths and has just undergone major renovation to restore the village to the spa centre it once was.
Moving west, you enter Aljezur on the western Atlantic coast which differs enormously from the tourist resorts with shingled exposed beaches and a town dominated by a Muslim fortification. Then to the "Costa Vicentina Natural Park" with towering cliffs, vast stretches of pristine beaches, rare plants and animals - a paradise for bird watchers, nature lovers, artists, photographers and soul-searchers.
During the last part of this cycling holiday you visit the southern coastline which consists of a long stretch of sandy beaches, rugged cliffs and fantastic grottoes.
Each day, at the break of dawn, the boats arrive with the harvest collected in their nets during the night. The most striking craft is the making of decorative tiles known as azulejos, a technique the Portuguese learnt from the Moors.
NB: This cycling holiday in Portugal involve 6 days cycling (10 - 54 Km/day), and some climbing is involved although none of the routes take you above 300m.
For more of our cycling holidays in Portugal, click here.
Portugal Cycling Holidays, self guided: Baixo-Alentéjo
From €529 (8 days) ex flights
The Baixo-Alentéjo allows you to experience the spaciousness of the Alentéjo with its vast undulating fields of golden wheat, little white towns and castles. This cycling holiday begins in Cacela Velha a hamlet of no more than about 25 houses, located high on a cliff with unprecedented view of the lagoon of the "Parque Natural da Ria Formosa". After two nights here you head in the direction of the Spanish border and then through the nature reserve "Sapal de Castro Marim", a humid area with marshes and extended saltpans.
The tour now heads north towards Alcoutim with a peaceful ride along the Guadiana river, full of breathtaking landscapes. This town has a timeless quality about it - ferrymen will transport you on request to the other side of the river to San Lúcar in Spain.
The next place you will visit on this cycling holiday is Mertóla with monuments dating back to the roots of Roman and Moorish culture and a national park where you can find the black stork and the blue magpie. We have set out a cycling tour around Mertóla for you with two overnight stays at an authentic rural accommodation.
Your route will then take you to Sérpa, a sleepy agricultural hilltop town of white houses famous for its creamy cheeses.
NB: This cycling holiday in Portugal involves 6 days cycling (34 - 62 Km/day), and some climbing is involved although none of the routes take you above 200m.
For more of our cycling holidays in Portugal, click here.
From €529 (8 days) ex flights
The Terra de Caldas self guided cycling holiday offers you the history and culture of fishing villages and picturesque towns with plentiful street cafés and restaurants featuring authentic local cuisine and fine wines. The start of this cycling holiday is in the town of Loulé, well-known for its market. While cycling the inner roads between Loulé and Alte, you will discover a world of peace and tranquillity. Alte is one of the most attractive typical villages of Portugal well-known for the quality of its spring water. The cycling continues to Silves, a lovely old town situated on the river Arade.
You will move to the northern part of Algarve, a brightly-coloured region with fig trees, orange groves and almond trees. "Caldas de Monchique" owes its fame to the hot mineral baths and has just undergone major renovation to restore the village to the spa centre it once was.
Moving west, you enter Aljezur on the western Atlantic coast which differs enormously from the tourist resorts with shingled exposed beaches and a town dominated by a Muslim fortification. Then to the "Costa Vicentina Natural Park" with towering cliffs, vast stretches of pristine beaches, rare plants and animals - a paradise for bird watchers, nature lovers, artists, photographers and soul-searchers. During the last part of this cycling holiday you visit the southern coastline which consists of a long stretch of sandy beaches, rugged cliffs and fantastic grottoes.
Each day, at the break of dawn, the boats arrive with the harvest collected in their nets during the night. The most striking craft is the making of decorative tiles known as azulejos, a technique the Portuguese learnt from the Moors.
NB: This cycling holiday in Portugal involve 6 days cycling (10 - 54 Km/day), and some climbing is involved although none of the routes take you above 300m.
For more of our cycling holidays in Portugal, click here.
Portugal Cycling Holidays, self guided: Baixo-Alentéjo From €529 (8 days) ex flights
The Baixo-Alentéjo allows you to experience the spaciousness of the Alentéjo with its vast undulating fields of golden wheat, little white towns and castles. This cycling holiday begins in Cacela Velha a hamlet of no more than about 25 houses, located high on a cliff with unprecedented view of the lagoon of the "Parque Natural da Ria Formosa". After two nights here you head in the direction of the Spanish border and then through the nature reserve "Sapal de Castro Marim", a humid area with marshes and extended saltpans.
The tour now heads north towards Alcoutim with a peaceful ride along the Guadiana river, full of breathtaking landscapes. This town has a timeless quality about it - ferrymen will transport you on request to the other side of the river to San Lúcar in Spain.
The next place you will visit on this cycling holiday is Mertóla with monuments dating back to the roots of Roman and Moorish culture and a national park where you can find the black stork and the blue magpie. We have set out a cycling tour around Mertóla for you with two overnight stays at an authentic rural accommodation.Your route will then take you to Sérpa, a sleepy agricultural hilltop town of white houses famous for its creamy cheeses.
NB: This cycling holiday in Portugal involves 6 days cycling (34 - 62 Km/day), and some climbing is involved although none of the routes take you above 200m.
For more of our cycling holidays in Portugal, click here.
travellers' tales
Virtually every mile of the carefully chosen, completely safe Algarve biking route offered scenic pleasure - from countless orange, lemon and olive groves early in the week, to mountain vistas and dramatic seacoast rides later in the week, with brilliant spring flowers lining every mile each day. (more)
how this holiday makes a difference
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Cycling is an ideal way to explore the countryside without damaging the environment. Through our range of Portugal cycling holidays we support the following Portuguese National Parks: Reserva Natural do Sapal, Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina, Parque Natural da Ria Formosa, Parque Natural do Vale do Guadiana.
On our Portugal cycling holidays we encourage guests to visit their information & exhibition centres, keep to the recommended paths, take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but footprints. We always use local services and accommodation such as small hotels and wherever possible “turismo no espaço rural” which offer rural accommodation run by local families. On these Portugal cycling holidays we work exclusively with small local businesses and use locally owned restaurants. In this way we help to conserve a rural lifestyle and contribute to the overall sustainable development of the region. We encourage our guests to be environmentally aware and act in a proper, responsible manner at all times. Information, tips and recommendations on the life and customs of the local people are given to all clients on the Portugal cycling holidays. As much as we can our office recycles waste and we use recycled products whenever possible. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |