Portugal  Bike Tour Reviews

  • Portugal's Atlantic Coast
    (5/5) Regan Wilder 2 months ago

    A wonderful adventure!

    · Portugal's Atlantic Coast

    Bike Tours was incredibly helpful and their support staff was amazing. We had a few rough days, but they swooped in and assisted us. The local knowledge and recommendations on the tour guide were perfect choices for us. I can't recommend this tour enough for adventure seekers. Even with rain and wind it was still a great adventure! I do recommend getting hybrid bikes if you want to sight see vs a work out for this ride. The hybrid routes were fun and challenging. You see a side of the country few others will. It was difficult to not spend the whole day stopping at all the landmarks and each cafe you pass. Hotels and food everywhere were the best.

    What was the date of your tour?
    November 2nd
    How many tours have you completed?
    My first one and likely hard to beat! I would recommend hybrid bikes for anyone who does not regularly cycle longer distances.
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    As expected
    Who is this tour suitable for?
    First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
    Do you recommend this tour?
    Yes
    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    •  (photo by Regan Wilder)
    •  (photo by Regan Wilder)
    •  (photo by Regan Wilder)
    • 5/5 Value
    • 3/5 Included meals
    • 5/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 5/5 Hotels or boat
    • 5/5 Scenery
    • 5/5 Ease of navigation
    • 5/5 Tour documents
    • 5/5 Local tour company services
    • 5/5 Route selection
  • Algarve Coastal Route
    (4/5) Angela Henderson 2 months ago

    Portugal is SPECTACULAR

    · Algarve Coastal Route

    Portugal is beautiful, the people even more so! We will definitely be back!

    The bike tour needs some work. The GPS system is too small, half the size of my cell phone, and the written instructions not detailed enough, or accurate to what is happening on the ground around you. Because there are no consistent street signs, or bike tour signs through the entire route, the written directions that go along with the GPS are critical to guiding you on this tour. The number of u-turns, poorly written directions, etc., made what should have been a straightforward three hour bike ride into a 5 to 7 hour bike ride, not allowing us time to really enjoy the areas we rode through.

    The company also didn’t fit us to the bikes and one of our friends suffered with some pretty serious neck and shoulder pain as a result.
    I think the company is good, I just think they need to do some refining of their program.

    What was the date of your tour?
    October, 2023
    How many tours have you completed?
    1
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    As expected
    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    •  (photo by Angela Henderson)
    • BikeTours.com staff reply from bozena_kusovac November 9, 2023

      Hello Angela, thank you for sharing your experience in Portugal! We're glad to hear you enjoyed the beauty and warmth of the country.

      We appreciate your valuable feedback regarding the bike tour challenges and will certainly use it to refine and improve our program. Your insights into the challenges with the GPS system, written instructions, and bike fitting are invaluable. We take your comments to heart and will be working diligently to refine our program in time to come. We hope to welcome you back for a smoother and more enjoyable experience in the future.

    • 3/5 Value
    • 5/5 Included meals
    • 2/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 5/5 Hotels or boat
    • 5/5 Scenery
    • 1/5 Ease of navigation
    • 1/5 Tour documents
    • 2/5 Local tour company services
    • 1/5 Route selection
  • (3/5) Ann English 2 months ago

    Prefer not to be riding on hwys and in big cities

    · Algarve Coastal Route

    The friendly people in Portugal, the delicious and nutritious food, and most of the hotels were wonderful! The e-bikes were fine and when needed I quickly got a replacement. However, the bikes should be fitted to each person as well as the replacement bike. That was not done so the inappropriate fit gave me much shoulder and back pain. The route had way too many hwy and larger cities round abouts for us. We prefer small towns and rural/ocean scenery.

    What was the date of your tour?
    Oct 2023
    How many tours have you completed?
    We have been on 4 bike tours
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    As expected
    Who is this tour suitable for?
    Solo travelers
    Do you recommend this tour?
    No
    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    • 5/5 Value
    • 5/5 Included meals
    • 4/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 4/5 Hotels or boat
    • 3/5 Scenery
    • 2/5 Ease of navigation
    • 4/5 Tour documents
    • 4/5 Local tour company services
    • 3/5 Route selection
  • Portugal's Atlantic Coast
    (4/5) Nancy Lewis 2 months ago

    Very scenic

    · Portugal's Atlantic Coast

    Great route and hotels. It would be better if the GPS had verbal cues as well since you can't see your phone in the rain. Also detailed paper maps would help especially if raining. Tour operator was excellent.

    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    • BikeTours.com staff reply from bozena_kusovac October 25, 2023

      Hello Nancy, thank you for your valuable feedback! We're thrilled to hear you enjoyed the route and hotels. We'll certainly consider adding verbal GPS cues and providing detailed paper maps for rainy conditions in the future. Looking forward to having you on another adventure with us!

  • (4/5) Yael NOy 3 months ago

    Beautiful sea coast with great views.

    · Portugal's Atlantic Coast

    The sea coast was lovely. Hotels were conveniently located, comfortable and staff was extremely gracious. Fishermen villages along the way were not exactly as picturesque as expected. That part of the trip was a bit disappointing .
    The local company was amazing any questions we had along the way were immediately addressed .

    What was the date of your tour?
    October 2023
    How many tours have you completed?
    2
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    As expected
    Who is this tour suitable for?
    Solo travelers
    Do you recommend this tour?
    Yes
    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    • 4/5 Value
    • 5/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 4/5 Hotels or boat
    • 4/5 Scenery
    • 5/5 Ease of navigation
    • 5/5 Tour documents
    • 5/5 Local tour company services
    • 5/5 Route selection
  • Castles and Wines of Portugal
    (4/5) Ashley Douglas 3 months ago

    Awesome Trip and No Shame in Using Ebikes!

    · Castles and Wines of Portugal

    Thoroughly enjoyed this trip in spite of not riding bikes at all at home. Having ebikes allowed us to enjoy the scenery and navigate without overextending our physical capabilities. Hotels were excellent and perfect for the areas we were visiting. Some of them were in buildings thousands (?) of years old so don't expect elevators in all, but amazingly they all had swimming pools which we enjoyed after a hard day peddling ebikes!

    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
  • (3/5) Anne Stanek 3 months ago

    Challenging but interesting tour.

    · Castles and Wines of Portugal

    This was a particularly challenging trip for us as we biked in 92 degree heat every day of the tour. The rides were long, there were many hills and it was extremely dry. Luckily, a couple of us used EV bikes which made a big difference. I think this trip would feel very different with cooler weather. All the folk who we dealt with were so warm, welcoming, helpful, etc. We visited some very cool towns - Evora and Monsaraz were my favorites. We stayed in some lovely hotels - ancient buildings fixed up comfortably with modern conveniences and a working farm. We ate fabulous breakfasts. We stopped at some interesting sites - monoliths, pottery factory, marble quarry were three favorites. It was a good trip despite the challenges.

    What was the date of your tour?
    October 2023
    How many tours have you completed?
    10
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    Somewhat harder
    Do you recommend this tour?
    Yes
    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    • View of the Castle at Arraiolos from our Casa do Platano, our hotel. (photo by Anne Stanek)
    • Wall next to a distillery in a small village. (photo by Anne Stanek)
    • View from our hotel room in Monsaraz - Alqueve Reservoir. (photo by Anne Stanek)
    • Lantana on a dirt road in a small village. (photo by Anne Stanek)
    • Marble quarry in Extremoz (photo by Anne Stanek)
    • Riding the roads amongst cork trees. (photo by Anne Stanek)
    • 4/5 Value
    • 4/5 Included meals
    • 4/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 4/5 Hotels or boat
    • 3/5 Scenery
    • 4/5 Ease of navigation
    • 3/5 Tour documents
    • 5/5 Local tour company services
    • 4/5 Route selection
  • Best of the Algarve
    (4/5) Chris Downey 3 months ago

    Tour of the Algarve

    · Best of the Algarve by Road Bike

    Great routes through the Algarve for road biking. The hotel were great except for the final hotel in Albufeira where we were given two single beds and each had a plastic mattress protector! A change I would recommend is incorporating Lagos in the bike tour and as an end destination to allow for spending an afternoon in that City to explore the coast after a morning of biking.

    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
  • Algarve Coastal Route
    (4/5) Betty Ngan 3 months ago

    An adventure

    · Algarve Coastal Route

    We have previously done the wonderful Danube tour and a guided boat bike tour in the Netherlands. We rode e-assisted bikes with the exception of 2 riders in our group.

    The Algarve bike tour was very different, and should be rated a 2 or 3 because this trail system is not as well developed. We found it challenging even with e-assist bikes. The tour has paved, gravel and dirt roads and even a boardwalk with gates. The segments of the trail were sometimes hard to locate on the gps and sometimes the maps did not agree with the gps. On the first day we followed the blue line on the map and rode over rough gravel roads until we encountered Angus, our coordinator, who informed us that that this was not the main route. But it wasn’t marked as an alternative route on the map.

    We loved the food that we found along the way. A lunch at a seaside restaurant between Tavira and Olhao was the highlight of the tour. We enjoyed the old Portugal that remains, but much of the area west of Faro has been developed for tourism, so there are large resort areas for golf and boaters. We loved the very sweet Hotel Belavista da Luz in Praia da Luz.

    We would recommend this self guided tour for younger more adventurous folks who can navigate and who don’t mind riding in rough loose gravel roads and highways with some rather harrowing highway crossings. The highways in the western part of the coast were not as busy, and we found drivers were generally respectful in the roundabouts. As our mileage increased we grew stronger over the 6 day ride, and we were proud to have made it to the 6 day when a broken chain stopped our progress.

    What was the date of your tour?
    September 2023
    How many tours have you completed?
    2
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    Much harder
    Do you recommend this tour?
    Yes
    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    • Day 5 (photo by Betty Ngan)
    • Marina and cobblestone path (photo by Betty Ngan)
    • Fabulous food (photo by Betty Ngan)
    • 5/5 Value
    • 5/5 Included meals
    • 5/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 5/5 Hotels or boat
    • 4/5 Scenery
    • 2/5 Ease of navigation
    • 3/5 Tour documents
    • 5/5 Local tour company services
    • 3/5 Route selection
  • (3/5) Jeffrey Yarne 3 months ago

    Do your research

    · Algarve Coastal Route

    Note: we have ridden the flatter and paved bike trails of the Danube and Bruge to Amsterdam. If those rides are rated 1, this ride should be more than 1.5 primarily due to the amount of loose gravel paths coupled with deep ruts from cars. Also is you are close to 5’1” even the extra small bikes with narrow tires might be tough to handle. The area is warm in late Sept 2023. And if you are expecting smaller towns we found the stopping places generally large catering to many tourists which is the primary industry. There are some wonderful places to eat. All hotels had air conditioning although some were noisy others were nice and set back from the crowds. The Portugal people are very nice and the local tour company is as accommodating within reason although if you break a chain in the midst of no where it is a challenge. It would be good to bring at minimum a master link and chain river tool for a roadside repair.

    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
  • Portugal's Atlantic Coast
    (5/5) Steven Fuglestad 3 months ago

    Wonderful Way to Tour Portugal

    · Portugal's Atlantic Coast

    Portugal's Atlantic Coast bike tour is a wonderful way to visit and tour Portugal. The route is mostly along the ocean and there are many awesome views along the way. The distance of the each day's biking is reasonable, although there are many challenging hills to climb. The hotels were excellent, and each night we were on the coast we received an ocean view room. The service with airport pickup and drop off was prompt, friendly and efficient. The only negative was a poor quality GPS with difficult to read screen (the Ride with GPS app for one's phone, with the downloaded route, was much easier to navigate with). I recommend staying a few extra days to tour the beautiful and historic city of Lisbon. This was my first bike tour and it was an awesome experience! The itinerary, hotels, and service were all excellent!

    What was the date of your tour?
    September 2023
    How many tours have you completed?
    1
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    Somewhat harder
    Who is this tour suitable for?
    Solo travelers
    Do you recommend this tour?
    Yes
    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    • 5/5 Value
    • 5/5 Included meals
    • 5/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 5/5 Hotels or boat
    • 5/5 Scenery
    • 3/5 Ease of navigation
    • 5/5 Tour documents
    • 5/5 Local tour company services
    • 5/5 Route selection
  • Algarve Coastal Route
    (1/5) Amanda Jennings 3 months ago

    Serious amounts of traffic

    · Algarve Coastal Route

    This ride has you in a lot of heavy traffic and even on the motorway at some places. The ride takes you through heavily touristed areas and then areas with nothing. This country very much highlighted the haves and the have nots in the country. I did not like the ride, it wasn't worth all of the traffic that we had to deal with.

    What was the date of your tour?
    September 2023
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    As expected
    Do you recommend this tour?
    No
    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    • BikeTours.com staff reply from Biketours Tour Advisor October 18, 2023

      Thank you, Amanda, for your honest feedback! Although we strive to provide the most safe and least-trafficked roads, in can be a challenge in certain countries and inevitably we have to link paths on roads with more traffic. We hope you were able to bring home some good memories of your trip. If you ever want to consider another one - we'd be happy to point you in the direction of tours with better bicycle infrastructure.

    • 1/5 Value
    • 1/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 5/5 Hotels or boat
    • 1/5 Scenery
    • 2/5 Ease of navigation
    • 5/5 Tour documents
  • (5/5) Carol Stack 4 months ago

    Fabulous Easy Biking Trip

    · Algarve Coastal Route

    We were very impressed with the arrangements made for our self guided bike trip across the Algarve. All the staff we met were incredibly helpful (shout out to Angus and Curt), the e bikes were terrific, the route fun and interesting -- it was just a delight. One hotel (Jupiter Algarve) was too much of a party hotel for us -- but we survived the late night music. The route had originally been configured west to east and we rode east to west so there a couple instances in which we were riding the wrong direction on one way streets. We had a wonderful time and so enjoyed seeing Portugal up close and personal.

    What was the date of your tour?
    August 2023
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    As expected
    Who is this tour suitable for?
    First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
    Do you recommend this tour?
    Yes
    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    • 5/5 Value
    • 4/5 Included meals
    • 5/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 4/5 Hotels or boat
    • 5/5 Scenery
    • 5/5 Ease of navigation
    • 3/5 Tour documents
    • 5/5 Local tour company services
    • 5/5 Route selection
  • (4/5) Paul Crisafulli 4 months ago

    Beautiful beaches, caves and countryside!

    · Algarve Coastal Route

    The perfect way to see all that Portugal offers! Great people, great food and beautiful sights. Tour guide company provided best hotels, great towns to explore and great service.

    What was the date of your tour?
    September 2023
    How many tours have you completed?
    2
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    As expected
    Who is this tour suitable for?
    First-time bike tourists
    Do you recommend this tour?
    Yes
    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    • 5/5 Value
    • 5/5 Included meals
    • 5/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 5/5 Hotels or boat
    • 5/5 Scenery
    • 5/5 Ease of navigation
    • 4/5 Tour documents
    • 5/5 Local tour company services
    • 4/5 Route selection
  • Reach new heights in the hills of Lisbon
    (5/5) Alex Anderson 5 months ago

    Great way to see Lisbon Hills on an ebike

    · Hills of Lisbon E-Bike Tour

    Guides were awesome, views spectacular, and if you like history this ride is for you. If you are not comfortable on a bike (or have never ridden an ebike) the cobble stone streets and tight traffic can be tricky but otherwise is was awesome.

    • Hilltop view of Lisbon (photo by Alex Anderson)
    • Streets of Lisbon (photo by Alex Anderson)
    • An old loser King (photo by Alex Anderson)
    • Streetcars of Lisbon (photo by Alex Anderson)
    • Streets of Lisbon (photo by Alex Anderson)
    • Hilltop view of Lisbon (photo by Alex Anderson)
  • Cruise downtown Porto on two wheels
    (5/5) Alex Anderson 5 months ago

    Great way to see a beautiful city on a bike

    Porto Downtown & Sightseeing Bike Tour

    Our guides were Porto locals so knew the town and its history inside out and backwards. We did a custom bike tour so got to see a bit more than usual which was all well worth it. If you are looking for a hotel recommendation, I can't recommend the Hospes Infante Sagres enough. It was one of the cooler old school hotels I've ever seen. When not on your bike, be sure the check out the nightlife along with its food and restaurants on both sides of the Douro River. We didn't get around to trying to some of the local port tastings (all of the major brands have huge cellars on the north side of the river) be had enough elsewhere. Also, there is a new shopping center on the north side of the river that we briefly biked past that is apparently also well worth seeing if you are into that sort of thing.

    • Downtown Porto - Clerigos Church (photo by Alex Anderson)
    • Streets of Porto, Portugal (photo by Alex Anderson)
    • Luis I Bridge in Porto (photo by Alex Anderson)
  • Reach new heights in the hills of Lisbon
    (5/5) Alex Anderson 5 months ago

    Great way to see Lisbon Hills on an ebike

    · Hills of Lisbon E-Bike Tour

    Guides were awesome, views spectacular, and if you like history this ride is for you. If you are not comfortable on a bike (or have never ridden an ebike) the cobble stone streets and tight traffic can be tricky but otherwise is was a fantastic experience.

    • Hilltop view of Lisbon (photo by Alex Anderson)
    • Streets of Lisbon (photo by Alex Anderson)
    • An old loser King (photo by Alex Anderson)
    • Streetcars of Lisbon (photo by Alex Anderson)
    • Streets of Lisbon (photo by Alex Anderson)