Bike Tour Reviews Algarve Coastal Route
Self guided from EUR € 1130
Self-guided:
Daily: Jan 1 - Dec 31, 2024 (minimum 2 persons)
Description:
Experience Portugal's 'Ecovia do Litoral', a cycle route linking Vila Real de Santo Antonio on the Spanish border with Cabo de Saifo Vicente (Sagres) in the west. The Algarve is often said to be Europe's sunniest spot offering year-round cycling for…
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★★★★★ Angela Henderson 2 months agoPortugal is SPECTACULAR
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
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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.
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★★★★★ Ann English 2 months ago
Prefer not to be riding on hwys and in big cities
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
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★★★★★ Betty Ngan 3 months ago
An adventure
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
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★★★★★ Jeffrey Yarne 3 months ago
Do your research
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.
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★★★★★ Amanda Jennings 3 months ago
Serious amounts of traffic
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
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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.
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★★★★★ Carol Stack 4 months ago
Fabulous Easy Biking Trip
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
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★★★★★ Paul Crisafulli 4 months ago
Beautiful beaches, caves and countryside!
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
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★★★★★ Lowell Snow 7 months ago
Perfect Antidote to Winter
Warm, clear days. Manageable daily miles all along the coast. Excellent food. Good bikes and great support. Can’t ask for much more than that
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★★★★★ John Koester 7 months ago
Great trip on the Algarve coast!
This was a very enjoyable trip on the Algarve coast. The route was easy to follow on the GPS and the bikes worked flawlessly. But the accommodations were the real stars. Each place we stayed was superb. We had a great time and highly recommend this trip on the southern coast of Portugal.
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Donna Barron 8 months ago
Great Way to Experience the Algarve
We had a wonderful adventure riding along the Algarve. We loved that we rode on different surfaces and saw a lot of variety. The GPS was a little slow at time with directions.
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★★★★★ Allan Ruus 8 months ago
May Algarve Family Trip
This cycling trip was a wonderful way to see the Algarve, much better than driving to hotels/vrbo and walking around to see the sites. The coastal nature parks with all the birds are impressive. The hotels were great locations, clean, breakfasts excellent, staff friendly and helpful. GPS worked perfectly and Biketours replaced one of the bikes within 3 hours of when a couple spokes broke.
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★★★★★ Michelle Dagenhart 8 months ago
Top notch amazing trip, and affordable!
The self-guided Algarve coastal trip was amazing in every way! Varied landscapes and terrain, beautiful coastal, farmland, marshland, and city views. GPS worked great and was mandatory given all the turns. Hotels were fantastic, usually ocean views, 4 stars, and amazing breakfasts.
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Bernice Thill 10 months ago
Authentic Beautiful Portugal
This trip is an amazing challenge by bicycle, from flat country roads to busy tourist towns to the climbing and winding hills and valleys that lead to sweeping views of the sea in Sagres and Cape St. Vincent. My husband and I are long-time cyclists and did a self-guided tour of the Algarve Coast. We found this ride to be challenging and rewarding. Our local representative was super helpful in lending tips and advice. The hotels were A-plus. The luggage transfer was flawless. The GPS device provided by the tour company was a great addition and helped us navigate throughout the trip. Written directions were harder to follow as not all roads are marked with bike route information. You must trust mainly the GPS and fill in with Google maps. The only reason I’m not giving this a 5-star rating is that our bikes were in need of some love. They were good hybrid bikes that could handle rough roads and smooth pavement. We biked on some cloudy, rainy days and it would have been nice to have the Dynamo lights working for safety. We also had some trouble with our chains slipping off the gears, and the suspension being really tight. You want suspension for some of the rougher roads. Otherwise, this was such an amazing trip by bicycle. If you love adventure, check this out.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Early March 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Bernice Thill 10 months ago
Authentic Beautiful Portugal
This trip is an amazing challenge by bicycle, from flat country roads to busy tourist towns to the climbing and winding hills and valleys that lead to sweeping views of the sea in Sagres and Cape St. Vincent. My husband and I are long-time cyclists and did a self-guided tour of the Algarve Coast. We found this ride to be challenging and rewarding. Our local representative was super helpful in lending tips and advice. The hotels were A-plus. The luggage transfer was flawless. The GPS device provided by the tour company was a great addition and helped us navigate throughout the trip. Written directions were harder to follow as not all roads are marked with bike route information. You must trust mainly the GPS and fill in with Google maps. The only reason I’m not giving this a 5-star rating is that our bikes were in need of some love. They were good hybrid bikes that could handle rough roads and smooth pavement. We biked on some cloudy, rainy days and it would have been nice to have the Dynamo lights working for safety. We also had some trouble with our chains slipping off the gears, and the suspension being really tight. You want suspension for some of the rougher roads. Otherwise, this was such an amazing trip by bicycle. If you love adventure, check this out.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Early March 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Mark Stow November 26, 2022
Good biking, excellent service
This was our seventh cycling trip and our third self guided one. Based on our experience we would rate the cycle tour company quite highly. We were provided with good bikes which were appropriate for the terrain and the appropriate maintenance equipment which came in handy as we did have a flat tire on day 5. The gps provided came loaded with the day by day routes and was invaluable in finding the out of the way paths that we occasionally found ourselves on. The hotels were very nice with most having balconies and ocean views and all provided an excellent breakfast to start the day. The van pick up and drop offs were on time and we enjoyed the local knowledge that Angus shared along the way. The scenery was spectacular from the salt marshes and dunes in the East to the cliffs and ocean vistas in the West.
- What was the date of your tour?
- November 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- 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
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★★★★★ Emily Jaskot October 23, 2022
Simply Incredible!
The bike trip was a perfect way to experience the Algarve region of Portugal. The bikes, ride routes, and hotels were fantastic. With rides between 20 and 35 miles per day, we arrived at each town with plenty of time to explore each wonderful town.
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★★★★★ Cheryl Jaskot September 15, 2022
Coastal Dream
WE were a group of six with our group ages from 67-43. The local bike company was very communicative and accommodating. We all rode traditional bikes and trained on fairly flat surfaces. The course was fairly flat the first three days along gravel roads and boardwalks. The longest day was 35 miles and a lot of hills. The last two days were also hilly and along gravel roads. We had to walk some of the hills. The accommodations were great and food was easily accessible. Lots of amazing seafood was everywhere. There were also plenty of vegetarian and vegan options. We had a great time and would highly recommend this tour.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Neil Gordon August 4, 2022
A mixture of old and new
A very nice mixture of quaint fishing villages and modern tourist towns. The cycling is mostly a mixture of unpaved trails and back roads, but there is some heavily traveled roads to navigate. Hotels are all 4 and 5 star. Bikes are heavy, buy designed for terrain. Excellent support.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
