With the festive season behind us, now seems a good time to look ahead and plan some more cycle tours.
Here at Pedal Portugal HQ we’ve drawn up a guided tours schedule for 2020 that include repeats of our best-loved trips, plus a new route exploring some of central Portugal.
Starting in Guarda, our new Historic Heartlands tour will feature highlights like the ancient university town of Coimbra, a pilgrims’ path, Roman ruins, and Tomar’s amazing Convento de Cristo, before ending at a beach resort on the Atlantic coast.
There’s a list of the dates and prices below for the remaining available tours for 2019, plus our 2020 schedule – with links to the individual tour pages.
This is followed by a more detailed summary of what we’ve got coming up for the next two years.
Please note: The number of days shown on the tour schedule next to the price is the maximum number of riding days on each trip. The dates include transfer days at the start/finish of each trip.
2019 Schedule
Two of our 2019 guided cycle tours are already fully booked but there are still some spaces on three trips:
- 31st Mar-11th Apr – Border Castles – 10 days / €1,420
- 29th Sept-10th Oct – Border Castles – 10 days / €1,420
- 20th-31st Oct – Southern Explorer – 10 days / €1,420
Roman bridge near Alvito on the Southern Explorer tour
2020 Schedule
We’ve got one custom tour already booked for a closed group in April 2020 but the following tours are open to all:
- 1st-12th March – Southern Explorer – 10 days / €1,420
- 22nd Mar-4th April – Border Castles – 10 days / €1,420
- 10th-22nd May – Historic Heartlands – 10 days / €1,460
- 27th Sept-9th Oct – Eastern Frontier – 10 days / €1,460
- 18th-29th Oct – Border Castles – 10 days / €1,460
Tour summaries
Here’s a brief overview of each of the tours coming up over the next couple of years:
The Border Castles Tour explores the north-east Alentejo, riding across the region’s rolling farmland, visiting ancient towns and a string of frontier fortresses and ruined castles, plus Neolithic tombs and a rugged natural park on the Spanish border. (Spring and autumn/fall departures 2019 and 2020)
The Southern Explorer Tour explores the hills, rolling plains and historic towns of the southern Alentejo before crossing into the Algarve and continuing to the south coast. We visit some better known tourist sights, as well as heading off the beaten track to stay in places that don’t get many other visitors. (Autumn/fall 2019 and spring 2020 departures)
The Historic Heartland Tour provides a chance to explore some of the highlights of central Portugal, from the hill country near the Spanish border to the pine trees and sandy beaches of the Atlantic coast. (Spring 2020 departure.)
The Eastern Frontier Tour is our toughest tour, involving a fairly strenuous route starting from the northern end of the Serra da Estrela mountains, going up towards the Douro valley and then south along the Portuguese-Spanish border to the frontier fortress city of Elvas. (Autumn/fall 2020 departure.)
For more information about any of these tours, please click on the links or email us as pedalportugal@gmail.com
Our philosophy
The aim of all our tours is to enjoy the ride – taking in the scenery, the sights along the way, the people, the cakes and wine, etc.
Our attitude to our tours is that they’re a cycling holiday not a competition!
We won’t be racing, there will be no deadline to get from one place to another. The biking is important but the idea will be to see some of the best parts of Portugal from a bicycle saddle, not clocking up distance just for the sake of it.
However, it is important riders are capable of riding the distances shown for each tour and cycling on consecutive days.
Our reviews
“Fabulous scenery, excellent accommodations, delicious food, great fellow riders and exceptional guides.”
The comments above come from two (repeat) riders on our Southern Explorer tour in April 2018, while a rider on that year’s Eastern Frontier trip added:
“The best value for your dollar of any bike trip I have done.”
We’re also delighted to have had many of our riders coming back for second – and even third – tours with Pedal Portugal, which as far as we’re concerned is about the best praise we can get.
To find out more about what other riders thought about our tours, please take a look at our reviews page.
Pedal Portugal 