Me and a few mates are doing a twelve day tour to Portugal in May. Itinerary as follows: 1. Ferry to Santander then overnight in Picos 2. Ride to Vila Real for 2 nights and do a coupl've RIDE mag suggested ride outs 3. Ride to Porto for 4 nights in a Air BnB apartment by the coast 4. Ride to Ourense for 2 nights and do a RIDE ride out while there. Has anyone got any recommended ride outs whilst we're in Porto? We're going to do the tourist bit (Porto Segway tour etc) but also keen to explore further afield on the bikes.
If you join the European Multistrada Meeting Facebook page there are a few others that might be able to help. Sandra and her husband live there and Tony recently rode through the Doro valley area
Been there a few times now, weather in Northern Portugal can be a bit more changeable than Spain. Porto we didn't like to be honest. The driving standard in Portugal isn't great anyway but in Porto it seemed like someone wanted to kill you at every opportunity and we couldn't wait to get out. Traffic, anywhere within 10k of the city seemed constantly awful. Coast routes locally looked good on paper but weren't in reality. Might be better a bit further south Sanabria on the border with Spain is well worth a visit as is Braganca on your route down. Road from Sanabria to Braganca and from Braganca to Chaves onwards is epic. The national parcs inland to the Spanish side are nice, serra de Estrela etc. Good accoms at sensible money seemed much harder to find than in Spain once you get away from population centres. If the weather is kind there is always somewhere interesting to go if you get out of town. Small village town centres have cobbled streets by the way. I don't know if it's to slow traffic or not but it's horrid on a sports bike.
Thanks for that Spoonz. I have us staying at Benavente for a night before entering Portugal so could ride to Sanabria and then taking the ZA-925 down to Braganza. Is that correct? If we're to go on to Chaves as you recommend, before going onto Vila Real, which road would you recommend?
If you are considering doing a day trip out of Porto , head North on the coastal road up to Vigo N-13 and then over the bridge onto (PO-552). The 552 is awesome and frequently done by myself when I lived in Vigo.
If you have time ride slightly north from Benavente and come down the Le125 from La Beneza. The 525/A52 is pretty boring. At Pueblo de Sanabria ride up the hill into the village rather for a look rather than go around the bypass then take the ZA925. They even have specific bike parking spaces at the top of the hill. Great Hostel there too with great food. Braganca has an excellent old castle if you have time. There is no fuel from Braganca to Chaves from memory so make sure you have enough. You also need to go into the edge of Braganca to get fuel, there is none on the bypass before the Chaves exit. From Chaves take the N103, the view of the lakes beyond Baixo is superb. Once you get near to Braga, that is when the traffic starts to build and it becomes a bit more industrial. if your feeling like a break, there is an adventure park just outside Lanhoso just off the N103 which has zip wires, via ferrata, canoes etc. Also has log cabins you can rent. Parque Aventura DiverLanhoso
Braganca is nice and a good place to stay. The road from Breganca to Chaves is a recommended road, but I didn't think it was that great. It is beautiful along the Douro river. It was about four years ago or more that I did a route from Benavente to Braganca and heading further south - I remember the road from Spain to Portugal this way was better than it looked on the map, so I'm guessing this is a thumbs up for Spoonz' route. Inland rods in Portugal can be very nadgery and slow, so leave enought ime if taking minor roads.
If you go as far as Porto my mate has a fantastic restaurant there and he's bike mad, he'll make you very welcome and put you right on the area, best bike roads and where to stay. The food is exceptional, let me know if your interested and I'll send you the details.
Just modified the route from Benavente to take lunch in Braganca and a stop in Chaves, so thanks to Spoonz and Arson for the tips. I'm now a dab hand at BaseCamp so well used to all it's quirky features! We've got four days in Porto so aim to take in the sights on foot (Segway tour already booked!) as well as on the bike so yes please to Wozfast!
Hi Wozfast. Are you talking about André at Taberninha do Manel. We had the pleasure of meeting André and eating there (twice) whilst at Porto a couple of weekends ago. What a top bloke and the food was simply amazing.
The guy is Joe Dominguez Restaurante de Querenca, Loule. He lived over here and we raced big proddie bikes back in the mid eighties when he worked at Langans in London, he also raced the roads for a while, Macau, Villa Real. If he offers a ride out don't take him up on it, he's still fast as f#*k lol. You'll struggle to meet a nicer bloke, mention me Simon Sloan.
Wozfast The restaurant you're talking about is near the Algarve, which is nowhere near Porto unless I'm missing something??
My portuguese opinion is go for N2 from chaves to faro by the inside country ! Around 750 km some awesone mountain roads in the north and some great straight roads in the south ! Great traditional restaurants in near villages ! Here some info: use google translator [emoji57] Pela Estrada Nacional 2 de Chaves a Faro: A mítica Estrada Nacional Nº 2 Map Estrada Nacional 2 de Faro a Chaves (Traçado Completo) - Faro, Algarve This is our kind of route 66! Every biker here have to do it once ! My 5 pen [emoji6]
