Hi, This years tour in September will be based in Northern Portugal. Looking for advice re towns/hotels to tour out from for around 3/4/ days. Braganca, Chaves and Pinhao look possibilities . Any advice gratefully received , Cheers
Could try Vila Real. Used to go there in the 80's for the F1 bike races. Great town in a great area. Just north of Chaves on the Spanish border is the town of Feces. I should avoid it.
Estalagem Turismo Cabeca Boa,Braganca.Family run hotel,lovely people. We stayed three nights,a great experience and inexpensive too. The pool is small but the a/c was lovely and cold,and they were really biker friendly. (The landlady got up at 05.00 to wave us off as we we were leaving too early for breakfast......) The signage to the hotel was a bit confusing,it's about a mile or so from the town centre if I recall,if you can't find it follow the signs for the Pousada hotel,which is on your left but keep going and the road comes back around the other side of the hill and then the Estalagem will be on your right. Man,I'm so jealous....
You don't have to go far...The N103,from Braganca to Chaves,just under 70 miles of non-stop bend-swinging with hardly a straight to mention.It was all freshly resurfaced a couple of years ago.We were there for three days and rode it to Chaves and back twice,but apparently it's equally as good past Chaves towards Venda Nova and eventually Braga. We went down on the Gijon boat,and came into Braganca via the A52-ZA925-N103/7,really boring on the highways but check out the last bit from Pedralba to Braganca on Google earth....
Braganca is nice. If your budget permits, think about the Pousada, which is not as expensive as the Spanish Paradors. Not that keen on the N103, but try the Port Road. I like the Sena de Luna road in Spain, if going that way
if you fancy a day trip down towards the serra de estralla ( covilha, seia etc) the roads across the mountains there are brilliant
Thanks Guys ,nice to get some info from people that have done it.Its looking like a couple of nights in Vila Real and a couple in Braganca . First night will be in Burgos second in Salamanca then hopefully twisties all the way .Looking for a good route from Salamanca to Vila Real at the minute
The roads around Manteigas are good,but I can't think of a good way of getting there from Salamanca. From Manteigas the road up to Moimenta da Beira is OK and allows you to finish on motorway if you run out of time or do the Port Road, which is nice. I wouldn't go further west as the roads are very slow and full of villages. I've done the N102 north of Trancoso but I can't remember what it was like, so I guess not horrible not memorable Are you using the N-623 to Burgos from Santander? If not, try it going back (if you're going to the ferry at Santander) as this is great.
Yes we always use the 623.This will be the third time.With getting off ferry at noonish Burgos is a natural first stop .Anice place too. The 623 just warms you up nicely Thanks for your help mate
For some reason, I always prefer that going north. I don't know why. SO much so that I've never done the N-232 from Briviesca to the lake. Any good? If you are a regular and in the area, Soria to Najera on SO-810/SO-830 to Laguna Negra and then un-named road to LR-113 (a fine road in both directions from here) is a great run. Mind you, after the ski resort at Santa Ines, the road is in terrible condition, so probably not a great idea on a sports bike. I've done this on the Multistrada and on a FJR so not dirt bike territory. LR113 is good from the other end, too. I like coming up this way from the south, usually stopping at Cuenca and between Logrono & Burgos.
