Portugal Gravel Cycling trip

Saturday 30th May – Sunday 7th June 2025 (8 Nights, 7 days riding)

£1895.00 per person in a shared room.

£2245.00 per person in a single room.

Join us for a spectacular gravel cycling trip in beautiful Portugal. See the country away from the coast, travelling from the Douro Valley, alongside the Spanish border and finishing in Lisbon.

Look forward to spectacular views over the Douro Valley, challenging climbs as we cross 4 national parks and the spectacle of arriving in Lisbon below the Vasco da Gama Bridge.

We are running this trip in early June, to avoid the high temperatures that this region experiences later in the summer.

Besides the amazing riding, you can dream of delicious Douro wine, great food and fabulous, friendly towns and villages where we will stay and ride.

The riding will suit anyone who has done some training and enjoys riding off road. You don’t need to be fast, as we have support in place to ride with you and we’ll also have a vehicle on hand to top up drinks and snacks (when not riding off road sections).

We’ll start our tour in the Alto Douro region, in Peso da Regua. We have a great hotel reserved, right on the banks of the River Douro. It’s a great way to start your trip.

The trip will be for 8 nights, with 7 days riding.

Accommodation will be in good quality hotels and breakfast and dinner will be included in the cost. Lunch will be in cafes or restaurants en route and you will be responsible for paying for your own lunch.

A back up vehicle will be on hand each day in case of emergency, mechanical failure or even fatigue!

We will have two guides riding with the group every day. One will be happy to ride with faster riders at the front of the group and one will ride at a more comfortable pace with riders who want a more leisurely ride.

Our usual level of care and attention goes should go without saying. We want you to enjoy yourselves as much as possible.

Price includes hotels, breakfast and evening meal. Also transfers from Porto Airport and to Lisbon Airport.. Some picnic lunches will be provided when we are in more remote areas where a cafe stop is not possible.

It includes a supporting vehicle to resupply on the road alongside a minimum of 2 outriders actually helping and guiding around the routes. They will also help with any minor mechanicals if needed.

What’s not included: flights, energy products, alcoholic drinks.

Info/Arrival

Trip Dates: Saturday 30th May – Sunday 7th June 2026

Shared Room: £1895.00 per person / Single Room: £2245.00 per person

On arrival at Porto Airport we will transport you and your bike to the hotel nearby. If you wish to hire a bike, this will be ordered and will be delivered to the hotel ready for you to ride on Sunday morning.

Costs include, transport from Porto Airport, hotel accommodation, breakfast, dinner and souvenir riding jersey. The ride will be fully supported with on road guides and vehicle support.

Please note that minor repairs can be undertaken but major problems may need attention from a bike shop. We will carry spares (tubes, chain links, tyres etc.) but we advise you to bring anything you think you may need in case it is not available in remote areas where we will ride.

It is important that your bike is in good condition before you start this trip. Once we leave Pocinho, we will not encounter a bike repair shop for the first few days of the trip

Flight costs are not included in the cost of the trip.

Day 1

Sunday 31st May. Pocinho to Freixo de Espada a Cinta

Our day begins not on the bike, but on a train journey!

Rather than ride 50km+ on the road to reach Pocinho, you can enjoy a delightfully relaxing journey on the train that runs alongside the River Douro from Peso da Regua.

We’ll stop at Pocinho and your bikes will be ready and waiting for you to start the ride.

The first day’s riding is almost all off road. We’ll start by following the excellent Ecopista de Sabor cycleway, which gradually climbs it way up from the river to the vineyards in the hills above.

We’re never too far from the river and you can expect some fabulous views across the vineyards to the valley below.

We’ll spend our first night on the trails at the small village of Freixo Espada a Cinta in the Hotel Freixo Douro Superior.

Day 1 Stats: 55km. 1057m ascent

Day 1 difficulty rating: 2/5

Day 2

Monday 1st June. Freixo Espada a Cinta to Castelo Rodrigo

We’ll start today with a gentle downhill ride to the river before we make a short climb up to a viewpoint where we get a grand view of the river and Spain on the other side.

A fun descent on the road awaits us after the viewpoint and this takes us back down to the river, which we will cross at Barca da Alva. This means goodbye to the River Douro, as we now head south.

Once we cross the bridge, we have a steady climb, mainly off road, through olive groves as we head to our destination in Castelo Rodrigo.

Day 2 Stats: 61km. 1617m ascent

Day 2 difficulty rating: 3/5

Day 3

Tuesday 2nd June. Castelo Rodrigo to Termas do Cro

We stick close to the Spanish border all day today as we head south.

Although there are no big climbs, today will be full of short, sharp shocks, with constant undulations keeping you working.

We will head east to the tiny village of Almofala before tackling a 15km section of off road trails to Malpartida.

We’ll soon reach Almeida, which provides an ideal stopping point for a lunch break, before we head back in the direction of the border and enjoy some dusty trails on the way to Vilar Formosa, one of the border towns.

The last 20km of today’s ride takes us on a quiet road with some steep climbs and descents on our way to the Thermal complex at Cro. The hotel is nestled in a tranquil valley and provides a comfortable resting place after a busy day on the bike.

Day 3 Stats: 89km. 1207m ascent

Day 3 difficulty rating: 3/5

Day 4

Wednesday 3rd June. Termas do Cro to Idanha a Nova

Our route today keeps heading south as we pass through the Serra da Malcata Nature Reserve on our way to Idanha a Nova,

We’ll begin by taking some off road trails as we head towards Sabugal and the nearby lake – Albufeira do Sabugal. Once we leave the lake, we’ll head towards another, smaller lake, the Albufeira da Maimoa, and ride part way around the edge.

We’ll climb up from the lake and follow trails until we reach Penmacor, where we can take a rest and stop for lunch.

In the afternoon, we’ll take a mixture of road and off road trails to reach the incredible village of Monsanto. This village is famous for being built in amongst the rocks. Houses literally have boulders for roofs!

Idanha a Nova is our destination and for history lovers, you won’t be disappointed. The ancient walls and mediaeval sites give the town a unique atmosphere.

Day 4 Stats: 104km. 1736m ascent

Difficulty rating: 4/5

Day 5

Thursday 4th June. Idanha a Nova to Castelo de Vide

Today we’re heading for one of our favourite small Portuguese towns – Castelo de Vide, but we’ve got 114km of excellent riding before we get there.

We’ll leave Idanha a nova and immediately head downhill on the road out of town. We stay on this quiet road for the first 25km today before we join our first off road track after the lake at Monte Grande.

We have a mixture of on and off road riding all morning until we reach our lunch stop at Vila Velha do Rodao, which sits on the northern bank of the River Tejo.

Once we cross the Tejo, we enter Alentejo, an area in Portugal famed for it’s great food and wines.

As often happens, immediately after lunch, we have a tough climb in front of us, a 7km off road trail, leading us to Nisa, where we can stop for an afternoon coffee before the final stretch to Castelo de Vide.

We’re sure you’ll like Castelo de Vide as much as we do. It’s built on a hill and has a bustling town centre with lots of bars and restaurants, most with outside seating. It makes for a great atmosphere on warm evenings.

Day 5 Stats: 114km. 1670m ascent

Difficulty rating: 4/5

Day 6

Friday 5th June. Castelo de Vide to Almeirim

Today, we’ll cross almost all of Portugal, riding from just a few km from the Spanish border to Almeirim, which is less than 50km from the Atlantic coast. it’s our longest day in the saddle, at 138km but fortunately, the route generally flows downhill.

We have a good mix of road and off road sections to ride. The roads are very quiet and the off road tracks will take you through cork and pine forests and olive groves.

We’ll stop for lunch at Ponte de Sor, which is pleasantly situated next to a river, so makes for a relaxing lunch stop.

Our destination – Almeirim – is famous in Portugal for Sopa da Pedra (stone soup!). Legend has it that an impoverished monk begged the local people for some food but as they were so poor, he was refused. He asked a farmer if he could have some hot water to make a soup out of a stone. Intrigued, the farmer gave him some water. The monk said it would taste better with some olive oil, so the farmer gave him some. He then suggested that adding some beans would make it even better. This went on and eventually cabbage, carrots and other vegetables were added, and the monk ate the soup. The farmer asked, what about the stone? The monk replied that he would wash it and use it for the next soup!

No doubt some poetic licence in that story, but the soup, which almost every restaurant in town serves, is delicious!

Day 6 Stats: 138km. 994m ascent

Difficulty rating: 4/5

Day 7

Saturday 6th June. Ameirim to Lisbon

Our final day takes us alongside the River Tejo all the way into the lovely city of Lisbon.

After leaving Almeirim, our only real climb of the day is the one to take us up to Santarem, about 6km down the road. Once that obstacle is cleared, it’s a flat ride all the way to the finish.

The majority of the route is off road, with a few short road sections linking different areas.

We’ll ride next to the river for a while and there are some great river beaches with restaurants and cafes where we can stop for coffee or lunch.

The final 10km or so is quite impressive as we ride on raised boardwalks above the marshes north of Lisbon. Once we have ridden over these, our next landmark is the beautiful Vasco da Gama Bridge, which crosses the River Tejo at it’s widest point (15km). We’ll ride under the bridge and follow the cycle path all the way into the centre of Lisbon. We’ll officially finish the ride at Praca do Commercio, the main square next to the river in Lisbon. We’ll be able to enjoy a relaxing drink in one of the bars next to the river or in the square itself.

Our final night of the trip will be a celebration of a fabulous week, with good food, wine and our usual prizegiving ceremony.

Day 7 stats: 100km. 418m ascent.

Difficulty rating: 2/5

Total trip distance: 558km. 8699m ascent

Departure

What’s Included

Hotels & Accommodation

All accommodation will be arranged for the dates highlighted in the tour.

Refreshments

The support vehicles will always make itself available to provide you with your refreshments. If you need a water refill on a climb, we will stop in a convenient place to help you out.

Evening Meals

We provide all of the evening meals either at the hotel or at carefully selected restaurants . Our tours aren’t just about great cycling they’re also about great food.

Airport Transfers

We will pick you up and drop you off at the required airports.

Bike Storage
We understand how much you love your bike and we will do everything we can to help keep them safe. Each hotel we stay at has good quality bike storage and we supply additional chains and padlocks to ensure excellent security.

GPS Routes

As well as having a support rider and support van in close proximity we will also provide you with the routes so you can load them onto you navigation device. If you don’t have a navigation device we can rent you one locally.

Tools

We carry a comprehensive tool kit in the back of the support vehicle along with a number of basic replacement parts. Each member of our team is capable of helping with bike maintenance and basic repairs. We do advise however that you know how to disassemble and assemble your own bike and have the tools to do so. Please bring spare inner tubes and a puncture repair kit.

What’s Needed:

Fitness

Riding in the mountains is tough and we create our tours to ensure maximum levels of achievement which comes hand in hand with maximum physical exertion. For this reason we recommend a decent level of fitness and motivation. We will happily create routes for any level of fitness and experience so if you have any concerns please feel free to contact us, together we can come up with the best possible options to suit your needs.

Bike

For these tours we suggest that you bring your own bike. While we can advise you on hiring a bike in Portugal, it is generally better that you have your own. You need to be comfortable on your bike for long periods of time.

Some of the rides on this trip will be through remote areas where finding a bike shop will be difficult at best, so please ensure that your bike is ready to ride this type of environment and you have suitable spares with you.

Helmet

We expect you to wear a helmet at all times while riding.

Clothing

Please bring appropriate clothing. The climbs can be hot but the long, fast descents can get cold especially if you are damp from the hard climb. Extra layers can be kept in the support vehicle so that you don’t have to carry them but please ensure that you bring good quality kit.

It is also advisable to bring good sun protection.

Douro Valley

Alentejo

Boardwalk heading to Lisbon