Portugal by cycle
April 10, 2011 7:11 PM Subscribe
Trying to plan a June bicycling trip in Portugal that either ends or begins in Coimbra. Does anyone have any experience cycling in Portugal? What are the good books? Any tips? My google-fu has failed me, and I can only seem to find places which want to take me on guided bike tours.
My partner and I are headed to Portugal in June. I'll be presenting at a conference, and it seems like a great excuse to be bike tourists. We are pretty experienced cyclists (although not very fast - we seem to max out at 100km/day, and more like 70km/day when pulling a trailer, which probably applies in this case). We have a Bike Friday Tandem Tuesday, and the suitcases into which the bike packs can turn into a bike trailer. This means we can start and end in different places. Also, when assembling and disassembling the bike we can make the Transformers noise.
If anybody has any experience cycling in Portugal or (even better) cycle touring in Portugal or knows what the good guide books are, a pointer would be much appreciated! If you have any tips or stories or ideas about awesome things to see, that's also great!
My partner and I are headed to Portugal in June. I'll be presenting at a conference, and it seems like a great excuse to be bike tourists. We are pretty experienced cyclists (although not very fast - we seem to max out at 100km/day, and more like 70km/day when pulling a trailer, which probably applies in this case). We have a Bike Friday Tandem Tuesday, and the suitcases into which the bike packs can turn into a bike trailer. This means we can start and end in different places. Also, when assembling and disassembling the bike we can make the Transformers noise.
If anybody has any experience cycling in Portugal or (even better) cycle touring in Portugal or knows what the good guide books are, a pointer would be much appreciated! If you have any tips or stories or ideas about awesome things to see, that's also great!
If either of you can read French I would recommend the Guide de Routard Portugal. I haven't used this particular edition myself but their recommendations of characteristic and good value restaurants and small hotels has been a boon in France and Italy.
posted by Dr.Pill at 6:45 AM on April 11, 2011
posted by Dr.Pill at 6:45 AM on April 11, 2011
Best answer: Here's a list of journals written by folks who have toured on bikes in Portugal:
Crazy Guy On A Bike.
posted by conrad53 at 6:46 AM on April 11, 2011
Crazy Guy On A Bike.
posted by conrad53 at 6:46 AM on April 11, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks! Reading other peoples' travelogues is quite helpful. It looks like there aren't any travel guides in English for bikes, but we should be able to get by on the route descriptions at those links and LonelyPlanet/RoughGuide/RickSteve's etc.
It looks like the way to do it is to get to Coimbra by car or train and bike from there, as Coimbra is (sensibly for the town's defense) perched up on a hill.
posted by pmb at 3:56 PM on April 11, 2011
It looks like the way to do it is to get to Coimbra by car or train and bike from there, as Coimbra is (sensibly for the town's defense) perched up on a hill.
posted by pmb at 3:56 PM on April 11, 2011
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posted by jet_silver at 8:13 PM on April 10, 2011