portugal

twodogs · Feb 17, 2006

We are going to portugal this year and riding down from top to bottom, we have five and a half day's to get down from bilbao and are looking to do a leisurly ride and enjoy some scenery, so a couple of questions if anybody can help.
1. is the standard of driving as bad as i am led to believe.
2. what are the roads like A, roads as well as motorways.
3. are hotels scarce in the north.
4. anybody know some nice places onthe way down to visit.

many thank's bob.

Flying banana · Feb 17, 2006

1. is the standard of driving as bad as i am led to believe.

I can only speak for the south coastal region, but as far as I am concerned, the driving standards appear no worse than anywhere else. Indeed, I have seen as equally bad driving here as there.

2. what are the roads like A, roads as well as motorways.

They vary from tiny and crap, (ideal for a GS then

) to well surfaced motorways.

Hope that is of use, Others wil no doubt know more.

Hope you enjoy the trip, I am very jealous.

sparkplug · Feb 17, 2006

1. I don't know how bad you are led to believe but I agree with the Flying Bannana. It's no worse than here just a different style but you get used to it quickly.

2. Again I agree with 'Variable'. Generally if you are near a resort the roads are pretty good but around the cities they can be a bit worn. That said I've been on worse motorways in Italy. Where the roads are good they tend to be excellent.

3. Not much experience but I never had a problem.

4. Depends on what you like!

twodogs · Feb 17, 2006

twodogs said:
We are going to portugal this year and riding down from top to bottom, we have five and a half day's to get down from bilbao and are looking to do a leisurly ride and enjoy some scenery, so a couple of questions if anybody can help.
1. is the standard of driving as bad as i am led to believe.
2. what are the roads like A, roads as well as motorways.
3. are hotels scarce in the north.
4. anybody know some nice places onthe way down to visit.

many thank's bob.

just one other thing we are looking to cover an average of about 200mile per day give or take. Is this a bit ambitious for the roads or within reason, bearing in mind we want to stay off motorway's as much as possible.

Gaulois · Feb 17, 2006

I spent a few days diving around northern Portugal a couple of years ago. Sadly, following a lapse of concentration, in a car. Most rural 'A' & 'B' roads v poor with cobbled surfaces. Motorways are impeccable. My impression was that locals tend to drive at warp factor 12 though compared to my experiences in Sicily last summer they were tame!
Roads will be great on a GS.

Dinger · Feb 17, 2006

I went there the year before last with MCi tours.
I found the standard of driving reasonable although they do try to intimidate you at junctions etc (edging out like they have right of way). Nothing to worry about in the countryside but they get a bit manic in the cities. (Same the world over eh?)
I was on a blackbird and found most of the roads ok. On a GS the world is your lobster (there were 2 GS's and a Tiger in the group and they seemed to enjoy it enough). There are many good twisties in the mountainous areas. We passed through the Serra Da Estrela mountains north of Lisbon and the biking there is stunning, lots of forest twisties.
For hotels I would stay in the towns, at least you know there are hotels there and it would be a shame only to see the back of beyond. We stayed in a town called Peso da Regua on the river Duoro east of Porto, brilliant place nestling in the vineyard covered mountains with a giant silhouette of the Sandemans Port bloke looking out over the valley. The whole area is full of good biking roads, some are racetrack smooth too.
We found the people very friendly too.
Enjoy.

dazzer · Feb 17, 2006

Hi Twodogs,

I have a few Hotel details marked up on a map.If you want to we can meet up one weekend so you can check out the map.Maybe Hartside cafe.
The only fault i found with the driving was no matter what speed you drive at there will be someone 2 feet from your back tyre !

No problem with the roads,compaired to Malta

plenty of hotel's, we were paying about 25e for 2 per night.

It also seems to take longer to get to where you want to go,we only made it half way down,before the heat and forest fire's turned us back up to the coast of spain where is was cooler at 35c .

There is a write up with some photo's here

http://www.bmwgs.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=39

Lord Snooty · Feb 17, 2006

I can recommend staying in Elvas. It is a very old walled city, established by the Romans and later the Moors. Lots of interesting architecture, windy twisty streets. The Tourist Information centre is in a square by the cathedral (or was it just a big church). If I remember there are no hotels as such but b&bs or pensions. We stayed in an air con room which also had a shared kitchen and dining room and it was cheap as chips. The streets are narrow and in some places cobbled and the whole place is a joy as it is no exactly flooded with tourists.

twodogs · Feb 18, 2006

dazzer said:
Hi Twodogs,

I have a few Hotel details marked up on a map.If you want to we can meet up one weekend so you can check out the map.Maybe Hartside cafe.
The only fault i found with the driving was no matter what speed you drive at there will be someone 2 feet from your back tyre !

No problem with the roads,compaired to Malta

plenty of hotel's, we were paying about 25e for 2 per night.

It also seems to take longer to get to where you want to go,we only made it half way down,before the heat and forest fire's turned us back up to the coast of spain where is was cooler at 35c .

There is a write up with some photo's here

http://www.bmwgs.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=39

Dazzer.
Thanks for the info, would it be to ambitious to be thinking about 200mile a day then, only thing is we need to get down to faro in five and a half day's (we have a villa booked for a week there). There is a faster route we could take but i wanted to go right down the length of portugal if possible, but having never been am a bit unsure as to wether this is feasable with the roads without doing 12hr day's

bingbong · Feb 18, 2006

Just got back from the Algarve yesterday. ( not on the bike unfortunately) The roads are much improved from when I lived in Portugal a few years ago. I was imformed by a Brit resident that it is now possible to drive from Lisbon to Faro on the new motorway in 2 hours. So if you run short on time this could be the escape route. The standard of driving hasn't improved much since I was last there but the Police are trying, road blocks are not uncommon as drink driving is still the biggest killer. Having done a quick trip there by "flying sandwiches are us" in "the business class init" I am going back by bike for sure. just as soon as it arrives

Launch day 25-3-06 :clap

twodogs · Feb 19, 2006

bingbong said:
Just got back from the Algarve yesterday. ( not on the bike unfortunately) The roads are much improved from when I lived in Portugal a few years ago. I was imformed by a Brit resident that it is now possible to drive from Lisbon to Faro on the new motorway in 2 hours. So if you run short on time this could be the escape route. The standard of driving hasn't improved much since I was last there but the Police are trying, road blocks are not uncommon as drink driving is still the biggest killer. Having done a quick trip there by "flying sandwiches are us" in "the business class init" I am going back by bike for sure. just as soon as it arrives Launch day 25-3-06

bingbong thank's for that, knowing we can get from lisbon to faro in 2hrs is
a massive plus as we can take some more time coming down from the north armed with that information. thank's

portugal

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