3 weeks portugal

[stever1]

Imagine you're going via Europort to Central France and on to Portugal. Returning via Brittany ferries, Santander. You have a total of 3 weeks so I'm thinking of 2 weeks in Portugal. What should I fit in ?. Ive never been there before so it's all new to me.
All ideas will be gratefully accepted. Oh, we tend to have a day off the bike every 3 or 4 days. Crack on folks,

 

[AustinW]

Blast through France.

Spain…. Any number of roads and routes that will take you across the Picos and other northern ranges westwards across Spain. Go too far south and you are on the Spanish plain. Nice but not as good as the mountains. Exact route or roads is immaterial: there’s enough good stuff for anyone on any route. Get a Michelin map and look for green edged roads and you won’t go wrong. Just stop at your town of choice. Again Michelin maps give a big clue about towns. Towards the western end though I would recommend the Rock Star Hotel near Ourense. Themed rooms. Cheap. Garage per room for a couple of bikes.

Portugal…. Head for Chaves in the north and follow the N2 south all the way to Faro. It’s their heritage road with brown signs for most of it. Super- super twisty in the mountains of the north becoming more open in the south and by and large rural or small towns. There’s a couple of iffy bits where the N2 becomes dual carriageway and one point we ended up on a cycle way but it’s not hard. Allow about 4-5 days north to south. Best thing we’ve done in Portugal.

From Faro be a tourist for a day or two on the Algarve (we enjoyed Carvoeiro) then head west and follow the Atlantic coast north. We also enjoyed Praia de Odeciexe. There’s that surfy place with mega waves and the most westerly point in Europe mainland to visit plus any number of places up the coast.

And then keep following the Spanish coast round and back to Santander.

We’ve been to north Spain and Portugal roughly like this twice.

 

[Deleted account 230523001]

I wouldn`t bother with Portugal, not worth it in my experience, not a straight road to be found. People are far too relaxed, laid back and friendly, food is rubbish, beer worse, the wine is awful...I think you have it wrong, I would stick to France and over to Italy and beyond.



Spoke with a miserable English fuck on Friday here in PT and he agreed, after seven years living in France, the wine here is the best, so much better than France!! Beer is OK, not brilliant, but the food is better than France also, it is off the fucking scale amazing and the people are not French, so that is even better!

The roads are brilliant if you choose right, keep off the toll roads...The South is boring, in that it is not as mountainous and is full of tourists, especially Brits, so we avoid...If you like Roman stuff, this place is full of it...Portugal is the very best of all EU countries and Porto is just beautiful, Lisbon is OK...But full of crime, Coimbra is the learning seat, Tomar is the Knights Templar and the old capital city...Only 50 miles from me, most mountains have a castle on top, Guarda is a wonderful place for swifts in the morning, Castelo Branco is my nearest city and has a lot of nice stuff and gardens...But I am a rural bod and prefer peace and quiet, so keep away from cities...The trails are sublime and there are a lot of them, hundreds of miles off road with the best views ever! Dams, rivers, castles is what this place is made of, most place you go.

Portugal has the deepest and largest locks in Europe and the largest man made reservoir...Portugal has a lot it doesn`t shout about...It doesn`t have to, it just is.

 

[shez1]

Spain Portugal

Agree that Portugal is a very nice place to travel and that the north offers better roads. I personally was disappointed with the N2 and you can find better routes without difficulty. I prefer Spain for riding the bike, much less traffic, lots of space and more predictable driving. Portugal has a much denser population and busier roads. If the weather is good, run through the mountains in the north of Spain, if the weather is bad head south and the mountains of southern Spain. I would plot a route along the east side of Portugal, perhaps the quietest roads? The roads through and around the Serra da Estrela Natural Park are particularly memorable.

 

[Khulu]

I'll be there for a couple of weeks this summer too so I'll start making notes of recommendations.

 

[Deleted account 230523001]

Agree that Portugal is a very nice place to travel and that the north offers better roads. I personally was disappointed with the N2 and you can find better routes without difficulty. I prefer Spain for riding the bike, much less traffic, lots of space and more predictable driving. Portugal has a much denser population and busier roads. If the weather is good, run through the mountains in the north of Spain, if the weather is bad head south and the mountains of southern Spain. I would plot a route along the east side of Portugal, perhaps the quietest roads? The roads through and around the Serra da Estrela Natural Park are particularly memorable.

THat is really strange, as my experience is the exact opposite! Portugal has a population of only 10 million and 2/3 of that is in Lisbon and Porto, the rest is literally deserted! In that there is literally no one else on the roads to speak of...Your observation is not familiar to me in any way...Perhaps you were not used to people driving in the centre of the road, this is normal here.

Just fucking weird!

 

[Muppet]

Gotta agree with Att here (shock horror), Portugal is far superior to Spain in my reasonably considerable experience.

Central part, the National Parks, Serra de Estrela, Coimbra, all around that area is just amazing. People are so friendly and bike friendly, the place is mostly relatively cheap, especially away from tourist areas (so stay in the middle bit), and the roads are beautifully surfaced and traffic free.

It's one of my favourite destinations in Europe. But don't tell anyone!

 

[shez1]

"Just fucking weird!"[/QUOTE]

Not sure how my observation (trying to be helpful) elicited that comment, but for the record, the population density in Spain is 94 per Km2 and 111 per Km2 in Portugal. Similarly, the people in Spain mainly live in cities.

Portugal is also one of my favourite places to ride a motorcycle, I just happen to prefer Spain. No offence intended.

 

[Deleted account 230523001]

"Just fucking weird!"

Not sure how my observation (trying to be helpful) elicited that comment, but for the record, the population density in Spain is 94 per Km2 and 111 per Km2 in Portugal. Similarly, the people in Spain mainly live in cities.

Portugal is also one of my favourite places to ride a motorcycle, I just happen to prefer Spain. No offence intended.[/QUOTE]

There was no offence taken, I was simply mystified by your observations...I use colourful language all the time, there is no intent in that, it is just something I have always done.

Enjoy Spain, I nip over into the bandit country, I am only 45 mins from the border by road and as the crow flies, probably 20 mins.

 

[howdoo]

Spain = Great
Portugal = Greater.

Get a decent map of Portugal and visit Serra de Estrela...any roads will do.