Taking a bike break in Alentejo, Portugal. Photo courtesy of Tour Operator (TO)
Famous pottery village of San Pedro do Corval, Alentejo, Portugal. Photo courtesy of TO

Biking the Alentejo region in Portugal. Photo courtesy of TO

Paradise in Portugal

Portugal Bike Tours

A Bike tour from an Alentejo Guest House

This bike tour in the lovely Alentejo region of Portugal combines accommodations at an authentic country guesthouse with daily guided or self-guided cycling excursions. Located in a pastoral paradise, your accommodation is a genuine Monte, a traditional ancestral Alentejan farm, complete with orchard, organic vegetable garden, sheep grazing pastures, and an ancient olive grove, where cork oaks and holm oaks grow among large granite boulders. The occasional medieval village welcomes with its typical whitewashed houses trimmed in blue.

Highlights:

  • Accommodation at a beautiful guesthouse
  • No packing and unpacking, just cycling and relaxing!
  • Very flexible tour - kms can easily be adapted to your level
  • Beautiful rolling landscape with vineyards, olive groves, cork oaks and grazing land
  • Very good Alentejo wine and fantastic gastronomy of Portugal
  • Mediaeval villages and Évora historical centre, classified by UNESCO as World Heritage Site
  • Very small groups (maximum 8 people)

Portugal is a great cycling country, and the Alentejo, the perfect region!

If you book the self guided tour, there is opportunity to pariticipate in other guided actiivites such as hiking, kayaking, and wine and heritage tours. Just ask us for details and pricing.

All of our bike tours in Portugal can be found here.

Skill Level

This is an easy guided or self-guided hotel based tour on rolling hills. You will have sections of dirt road as well and an occasional bike trail. The average daily mileage is approximately 29 and elevation gain is 2,200 feet or 700 m. There are many options for your cycling itineraries and difficulty can range from easy-moderate.

Where You’ll Stay

Your accommodations for this tour is a genuine Monte, a traditional Alentejan farm in Evora, Portugal.

What’s Included

  • Self-Guided
  • Accommodations for 3, 4, 5, or 7 nights
  • Breakfasts
  • Welcome snack
  • Gastronomic surprises each day
  • Bicycle rental equipped with tool kit, front bag, helmet, and back rack
  • Transfer to/from Évora bus station
  • Maps, route descriptions and history notes
  • 1 dinner on 4 day tours, 2 dinners on 5 day tours, and 3 dinners on 6, 7 and 8 day tours
  • 24 hour phone support
  • All necessary transfers except for those indicated for supplement
  • Personal accident and third party insurance for the tour days
  • Guided
  • All of the above
  • Entrance fees to the Bones Chapel, cathedral in Evora, and Vila Vilcosa’s Ducal palace
  • Two wine tastings
  • Water and fruit for the day
  • First aid assistance
  • Cycling guide
  • Cycling jersey

What’s Not Included

  • Transfer service from airport to Évora - can be arranged at extra cost
  • Extra dinners at our guesthouse – can be arranged at extra cost
  • Lunches and all meals other than those included
  • Transfer service for dinners in Évora – can be arranged at extra cost
  • Bike protection
  • Travel insurance

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TourBike
TypeBoth
SkillEasy–Moderate
Length4–8 days
From€270 Rates
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Tour Dates

Arrival possible any day, all year long.

*Not recommended for July and August as average high temperatures are close to 90° F.
 

Day-To-Day Itinerary

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There are many options for your cycling itineraries. You can enjoy short days or longer days, you can reserve transfers so that you can linger longer at the place that interests you the most. Upon arrival, you will be fully informed and can design your own unique itinerary.

ROUTE 1 - Megalithic Monuments
An optional morning transfer will take you to Guadalupe (if you prefer you can cycle) from which you return by bike. A longer ride is possible as well. The trail is easy, with gentle rolling dirt roads, and goes through the beautiful Holm oak forest and grazing land. Cultural and historical highlights include a visit to the Dolmen of Zambujeiro (the largest dolmen in Europe), the Cromelech of Almendres, with a beautiful view over Évora, the Menhir of Almendres, the Church of Mitra and the Roman Ruins of Nossa Srª da Tourega. In the afternoon, you cycle in the city of Évora and discover the amazing history of this beautiful city.

You can visit the surreal Chapel of Bones and the impressive cathedral, originally from the 13th century. The Chapel of Bones is literally what the name implies, a 16th Century chapel decorated with bones, skulls, and entire bodies hanging from the wall!

Finish your day on this bicycle tour in Portugal with wine tasting in Évora.

Distance: ​ 
With morning transfer: 22 or 28 mi. (35 or 45 km)
Without transfer 44 mi. (70 km)

Level: Easy

ROUTE 2 - The Famous Carpets
This suggested itinerary is an easy loop ride from the guesthouse to Arraiolos and then back, following the "green lane", or a rails to trails path. This is a peaceful ride on gentle rolling hills, 10 km of which is on dirt roads. You will cycle past small farms, eventually reaching Graça do Divor, a beautiful and well-preserved white and blue village. This is a wonderful place to stop  for a drink and try delicious (and famous) meat pies.  Following your refreshment, you continue to the the village of Arraiolos, famous for its rich historical center, castle, and embroidered wool rugs and carpets which have been made since the middle ages. A local delicacy that you must sample is the delicious Pastéis de Toucinho. There is opportunity to visit a winery (€6), and a cheese farm that also produces local liqueurs. (Sampling here is €11.) From the cheese farm, you can order an optional transfer back to the farmhouse. If you cycle back to the guesthouse, you pass Divor dam and its lovely lake. You can shorten the daily mileage by 12 km if you do not visit the cheese farm.

Distance:
22 mi. (36 km) all visits described and transfer from cheese farm back to hotel
28 - 33 mi. (45 - 53 km) to winery and back
43 mi. (69 km) to winery and cheese farm and return by same route
47 mi. (75 km) to winery and cheese farm and back a different route

Level: easy to moderate, depending option and if you purchase transfers. You will cycle on gentle rolling hills which included approx. 15 kms of dirt roads
 

ROUTE 3 - Conquest of Valongo Castle
The day begins on a road lined with olive groves, with gentle ups and downs until Nossa Senhora de Machede. There is opportunity to visit a traditional leather factory and, if traveling in October or November, an olive oil mill. If traveling off-season, it could still be possible to arrange a tour subject to availability.

Valongo Castle, dating from 1283, is on the agenda as well. Located in the solitary surroundings of Montoito, it stands alone and surreal. Following then a dirt road, through the country at its best, you reach Alcaide Water Mill and continue along the river passing several mills until reaching the main road. If you want to extend your cycling itinerary, you can add an extra 10 km and cycle to the Ervideira winery (supplement of €8). At the end of your cycling day, there is an included transfer back to the farmhouse.

Distance:
25 mi., 31 mi., or 37 mi. (40, 50, or 60 km)

Level: easy with gentle rolling hills. The last 6 km is on dirt road which you can avoid if you request to be transferred early.
 

ROUTE 4 - The Medieval Village
A morning transfer will take you to Reguengos from which you cycle to medieval Monsaraz, perched high on a hill, overlooking the Guadiana River.  The view spreads below for miles. As you enter the village, surrounded by castle walls, it is as though you have stepped back in time. The houses are made of white Schist with blinding white walls. In the area surrounding Monsaraz are several fascinating megalith and dolman monuments. These symbolic remains date back to between 4.000 and 2.000 years BC. Another highlight is the famous pottery village of S. Pedro do Corval. At the end of the day, there is a return transfer to the farm.

Distance:
19, 27, 31 mi. (30, 43, 50 km)

Level: easy with the majority of the itinerary on flat roads, however, there is a moderate 2 km climb to Monsaraz
 

ROUTE 5 - The Wine and Marble Route,
Leaving the farm, the cycling leads through the country in the direction of Igrejinha, a very  "white village" where all houses have stripes of different colors, like a striking painting. There is a lovely winery here that can be visited. From Igrehinha, you cycle to the cork factory to learn how cork is transformed. This will be a highlight of your day. In the same village, you can visit a knife factory and see the process of making kitchen knives, cork cutting knives and others.  Nearby there is a wonderful sanctuary with murals from floor to ceiling. Next on the agenda is the village of S. Miguel de Machede where you can stop for refreshments.

Level: easy will rolling hills (270  m of climbing with transfer, 430 m without).

Distance:
27 mi. (42km) - with transfer back to farm.
46 mi. (74 km) without transfer

4 days/3 nights
1st day: Arrival. Accommodation and dinner at our guesthouse.
2nd and 3rd day: Cycling Route 1 and 2
4th day: Departure.

If you want to choose one of the other cycling routes, which have transfers, the transfer service will be charged separately.

5 days/4 nights
1st day: Arrival. Accommodation and dinner at our guesthouse.
2nd - 4th day: Cycling route 1, 2 and 3. One more dinner at the farm on one of the nights.
5th day: Departure.

If you want to choose one of the other cycling routes, which have transfers, the transfer service will be charged separately.

6 days/5 nights
1st day: Arrival. Accommodation and dinner at our guesthouse.
2nd - 4th day: Cycling route 1, 2, 3 and 4. Two more dinners at the farm in two of the nights.
5th day: Departure.

If you want to choose one of the other cycling routes, which have transfers, the transfer service will be charged separately.

8 days/7 nights
1st day: Arrival. Accommodation and dinner at our guesthouse.
2nd – 7th day: 5 cycling routes - one free day. Two more dinners at the farm on two of the nights.
8th day: Departure.

On one of the nights you can enjoy a Cooking Class on Alentejo food. You will be taught to prepare a delicious Alentejo meal, using fresh and readily available ingredients.

Check out this video for a closer look at the beautiful country of Portugal!

Be sure to view all of our bike tours in Europe or look at our featured bike trips, specials, and news.

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