Porto Bicycle Tours 2022/2023

“Who could ever have imagined just how fantastic a week long experience cycling (plus laughing, drinking,eating, talking and laughing a bit more) from Porto towards Lisbon would turn out as a new group assembled , on time (in house story), in Porto on Saturday September 22. For me - well I had one of the great experiences of my life and I could say the same for my wife , Ali.There was a sense of apprehension at the initial meeting but most of that pretty quickly dissolved as we went on our tour of Porto (on foot) and then to our first dinner. We quickly realised we had a great team - and to make a great team we had to have great leadership. That we did in Jaoa ( Zoom Zoom) and Oscar - absolutely brilliant and more on them later.The tour was everything ("more or less" - there is a story there) we could have hoped for - scenic even breath-taking at times, a huge variety of different landscapes from coast to farmland to colourful villages and picturesque lakes and seaside towns, mainly very good surfaces but nothing un-expected, great accommodation, great camaraderie and ultimately friendships and very good equipment. The tour was, as advised, mainly flat with a couple of good challenging short hills which did take a good bit of energy.If you have reasonable fitness (e-bikes are always available if you want) and enjoy the benefits of good exercise, connecting with new acquaintances and being blown away with scenery this is a "bucket-list" trip for you. And, to finish in the castled town of Obidos (yes, with a bit of final climb - 200-300 metres - "more or less eh Jaoa") was a wonderful experience as was the time to enjoy that fantastic city of Lisbon when we arrived there by bus for our final day.We will never forget our week long cycling experience on Portugal for all the very best reasons!”

“Overall this is an amazing trip with many fantastic attributes, only spoiled by a lot of unseasonal rain prior to the trip (a bit during the trip) and a number of small points that could be improved in the organisation. However, these did not really detract from the overall trip experience,Th and my partner and I would not hesitate in recommending this cycling trip to others.”

“This trip was an amazing experience with absolutely stunning scenery, around every bend was a picture postcard view of the ocean. The guides were excellent and their spoken English was great. This being my first premium trip I was very impressed with the hotels and watching the sunsets over the Atlantic from our hotel balconies and resteraunt tables was a highlight for everyone. The cycling was a bit harder than I anticipated, the trip is graded a two but is as hard / a bit harder than the indochina trip I did earlier in the year which was graded as a three. The first few days are definitely leisurely, but on later days there are a couple of hills one long climb and one short but steep one, the last day is more undulating. I wouldnt let these put you off though they are manageable by anyone thats done a bit of prep or cycles regularly and theres always the van or an ebike. The bikes were trek dual sport 3s and were excellent hybrids with hydraulic disc brakes giving confidence on the way down. The trip was mainly on excellent quality cycle paths with only a limited amount of road riding to link them together. We were generally in the hotel for 330 each day with most starts about 930”