Cycling Portugal - Porto to Lisbon

It was a great holiday with first class leader, an excellent itinerary, beautiful scenery, great cycling & a splendid group of fellow cyclists.

The trip was interesting but unfortunately my experience is bound up with the fact that I was one of two single people who joined this tour. I paid £450 extra as a single supplement while the other customer did not. The other customer asked for a single room, expected to pay extra but was told by Explore that it was not necessary. I have complained to Explore about the unfairness of this but so far they have not been helpful. The cycling itself was fun, some of the restaurants were very much cheese toastie and chips variety. The hotels were very good. The last day of cycling was too long.

some of the things on the schedule didn't happen nor was there time for them. The leader/guide was excellent but didn't represent Explore who appeared as a distant entity who took our booking. Hotels were first class. We got good weather in October - couldn't have been better. Plans for lunch could have been explained and paid for at booking rather than leaving it to the guide to manage.

We had a fabulous trip. It’s what we have come to expect with Explore to be honest but all the same it needs to be said. Tour leader Alex was brilliant all week as was Paulo the van driver and lunchtime caterer supreme! The trip was run at a really good pace that kept everyone together - no mean feat in a group of 16. In the interests of openness and for feedback I would suggest that the hotel in Porto was rather basic. We paid for an extra night here before the event and do not consider the rate we paid was value for money for such a basic hotel room. It was of a lesser standard than a UK travelodge. Other hotels along the route were all of a good quality with Monday and Thursday being especially so.

It was a fabulous trip! Our leader Alejandro was so kind, patient and helpful. Our support person Paulo was also incredible with his fabulous daily lunch spread. My concerns are as follows : 1) We only had 15 minutes in Obidos, which is somewhere that merited a visit for at least a couple of hours. I was looking forward to visiting Obidos as one of the highlights of our trip as it is such a unique and historic place. According to the itinerary-we were to have a walking tour. Perhaps for the future, the cycling could start a little earlier on the Óbidos day and the coffee break and or lunch could be in Óbidos. 2) We also felt as though the coffee stops every morning were a bit long and generally unnecessary. This is the first cycle trip that we’ve been on where we’ve stopped at restaurants for morning coffee. Perhaps in the future the van could meet cyclists along the route with a snack/refreshments if needed (this is what we’ve always experienced) 3) on our last day we cycled on unpaved roads that were billed as “well graded” on the itinerary.. I would go so far as to say they were barely graded, rocky alternating with sandy and very uncomfortable to cycle on.

This was a fun holiday and a great way to see Portugal, which we had not visited before. There was a lot of beautiful scenery and the weather was great. We had wanted to book e-bikes but when we booked the holiday last year, we found that only a limited number were available and those had already been booked. I would recommend the trip although the last day was long and hilly and would have been better split into two sections. My partner and I are not regular cyclists and found some sections a bit challenging but were pleased with ourselves to have done it. In retrospect, we should have done some training before the holiday, but we were just too busy. The bikes were good, the tour leader was great, accommodation was generally v good although finding decent places to eat at night was a challenge on one or two days. We were impressed by Porto and would have liked more time there, but less so by Lisbon which was jam-packed with people and very touristic - like Venice with hills. I can see us going back to Porto for a long weekend. A great holiday, but we will probably look for something a bit flatter or that offers greater availability of e-bikes for our next cycling break.

Great time. Great people. Good company. Overall I had an excellent holiday.

This a great cycle holiday for people who want to see some different parts of Portugal. The cycling for the most part is along easy to ride cycle paths giving you plenty of opportunity to look around and enjoy the scenery.

Loved the 5 days of cycling, along with Porto and Lisbon. Alex our guide was excellent and Pablo who worked alongside him was fabulous, great picnics and videos. Bikes were excellent, I had one of the e-bikes, which made life so much easier. Pretty flat cycling but last couple of days there were some hills. Some great scenery along the way. Would recommend the trip.