As passionate cyclists, we are always on the lookout to design new bike tours with the best roads and trails to explore a certain region. Serra da Estrela Natural Park has always been on our mind, as it not only hosts the highest point in Continental Portugal, but truly amazing, undiscovered landscapes that transport us in space in time. In this region you're able to visit the "Historical Villages of Portugal", 12 villages that capture the essence of pre-roman to medieval times, understand the lifestyle and culture of the "Transumância", the Burel fabrics and textiles, experience Portuguese gastronomy at it's purest and some of the most different wines Portugal has to offer at the moment.
These reasons alone make it a special region to explore. But it took us a while to design the perfect bike tour in the region, as we needed to pair these attributes with key issues so we could make it into a perfect bike tour - trails, roads and the best hotels to showcase the region. And so, with the help of local riders, we designed a tour to be better experienced on mixed terrain, as this untamed land requires us to skip the road for some trails every now and then, so we can explore glacial valleys, river springs and the GR22. This lead us to create our first ever "Gravel" tour, as we feel that's the best bike to explore this mixed terrain, as it isn't technical and allows us to better flow from one castle to the next. And here it is, our "Bike tour in the Portuguese Historical villages and Estrela Natural Park".
This bike tour starts with a 2h30m transfer from Porto airport ( or hotel) to Covilhã, a gateway to the Estrela Sierra, where we'll stay for the night on a charm hotel that will allow us to explore it's historical city center and gastronomy - a great introduction to the region. After breakfast, we'll descend towards the Zêzere river, tackling the macadam trails towards Belmonte, the first of several historical villages we'll visit, where the castle marks the top of this fortified village. After the mandatory coffee stop, we'll ride by the GR22 towards Manteigas and then Penhas Douradas, where a SPA at high altitudes await - this is where we'll stay for the next nights, exploring the Sierra. For the next days, we'll be be conquering the "Torre" - the highest point in continental Portugal, descending by trails in Glacial valleys, riding to nearby historical villages like "Linhares da Beira", ride to the spring of the Zêzere river and get to know more about the ancient "Burel" textiles and gastro traditions of the Estrela national park - while indulging in the best accomodation and SPA of the region.
From there, we'll ride north, to "Penalva do Castelo", where we'll rest for a night at the spectacular "Casa da Ínsua" Parador, and then towards "Trancoso" and "Marialva", which boast spectacular castles and ruins of long lost eras, dating back to the 12th century. From Marialva, we'll cross the "Côa" river using the GR22 route, by the natural reserve of "Faia Brava" and ride to our last Historical Village of the journey, "Castelo Rodrigo", which sits on the top of a small mountain, overlooking the high mountains of Portugal and Spain. The Douro river is nearby, and so are the almond trees, vineyards and olive trees characteristic of this region.
As this bike tour comes to an end, you'll be transferred back to Porto and hopefully experienced this region in an authentic manner, bringing you closer to it's magic, in a way only a bike can transport you.
Join us there. Click here to view the full information on our "Bike tour in the Portuguese Historical Villages and Estrela natural Park"
For the third year in a row, Live Love Ride has been distinguished with Tripadvisor's Certificate of Excellence! After having won this certificate in 2017 and 2018, our guests have kept on recommending us in the world's largest Social Travel Website, by sharing details of their experience on our tours.
The 2019 Certificate of Excellence is very important award for us, as we are focused on improving our guests experience at all times: curating better routes, presenting new experiences, investing in quality bikes and infrastructure and training our guides so that you can have a great experience in our bike tours.
Thank you to all the guests that have provided us such amazing feedback, we are truly honored by your preference. We're already preparing new surprises so that you have a blast on our cycling holidays for the years to come!
The Live Love Ride team
Already dreaming about riding new trails and backroads and exploring different regions for 2020? Want to plan an easy bike tour by the North of portugal, a road cycling tour by the Douro valley, or a mountain bike adventure by the Portuguese southwest Coast?
You can now start planning your bike tour with Live Love Ride for next year, booking a date for 2020 and benefitting from a 5% early bird discount*!
Simply visit our website at https://llride.com, choose your favorite tour and preferred date for 2020 and, while booking, apply the code "earlyrider2020" to benefit from the 5% discount your purchase. This is valid until 31/12/2019, and can be used in all our weeklong self-guided, guided and premium tours starting in 2020*.
Start planning your dream cycling holidays for 2020! See you then 🙂
*Promotion available until 31/12/2019, applies only to standard self-guided, guided and "premium" bike tours. Does not apply to half-day or one day tours, bespoke bike tours or cycling camps. Live Love Ride reserves the right to change or end this promotion. Please contact Live Love Ride team at ridewithus @ liveloveride.pt for more information.
Integrated in our initiative "1 ride = 1 tree", 200 trees were planted on the 3rd of March, in Sintra, Portugal.
The initiative, promoted by Live Love Ride and Portuguese ONG "Plantar 1 Árvore" saw 30 volunteers gather in the Sintra Sierra on a beautiful Sunday morning to plant a tree for each rider that joined our bike tours.
Together, we planted 200 endogenous trees in a patch of land that was in need of reforestation in the area. Here's the list of endogenous trees planted:
30 Laurus nobilis (Loureiro);
25 Myrtus communis (Murta);
25 Phillyrea latifolia (Aderno-de-folhas-largas);
45 Quercus faginea (Carvalho-cerquinho);
67 Quercus robur (Carvalho-alvarinho);
8 Sambucus nigra (Sabugueiro);
Thank you to all the volunteers that participated! And a big thank you to all the guests that joined our bike tours and helped us give back to nature - we need to cherish if we can continue to ride by it's beautiful landscapes.
Some photos of the plantation follow below:
Portugal, who in the past has won World’s Leading Destination 2017,has again won the "World's leading destination" award in 2018, by the World Travel Awards (WTA) which are considered the “Oscars” for the tourism industry.
The competition also saw it claiming the title of World’s Leading Beach Destination, Europe’s Leading Destination, while the country’s tourist board also claimed three separate prizes. Lisbon was also named the World’s Leading City Break Destination for 2017.
This recognized the country's efforts to better receive those who wish to explore it and get to know it's heritage, gastronomy, nature, culture and human value. Portugal is an amazing destination for cycling holidays, and you can best explore it's coastline and wine countries on a bike - see below a series of reasons to consider joining a bike tour in Portugal in 2019:
/ Founded in 868, Portugal established its continental frontiers in 1297 and is the oldest nation in Europe;
/ Portugal was one of the earliest colonising nations of Europe and shares common cultural values and traditions with African, American, and Asian countries;
/ Portuguese language is spoken by about 230 million people around the world (incl. 210 native speakers), and is the official language of 9 countries;
/ With 10 million inhabitants and 92,212 km2 of surface, it’s considered one of the most geographically diverse countries in Europe and home to several UNESCO world heritage sites and traditions;
/As a modern european country, Portugal has great infrastructures for tourism, one of the country’s most important economic activities but is proud to keep its heritage, traditional values as well as its arts and crafts;
/ Facing the north Atlantic Ocean, it’s home to a maritime climate, with average annual temperature of 16ºC and sunny weather all year long, making it perfect for cycling in Portugal;"
( read more on our website exclusively dedicated to bike tours in Portugal: https://www.portugalbiketours.com/en/llr/porque-portugal/n)
About WTA:
World Travel Awards™ was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries. Today, the World Travel Awards™ brand is recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of industry excellence.
World Travel Awards™ celebrates its 25th anniversary year in 2018. Its annual programme is renowned as the most prestigious and comprehensive in the global industry. Each year World Travel Awards™ covers the globe with its Grand Tour – a series of regional gala ceremonies to recognise excellence within each continent, culminating in a Grand Final at the end of the year.
New year, new tours! For 2019, we have added new destinations for our leisure bike tours, such as our Bike tour in Minho: the Green Craddle of Portugal, as well as revamped our classic tours in Alentejo or Douro with some new variations for bike touring enthusiasts, making them more acessible for families - check out our Douro touring and Alentejo touring experiences.
Review our catalog below to find the most exciting bike tours in Portugal for all cycling enthusiasts - from road cycling holidays to touring or MTB tours, we host self-guided or guided tours for cycling enthusiasts of different skills in the best regions in Portugal - take a look at the catalogue below and see for yourself!
