potatobike

Hi everyone! I am going on a long bike tour this spring-summer and am considering making part of the route go through Spain and Portugal. Have any of you toured in Spain and Portugal before? What is the bike infrastructure like? What is good to know before going there? Any helpful maps and other resources? I would like to avoid car traffic as much as possible. And bears

indyfabz

Andalucia is quite hilly and very hot in the height of summer. (I had days in the 60s and 70s in mid-March-April, and that was 21 years ago.) Did a loop starting/ending in Sevilla. Michelin makes a great map of the territory. Figure out what you want to see and pick the smaller/smallest roads between places. Didn't really need bike infrastructure because traffic was minimal in the countryside. (The coastal area I passed through was a different story. Didn't find anything redeeming about the coast between Almeria and Torre del Mar.) Where there was traffic, motorists were quite courteous. Even getting into and out of Cordoba was easy.

Camping was hit or miss at the time I was there. Some laced did not open until later in the spring. Culturally, you have to adapt to the siesta schedule and eating dinner out relatively late if you plan to eat out.

Steve0000

I can comment on northern Spain. We spent 2 weeks touring from the French border on the coast to Santander. We found that there were few campgrounds inland so had to stick to the coast. Road options were few compared to other European countries such as France and Germany. In some sections, there was the motorway and one alternative road for cycling but we didn't find traffic a problem in the areas we cycled. As with the previous comment, be aware of the siesta time midday and the late meal times if eating out.

hockey

If you tour Portugal in the summer you will find it very busy in the south along the Algarve. Roads to the north of the Algarve are quiet, hilly and sparsely populated. The west coast (Alentjo) is fascinating and dotted with many surfing beaches and windy roads. Enjoy your trip, and be prepared for a bit of heat!!

axolotl

How's your Spanish? Here's a list of some recommened biking routes in Spain. You can use google translate or something similar if needed: https://elviajero.elpais.com/elviaje...70_186925.html

My favorite area in Portugal was the Douro valley. The Minho valley was nice, too. There was a bike path right along the northern border of Portugal along the Minho river.

My touring in Spain was all in the northern third of the country. There is very little flat land in either country.

If you do a search in the Touring forum, you'll find plenty of past discussions about touring in both countries.

Doug64

My wife and I rode from Lisbon, Portugal through Spain to Valencia then north along the coast to France as part of a longer tour. Near Seville we experienced 43 C(109 F) temperatures: so we "shifted gears" a little, and headed from Seville to Valencia where it was 20 F cooler.

Traffic was never an issue, even in the larger cities. Our planned route changed on the first day when we talked to the ticket agent at the ferry terminal. We had some places we wanted to see like Evora, Seville, Cordoba, Valencia, and Barcelona. We had planed on trying to get to Grenada, but it just got too hot. My wife is Portuguese and she had some things she wanted to see. She also had a cousin living in Sant Cugat, near Barcelona.

Most "N" roads (red) and white roads on Michelin maps are good for bikes.



Festival-Sant Cogat


We left or bikes at a hotel in Barcelona, and took a train to see my wife's cousin.

potatobike

Thanks for the suggestions! Picking places and events first and basing the route off of that sounds like a good idea

potatobike

Thanks! I have not decided if I will bring camping gear or not, but will keep in mind that there is few campgrounds inland when deciding

potatobike

That is good advice because I would like to avoid busy and heavy traffic places. Windy surfing beaches sounds nice and I will definitively remember to bring sun protection and hydration

potatobike

Will look into that article and also note down Douro and Minho Valley. Thank you!

fourfa

+1 about late dinner times in Spain. I was touring in the winter, short daylight, so I aimed to be settled in to wherever I was going by 6. Regardless, it was just about impossible to get an evening meal before 9 or 10. Meanwhile I had road stomach and was ravenously hungry, so for most of Spain I ended up eating a big lunch on the road and having snacks from grocery stores for dinner, and asleep by 8 or 9. Spring/summer, one would have the luxury of sleeping in, riding late, eating late, bed at midnight and never worrying about hours of daylight or riding in the dark.

In rural Spain, away from beaches and touristy areas, I also found few campgrounds (and they’re seasonal, so would be closed anyway in the winter, again no problem for you). But empty 2-3 star hotels were abundant, and at 20-30 euros a night basically the same price as a campground but with a bar, restaurant, and hot shower. Wasn’t a hard choice for me. Was never a problem to store bikes in a utility room somewhere, safely locked up. I camped rough plenty too, like a 3-4 day section of gravel farm roads between Murcia and Granada, seemed pretty casual to do so compared to other regions of Europe.

One of the highlights of Spain for me was the pueblos blancos (small hilly whitewashed towns) in Andalucia, all lovely and mostly off the beaten track, and relatively close to Portugal.

One caveat regarding using trains to get around with bikes - some countries (ie Italy) the local and regional trains are set up for bikes. Portugal is not one of those countries. I ran out of time and had to hustle to Lisbon on a train to meet my flight, and it was a strange exercise of taking parts off my bike and putting them in black garbage bags until a station agent decided my bike was now “luggage” instead of “bicycle.” Spain was OK, had to use the train to get over the Pyrenees in winter and it was no big deal on a regional train.

potatobike

That sounds like a great tour! Will consider adding Sevilla, Cordoba, Valencia and Barcelona to the route. And I read that others also mention it can get really hot down there so will definitively pay attention to the temperature and hydration when I'm going. That many "N" roads (red) and white roads on Michelin maps are good for bikes I did not know and will keep an eye for that. Thank you for that advice

indyfabz

"A" roads in Andalucia as well.

He already knows this, but Doug and I just happened to pass that same N-433 sign pictured above, only something like 10 years apart. I rode from Sevilla to Aracena on the first day of my tour and then later continued west towards Portugal before turning north. I came within less than a mile of the border at Barrancos.

CMAW 

As has been said, don't underestimate the heat, especially in the south (last time I was in Cordoba, 110°F). When it gets that hot, you're much better off in the mountains. In rural Spain, shops are closed between 1 or 2 PM and 6 PM, you have to stock up on food and water before that. You can buy 1,5 liter bottles of mineral water in bars for not much more than in supermarkets — it is my impression that public water tap points are getting scarcer, especially in Andalucia.

Railroad connections are not ubiquitous in Spain, but you can rely on a good bus network, ALSA, connecting all cities and towns. Bringing your bike used to be no problem but ALSA regulations are a bit stricter now, bike has to be wrapped in plastic.

One thing to look out for if you're making your own route are the vias verdes, old rail roads turned into cycling routes, sometimes with spectacular results.
https://www.viasverdes.com

If you are looking for documented long distance cycle routes (bike friendly roads, historic interest, tourist infrastructure etc):
Camino del Cid (El Cid being a Spanish general Patton from the Middle Ages) or the Via de la Plata (Sevilla to Santiago pilgrim route with pilgrim hostels in most villages on the way).
https://www.caminodelcid.org/
https://www.alberguescaminosantiago.com/via-de-la-plata/

Dutch-made long distance routes cutting through Spain North South and East West:
https://www.cyclingeurope.nl/cycling/

Wait, Granada hasn't been mentioned? If you want to visit the Alhambra, one of Spains most mind-blowing monuments, you have to make a reservation weeks or even months in advance!

indyfabz

Yeah about Cordoba. I was there in late March and it was in the 70s all four days.

Wait. You need a reservation to get in the Alhambra, or are you referring to lodging? I was there in ‘98 during a train trip and you could just walk in, but it was probably considered off season.

CMAW 

Sure, in the 90ies. Still, you were in luck because I had to wait 4 or 5 days to get in around '95 or so. Nowadays it's different: there are two tickets, one for the gardens, the fortifications and the Generalife but not the Nasrid palaces (the real gems), and one that covers everything. You can go stand in line without a ticket very early in the morning (I did so in 2018) and the first 20 or 30 people get admission, but NOT to the palaces. Admission time for the lesser ticket was a week and for the palaces over a month IIRC. No idea how things are under COVID.

Doug64

This was on the Mediterranean Coast. A local cyclist stopped us on the road and told us how to get onto the trail.

fourfa

Agreed, I rode 3-4 Vias Verdes in southern Spain and they are engineering marvels. Trains can't climb steep hills so the grades are practically flat with extensive cuts and bridges and tunnels (with cool motion sensing lighting!). Lovely well-drained well-packed fine gravel, hardly a bit of mud. Plan on making double the usual speed since there are basically no hills! Luxuriously free of cars, just some pedestrians and families to watch for. There is also something interesting about seeing what's become of the old train stations in small towns, ones that might have been on a highly traveled train line but now off the main highways and forgotten