Portugal

[Mimi Forsyth]

Thinking about bicycling in Portugal. What areas are least
strenuous? Most strenuous? Can someone advise what areas are
least hazardous & most interesting for bikers? What times of
year are most comfortable? Grateful for an/all helps.

 

[L'Homme Qui A V]

Mimi Forsyth a écrit :

> Thinking about bicycling in Portugal. What areas are
> least strenuous? Most strenuous? Can someone advise what
> areas are least hazardous & most interesting for bikers?
> What times of year are most comfortable? Grateful for
> an/all helps.

I suggest you to be very careful, I went there by car and
I realised people drive dangerously there : "the highest
road death rate in the EU was in Portugal, at 21.0 per
100,000 population (in 2000). " (more than 3 times the
death rate of UK)

United Kingdom 6,1 Netherlands 6,2 Sweden 6,2 Denmark 8,1
Finland 8,4 Germany 8,5 Ireland 10,7 Italy 11,1 Austria 11,9
France 13,8 Spain 13,8 Belgium 14,5 Luxembourg 15,9 Greece
19,3 Portugal 21,0

source : http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.as-
p?vlnk=7254

 

[Eric]

I biked west of Lisbon to Sintra, then up to Coimbra, and in
the Douro valley down to Porto. The most strenuous was the
area just west of Lisbon around Sintra, but Sintra is very
much worth visiting. The lower part of the Douro valley was
probably the easiest and least hilly. The whole Douro valley
was lovely. The road surfaces were mostly decent, though the
grading wasn't. I believe I had my mountain bike, but wished
I had brought my touring bike. We were there in May and had
comfortable temperatures for biking. We didn't make it to
the Minho region in far northern Portugal, but I've heard
other cyclists say that's the very best region for touring.