Cycling in Portugal: Four Days on the Algarve Coast

Day 1: Rojil to Praia da Luz, 26.3 miles

In the 80s and 90s when we traveled by bike we would use publications from tourism bureaus to figure out where to stay. We usually called the day before to see if they had vacancies. These days we pre-book everything well in advance. We tend to use Walmart Plus Travel, which is built on Expedia, as well as Booking.com. So far on this trip the selections have panned out and have been good value. It was a hilly, but fairly short ride to the beach town Praia da Luz today. Our total miles to date since we began our trip in Lisbon 186.2.

Though it’s too cold to swim in our opinion, April is a great time to visit the Atlantic coast of Portugal. The crowds are much more manageable.

Hotel breakfast — We book breakfast at almost every place we stay. We find it so much more convenient than going out foraging in the morning.

Day 2: Praia da Luz to Albufeira, 38.1 miles

When you have a hard day of riding with headwinds and lots of hills, it can be easy to forget how beautiful the countryside is that you’re passing through. Photos are good reminders. Total MTD 224.3.

Portimao — Our lunch break was in Portimão, a city that has an industrial side and a scenic side. This is definitely the latter.

Beauty in its own right—a downhill run on a quiet, paved road.

Large room — Staying in a beach town in April means fewer people and bigger rooms available. For this stay we have an apartment with a full kitchen, a separate dining room, living room, and a balcony.

Day 3: Albufeira to Olhão, 30.6 miles

The ride to Olhão (Ol yeah) is smooth sailing. Our route takes us through some beautiful rural areas with hundreds of acres of orange trees. Olhãu is on an estuary rather than a beach so it’s much quieter and laidback than the last couple of places we’ve stayed. Total MTD 254.9.

We tend to avoid unpaved roads but occasionally our route takes them. Some people love gravel riding. We’re not among them.

View from terrace — The terrace of our guest house in Olhãu had a beautiful view of the city.

Day 4: Olhão to Vila Real de Santo Antonio, 33.4 miles

This is our last ride in Portugal. Today the scenario is mostly rural and we have just a couple of challenging parts. Just across the river from our destination for the night is Spain and we’ll be catching a ferry over there to continue our ride. We really haven’t had too much trouble communicating even though we know very few words in Portuguese. Fortunately the people here are gracious enough and are, mostly, able to speak to us in English. Total MTD 288.3.

Walking through water — There are a couple of wet crossings on the route, but fortunately it’s a warm day and our feet dry quickly.

Shopping — We eat dinner out most evenings, but for our lunches we usually shop the local grocery store. In Portugal that’s been a little more of a challenge because we can’t speak or read any Portuguese.

Sunset from balcony — Beautiful sunset in Vila Real de Santo Antonio on our last night in Portugal.

Our Route in Portugal

This is the full route from Lisbon to Vila Real de Santo Antonio on RideWithGPS with interactive map and elevations.

Krause Travels