The MontadoAn Alentejo cycling holiday around Évora: cork oaks, wine estates, and the food the rest of Portugal drives here for.
Designed, not yet ridden. The hotels and the route are being decided with the first guests. We ride it for the first time in spring 2027, with the first guests, and we say so rather than pretend otherwise.
THE LOOP FROM ÉVORA
A week in the slowest, fullest corner of Portugal
Évora · a wine estate · the cork oaks · a walled hill town · Évora
Montado is the Portuguese word for the landscape here: open woodland of cork oak and holm oak over pasture, grazed, harvested, barely fenced. It covers most of the Alentejo and almost nobody rides through it.
We start in Évora, with the Roman temple, the cathedral and a long dinner in the old town. Then out into the plain: a wine-estate hotel among its own vines, a day of tracks between the cork oaks, a walled hill town, and back to Évora.
The Montado is a private cycling holiday run by Musette Travel, a boutique cycling-holiday company in Lagos, Portugal. Five riding days and six nights in a loop from Évora, for private groups from six riders, road or gravel. First departures spring 2027.
Fully guided & supported · a riding week with a tasting in it, not a wine tour with a bike
AT A GLANCE
- LENGTH
- 5 riding days · 6 nights
- SHAPE
- A loop, Évora to Évora, five houses
- GROUP
- Private groups from 6 riders, no maximum
- RIDING STYLES
- Road · Gravel
- DAY PROFILES
- Published once the route is ridden, spring 2027
- TERRAIN
- Rolling plain, no mountains, long open roads and farm tracks
- SEASON
- Spring and autumn. The Alentejo summer is too hot to ride well.
ROUTE STILL BEING RIDDEN. WE PUBLISH IT WHEN WE HAVE RIDDEN EVERY KILOMETRE.
Choose your surface
Road or gravel. There is nothing here that needs a mountain bike.
Road
Long, straight, almost empty roads between the estates. Rolling, never steep.
Gravel
Farm tracks through the cork oaks, the way the montado is actually crossed.
DAY BY DAY · AS DESIGNED
Land at Lisbon (Faro on request). Group transfer east across the Tagus into the Alentejo, about an hour and a half. Bike fitting in the afternoon, then the Roman temple, the cathedral, and a long dinner in the old town.
Night: Évora
We go from place to place, six nights in a loop from Évora, and now and then a wine house along the way. Long roads between the estates, tracks through the cork oaks, lunch in a village, dinner where we sleep. The hotels and the route are being decided with the first groups; you get the list with your proposal.
Nights: on the plain, back in Évora for the last one
Breakfast, then the transfer to Lisbon (Faro on request).
Distances and climbing per day are published once the route has been ridden, in spring 2027. Until then we would be guessing, and we would rather not. The order of the days can change with the weather.
THE WALLED HILL TOWN · DAY FOUR
Where you'll sleep
Six nights in a loop from Évora, place to place. The houses are being decided with the first groups; you get the list with your proposal. All rooms en-suite; twins, doubles and singles matched to your group at booking.
FIRST AND LAST NIGHT
Évora, inside the walls
A house in the old town, a short walk from the Roman temple, the cathedral and the restaurants.
ON THE PLAIN
A wine estate on the plain
Now and then a wine house along the way, with rooms among its own vines and a glass after the ride.
ON THE PLAIN
The walled hill town
A house in one of the hill towns, with the plain on every side. Which one is decided with the first groups.
WHAT YOU EAT
This is the region Portugal goes to for food.
Black pork from pigs that ate the acorns under the cork oaks you rode past. Açorda, the bread and coriander soup with a poached egg in it. Sheep's cheese, soft and sharp. Bread that is a course in itself. And the wines of the Alentejo, poured at the estate that made them.
At every table we book, we know the owner, the chef or the hotel owner. Wine and drinks are not included. You choose what to open.
YOUR BIKE
Booked with the trip, priced on its own
Current-generation bikes, fitted to your measurements before you arrive. Your bike comes with a helmet, pedals set up to your system, a pump and a puncture pack; a GPS unit on request. Bring your own saddle, pedals or shoes if you prefer.
See the fleet
- ROAD
- Scott Addict 10 · KTM Revelator Alto Pro
- GRAVEL
- KTM Gravelator Elite Di2 · KTM Gravelator 10 · KTM Gravelator 25 · Scott Speedster 10
- E-GRAVEL
- KTM Macina Gravelator SX 10
Rental is priced per trip and confirmed in your proposal.
WHAT IS TAKEN CARE OF · GUIDED
Something always happens on a trip, and on a first trip a little more. We won't promise you a perfect week. We promise that when something happens, it is already being handled.
- A Musette guide and a support van with driver on every riding day
- One guide for every eight riders and a support van with driver and mechanic. Spare parts in the van; a replacement bike comes from the hub when needed.
- Jerom rides the first weeks himself
- Luggage moved house to house by our van
- Lunches, snacks on the bike and dinners
- Group transfer from and to Lisbon (Faro on request)
INCLUDED · GUIDED
- 6 nights in five houses with breakfast
- Guide and support van on every riding day
- Lunches on riding days, dinners every evening, ride snacks
- Luggage transfers between hotels
- Group transfer from and to the airport
- Mechanic on call
- A Musette jersey
NOT INCLUDED
- Bike rental (see Your bike)
- Wine and drinks
- Flights
- Travel and cancellation insurance (strongly recommended)
- Single room supplement
- Gratuity for your team: not included, and entirely yours to decide.
Arrival day: dinner only. Departure day: breakfast only.
THE FIRST GUESTS · SPRING 2027
Ride it with us before it is finished
Quoted for your group.
The route is still being ridden. We send a written proposal within 48 hours.
The first-guest rate is written into your proposal. Two payments: 40% at booking, the balance 60 days before departure. Cancellation: 90 days or more before departure, the deposit (40%); 89 to 60 days, 60%; 59 to 30 days, 80%; 29 days or less, 100%. A replacement rider is always free.
The first groups ride The Montado while a few details are still being decided on the road: which track between two, which terrace for lunch, which house for the night. The guide, the van and the dinners are fixed. The hotels and the route are being decided with the first groups, and you are part of it.
In return, the first guests pay less, and they get the week nobody else will have: the one where the route was decided.
Join the first guests
Also see: The Wild West · Lagos Base Camp
Read in the Journal: The tree that fruits and flowers at the same time
THE WAITLIST
You are on the list.
We wrote your address down at . When the spring 2027 dates are set, we write to you before they go on the site. Nothing else arrives in the meantime.