Questions, answered honestly.

Private cycling holidays in Portugal for your own group of six riders or more, guided or self-guided, in the West Algarve, on the Costa Vicentina and in the Alentejo. Four to five riding days, boutique hotels, a route built for your group. Private trips have no fixed departures. For riders without a group we run a few open weeks a year, six to sixteen riders. The founder, Jerom Pannier, has built cycling trips in this corner of Portugal since 2010.

Guided: a Musette guide and a support van with driver ride with you every day, one guide for every eight riders; lunches, dinners and ride snacks are included. Self-guided: you ride our GPS routes at your own pace with a printed roadbook, after a personal briefing and bike delivery at your first hotel; a 24/7 phone line sends a vehicle if something goes wrong. Breakfast is included in both; lunches and dinners only in guided.

The Wild West if you want a journey: hotel to hotel from the cork oaks of the Alentejo down the Atlantic coast to Cabo de São Vicente and Sagres. Lagos Base Camp if you want to unpack once: one hotel in Lagos and five rides from the door, including the climb to Fóia, the highest point in the Algarve. The Montado is our new Alentejo trip around Évora.

Yes and no. The Rota Vicentina's two famous walking routes, the Fishermen's Trail and the Historical Way, are for walkers only. The Rota Vicentina also has a separate cycling network of more than 1,000 km of MTB and gravel trails. Our routes use quiet roads and gravel tracks through the same landscape, and we choose the surface for your group. (Source: rotavicentina.com)

Four riding days and five nights on The Wild West, five riding days and six nights at Lagos Base Camp. A rest day can go anywhere, and an extra night in Lagos is easy. Tell us your dates; we design around them.

Planned from May 2027, when the Lagos Marina Hotel, Curio Collection by Hilton is due to open. We take bookings now.

These are proper sporting rides with real climbing, not a walk in the park. That said, every day can be shortened, on guided trips the van is there, and an e-bike is the answer for a lighter week or a niggling injury. A fair self-test: can you ride 60 km two days in a row and still enjoy dinner?

That is the normal case. The guide rides with the group, the van follows, and every day has a shorter option. The simplest fix is an e-bike for whoever wants one. On our trips it is a decision guests thank us for.

Road for long views on quiet tarmac. Gravel for the tracks between the cork oaks and the cliffs. MTB for trails on the Wild West and around Lagos. E-bike if you want to ride with friends who are stronger than you. Same hotels, different route. See The Bikes.

Our routes avoid the N120 and N268, the two national roads along this coast. We cross them now and then, and where a short stretch is unavoidable we ride it with care, with the guide in front and the van behind. Stay alert on any public road; that is true here as anywhere.

Read in the Journal: The park we ride through

From June to September the prevailing wind on this coast is from the north and north-west, the nortada, and it usually builds in the afternoon; mornings are often calm. The Wild West runs north to south, so on those days it is mostly behind you. In spring and autumn the wind is more variable. (Source: IPMA / Tellus A via Wikipedia; afternoon pattern from local watersport schools.)

February to June and September to November. The coast is mild all year: in Sagres the average maximum is 16 °C in January and 22 °C in May. Inland, the Alentejo gets hot in summer. Évora averages 30.6 °C in July, with about 14 days a year above 35 °C, which is why we don't publish July and August departures.

MONTH BY MONTH

Yes. February and November are our low season and the quietest months on the roads, with Sagres averaging 16–19 °C by day. Expect some rain days (six to eight a month). December and January are on request, like July and August.

On request. The coast stays pleasant (Sagres averages 25 °C), but inland days get hot and we start early.

We ride earlier, shorter or on another route, and the van is there. On a genuinely bad day we swap the ride for something worth doing off the bike.

No. Our bikes come from our own fleet, road, gravel, MTB and e-bikes, current KTM and Scott models, maintained in our own workshop and set up to your measurements before you land. Rental for five riding days: gravel €213 · road €318 · e-gravel €343 · MTB €198–313 · e-MTB €298. See The Bikes.

Yes. Tell us when you book; transport with the group costs €45 per bike, and we have a workstand and a mechanic on the trip.

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.

Yes. We run e-gravel bikes (KTM Macina Gravelator SX 10) and full-suspension e-MTBs; there is no e-road bike in the fleet. On guided trips a charger travels in the van. On self-guided trips you charge at the hotel; the longest day is 88.6 km, so ask us about the right mode.

On guided trips: 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. On self-guided trips you call our 24/7 line and a vehicle comes to you.

Hotels with character, chosen one by one: a farmhouse estate in the cork oaks, a clifftop house at the end of Europe, see the holiday pages. Twin rooms as standard; single rooms +€120 per night.

Yes: vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, allergies. Tell us when you book; we choose the restaurants with it in mind.

Yes. They travel with the group, sleep in the same hotels and join the dinners. They pay their own price for the hotel, the transfers and the meals, not for a bike or guiding. There is no separate programme for one person, but plenty of local tips. If a larger part of your group is not riding, say so when you inquire and we put something together.

We look at the rider, not the birth certificate. In practice that means 14 to 16, depending on size, and from about 12 on an e-bike. Bike handling is what matters, not age.

Strongly recommended: cycling-specific cover including cancellation, medical treatment and repatriation. EU visitors should also bring an EHIC; UK visitors a GHIC. Neither replaces insurance.

Never expected. If you want to, you decide the amount; nothing is added to the bill.