Cycling break in Portugal – Taste of Heritage 3 nights
Highlights
- Accommodation at an amazing convent, from the 15th century
- No packing and unpacking, just cycling and relaxing.
- Very flexible guides and program – kms can easily be adapted to your level or will. Tell us if you have any special interest! This is YOUR PRIVATE TOUR!
- Beautiful rolling landscape with vineyards, olive groves, cork oaks, and grazing land.
- Outstanding Alentejo wines and fantastic gastronomy of Portugal.
- Medieval villages and Évora historical center, classified by UNESCO as World Heritage Site.
- To make your days easier it’s possible to do the tour on a E-Bike.
Description
This program is a guided cycling break in Portugal combining the accommodation at an amazing convent built in the 15th century, located 2 kms from the historical center of Évora and the visit to selected family owned projects, each one with their special history and unique features.
The days are all very different and rides include visits to wineries, artisans and producers of local specialties.
You will feel rewarded with the high knowledge of your local guide and the gorgeous landscape.
You don’t have to pack and unpack every day. Every morning you will meet your guide after a delicious breakfast and indulge on a beautiful bike ride.
This is a very flexible cycling tour. Possible to do it on a E-Bike to make it easier. Tell us what you like and we will do our best to adapt. As we meet you every day, it is very easy to adapt the tour to your preferences. After all, it’s YOUR holidays!
Additional information
| Tour type | Children, City, Heritage, Inland, Local handscraft, Wine |
|---|
Day 1 - Check In
Dinner not included
Accommodation: Convento do Espinheiro
DAY 2 - Wine and Cork
Cycling from Convento do Espinheiro to Azaruja
The tour starts at the hotel, where the guide will take you to our first stop, Monte do Serrado de Baixo. This charming farmhouse is where this private classic cars collection is and where someone will show you this pleasant surprise!
After the visit and the freshly squeezed lemonade, we will start our biking day!
Next stop is one winery, located in a medieval property with a 14th century’s palace, recently restored after several years left to abandonment”. You will be surprised with the surroundings, the precious palace, the quality of the wines and the hospitality. Enjoy!
The tour continues in the direction of Igrejinha, a village where all houses are white with stripes of different colors, very typical from our local architecture.
Continue and discover all about the project located in a centenary and charming train station. They base product is prickly pears. And you can’t imagine what you can do with them!
For the end of the day we saved a very special visit: a cork factory. See how cork is transformed and learn about all you can do with it!
Distance: 46 kms, with transfer back to the Hotel, 66 kms if you cycle all the way back to the Hotel Difficulty: medium if you cycle all the way back to the HotelTerrain: mostly flat.
Lunch included. Dinner not included.
Accommodation: Convento do Espinheiro
DAY 3 - Évora and its Surroundings
Cycling from Convento do Espinheiro to Évora and back
Cycle to the gorgeous city of Évora where you may spend the day cycling and visiting several monuments suggested by us. The city is classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and there is plenty to do and see. Try the small traditional shops, the groceries with organic products, pastries and the conventual sweets, the stores with the regional flavors with their collections of wine, olive oil, jam, honey, chocolates, where you will be amazed with the flavors… What a temptation! After lunch we suggest you climb to Alto de São Bento, a favorite place for locals to watch the sun set.
Distance: 25 kmsDifficulty: easy except for climb to Alto the São Bento, which you may choose not to do
Terrain: mostly flat and mix of dirt track and asphalt.
Lunch included. Dinner not included.
Accommodation: Convento do Espinheiro
DAY 4 - Check Out
MAP
PROFILES
Day 2 – Cork and Wine
Total Distance: 46 km/ 28,5 mi
Level: Easy +
Altitude gain: 615 mt/ 2017 ft
Total Distance: 66 km/ 41 mi
Level: medium
Day 3 – Évora and its Surroundings
Altitude gain: 318 mt/ 1043 ft
Total Distance: 25 km/ 15 mi
Level: Easy +
Prices per person – 2025
This is a fully serviced trip in a 5 start hotel. It’s a premium tour. If you want a cheaper version it is possible to do the same trip sleeping at our farm and cutting out the car support which is not absolutely necessary because our offices are nearby.
Turn the phone horizontaly to see this table.
| conditions | GUIDED TOUR |
| Price per person (minimum 4 adults) | 1 190 € |
| Price per person (minimum 2 adults) | 1 490 € |
| Supplements | |
| E-bike rental - per bike per day | 40 € |
| Season supplement April-October | 60 € |
| Single supplement - per person in single room | 390 € |
| Single supplement - April-October | 480 € |
| Easter, Christmas and New Yars Eve excluded | Under request |
| Single supplement applies to a 3rd person in a group. For a solo traveller price is under request. | |
| Transfers | |
| From airport to Évora or back | 105 € |
| Included | |
| 3 nights in double room at charming Convento do Espinheiro with breakfast | |
| Bicycle, helmet, back rack and pannier or similar | |
| Cycling guide | |
| Support van to go along during the cycling day | |
| Transfer from Convento do Espinheiro to Monte do Serrado de Baixo | |
| Transfer in the end of the route to Convento do Espinheiro | |
| 24h phone support | |
| Entrance fee at private collection of classic cars | |
| Entrance fee at Évora’s Cathedral | |
| Entrance fee at Évora’s University | |
| Entrance fee at Bones Chapel, in Évora | |
| 1 Wine tasting at winery | |
| 1 Wine tasting at wineshop | |
| Visit and tasting at prickly pear farm | |
| Tasting of chocolate truffles | |
| Visit to cork factory | |
| 1 picnic lunch | |
| 1 lunch at local restaurant | |
| Water and fruit | |
| 1st aid support | |
| Personal accident insurance | |
| Souvenir | |
| Portugal Best Cycling jersey | |
| VAT tax | |
| Dinners | |
| Transfer from and to Lisbon airport |
For a single person tour Contact us.
Not Included: Bikes insurance, Travel insurance, Tour cancellation insurance.
See Terms & Conditions for more details.
Turaventur uses the REDUNIQ @Payments System. These payments are made in a simple, practical and secure way. The payment link is sent to your email, which will be redirected to a secure UNICRE page. Here the customer places the card details and makes the payment. After the data is validated and authorized by the bank, the transaction is finish. At the end you are notified of payment via email.
Subject to availability.
Tour Reviews
This package places you in a luxury spa, Convento do Espinheiro. Originally a convent started in the 1450s, it retains the original church and buldings that you can wander through, a 2000 year old olive tree, indoor pool and sauna, outdoor pool, two restaurants, and the food is crazy good.
The personalized treatment by Portugal Best Cycling starts when they bring the bikes to you, then taking off with the guides each morning for a different ride, over rolling terrain, visiting farms, parks, wineries, cork factory, artisans, and more. Our guides were Mario and Manuel on different days, each full of enthusiasm and good stories to tell. Dina drove a support van that went ahead so she could set up sumptuous lunches. If the wine tasting at Fitapreta Vinhos, a modern winery in an estate founded in the 1300s, left you too “relaxed” she’d give you a ride back to the Convento in the van instead.
The bikes themselves were hybrids, useful for unpaved paths but heavier than road bikes, so Portugal Best Cycling gives the option for e-bikes. We switched over the day we toured Évora city center where the Roman ruins, medieval cathedral, and gothic Chapel of Bones are atop steep hills with cobblestone streets, while the craft olive oil tasting and lunch restaurant were at the bottom, then back up, then back down to the TurAventur farm and vintage car museum (TurAventur is the headquarters of Portugal Best Cycling).
There’s much more that could be said but the main point is that this is not just do-a-scenic bike-ride-then-chill-out-in-a-hotel. These are multifaceted day expeditions, at the physical pace you choose, under the guidance of really great people, with great food and drink, truly a taste of the Alentejo region’s heritage. They provide flexibility and support through and through. We arrived from Lisbon by taking a Flix bus/coach that cost 6€ per person and caught Bolt/Uber to the Convento for 10€. But departing we needed to get to a wedding in Sintra so they arranged a private car to take us directly there for 180€. Each was worth it in it’s own way. We’re now on a mission to get our family and friends to do this or one of the other Portugal Best Cycling tours. They’re fantastic.
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