MotoGP Portugal Motorcycle Tour
From the mountains to the cliffs
Portugal
Jan. 01 — Jan. 01, 2100 By request only
Why not start our motorcycling season at the same time as the best motorcycle riders in the world?
Portugal is now hosting the first round of the MotoGP calendar. This is an exceptional opportunity to share the excitement of the entire racing community in an unbeatable setting: the Autódromo Internacional Algarve. It’s a unique circuit with a difficult combination of technical sections of rises and dips. It’s earned the nickname of “the roller coaster.” It’s an old-fashioned track, only for the brave, where the rider is more important than the machine. The heated atmosphere of the passionate Portuguese fans puts the icing on the cake of a unique event.
As always IMTBIKE will reserve the best possible seats so you won’t miss any of the action. But the best of all will be our motorcycle route to get there. Portugal is a paradise for motorcycling and we have prepared a careful selection of the best mountain roads for you. We’ll ride curvy roads with impeccable asphalt and practically no traffic in the most beautiful mountains in the southern half of the country, including the famous Serra da Estrela. We’ll sleep in beautiful historic cities and experience breathtaking landscapes of mountains and the cliffs of the Atlantic coast. We’ll also enjoy the genuine friendliness of the Portuguese people and sample the best of their delicious gastronomy.
IMTBIKE ROUTE rating
It is essential to know the different skill levels needed to participate in the IMTBIKE TOURS that are offered to you. IMTBIKE makes sure that it offers different tours for all riding styles and levels. The IMTBIKE team always works diligently in designing our routes. This is a laborious process which entails reviewing all road choices before selecting the best option for an IMTBIKE tour.
The most experienced motorcyclists looks for roads that require technical skill; narrow twisty roads with little traffic and endless curves. But these same roads would be too difficult for a less experienced rider.
The local driving habits, the amount of traffic, the asphalt quality and the radius of the curves vary considerably from country to country and even in different regions of the same country. They will also vary depending on the season of the year. All of these factors have been studied by IMTBIKE and have been taken into consideration when rating our tours.
IMTBIKE thinks it is also important to know about the different types of roads you will be enjoying on your tour. To understand the road types easier, IMTBIKE has divided them into two categories, and we have calculated an approximate percentage of each on all of our tours.
- TOURING ROADS: These are wider roads comprised mainly of larger radius sweepers. They are still curvy roads but not tight mountainous twisty curves. Please remember that you will ride very few straight roads on IMTBIKE tours!
- CHALLENGING ROADS: These are roads that are tight twisty turns which require more technical skill. Many times they will be narrower roads without a shoulder and sometimes with steep inclines or descents. Normally they will be mountainous roads accompanied by spectacular sceneries.
If you have never ridden a motorcycle outside of your country, or if you have little experience riding on mountain roads with many curves, we recommend that you choose a tour rated moderate or intermediate. If you have any questions or doubts please do not hesitate to call or email us. We are always happy to answer your questions to make sure that you choose the best tour for your riding level.
Moderate
This route offers wider sweeping turns that are easy to maneuver. This route may have some tighter turns in a few places but this will be the exception. Regardless, even on moderate tours you must be able to ride a large cylinder motorcycle in any condition. Never plan to learn how to ride a motorcycle on an IMTBIKE tour. We recommend having a minimum of 8.000 km (5.000 miles) of experience riding a large cylinder motorcycle to participate on a MODERATE rated IMTBIKE Tour and you should ride a motorcycle on a regular basis at home.
Intermediate
This route rating can have sections of very twisty curves on narrow roads with no center line to divide the road. There will also wider radius curves on these routes. Traffic conditions can be intense at times in some urban environments and the local driving habits may seem aggressive and unpredictable to you. It is imperative that you are an experienced motorcyclist. We recommend that you have a minimum of 12.000 km (7500 miles) of large cylinder motorcycle experience to participate on a INTERMEDIATE rated IMTBIKE Tour and you should ride a motorcycle on a regular basis at home.
Advanced
This route rating has long sections of technical narrow twisty roads and sometimes single lane roads. These twisty roads will often be in mountains where steep inclines and descents will be commonplace. Some riding days can be long and challenging. Traffic conditions can be intense at times in some urban environments and the local driving habits may seem aggressive and unpredictable to you. It is imperative that you are a very experienced motorcyclist on a large cylinder motorcycle. We recommend that you have a minimum of 16.000 km (10.000 miles) of large cylinder motorcycle experience on an ADVANCE rated IMTBIKE Tour and of course you should ride a motorcycle on a regular basis at home.
IMTBIKE Average Daily Riding Hours
5 to 7 hours
6 to 8 hours
7 to 9 hours
How many hours a day you ride on a tour is important information in helping you decide on the right IMTBIKE tour for you. Some tour members want to ride as many hours as possible everyday, while others prefer to stop more frequently and dedicate more time to enjoying the scenery, visiting cultural sights and arrive at the hotel earlier to relax before dinner. The daily riding hours are calculated including the coffee breaks and photo stops but they do not include the time taken for lunch.
Normally we’ll start our riding day at 9:30am and we will take about a one hour lunch break sometime between 1pm and 2pm. So if the daily riding hours for a given tour are 5-7, then you will arrive at the hotel between 3:30pm- 5:30pm depending on the average speed of the group.
Tour Facts
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Start / End LisbonTotal Distance 1.206 miles / 1.942 km
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Total Time 10 DaysRiding Days 8 Days
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Rest Days 1 Algarve OccidentalBreakfast 9 Included Breakfasts
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Dinners 8 DinnersDaily Mileage 160-220 miles/ 250-350 km
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Hotel Overnights 9 NightsRiding Season Spring
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Highlights: Cascáis, Sintra, Lisbon, Óbidos, Serra da Estrela, Marvão, Alentejo Countryside, Évora, Algarve, Vicentine Coast.Accommodations: Awesome hotels. First-class historical Pousadas and 4 or 5 star hotels. Pousadas are Castles, Palaces & Fortresses converted into motorcycle-friendly hotels.
*All IMTBIKE lodgings are hand-picked for their quality of service, local charm and strategic locations.
MotoGP Motorcycle Tours Gallery
Daily Itinerary
- Day 1: Arrival in Lisbon, welcome briefing and dinner.
- Day 2: Lisbon - Tomar
- Day 3: Tomar – Coimbra
- Day 4: Coimbra – Serra da Estrela (north)
- Day 5: Serra da Estrela (north) – Serra da Estrela (south)
- Day 6: Serra da Estrela (south) – Eastern Algarve
- Day 7: Eastern Algarve – Western Algarve
- Day 8: Western Algarve - Autodromo Internacional Algarve (MotoGP Races) - Western Algarve
- Day 9: Western Algarve - Lisbon
- Day 10: Flight Home
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Day 1: Arrival in Lisbon, welcome briefing and dinner.
Transfer from the airport to the hotel included. You will have free time to rest or visit the city until the welcome briefing at the hotel in the afternoon. After the briefing we will enjoy dinner in a traditional restaurant. The first and last day mentioned in the itinerary correspond to the arrival and departure days of the tour. Depending on your country of origin, you may have to leave a day earlier. Please book your flights with this information in mind.
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Day 2: Lisbon - Templar City
Lisbon is an incredible city, but we’ll have no trouble saying goodbye knowing what lies ahead. We’ll be visiting Cascais, Estoril (Portuguese Monaco) and Cabo da Roca, (the westernmost point in Europe) while riding our very first Portuguese roads of the trip. Leaving the city, we’ll follow the coastline on a road frequented by motorcyclists and surfers’ vans heading out to the beaches. Next, we’ll visit the extraordinary walled medieval city of Óbidos. We’ll finish the day in Tomar, an attractive small town famous its history with the Knights Templar.
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Day 3: Templar City– Coimbra
Today we’ll explore the beautiful mountains and lonely roads of the interior. We’ll experience the most rural part of the country and see with our own eyes how the locals live in this part of the world. The way of life hasn’t changed much in years! We’ll ride the Serra da Lousã Mountains on some fun, twisty roads through a thick forest. We’ll end the day in the lively university town of Coimbra.
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Day 4: Coimbra – Serra da Estrela (north)
Today we have another enjoyable riding day on the twisty mountain roads of the central Portuguese mountain ranges. We’ll ride lonely rural roads until we reach the imposing Serra da Estrela mountains where we’ll stop for the night. Rest up because tomorrow is an important day!
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Day 5: Serra da Estrela (north) – Serra da Estrela (south)
We could spend weeks carving up the marvelous, solitary mountain roads of this region but we have condensed them into one fantastic day for your motorcycling pleasure. A few hundred kilometers of perfect asphalt, beautiful views, and infinite curves…what else can we say? Today is a day of motorcycling Nirvana!
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Day 6: Serra da Estrela (south) – Eastern Algarve
Today we’ll head South, gradually entering the famous Alentejo wine region and sweeping horizons before reaching the waters of the Atlantic on the coast of the Eastern Algarve. We’ll follow the course of the Guadiana River, which serves as a border with Spain, and enjoy the landscapes and lonely roads of the Guadiana National Park.
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Day 7: Eastern Algarve – Western Algarve
The roads and highways that follow the coastline of the Portuguese Algarve can get pretty busy. We’ll escape from the chaos by heading up into the mountains on winding roads used only by the locals. These roads will take us to the beautiful Sierra de Monchique with its spectacular views. After a fantastic day on a motorcycle, we’ll descend to the shores of the Atlantic again, at the foot of the westernmost part of the Algarve.
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Day 8: Western Algarve - Autodromo Internacional Algarve (MotoGP Races) - Western Algarve
Race day is here! We will join the enthusiastic Portuguese fans in the stands of this track, famous among the best MotoGP and WSBK riders for its technical difficulty and beauty. With blind climbs and descents that earn it the nickname of Rollercoaster, the Portimao circuit has the nostalgia of the old tracks where the rider always counts more than the machine - a 100% rider's racetrack!
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Day 9: Western Algarve - Lisbon
Today we have a long ride north along the Atlantic coast in search of the Tajo River. We’ll cross it near the coast on one of the most famous bridges of the city. Along the way we’ll visit lighthouses hanging on impressive steep cliffs, very important in maritime history for their strategic location. After riding the entire length of the picturesque southern coast, the marvelous city of Lisbon will welcome us again with open arms.
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Day 10: Flight Home
Today you will say your goodbyes to the guides and the other tour members (now your new friends) as you make your way to the airport to fly home. We’ll see you again on our next motorcycle adventure together!
Included in Tour:
- Airport pickup on the first day of the tour.
- Overnight accommodations in high quality hotels
- A gourmet dinner every night (except on rest days).
- Complete buffet breakfast every morning.
- New model BMW motorcycle fully equipped with 3 BMW cases.
- Tour handbook (normally about 70 pages-very comprehensive) and highlighted map.
- Expert multilingual guide on a motorcycle.
- Multilingual guide in support vehicle which will carry your luggage, any oversized purchases you make; or even a passenger or two.
- Tour Souvenirs.
Not included in Tour:
- Air ticket, lunches, gasoline, drinks, tolls, personal spending and tips
