In case you didn’t know, I was quite the motorcycle aficionado during my teen years. My first motorcycle was a high octane 2 stroke 125cc Yamaha DTR. I got it as a present for my 16th birthday, as I demanded an own (and cooler) means of transportation to school. At least that was the official excuse. Street racing or off-roading were never my things, and I never learned how to do a wheelie with my bicycle let alone a motorbike.  The real reason was that I wanted to have the joy of riding as a part of my everyday life. Not just the commuting to school and to rugby practise, but the liberty that I indulged myself into when I took the two-wheeled horse for day long rides on the weekends. My fellow youthful biker gang members and I would enjoy the easy rides on the regional back roads, through forests, hills and coastal roads. We would imagine that instead of few cc of engine size we would be riding “adult” motorcycles like big Hondas, Harleys, Triumphs and Ducati.

This dream, left dormant for a number years, was suddenly jolted  back into life when I received an email from Miguel Oliveira with an invitation to become a partner in his new Portugal Motorcycle Tours company.

Miguel approached me with the idea that he wanted to sell “the inaccessible Portugal discovered and travelled by motorcycle”.  He was very clear from his initial pitch ” It is not about selling Motorcycle Tours or Motorcycle holidays, or anything related with Motorcycle Tourism. I want to be able to show the real Portugal, the private Portugal outside of guides, giving my guests direct contact with the with the culture, the people, the food, the wine and with all the reality that makes Portugal a unique destination.”

Being a hardcore lover of the Portugal of the interior and a die hard supporter of gastronomy as the greatest expression of Portuguese Culture, the yes was a guarantee. Using my insider knowledge of what it is like to travel through Portugal through food to another good use, I help Miguel in the design 6 tailor made tours. Each covering a specific part of the territory, these tours were designed to grant you access to the inaccessible, private and unprocessed Portugal.

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The South Portugal Tour

Sea, sun, open plains, space, seafood and plenty of cows! This is how I would best describe the South Portugal Tour. A trip through the wild Atlantic Coast of southwestern Portugal where the Portuguese Fish is at its finest quality  and the open plains of Alentejo where cattle and black pork make up a delicious food landscape. Also included in the trip is a journey through the private Algarve, where deserted beaches, barbecues in the middle of orange groves and boat rides make up for an extraordinary journey.

Click here for more info on the South Portugal Tour.

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The North Portugal Tour

In Portugal, we call the North our fatherland, the place where the country was born. Here the small thousand-year-old villages still remind us of this long heritage, along with their traditions and people. Come with on a discovery of the most remote, and forgotten region of Portugal, who happens to be also the one with the most friendly people and arguably the best food! Trust me, my grandmother was from the North!

Click here for more info on the  North Portugal Tour.

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The Douro Portugal Tour

It not by accident that they call the Douro, the most beautiful wine region in the world. On this tour, you will be driving upstream along the banks of the Douro river, being surrounded and endless sea of grooved mountains, cliffs and unique vistas. Besides the world class wine, you will be tasting some of the best home cooked food Portugal has to offer.

Click here for more info on the Douro Tour.

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The Harley Portugal Tour

On our 7 day Harley tour through Portugal,  you can get to know an exclusive and untouched part of a country that was once called Lusitania. From Lisbon, north is our first direction, as we hit the back roads of the center west Atlantic coast, passing through fishermen villages, vast fruit orchards and even making a barbecue on the beach. Further north we enter the culinary and wine heartland of Portugal, where we will be staying with a local family in the Douro Valley and learn how some of the top wines in the world have the most humble beginnings.

Click here for more info on the Harley Portugal Tour.

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The Ladies Portugal Tour

We asked out women rider friends for some of their expert advice on the best way to put a tour through Portugal together. After a heated discussion over some seriously good seafood and Vinho Verde, we came up with the Ladies Portugal Tour, made exclusively to our female audience. Over the course of 3 days, the excitement will contain you and you will see that the best ride of your life can be easily combined with good food, your makeup kit and an all round relaxing massage.

Click here for more info on the Ladies Portugal Tour.

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The 3 day Portugal Tour

Nothing like a discovery short break away from the daily routine and let yourself be taken by the freedom of riding a motorcycle across the Portuguese Heartland. With this short trip, we will take on a quick 3-day tour of the best that Portugal has to offer. From the coast to the heartland, you will be driving through UNESCO heritage sites, protected forests, barbecuing on the beach and even fishing your own lunch.

Click here for more info on the 3 days Portugal Tour.

What Portugal Motorcycle Tours is all about

We want you to feel our traditions and our pride for Portugal and it is with this in mind that we plan and operate our trips. Portugal Motorcycle Tours prides itself of being an insider when it comes to showing you authentic Portugal, either it is by staying in a 17th century feudal palace, leading you through unbelievable scenic routes that only the locals know, getting one of our friends to cook a speciality meal for you in their home or granting you access to a wine tasting in a private vineyard.

We know the most beautiful and iconic roads Portugal has to offer because we’ve driven on them our entire life. This intimate knowledge of the routes lets us arrange our touring days and itineraries so you do nothing else than enjoy the ride.  Portugal Motorcycle Tours trips are made easy enough for first timers or experienced drivers who just want to enjoy a relaxed trip. Ahead lies a country with the greatest concentration of landscape diversity in the whole of Europe. Scenic coastal roads, lead to mountains that descend into red dust planes, turn after turn, hill after hill, vista after vista. This is the thrilling ride through Portugal that we want you to experience.

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Ever wonder what it is like to be sitting in the main square of a forgotten interior village of Portugal at the end of a hot summer’s day, feasting your senses on some authentic local food and wine and realizing that you are the only foreigner for 50 km… This is what the food and wine experiences within every Portugal Motorcycle Tours trip are all about. It is about indulging your palate and your hunger with home cooked regional cuisine prepared by cooks and families who are our friends. Not only are these places off the touristic map but some of them are just private families who have a great affection to welcome distinct travellers and show them the eternal Portuguese way of saying I love you through food.

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We are in love with Travel, Food, Wines and of course Riding! To ensure that you share this affection, we dedicate all our focus and work to make sure that these motorcycle holidays through Portugal are not just the best motorcycle holidays in your life, but the best holidays you ever had!

Book your desired date directly from the calendar.  For more information, including a complete itinerary shoot us an email. Be sure to check out Our Mission page for an overview of just how we make every day the Best Day Ever.

Disclaimer:

This a sponsored post by Portugal Motorcycle Tours, with whom I am proudly associated.

Portugal Motorcycle Tours contact details:

http://www.portugalmotorcycletours.com/

Phone :+351 911 057 433
Photo credits to Nelson Carvalheiro and Maria Braga. Video credits to Maria Braga.