Northern Portugal

[subandean]

We will be touring in northern Portugal later this summer and have a few logistic questions.

Can you take bikes on the trains?
Is a helmet mandatory?
How best to arrange rural accommodation (small hotels, hostels, B&B?).
Do you need to book ahead in late September?

thanks

[burroc]

Can only offer advice on one of your four queries I am afraid. We flew to Oporto mid September a few years ago and toured from there, heading NE and returning along the Duoro valley. Stopped B+B or cheap hotel. Never once booked ahead and don't recall anywhere being full. Most places of any size (and a lot of the villages too) have a selection of hotels of one kind or another to suit most budgets. I would not worry about accommodation. I would worry about the standard of driving though. Also beware of the tank traps alonside many of the roads, cunningly disguised as open drainage channels.

[iviehoff]

You can take bikes on some trains. You can use the metro, eg from airport to town centre, which is good because cycling around central Porto is mad. You definitely can take bikes on trains which are designated Porto suburban service ("CP Porto"), these go as far as Braga, Guimarães, Aveiro and Penafiel. You definitely can't take your bike on long distance (CP Longo Curso) services. The uncertainty lies with the CP Regional services, where it depends upon the rolling stock employed: it is really impossible to find out which of these you can use without going to the main station and asking. And you can't take bikes on coaches.

Accommodation in small towns in late Sept - just turn up, but be aware that there can be some chunky distances and/or large height changes between accomm possibilities in inland areas, which is rather sparsely populated away from the coastal strip.

[Gearoidmuar]

I would worry about the standard of driving though.

This is not an idle warning. The Portuguese are terrible drivers, as bad as the Spaniards are good. I reckon it's because the Spnaish Traffic police are the Guardia Civil who were the secret police in the old days.

[iviehoff]

I would worry about the standard of driving though.

Fortunately, most of the traffic goes on new roads which have been carved through the countryside, leaving the old little road system largely intact and exceedingly quiet. It's just a bit tricky finding your way through as it isn't shown very well on maps at 1:250 000 scale, and anything more detailed is usually 50 yrs old. Sometimes there isn't a new road and there is just a busy main road, and then you'll suffer for a while. The approach to Geres from some directions is like that, for example. But mostly, if you choose your routes, and get out of the densely populated region around Porto and along the coast, you will be on very, very quiet roads.

[ernycb]

Last year I was in that region... from my experience...

- Bikes will go on some trains. You can use some buses aswell just wrap the bike in cling film to stop chain from damaging luggage, etc.
- I didn't use a helmet.
- I didn't book beforehand but you need to be flexible. You need to be prepared to do an extra 5,10 or 15kms if necessary.

[borisface]

Hi I live in central Portugal, as other posters have said you can take bikes on some trains. The portuguese railways website has quite a bit in English. Trains are cheap. The roads within a 50k radius or so of Porto are generally very busy, the coast is pretty built up and there is a lot of ribbon development. I would suggest getting a train from Porto (I assume you're flying here) to somewhere like Braga which is only a shortish ride to the Peneda-Geres national park which I assume is where you're heading. Once there you shouldn't have too much difficulty with traffic as its very remote, although around Geres can be busy at the weekends. When I toured there last year I used tripadvisor to help plan a route - I didn't book anything in advance just headed for towns/villages that I had identified had a couple of accomodation options. Late Sept should be fine. A couple of things a) they get a lot of rain up north b) it is bl00dy hilly - it is constantly big ups and downs scarcely any flat, so don't be too optimistic in terms of distances per day.

Maps are a bit of a nightmare I use a garmin with maps which is far better as the maps are more up to date.

[iviehoff]

Btw according to this, you don't need a helmet in Portugal. http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safe ... _rules.pdf
But maybe you prefer not to look at that file and remain in ignorance. I've happily cycled in certain countries never imagining it would be a legal requirement to wear a helmet in such a country, until some time later I discovered it by chance.

[subandean]

Thanks everyone for the helpful and informative advice, particularly regarding distances, terrain and drivers. We plan to use the small roads so maybe avoid the crazy drivers.