Douro Valley cycling and gastronomy vacation, Portugal

Planet

Traveling by bike, you are no longer an observer — you are an active participant in the local environment and culture. As well, it is a low carbon form of transport.

We promise to use many quiet local roads for our routes. Traveling on small and quiet roads, this tour will allow you to experience part of the rural countryside and ride through famous and authentic villages that beautifully illustrate the multi-faceted character of Portugal.

We promise a variety of locally produced and grown products will be accessible on our tours. The accommodations on this trip are chosen with the greatest care, and each in his own way offers you a taste of local life and customs. For example, in Torre de Moncorvo, you will be warmly greeted by your host at an elegant town house where you will have a chance to sample her homemade liqueurs, which go beautifully with the locally-grown Moncorvo almonds. In Vila Flor, you will stay in a quinta, or farming estate, producing traditional and organic olive oil. You will be served some of the finest local cuisine for dinner – homemade cheeses, sausages, baked bread and olive oil, home-grown oranges and homemade wine. In Peso da Régua, the owner of the quinta will welcome you with a fine local wine on the terrace and invite you to share a cooking experience with her.

We recommend travel by train, a much more eco-friendly solution. To travel within Europe, we recommend taking trains over renting cars using or air transports. Trains are more energy-efficient and will minimize the CO2 emission per capita.

In cities, we recommend clients to use public transportation, or to walk or bike. City bike rentals are more and more widely available in big and medium-sized cities across Europe they are the best way to get around congested cities.

People

We promise to provide access to local arts and crafts and to give sponsors of the local economy the opportunity to display their goods to an international clientele.

We promise to support local and family run hotels and restaurants. Forget the non-descript and indistinguishable big chain hotels; we use genuine places with local charm. We relying on local guides and family-owned hotels, and we hope to ensure a warm, personalized welcome. We expect these properties to be run by people who have a passion for their region, culture, gastronomy, and historical heritage. We use genuine places with local charm, blending harmoniously into the environment. Our hotels offer guests a pleasant, proper environment. Some of them have as few as two rooms, while others are small personal hotels.

We promise to team up with local bicycle renters throughout Portugal. We value their expert work and most of our clients are renting bikes directly through them instead of bringing their own. This, of course, benefits the local economy.

We are based in France. This is where we live and work. Our office is located in the French Alps, just a stone’s throw from the Swiss border, and we ride the very same roads we recommend for our cycling vacations. As firm believers of sustainable development, we have established a friendly network of professionals, comprised mainly of local tour guides, small operators, and family-run agencies. Most of our people have created their own jobs/enterprises in order to live out their passion for the region and cultural heritage. All have extensive travel experience and have lived in various places before falling in love with the area they now call home. We promise that traveling with us guarantees you will be taken care of by dedicated professionals who chose to build their lives here.