Alentejo Castles & Coast Cycling Tour

Day 1: Arrival in Vila Viçosa
You will arrive in Vila Viçosa, where you will stay in a former convent with a swimming pool or a manor house; riders on the e-bike option start in Estremoz instead. In the evening a welcome drink and a first briefing will introduce your self-guided tour.

Day 2: Vila Viçosa – Monsaraz (60 km; +470 m)
You will start in the marble capital of Portugal, where the so-called "white gold" shapes wide streets and 18th-century buildings, with the Ducal Palace, the marble museum and a short dirt track to the quarries. The morning closes at the fortified Sanctuary of Terena and its interesting tale. Your destination is Monsaraz, a fortified village just by the border with Spain, where you can watch the sunset from the castle tower. From Estremoz the stage is 91 km and +610 m.

Day 3: Monsaraz – Évora (69 km; +310 m)
On the way you will visit the pottery village of S. Pedro do Corval, where clay is turned into pots and plates and painted with flowers at impressive speed, and the Dolmen of Pega. A beautiful bike lane through farmland leads to Évora, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with time to explore the city and to enjoy a wine tasting at the Ervideira Wine Shop.

Day 4: The Wine and Cork Route, Évora round trip (43 or 63 km; +213 m)
You will ride toward Igrejinha, one of the most picturesque villages in the Alentejo, with white houses painted with colorful stripes, through countryside where you will hardly meet any cars. Fita Preta winery, set in a 14th-century palace, the family estates of Comenda and Coelheiros and a prickly pear plantation are on the way, and at the cork factory you will see how cork is harvested and transformed. With the transfer back the ride is 43 km; the full round trip is 63 km and +295 m.

Day 5: Santo André – Santiago do Cacém (34 km; +450 m)
An early two-hour transfer will take you from Évora to Santo André on the coast. You will explore the freshwater lagoons of Santo André and Melides, stop for a drink by the sea and ride to the Marble Book monument, an outdoor library made of marble. After a picnic under a cork oak forest you will meet a family that runs a small olive mill, before a final climb to Santiago do Cacém, an old town with aristocratic architecture and a castle with unforgettable views.

Day 6: Santiago do Cacém – Vila Nova de Milfontes (59 km; +330 m)
After visiting the last operating windmill, you will head toward the coastline through a lush green oak forest. The blue ocean and schist cliffs frame a beach picnic, before you pass the fishermen's village of Porto Covo and Forte do Pessegueiro, the fortification that once protected the harbor from pirates, facing Peach Island. A honey tasting at Café Paiol rounds off the day in Vila Nova de Milfontes.

Day 7: Vila Nova de Milfontes – Odeceixe (48 km; +460 m)
The last stage follows one of the most spectacular cliff rides in Portugal, on easy dirt roads with asphalt alternatives, past stork nests perched on the coastal cliffs. Almograve Beach is the place for a swim and a refreshment stop before you reach Odeceixe and a rural property with a swimming pool.

Day 8: Departure
After breakfast your journey comes to an end. A transfer to Lisbon airport can be booked as a supplement.