MOTORCYCLE TRAVEL IN Portugal

Riding the N222 by motorcycle means covering the road that Avis and a judging panel made up of a quantum physicist, a Formula 1 track designer and a professional racing driver crowned Best Road in the World in 2015.

It's just 27km between Peso da Régua and Pinhão, hugging the course of the Douro River through the Alto Douro Wine Region, the oldest demarcated wine region on the planet (since 1756) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001.

Every bend reveals a new viewpoint over vineyard terraces hand-carved into the valley's hillside: the reason riders from across Europe cross the border just to ride this stretch of barely half an hour.

Crossing all of Portugal on the N2 by motorcycle means following the 739km of the so-called Portuguese Route 66, built in 1945 under the first National Road Network Plan to connect Chaves, at the northern tip, with Faro, in the southern Algarve.

Kilometer 0 sits at a roundabout in Chaves next to the Roman bridge; kilometer 738 ends in Faro, on Avenida Calouste Gulbenkian. In between, km 364 marks the exact geodesic center of mainland Portugal, with a small museum and viewpoint.

The highest point on the whole route is Bigorne, at 987 meters above sea level (km 120), the highest village on the N2, where snow in winter is not unusual.

In 2025 the N2 was named International Route of the Year at Spain's Mototourism Awards, the recognition that cemented it as the most sought-after road trip for motorcycle travelers riding Portugal end to end.

Climbing the N339 by motorcycle up to Torre means reaching the highest point in all of mainland Portugal: 1,993 meters above sea level, crowning the country's only mountain range with true glacial relief.

The valleys around the road were carved by glaciers that vanished thousands of years ago, leaving cirques and moraines still visible from the curves: scenery found nowhere else in Portugal.

At the summit, a 7-meter statue of the Virgin Mary, unveiled in 1946 and sculpted by António Duarte, watches over the road in honor of the shepherds who faced this region's storms for centuries.

Among local riders, this stretch between Covilhã and Seia earned the nickname the Portuguese Stelvio for its run of tunnels, 90-degree bends and tight climbs: no need to cross the Alps to feel the same technical demand.

Entering Peneda-Gerês National Park by motorcycle means riding through Portugal's only national park, declared in 1971, and one of the least trafficked areas on the whole Iberian Peninsula.

Riding the N304 by motorcycle means crossing granite villages barely changed in centuries, with the Arado waterfall and the Portela do Homem waterfall dropping alongside the road, and stretches that still follow the Via Nova, the Roman road built in the 1st century AD connecting Braga to Astorga (Spain), with original milestone markers still preserved inside the park.

A classic detour crosses into Spain via Lobios and re-enters the park toward the spa town of Gerês, dropping through tight bends with waterfalls on both sides of the road: the reason international motorcycle travel magazines rank it among Europe's best adventure riding destinations.

Riding the Algarve coast by motorcycle from Sagres starts at the point where, for 15th-century navigators, the known world ended: Cabo de São Vicente, crowned by one of the most powerful lighthouses in Europe, next to the fortress where tradition places Henry the Navigator's nautical school.

From there, the road gains curves heading inland, passing through Marmelete on the way to the Serra de Monchique, up to the 8km climb toward Fóia by motorcycle, the Algarve's highest point at 902 meters, with an average 7.3% gradient and simultaneous views of the south and west coasts on clear days.

It's the stretch most motorcycle rental operators recommend to international travelers landing in Faro: cliffside beaches, mountain curves, and no truly isolated stretch in under 90km of riding.

Half an hour from Lisbon, riding Sintra and Cascais by motorcycle leads to the westernmost point of mainland Europe: Cabo da Roca, a 140-meter cliff over the Atlantic where a monument reproduces the verse from Luís de Camões' Os Lusíadas, where the land ends and the sea begins.

From there, the road drops along the ocean to Guincho beach, famous for winds that made it a venue for world windsurfing championships, and continues to Cascais, where Boca do Inferno opens a chasm of rock eroded by centuries of Atlantic swell.

It's the country's most accessible coastal circuit: it leaves the capital, crosses the Sintra mountains, with their fairy-tale palaces, and comes back along the coast in under an afternoon, which makes it the favorite starter route for anyone renting a motorcycle in Lisbon for the first time.

Riding the Costa Vicentina by motorcycle from Melides down to Odeceixe means covering the least built-up stretch of coastline in Portugal, protected since 1995 within the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park.

The road links fishing villages like Porto Côvo and Vila Nova de Milfontes, at the mouth of the Mira River, with cliff beaches mostly reachable only by secondary dirt tracks: the same coastline that in 2012 gave rise to the Rota Vicentina, the hiking trail that put this coast on the international map.

Unlike the touristy Algarve, these villages still live off fishing rather than rental bikes: it's the route sought by motorcycle travelers who already know southern Portugal and want the version without the crowds.

Riding to Miranda do Douro by motorcycle means reaching the most isolated, least visited corner of Portugal, where the Douro River carves a border canyon with Spain inside the International Douro Natural Park.

Miranda do Douro keeps its own language, Mirandese, recognized as Portugal's second official language since 1999, the only region in the country with that status, along with its traditional stick dance, the Pauliteiros, still performed at the town's festivals.

The road tracing the canyon toward Mogadouro strings together dozens of tight bends over the gorge, with very little traffic and scarce fuel stations: the route sought by motorcycle travelers who've already covered the rest of northern Portugal and want the region almost nobody rides.

Crossing the Alentejo by motorcycle between Évora and Monsaraz means riding through plains of holm oaks and cork oaks (Portugal produces roughly half the world's cork, almost all from these trees) on straight roads with practically no traffic.

Évora, its historic center declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986, holds the Roman Temple of Diana and the Chapel of Bones, built with the remains of thousands of people by 16th-century Franciscan monks.

The road ends at Monsaraz, a walled medieval hilltop village overlooking the Alqueva reservoir, completed in 2002 and the largest artificial lake by surface area in Western Europe: a finish that contrasts historic Portugal with a modern feat of engineering.

Winding through the Serra do Açor by motorcycle to Piódão means entering the Serra do Açor Protected Landscape, declared in 1982, on narrow mountain roads between Góis and Lousã whose layout has barely changed in decades.

Piódão is the country's most photographed schist village: dark slate houses with doors and windows painted blue, built up a steep slope, that had no electricity until well into the 1980s because of how remote the place is.

It's one of more than 25 Aldeias do Xisto (Schist Villages) the Portuguese government began restoring as a tourism network starting in 2001, and the one that draws the most riders: tight bends, steep grades, and almost never another vehicle in sight.