Portugal

Mimi Forsyth a écrit :

Quoted message said:

Thinking about bicycling in Portugal. What areas are least strenuous? Most
strenuous? Can someone advise what areas are least hazardous & most
interesting for bikers? What times of year are most comfortable? Grateful
for an/all helps.

I suggest you to be very careful, I went there by car and I realised people
drive dangerously there :
"the highest road death rate in the EU was in Portugal, at 21.0 per 100,000
population (in 2000). " (more than 3 times the death rate of UK)

United Kingdom 6,1
Netherlands 6,2
Sweden 6,2
Denmark 8,1
Finland 8,4
Germany 8,5
Ireland 10,7
Italy 11,1
Austria 11,9
France 13,8
Spain 13,8
Belgium 14,5
Luxembourg 15,9
Greece 19,3
Portugal 21,0

source :
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=7254

I biked west of Lisbon to Sintra, then up to Coimbra, and in the Douro
valley down to Porto. The most strenuous was the area just west of
Lisbon around Sintra, but Sintra is very much worth visiting. The
lower part of the Douro valley was probably the easiest and least
hilly. The whole Douro valley was lovely. The road surfaces were
mostly decent, though the grading wasn't. I believe I had my mountain
bike, but wished I had brought my touring bike. We were there in May
and had comfortable temperatures for biking. We didn't make it to the
Minho region in far northern Portugal, but I've heard other cyclists
say that's the very best region for touring.