Southern Portugal Motorcycle Roads

Mountain and coastal road. Very beautiful scenery.

• ruidoo
• BMW 1150 GS
• score: 5

Percurso rural desde Bensafrim a Silves atravessando a serra de monchique

• nunogar
• Leonart daytona
• score: 15

Amazing road full of surprises and great places to meat. Ride safe and enjoy

• ze92
• score: 35

Estrada para um dia ou para poucas horas de viagem com paisagens espetaculares mas com alguns troços de má qualidade.

• ze92
• score: 35

Estrada pitoresca cheia de retas e campos.

• nunogar
• Leonart daytona
• score: 15

Many curves, few straights anda hell of a view.

• ze92
• score: 35

Very beautiful road, along the coast line, in one of the most best preserved coast lines of southern europe.

• tarasofia
• yamaha xvs 1100
• score: 7

A very nice road at Arrabida Natural Park between Sesimbra and Setúbal. At 38º27'39''N 9º0'38''W two roads are possible to reach Setubal, by the mountain(front)or near the sea (turn right). For this route I choose the 2ª, the ride is more pleasant near the sea. Sometimes it is possible to see dolphins. Driving on this road is very cool, the surface is generally good with good corners. A good 35 km's ride.

• fortylix
• BMW K1300GT
• score: 27

Good road surface throughout. Winds up hill out of Lagos and down into Portelas. Then speeds up with long bends, 2 long straights, a single and a double chicane before Bensafrim. After Bensafrim winds up through many good bends (80 - 110 km/hr) to top of major hill and then sweeps down the other side through mostly faster bends (90 - 130 km/hr) to Aljezur. A fantastically exhilarating half an hour.

• Robinho
• Tiger 1050
• score: 5

This road goes all the way from the N2 to the river that marks the Spanish border - theres a footbridge across to Spain - but Ive only ridden it as far as Cachopo, a lovely little town with typically Portuguese roadside cafe bars, ideal for a spot of lunch and something cold to drink before either pressing on to the river or turning round and enjoying the ride back the way youve come to the N2. This road is lightly trafficed, even by Portuguese standards, and youll need to watch out for any detritus washed onto the surface if it has rained, and speaking of surface, its mostly good but with the odd defect just to keep you on your toes. The challenge of this road comes from the topography - its as twisty as you could possibly want, with many elevation changes, and many complex sequences of challenging corners, some with excellent visibility, others blind.

• kwh
• Triumph Street Triple R
• score: 144

We start this one coming from Setúbal, but other entrance routes are available.

If you do the main avenue near the city port, you will end up in a road that enters Serra da Arrábida natural park (a protected nature area). Just keep going forward and you will be doing the lower road in the loop. The tarmac is a little inconsistent and bumpy and with the beach crowds in the summer and some police presence, a moderate pace is advised. This section of the road is occasionally one way only (your current way).

You are now going by the lower part of the cement factory (yes, there is a cement factory in a natural park!) and some beaches. Proceed straight forward in the Portinho da Arrábida intersection (a great beach spot) and you will arrive at another intersection at the end of the road, turn right here and you can start the upper section of the loop.

The tarmac up here is much better and the view even more so, also, less traffic. There are some straight sections, but some very interesting corners.

Be careful when approaching the quarry (yes, there is also a quarry!), the road is full of dust.

After the quarry, you will come to the end of the road, turn right, go past the cement factory and back to your starting point. From here you can redo the loop (right) or go for Setúbal (left).

Since this is a natural park, please avoid littering, excessive speeds or very loud pipes.

If you do the loop early in the morning you can avoid the beach crowds, police, cyclists, boyscouts, etc.

• pma_id
• KTM RC8
• score: 179

A twisting road with a rapid succession of corners, physically very demanding if youre a sports rider.
You will start by placing the bike on the right trajectory for the first and second corners, on the third you will be a little off the line, by the fourth you wont care about trajectory or apexes and just cut the corner. Thats because some stretches have no straights between corners so its hard to keep a good line.
The tarmac is reasonable with the occasional small stones on the middle of the road. The camber is accentuated in some corners, but in the right way.
The road is not very wide and is mostly surrounded by trees with some places where you can stop for a view of the landscape high on the Serra do Caldeirão. Please keep a sensible speed while crossing the villages on the route.

• pma_id
• KTM RC8
• score: 179