Planning for retirement, Portugal cycling

canoas

Ciao! I'm looking to retire with my wife on the Lisbon Coast, Portugal in about 5 years if I make it!! Currently looking for property. Was looking at the map, I found that about 70km from the Lisbon Coast you can reach some mountains max 1,300m in Serra de Montejunto range and have investigated some really good climbs at least 5 and quiet long 10km. I do remember seeing many cyclists climbing the Lisbon Coast, north along the coast which looked quiet challenging, but to Serra de Montejunto looks to be a I reckon a 170km round trip ride by the time you ride 2-3 climbs as well, that could be a once or twice ride a month for me and looks fantastic and popular with cyclists. I think Portugal looks to be a really under estimated cycling country some of their passes exceed 2,000m further up north near Spain. We were thinking about Algave which I understand is excellent for cycling but I went there in winter once and just found the place a bit empty and depressing, living fairly close to Lisbon would suite us both. Plus I found the Algave in the summer full of bars etc, not me bit like Southern Spain in places. We were thinking of Mallorca but property prices seem crazy and my wife is fluent in Portuguese and I'm not bad either. If any one has cycled around the Lisbon region any suggestions would be great and any clubs.

elbowloh

I imagine there must be some good hills around Sintra, with some stunning views to go with?

canoas

Hi elbowloh, yes I would imagine so, I drove around Sintra years ago and the views to the coast are spectacular and Sintra is very easy to get to from the Lisbon Coast like from Cascais for example. Another good option for riding. Investigating more and more there seems to be plenty of cycling routes around/near the Lisbon coast and I think I will be spoilt with route options.

laurentian

Have you seen this website?

www.cyclingestrela.com

A guy posted about it in this forum a while ago. Not sure how it fits with your intended location but might be worth a look . . .