Madrid to Lisbon Mountain Bike Tour Itinerary

Day 1 Welcome to Madrid

Arrive at Madrid Airport and a guide will be waiting to take you to your first accommodation. Depending on your arrival time, you can explore the city and prepare your bike and equipment. Just before dinner you’ll be given a briefing about the days to come and dinner awaits you at a local restaurant.
Overnight Location: Hotel in Madrid
Distance: None
Meals: Dinner

Day 2 Your ride to Lisbon starts today!

Start at the center of Madrid, in Plaza del Sol, aside the km 0 landmark where all the roads leave from Madrid. Following some pedestrian streets and some parks (as the known Parque del Retiro), the route goes north circling the Anillo Verde, and only after a few km and an hour ride begins the dirt roads and single tracks joining the Santiago’s Way. Cycling through beautiful golden fields away from the stress from the big city, the goal is to reach the Miraflores at 1100 m of altitude in the Guadarrama Mountain.
Overnight Location: Hotel in Miraflores de la Sierra
Distance: 68.9km, 1218m elevation gain, 719m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 3 Miraflores to Navacerrada

Day 3 begins from Miraflores de la Sierra. Near the Guadalix River, you’ll hike up a beautiful forest trail surrounded by pines and oaks. This day offers stunning mountain views and the chance to see horses, cattle, and wildlife. The stage features a twisting singletrack that weaves between cascading waterfalls and lush green canopies. With challenging climbs and thrilling descents, this is a day to remember. The final leg of the day is a long, exhilarating descent that culminates at the welcoming Hacienda Los Robles, where you’ll end a truly epic day in the mountains.
Overnight Location: Hotel at Navacerrada
Distance: 71.2km, 1886m elevation gain, 1843m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 4 Bike to Ávila, surrounded by walls

The third day of the tour is centered around a challenging 98km ride from Navacerrada to Ávila. This is a day of high-altitude plains, forest tracks and some interesting cultural sites on the way, such as Cruz dos Caidos, El Escorial and Collado de la Mina and cycling along a ridge through a windmill park. To finish this long day, there is a hidden treasure, this perfect single track to the end of the day in Ávila, one of the most interesting cultural cities along the route.
Overnight Location: Hotel at Ávila
Distance: 98.1km, 1949m elevation gain, 1983m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 5 Biking Gredos mountain range

Leaving from the medieval city of Ávila, descending by the streets along the ancient walls the direction is west, entering a forest track along a sinuous creek. This is another day of cycling on high mountain tracks and it’s even the day with the highest passage through Zapatero Mountain at 1822 m at Gredos Massif. The beauty of the landscapes and the innumerous km done alongside the Tormes River, with its Roman bridges, helps forget that this is a long day to cover. Finally, the route reaches Barco d’Ávila, a historical villa within this mountain range.
Overnight Location: Hotel at Barco d’Ávila
Distance: 113km, 1873m elevation gain, 1986m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 6 Get ready to cross the Béjar Mountain

On the fifth stage of this adventure, you’ll find a challenger, the Béjar Mountain. This is a day with difficult climbs, hard tracks, and lots of single-track that result in slow progress but always full of emotions. There are also oak forests and the picturesque Candelário Villa. With good single tracks, you finally reach Sotoserrano, for a rest at the end of your day.
Overnight Location: Hotel at Sotoserrano
Distance: 86.9km, 1556m elevation gain, 2082m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 7 A softer day to enjoy the ride

This is a day where the terrain is softer, and a good way to recover from the last hard stage. The mountains get lower and the terrain is now schist. This is the kingdom of Oak and Pine with nice forest tracks to cycle and the possibility to enjoy the landscapes of Las Hurdes, cruising through another 84 km and +1600 m ascent, to finish in Pinofranqueado.
Overnight Location: Hotel at Pinofranqueado
Distance: 83.5km, 1500m elevation gain, 1563m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 8 The beautiful villages of the countryside

On the seventh stage of the expedition it’s time to enjoy cycling through small villages, which seems to be stuck in the Middle Ages, still with a lot of the pure way of living. The Sierra da Gata offers nice tracks and astonishing photo opportunities during a nice day’s ride. Finish the stage in Trevejo.
Overnight Location: Hostel at Trevejo
Distance: 96.2km, 1636m elevation gain, 1490m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 9 Arrive in Portugal

Half of the route is done! This is a good day to recover for the next 7 stages since it is one of the shortest days of the tour. Up again on the mountain you’ll cross the border between Portugal and Spain at almost 1000 m, on the mountain of Malcata. The goal is to cross this isolated and wild mountain region to reach the first typical villages in Portugal. Starting close to a forest area of pines and oaks and finally reaching Sabugal and having your first Portuguese traditional meal.
Overnight Location: Hostel at Sabugal
Distance: 49.1km, 1066m elevation gain, 921m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 10 The hidden medieval villages of Portugal

Beautiful day through this region full of Portugal’s most iconic historical villages. Discover Sortelha, an amazing medieval village of granite with an impressive castle! Medieval stone roads and single tracks in valleys between villages will delight cyclists. Enter the higher mountains of Portugal through beautiful forests and arrive to the picturesque village of Manteigas lying on a glacial valley! This is a great stage!
Overnight Location: Hotel at Manteigas
Distance: 81.4km, 1895m elevation gain, 1912m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 11 The highest peak in continental Portugal

Mountain landscapes of great beauty. On this day you’ll find the highest peak in Portugal, passing the 1600 m near a lagoon on the highest mountain of Portugal – Serra da Estrela, a handsome and impressive granite massif with forests, mountain meadows, and typical mountain villages! At the end of the day, you will arrive at Aldeia das Dez, a rural village situated in the surroundings of the left bank of the Alva river.
Overnight Location: Hotel at Aldeia das Dez
Distance: 70km, 1626m elevation gain, 1910m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 12 Crossing Central Portugal and enjoying nature

Leave the granite houses and haylofts of Aldeia das Dez and ride through the central mountains system of Portugal. The route follows through rounded ridges near 1000 m. It is a day of great scenery. This is the last day above 1000 m. End the stage with an incredible downhill track to the quiet village of Penela.
Overnight Location: Hotel at Penela
Distance: 94.8km, 2091m elevation gain, 2343m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 13 The delight of any mountain biker

An incredible day and a great variety of landscapes! This is all about mountain scenery, typical villages and a magnificent trail through the Alge canyon. Impressive waterfall and super fun single tracks along the river, the delight of any mountain biker. Then, the scenery changes radically as you enter a hilly region of karst landscape that will dominate the next stages with its olive groves and holm oak! You are in the limestone kingdom!
Overnight Location: Hotel at Tomar
Distance: 82.5km, 1785m elevation gain, 1895m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 14 Crossing the Natural Park of Serra d’Aire e Candeeiros

Leave Tomar and start a day of limestone hills. It is a day spent entirely in the stone kingdom! The paths are flanked by stone walls built over a hundred years! At the end of the day bike up to the last ridge of these mountainous terrains and look for the first time at the Atlantic Coast! Arrive at Alcobaça, famous for the Monastery or Royal Abbey of Santa Maria, listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.
Overnight Location: Hotel at Alcobaça
Distance: 96.3km, 1459m elevation gain, 1430m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 15 The coast and the majestic Atlantic ocean

Leave the impressive set of medieval buildings of Alcobaça and ride until Lourinhã, the town where dinosaurs once roamed. This is the final crossing of karst landscape of the journey, through a beautiful path on Montejunto sierra by the hillside with superb views over the plains. Singletracks on ridges are full of typical windmills.
Overnight Location: Hotel at Lourinhã
Distance: 88.3km, 1328m elevation gain, 1342m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 16 Enjoy the last stage of this epic adventure

Finally, on the last day of this epic journey you arrive to the sea! For those who were able to ride for 15 days through the mountains of the Iberian Peninsula, this is a great day to watch the Atlantic Ocean! Roads and paths over the sea, single-tracks, trails on the cliffs and beaches make this a unique and different day on this long journey. Finally, arrive to Roca Cape, the westernmost point of Europe! Celebration and transfer or ride to a Hotel in Cascais.
Overnight Location: Hotel at Cascais
Distance: 86.7km, 1681m elevation gain, 1621m elevation loss
Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 17 Departure

Unfortunately, all good things come to and end, and you should get ready for your trip back home. A guide will be ready to take you to the airport.
Overnight Location: None
Distance: None
Meals: Breakfast