Iteranti
Broad red-earth track running along a ridge top, dropping away to the left, with rolling green hills, scattered scrub and a bank of cumulus filling the sky.

Bikepacking the Via Algarviana

Ridden · Jamie Brammer

Part of my version of the European Divide Trail

Description

The Via Algarviana is a bike trail or long-distance path for walkers in southern Portugal stretching 300km between Alcoutim on the Spanish border and Cape St. Vincent in the far southwest of the Algarve region.

This bike trip takes in a variety of terrain: the flat gravel tracks of the litoral coastal zone, the lower hills and rocky outcrops of the barrochal and the serra or mountain areas. Especially interesting are the unique wildflower zones on the coast near Cape St. Vincent and the humid mountain microclimate near Monchique, a mecca for hiking in Portugal.

As for culture and history, the only pretty non-coastal town that the route doesn’t take in is Loule. So key towns with their own stories include Silves, Alte and Salir.

As described, this route is taken in the opposite direction to the official route. It starts at Cape St. Vincent (or more accurately the nearby village of Sagres) and finishes in Vaqueiros about 50km short of Acoutim.

The bicycle shop attached to the cafe in Monchique is easily the best option for sorting out emergencies. After that there’s kind of a bike store / mainly cafe in Alte, but I doubt you’ll get much service there.

Highlights

  • The town of Sagres and the views at sunset
  • Pastel de nata (you could often get one and a coffee for €2)
  • The small hidden campervan with amazing streetfood at the top of Fóia, Alecrim
  • The dish of the day (Prato do dia) was generally great, often meat stew with bones in it but very cheap, usually with a glass (or more) of wine included
  • Small tapas place in Monchique (Café Vintage) whose owners gave me great food tips for Córdoba too
  • Skewers of meat in Salir (O Regresso)
  • Wildflowers. I went in March and everywhere was covered in wildflowers, millions of them. Even a small patch would have up to 20 different types of flowers. Colour everywhere.
  • Moorish history and architecture in Silves, the ancient capital of Algarve.
  • Hills. Hills. Hills. Equals views, especially from Fóia and Picota, everywhere because of so many hills.
  • Colourful villages with old cafe-bars e.g. Barão de São João, Alte
  • Disappearing villages in the mountains e.g. Parises, Castelão
  • Vaqueiros is an exception to these villages in that it looks and feels well cared for. A large part of that is probably due to the family that runs the B&B and the restaurant / bar. A great place to stay and eat.

Take away moment

I was passing through one of the tiny hilltop villages and saw a sign for a bar/cafe; a little worn but there was a very small old man standing in the arcade outside, in these places he could easily have passed for the barman…. So I pulled over and asked for a coffee. He proceeded to start shouting after somebody …. I was thinking he’s going to get the real barman…. Anyhow after a bit of a kerfuffle… His wife waves at him from up the road and slowly wanders back …. She asks if I want a coffee and goes inside…. Coming out a few minutes later with a very nice but slightly sweet cup of joe…. Anyhow it was now very clear that this place hadn’t been a bar for years/decades… and I’d just blagged a coffee from an old couple!! I did pay my way though.

The small hill villages in the internal Algarve are clearly depopulating…. Half the homes in some were falling apart…. In others only the ladies remained…. Often wearing very traditional looking work clothing…. A strange hat with a veil like cloth at the back.

Route map

Open in Komoot

Getting there and back

Sagres isn’t the easiest town to get to. Since I was already in Spain I took a train from Madrid to Seville and the FlixBus from there to Lagos, Portugal. There are also plenty of coaches from the Algarve airport at Faro. Just be aware that transporting bikes is tricky and you need to book them in: on high-speed rail they must be dismantled and in a bag; on the coaches you may get lucky for a bike spot but they’re also ok with the bike in a bag approach.

From Lagos to Sagres town there’s a relatively infrequent bus but since it was getting late I got a taxi for about €20.

If you’re finishing the the Via Algarviana in Portugal then you can get buses from places such as Alcoutim or Vaqueiros, but you’ll need the bike disassembled and in a bag. It may be better to cycle yourself back one of the coastal towns; or even heading back towards the coast at Parises or even Salir that are both closer to the coast than Vaqueiros or Alcoutim.

  • Partly stripped touring bike frame propped on a stand against a white wall on a tiled floor, frame bag still fitted, forks and bars hanging loose and pedals, straps and cargo cages laid out alongside.
    I've lost count of how many times I've built up bikes after transporting them. Here is the bike in the hotel in Sagres.
  • Sloping stone rampart of a clifftop fort catching the last light, with rough rocky ground and a rain puddle in the foreground and the sea beyond.
  • Sandy track lined either side with squat wooden posts running towards the sea at sunset, low green scrub on both banks and a white van parked in the distance.
  • Slate board holding twenty-two custard tarts with scorched, blistered tops, a plate of sugar-dusted pastries alongside, photographed from above with the toes of a pair of cycling shoes in the frame.
    The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.
  • Loaded touring bike propped against tall red railings, framing a red-and-white striped lighthouse rising from a whitewashed courtyard under a cloudless blue sky.
    The lighthouse has fairly restrictive opening times, especially if you're setting off early.
  • Flat, stony clifftop plateau of pale limestone and low green scrub running out to a sheer drop, with a small red-topped lighthouse and its white buildings on the point in the distance and deep blue sea beyond.
    Looking back at the lighthouse from the north
  • Single white gum cistus flower with crumpled petals and a yellow centre, a honeybee feeding at it, surrounded by glossy green leaves and pink-tipped buds.
  • Twin-rut earth track running dead straight across a flat green plain to a distant white building on the horizon, under a blue sky with a line of cumulus.
  • Weathered wooden waymarker post carrying a red-and-white painted stripe beside a broad red-earth track, low coastal scrub and yellow flowers crowding the verge.
  • Close-up of an asphodel flower spike, its white star-shaped blooms streaked with rust-brown and swollen buds clustered below, against a blurred background of grass.
  • Stony, rutted track climbing between cork oaks and banks of yellow flowers, with the blades of wind turbines showing above the treeline against a deep blue sky.
  • Whitewashed café frontage with a hand-painted "CAFÉ CENTRAL" sign, a black cat sitting on top of it, and wooden stools and small tables set out on the cobbles beside an open doorway.
  • Rider's view over loaded handlebars, bar bag and computer at a wide ford where the track disappears into shallow brown water, vines climbing the slope beyond.
  • Loaded bike leaning against a granite block on a cobbled hilltop viewpoint, a jacket slung over the bars, with wooded hills falling away to a distant hazy coastline.
  • Narrow tarmac lane winding up over rough green moorland towards a summit bristling with telecommunications masts under a flat grey sky.
  • Ruined stone tower standing above an ivy-smothered wall, glimpsed through the twisted branches of cork oaks from an earth path climbing towards it.
  • Steep cobbled town street lined with pastel-green and terracotta houses and a shopfront under a striped awning, a life-size bronze statue of a man standing on the pavement in the foreground.
  • Cobbled square between a pink-washed corner house and older whitewashed buildings, closed off at the end by a small white chapel with a scalloped baroque gable and a dark arched door.
  • Moss-and-fern-covered dry-stone wall running beside a stony woodland track, a red-and-yellow painted waymark stripe on one of the boulders and cork oaks arching overhead.
  • Rider's view over loaded handlebars, bottle and computer at the foot of a narrow singletrack climbing through heath towards a ridge lost in low cloud.
  • Glass-sided fire lookout tower on steel scaffolding legs, guyed with wires, standing on a rocky summit above a valley town that shows through a break in the mist.
    A fire lookout at the top of Picota
  • Loaded bike leaning against a squat, weathered concrete summit beacon on bare rock, with cloud banked across the wooded slopes behind.
    I believe this was actually the top, though it was kind of cloudy
  • Gravel track curving across a burnt hillside of blackened, leafless trees, a few surviving green crowns among them and heavy grey cloud overhead.
  • Rider's view over handlebars and computer down a deeply rutted, eroded track dropping through young eucalyptus scrub towards a hazy ridge.
    Some really rough tracks coming down from Picota
  • Sprawling cistus bush in flower, its papery white blooms with yellow centres set among red-brown seed capsules and sticky green leaves.
  • Single yellow corn marigold standing on its stem above a tangle of grass and clover.
  • Single gum cistus flower fully open, its crumpled white petals each marked with a deep crimson blotch around a yellow centre, with a fat bud on the stem below.
  • Gravel track running along the edge of a ridge above a broad valley of eucalyptus woodland, with wooded hills rolling to the horizon under piled grey and white cloud.
  • View across a valley of green hills scored by pale earth tracks winding over their crests, white cistus flowering in the foreground and a blue mountain range on the skyline.
    I called these "the pyramids". It is relentless steep up and down.
  • Cobbled passageway running through the red sandstone gatehouse of a castle, a timber-and-brick ceiling overhead and a tree lit by sunlight beyond the far arch.
  • Restored terracotta-rendered cistern with a ridged, folded roof set below the crenellated red sandstone walls of a castle, a visitor in a sun hat reading the information board beside it.
  • Stone-flagged walkway running along the top of a castle's red sandstone battlements, a Judas tree in full purple blossom overhanging the parapet on the left and a visitor photographing the view further along.
  • Looking down from a castle rampart along the outside of its red sandstone wall to the terracotta roofs and whitewashed houses of the town below, with the Portuguese flag flying from a crenellated tower and a church dome on the hillside beyond.
  • Narrow cobbled lane running between low whitewashed houses towards a white church with a round rose window, scrolled gable and bell tower, a wrought-iron lantern projecting from the wall in the foreground.
  • Cobbled street of yellow- and red-trimmed houses sloping down to an arched gateway in a red sandstone castle tower at the end.
  • Whitewashed multi-arched stone bridge with red brick arch rings, mirrored perfectly in the still river below, a paved riverside walkway running along the near bank.
  • Loaded touring bike propped against the foot of a massive red sandstone castle wall, dwarfed by the stonework, on a pale cobbled apron.
  • Curved concrete dam wall with winch towers along its crest, seen from the dry ground below and reflected whole in a large rain puddle in the foreground.
  • Loaded bike leaning against a plain concrete frame marking a roadside viewpoint, looking out over rolling green hills scored with tracks under a sky of broken cumulus.
  • Bare, stony track of red earth and broken limestone running between rows of broad-leaved orchard trees, with a flat plain and distant blue hills showing through the gap ahead.
  • Grassy, half-overgrown track dropping away between rocks and scrub oak, opening onto a view of a white town spread across the far hillside.
  • Two purple irises with white-flashed falls and yellow throats, growing low among grass blades on cracked red earth.
  • Rough gravel track descending a hillside towards a white village of terracotta roofs spread along the valley floor, with cultivated fields and hills beyond.
  • Corner of an ochre-washed cottage with a bright blue door behind wrought-iron grillework and a single blue-and-white tile above it, an ornate pierced white chimney standing against a deep blue sky.
  • Grey-leaved cistus bush covered in mauve, crumpled-petalled flowers with yellow centres, buds and spent blooms among them.
  • Ornate wrought-iron street lantern bracketed to a white wall above a narrow cobbled alley, which drops between shuttered houses towards hills under a pink dusk sky.
  • Whitewashed village church with a stepped bell tower and a single bell, seen across an empty cobbled square with lamp posts and leafless trees, the sky flushed with sunset behind it.
  • Loaded bike propped against a tiled outdoor barbecue in a garden, framed by the branches of an orange tree heavy with ripe fruit, with an agave, a coiled hose and the edge of a small swimming pool.
  • Shallow, stony stream running down the line of a track between green banks, with a concrete flood channel on the right and the track climbing away into trees ahead.
  • Whitewashed stone windmill tower on a hilltop, one long bare sail spar still in place, a loaded bike leaning against its wall and wooded valleys falling away behind.
  • Rider's view with a gloved hand on the bar, facing a loose, stony track climbing through pines and low scrub on a sunlit hillside.
  • Fully loaded touring bike with panniers, saddlepack, bar bag and a rolled jacket, leaning against the low stone parapet of a bridge above a wooded valley of cork oaks.
  • Clear shallow stream carpeted with white water-crowfoot flowers standing above the surface, tussocks of grass along both banks.
  • Concrete lane climbing through a hamlet past a pink-rendered house with a white chair outside, roofless stone ruins further along and an almond tree beside the road.