Portugal's Seaside Coast & Villages Trail

This vacation brings riders out of the interior countryside to Portugal's rugged Atlantic coast to ride in a natural preserve which is open only to hikers and riders. Here you will pass through cork tree forests, Alentejo farms, pine forests and along the Atlantic beaches. Riders will see lighthouses which have guarded mariners for many years and windmills which dot the farm country. In the distance, the fishing villages of Zambujeira do Mar and Vila Nova de Milfontes stand on the coast as they have for so long. On the dunes, you will see the rare and small shrub, Morganheira das Praias which shows off its tiny violet flowers almost all year.

A special treat of this ride is to see the Atlantic Storks which migrate from Africa every year to nest along the rocky cliffs. Lunches are taken in a variety of places including on the rocky cliffs, on the beach and in the hotels.

Many of the local people still feel that the brightness chases away the evil spirits. After a ride along the bright, sunny and beautiful coast of Portugal, you will too.

This still remote coastline of Portugal is part of the south east Alentejo and Costa Vicentina nature reserve. This trail provides the rider the opportunity to ride through the natural habitat of the many birds and mammals protected by law from development which has taken place so much in the Algarve. The riding routes are firm sandy tracks giving the widest variety of landscape and the most opportunity for trots and canters.