Why this ride
Terraced vineyards and river bends done slowly. 148 km round from Peso da Régua - plan on about 2 h 21 of riding. The stops in between: Pinhão vineyards, Miradouro de São Leonardo and Amarante. It keeps to quiet secondary roads.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Porto · Douro Valley Vineyard Sweep
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 148 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 21
- Journey
- Loop
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Estrada Nacional 2
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 27 km this is Estrada Nacional 2, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 27 km
- Named road
- Estrada Nacional 2
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Peso da Régua river
Régua sits where the Douro valley opens enough to hold a town, and it has been the commercial heart of the wine country for a very long time. In 1756 the Portuguese crown drew a boundary around the vineyards of the upper Douro, making it one of the first officially demarcated wine regions in the world, and the town's role as a market and shipping point goes back further. Port wine from the high terraces was loaded onto flat-bottomed rabelo boats here and floated down to the lodges at Vila Nova de Gaia, near Porto, a journey that took days and cost many a boatman his life in the rapids.
Read the complete Peso da Régua river write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Peso da Régua river sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Pinhão vineyards.
2. Pinhão vineyards
Pinhão is a small town in the heart of the Douro wine country, and arriving by the river road feels like entering the engine room of Port. The little town sits where the Pinhão river meets the Douro, with terraced vineyards rising on all sides, and many of the great estates, called quintas, lie within a few kilometres. The scale of the landscape is hard to take in at first. Every slope is cut into terraces, held by dry stone walls that took generations to build, and the schist soil is so poor that the vines have to send their roots deep to find water.
Read the complete Pinhão vineyards write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Pinhão vineyards is where this day stops to eat. Next is Miradouro de São Leonardo.
3. Miradouro de São Leonardo
Planning note
about 64 km into the recorded legs you reach Miradouro de São Leonardo. Next is Amarante return.
4. Amarante return
Amarante is a handsome town on the banks of the Tâmega, a river that runs out of the hills toward the Douro, and it is built around an old stone bridge. The bridge, dedicated to São Gonçalo, the town's patron saint, was the scene of a fierce stand during the Peninsular War, when local forces held back a French army under Marshal Soult for two weeks in 1809, and the town remembers it with pride. Behind the bridge rises the church and convent of São Gonçalo, with its fine cloister and a tall, tiered facade, and the houses along the river lean over the water with iron balconies and washing lines.
Read the complete Amarante write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Somewhere to get off the bike, about 110 km into the recorded legs. Next is Back to Peso.
5. Back to Peso
Planning note
Back at Back to Peso. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Miradouro de São Leonardo to Amarante return
Miradouro de São Leonardo → Amarante return is the logistics leg. Watch junctions, villages and speed changes, then let the roadbook do its job: move you out of the clutter without spending your best attention too early.