Motorcycle touring in Spain and Portugal: the basics

Great weather, amazing roads, fantastic food, spectacular scenery - not to mention the most bike-friendly locals in Europe. Spain and Portugal might just be the best places you’ll ever ride…

The EX-103 from Puebla de Alcocer in Extramadura

Why motorcycle tour in Spain or Portugal?

Quite simply, it’s the riding. The Iberian peninsula is huge, with every kind of landscape you could imagine – from verdant Galicia on the north-west Atlantic coast to sun-baked Murcia on the Mediterranean. There are towering snow-tipped mountains, vast hot plains, surf-kissed sandy beaches, aromatic vineyards and fascinating towns full of interesting places to visit. And joining it all together is a spectacular network of great biking roads. There’s all kinds of riding — whether you like cruising along two-up or hairing along head-down, whether you want mountains or coastlines or even unpaved roads, whether you want long days on empty highways or short days with lots of stops, there’s something for everyone.

So when should I go?

It’s best to avoid the highest summer season: August gets painfully hot and with Europe on holiday, even otherwise quiet areas get a bit busier. For us, September is the perfect time to visit Spain or Portugal. It’s generally hot without being too oppressive, even in the south. With kids back at school and family holidays over, even the popular vacation areas are relatively quiet. But there is a long riding season. You may have to gamble slightly more with the weather, especially on the North Coast, but if you get a good way south you’re far more likely to have a warm, dry ride in early November or late March than practically anywhere else in mainland Europe. If you’re not ready to book a trip for this September, hang on to this magazine and use it to plan next summer’s trip. Whenever you go to Spain or Portugal, you won’t regret it.

What documents do I need to take?

Just the basics. Your passport and your driving licence, obviously. You should also take a copy of your insurance certificate and the original V5 logbook for the bike. We’d recommend taking a colour copy of this as well, so in case you’re stopped the police can keep the copy.

Do I need extra insurance?

We’d strongly recommend a travel insurance policy that includes medical cover — though you will have to shop around to find a policy that covers you for a motorcycle trip.

In theory, until Brexit happens, you should be covered for medical treatment in Spain or Portugal as long as you have a valid free European Health Insurance Card (EHIC).

In practice, health cover avoids any issues. As with all insurance, you don’t want to need it — but it’s best to have it just in case.

Your bike policy will probably cover you for riding in Europe for up to 30 days but always check your policy before going. It’s good practice to notify the insurer of the dates when you will be in Europe.

We would recommend getting breakdown insurance but shop around for a policy that includes provision to repatriate both you and the bike to the UK, not just ship it to a local garage for repair work. Always check the fine print to make sure it covers crashes as well as mere mechanical mishaps just in case.

What about money?

We’ve never had any trouble using credit cards — in places that accept cards. You may find that some smaller restaurants, cafés and shops don’t take cards (especially in Portugal, we found), so you will need to take cash for lunches and drinks on the road. Petrol stations, most hotels and larger shops aren’t normally a problem. In fact, you may find automated fuel pumps that require cards.

How much money will I need?

That’s a bit how-long-is-a-piece-of-string… but as a rule, Portugal and Spain are a fair bit cheaper than France or Britain. Petrol is roughly the same but food and drink are often cheaper. You can often eat like a king at lunchtime for €10 with a menu del dia (dish of the day) and evening meals are usually good value. Whatever you’d allow for food and drink when touring in the UK, expect to save about a third in Spain or Portugal.

Accommodation can be less expensive than many other European destinations — or of a higher quality for what you’d pay elsewhere — especially if you pre-book. This will help you establish your budget before even setting off, though it does reduce flexibility — you can’t just stop whenever you feel like it; you have to use the hotel you reserved. However, we favour pre-booking in Spain and Portugal because while there are plenty of hotels in the bigger towns, they can be fairly thin on the ground in more rural areas.

Wet weather

If it rains and the roads look shiny and slippery, there’s a reason for that: they’re shiny and slippery. Exercise extreme caution on wet roads in Iberia. They may be gloriously grippy when warm and dry but many minor Spanish and Portuguese roads can be exceedingly treacherous when wet.

How do I prepare the bike?

If the bike’s road legal and mechanically sound, with fresh tyres, then all you need to do is add luggage and get going. You don’t need to adjust the headlight aim – you should be off the bike before the sun goes down. If it’s not mechanically sound, fix it!

What should I pack?

Less than you think. The secret is to travel light: take the essentials but not much more. Wearing lightweight base layers that can be rinsed at the end of the day means you can save shirts to do a couple of evenings each. Shorts and flip-flops (or trainers) are more comfortable off the bike and take up less space than jeans and boots. You shouldn’t need loads of tools or spares for a well-prepped modern bike (though if it’s a classic, you’ll know what you need). If there’s space, it makes sense to take a puncture repair kit, a multitool, half-a-dozen cable ties and some gaffer tape, just in case. And don’t forget your phone charger. Or a European plug adaptor. Or your sunglasses…

Where should I go?

Wherever you like — but that’s what this guide is for. We have day-trips all over Iberia, if you want to pick a town for a base and have a few riding days. Alternatively, we have complete tours that move from place to place — with relaxed and high-mile ones to cater to different tastes. Pick the one that appeals.

What about off-road?

There’s lots of great off-roading in Spain, but it’s not covered in this guide. We’d suggest getting specialist help: start with The Spanish Biker (thespanishbiker.wordpress.com)

Who can I ride with?

If you don’t have a group of mates to go with — and you don’t fancy going alone — join a guided tour. Not as cheap as organising your own trip but you’ll have an expert guide, a new set of riding buddies and a great time.

The law

The police in Spain and Portugal tend to take a dim view of excessive speeding. On-the-spot fines are stiff, rising to eye-watering. Spain has a zero-tolerance approach to speeding and even 1kph over the limit can theoretically earn a fine — and the Guardia Civil will impound bikes if speeds are too high. Take extra care on rural roads in Spain, as speed limits can change around junctions. Many towns or villages have 30kph or even 20kph limits in the centre.

But don’t get paranoid: there are fewer speed cameras than in the UK and they are well signed in advance. We haven’t heard of anyone on a British bike receiving a ticket at home for setting one off but the law does not preclude that. We have also seen speed traps set up a few miles after static cameras and spot-check road blocks in Spain and Portugal (but been waved through in both when the GB sticker was seen).

Traffic lights

Many villages and towns will have a set of flashing amber lights just as you enter the speed limit, with another set of lights — normally on red — a few hundred feet further on. If you’re at or below the speed limit when you pass the first lights, the second ones will flash amber as you reach them so you can keep riding. If you’re going too fast, they’ll stay red.

Radar detectors

In one word: illegal. If police spot one, it will earn you an on-the-spot fine and will be confiscated. Sat navs are allowed to warn you of fixed speed camera locations in Spain: the police understand that knowing there’s a camera ahead makes people slow down…

Proud to be British

You must have a GB identifier on the bike. If your registration plate doesn’t include one, put a GB sticker on there somewhere – we’d suggest on a pannier. Otherwise, potentially, it’s another on-the-spot fine.

Extra specs

In Spain, if you need glasses to ride, you must have a spare pair with you.

There’s a helpful Facebook page with updated advice here.

Spanish Speed limits

	Town/village	Rural road	Dual carriageway	Motorway
Speed limit	20-50kph	60-100kph	110kph	130kph

Bikes on ferries

The fastest, easiest and best way to get to Spain is by sea – Brittany Ferries runs services to Bilbao or Santander. When you board, just remember that the deck is metal so don’t ride fast. Just stay in first gear, ride as slowly as you can, use your back brake if you have to (not your front brake) and keep looking well ahead for hazards. The deckhands will direct you to where you should park the bike — usually down a ramp (again, go slowly and use lots of back brake). When you park, leave the bike in gear and roll it forward until the gear stops the bike moving, then put it on the sidestand.

The deckhands will put a pad on the seat to protect it, then ratchet the bike down securely for the crossing. You don’t have to do anything other than take your kit to your cabin, then head for the bar…

For ferry timetables see Brittany Ferries

Tyres

This is important: don’t set off with worn tyres. The roads in Spain and especially Portugal can be abrasive, accelerating tyre wear. Replacing a worn-out tyre mid-trip is costly and can really spoil the holiday.

So before going, check your tyres. If they’re close to half worn, get a set of replacements fitted (save the older ones to refit later). Fit a quality sports touring tyre like the Bridgestone T31 or, for adventure bikes, a dual-sport tyre like the A41.

Book it!

Plan your trip before booking the ferry and call Brittany Ferries, rather than booking online. You can book into partner hotels . Book three or more for a discount on the ferry and hotels. Alternatively, we used the Casas Cantabricas travel agency (www.casas.co.uk). As well as offering deals on ferry-plus accommodation packages, they provide excellent guides — which you can read on your phone — to help get more from your trip.

Please note: This page contains the route files for The RiDE Guide to motorcycle touring in Spain and Portugal which came free with RiDE magazine in July 2018. These website page are not regularly updated, so please check all critical information before you travel. All route files are in .gpx format. Garmin and BMW users can download the main file, which contains all the routes and our recommended hotels as separate waypoints. TomTom users can download the individual routes and use the Tyre software to convert them. For many routes we also have Google Map links. However, as Google Maps will not plot routes over seasonally closed high Alpine passes (such as those in the Pyrenees) when they’re shut, these may not work for every route all year round.