Portugal · north to south · Premium route guide
EN2 Portugal end-to-end (Chaves → Faro)
Portugal's Route 66 — 735 kilometres, one road, top to bottom of a country. Chaves on the Spanish border to Faro on the Algarve, passing every landscape Portugal has: mountains, cork forest, Alentejo plain, olive groves. Full route on the map, a GPX for your GPS, and rider-vetted stays every couple of hundred kilometres along the way.
- Distance
- 734.7 km
- Peak elevation
- 1,076 m
- Elevation gain
- 5,608 m
- Best months
- Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct
The route
The EN2 (Estrada Nacional 2) runs 735 km in a nearly straight north-south line from Chaves in the far north to Faro on the south coast. Twenty-four waypoints along the route — Vila Real, Régua, Viseu, Coimbra corridor, Sertã, Abrantes, Ponte de Sor, Montemor-o-Novo, Évora, Ferreira do Alentejo, Almodôvar, and down to Faro. Pins are motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have vetted along the whole line.
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Works with Garmin, TomTom, BMW Navigator, Calimoto, Kurviger, komoot, MyRouteApp. Import as a track to ride the exact line. Road data from OpenStreetMap (ODbL); elevation from SRTM.
Track vs. route — how to load this into your GPS
What you're downloading is a GPX track — a dense, road-snapped breadcrumb of the exact line, with elevation on every point. It's not a GPX route (a short list of turn waypoints your device re-plans between). Tracks preserve our road choice; routes let the device pick its own way and can send you down a boring motorway shortcut.
How to use it on your navigator:
- BMW Navigator / Garmin Zumo / zūmo XT: import as a track, then Convert to Route (or Trip Planner → new trip from track) if you want turn-by-turn prompts. Keep Recalculation off so it stays on our line.
- TomTom Rider: import the GPX in MyDrive — it loads as a track / itinerary. Enable Follow the exact route so it doesn't re-plan.
- Calimoto: open the GPX and choose Import as tour — Calimoto follows the track line.
- Kurviger / komoot / MyRouteApp: open the GPX and pick Import as track to keep the road choice. Only choose Import as route if you want the app to re-plan for your bike profile.
- Google Maps / Apple Maps: these don't read GPX. Use the map on this page for turn cues, or import the file into a GPX-capable app first.
Rule of thumb: if your device asks "track or route?", pick track to ride our exact line — pick route only if you want the device to re-plan.
Elevation profile
From ~16 m at the base to 1076 m at the top — 5,608 m of total climbing across the route.
Do this in four days minimum, five is better. Portugal's shape means the EN2 crosses climate zones as much as landscapes: leave Chaves in a T-shirt and you'll want a mid-layer over the Serra de Aire mountains, then be back in the T-shirt by Beja. Plan overnights around towns that have a rider-friendly bed and a proper restaurant — Viseu, Abrantes, Évora and Ferreira do Alentejo are the classic four.
It's a slow road, deliberately. The whole point is not to be on a motorway. The average pace over the full route is around 60 km/h, so plan 12–14 hours of ride time spread across your days. There are stamped passports at every EN2 town if you want to collect them — most rider hotels have one behind reception.
The road, honestly
The EN2 is Portugal in slow motion. It's not a spectacular pass road and it's not a technical challenge — it's the road you take to see a whole country from the saddle. Long sweepers through cork oak forest in the Alentejo, tight mountain sections through the Serra de Aire, wide-open olive-grove kilometres in the south. If you want big-mountain drama, ride the N222 or the Serra da Estrela loops on rest days. The EN2 is for perspective, not thrills.
Surface is mixed. The northern third (Chaves to Viseu) is excellent. The middle (Coimbra corridor to Alentejo) is variable — some resurfaced stretches, some tired ones. The southern third improves again to Faro. Nothing dangerous; just don't expect German-perfect tarmac end-to-end.
How to break it into days
Four-day plan: Chaves → Viseu (day 1, ~180 km, mountains), Viseu → Abrantes (day 2, ~200 km, forests and river valleys), Abrantes → Évora (day 3, ~160 km, into the Alentejo), Évora → Faro (day 4, ~200 km, olive groves to coast). Five-day plan adds a rest day in Évora — a UNESCO town that deserves a full day on foot.
Alternative: do it south-to-north to end in the mountains rather than the beach. Most riders prefer north-to-south so the trip ends with a cold Sagres by the Atlantic, but the reverse works if you're linking to a Spanish return via Sevilla.
Weather, fuel and what to expect
Best months are April to June and September to October. July and August are hot in the Alentejo — 38–42°C is common and there's no shade on the road — and the tourist coaches at every waypoint are at their worst. Winter is rideable in the south but the northern third can be genuinely cold and wet.
Fuel is easy on the EN2 — every waypoint town has a station. Cell coverage is patchy in the Alentejo — download offline maps. The whole route is well-signed with the distinctive EN2 milestones; you rarely need GPS beyond the town approaches.
What to see along the way
- Chaves (km 0) — Northern terminus. Roman bridge, thermal baths, and the km-0 monument every EN2 rider photographs on the way out.
- Peso da Régua — The EN2 crosses the Douro here — natural rest stop, and gateway to the N222 if you want a rest-day detour.
- Viseu — Best overnight in the northern third. Walled old town, excellent restaurants, and every hotel knows what a motorbike parked outside means.
- Sertã — Middle of the route, small mountain town. Serra da Lousã country. Good coffee, quiet.
- Abrantes — Castle above the Tagus. Halfway point on the four-day plan, and the last mountain town before the Alentejo plain opens up.
- Évora — UNESCO Alentejo capital. Roman temple, chapel of bones, and worth a full rest day.
- Almodôvar — Last town before the descent to the Algarve. Cold beer and shade under the plane trees in the square.
- Faro (km 735) — Southern terminus. The Ria Formosa lagoon and the beach that means the road is finally over.
Rent a bike
Rent a motorcycle or scooter for EN2 Portugal end-to-end (Chaves → Faro)
Flying in? Pick up a bike near the start of the route. We've pre-filled the pick-up city with Viseu / Évora (mid-route bases) — change it if you're basing elsewhere.
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Rider-verified stays within 30 km
Automatically selected by proximity to the traced route — no editorial cherry-picking. Sorted by how close they are to the road.
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