The Azores by E-Bike

We ride a total of 208 km over 5 cycling days, following a loop around São Miguel. The riding takes place entirely on paved roads and combines rolling terrain with several sustained climbs, particularly along the island’s eastern and northern coasts. Daily distances range from shorter introductory rides to a longer, more demanding stage, with the majority of elevation gain concentrated on one day.

The route links volcanic interiors, coastal viewpoints, forested valleys, and rural villages. Climbs are generally steady rather than abrupt, and descents open broad views across the Atlantic. The structure of the route allows the journey to unfold continuously around the island without vehicle transfers between riding stages. Your guide’s expert knowledge of the area and terrain ensures you always know what is coming up in terms of distance and difficulty. This makes a tremendous difference, as does the constant supply of water and refreshments along the way.

Suitability: This tour is best suited to experienced road cyclists who are comfortable riding hilly terrain over consecutive days. Daily distances range from approximately 13 to 56 km, with elevation gain varying from moderate to significant. One riding day includes up to around 1,300 m of climbing, while the remaining days feature shorter distances and more moderate elevation gain. The riding takes place entirely on paved roads and includes rolling terrain, longer steady climbs, and extended descents. Cyclists should be confident spending several hours in the saddle and managing sustained ascents across back-to-back days. This tour is designed for riders seeking a physically engaging road cycling experience rather than a relaxed or flat touring itinerary.

Biking Conditions: The cycling takes place on 100% paved roads throughout São Miguel. Routes follow a mix of quiet countryside roads, coastal roads, and rural connectors linking villages and viewpoints. Road surfaces are generally in good condition, though some sections may be narrower or more worn, particularly in rural and coastal areas. Traffic levels are typically light to moderate, but riders should expect to share the road with other vehicles, including cars, motorbikes, and local buses, especially when passing through towns and along coastal stretches. The terrain is predominantly hilly, with steady climbs and descents rather than technical riding. We generally ride rain or shine, but based on the guide’s discretion and your level of comfort, modifications to the planned route can be made. It’s all part of the adventure.

Accommodations: We have carefully selected a range of high-quality hotels that reflect the character of São Miguel and offer a welcoming place to relax after each day’s ride. We choose accommodation for its location, comfort, and suitability for a road cycling tour, with convenient access to both the cycling routes and time off the bike. Stays include Ponta Delgada, São Miguel’s capital, as well as smaller towns such as Povoação, Nordeste, and Ribeira Grande, allowing you to experience different sides of the island, from coastal settings to greener, more rural areas.

Bikes

We include high‑quality e-bikes on this tour so you can enjoy the Azores’ scenery with a comfortable level of support. We provide modern hardtail e‑mountain bikes such as Ghost Teru models with Bosch motors or similar, offering smooth electric assistance and reliable components. If you prefer to bring your own bike, an e‑mountain bike is ideal, but a regular mountain bike or a road bike with appropriate gearing will also get the job done for riders who are used to varied terrain. Whichever bike you choose, please ensure it is in excellent mechanical order before arrival.

Bike Repairs

Basic spares and tools are carried by the guide and on the support vehicle, though we cannot guarantee having spares for every conceivable problem. Carrying a basic tool kit, a spare tube and a pump while riding is recommended.

Safety

Wearing a helmet is required on all our biking adventures and is non negotiable. If you do not wear a helmet you will not be allowed to cycle. Your tour leader is trained in first aid and emergency rescue, but to a large degree you must be responsible for your own safety while riding. It is therefore compulsory that you take out travel insurance that will cover you for a mountain biking tour.

Guides

You will be led by a local English-speaking guide and if the group is 9 people or more we will add another guide to the tour. All our guides are well informed in the history, culture and religions of the area where you are biking and are skilled at passing that knowledge on to you. Your guide is also medically trained and an experienced cyclist, able to handle most minor repairs en route.

If this is the tour for you here's what you need to do to confirm your place:

FLEXIBLE BOOKING CONDITIONS

CONFIRMING YOUR BOOKING

Just complete our online booking form or send your booking details offline (email or post), and we will confirm your participation. No deposit is needed to confirm your place on a SpiceRoads tour.

You are advised to read our Booking Conditions in full before you make your payment and should you require further clarifications of any of the conditions below, please email us or call our office.

TRIP STATUS

There is a minimum number of participants (usually 2) required to enable the trip to go ahead. Once the minimum number is reached, the trip status will change from 'Available' to 'Guaranteed to Depart'. Once a trip is guaranteed to depart you are free to book your flights and make other travel arrangements. If the trip status is ‘Limited’ will mean we have only a small number of spaces available for booking. If you are unsure about the trip status, please email us or call our office.

BOOKING ONLINE

From the tour page, click the 'Book Now' link. All departures for this tour will appear, just select the date you'd like to travel. For the next steps, you'll need to know the names of the people travelling. If you wish you can also provide extra details such as passport numbers, height (for bike hire), or you can add that later by logging into Manage My Trip (we'll set up an account for you automatically if you don't already have one). Our system will contact you from time to time to fill in the missing information, as it will be required before departure. However, if the trip that you are booking offers a child discount, you will have to fill out the date of birth of each rider (so we can calculate the appropriate discount).

If you are having any problems please send us an email, or give us a call (+66 026 3295) and one of our travel specialists will assist you with your booking.

BOOKING OFFLINE

Just call us or send an email indicating which trip you want to join and we will happily send you a list of questions and process your booking for you.

DEPOSITS AND PAYMENTS

We do not require a deposit or full payment to book a place for you on a tour.

The balance of the tour’s cost (final invoice) will need to be paid 60 days before the departure date with fees for any bicycle rental(s), single supplement(s) and extra hotel nights.

In the case where a booking is made when there are less than 60 days until the tour departure date, the tour’s cost should be paid in full within 72 hours of receiving an invoice from SpiceRoads. Payment can be made by credit card using our online payment gateway or by bank transfer. When making payment online you will need to confirm that you have read these booking conditions during the "checkout" process, which equates to agreeing to the terms of services and stipulations as indicated in this document.

In all cases, tour fees need to be paid “in full” before participation in a tour. No person(s) will be allowed to join a tour without fully settling their invoice and receiving a confirmation number from SpiceRoads.

The exception can be made for last-minute miscellaneous fees that can be paid locally (visas, additional local hotel bookings, etc.) can be settled on the day of arrival.

FULL FLEXIBILITY FOR TOUR CANCELATIONS

If the tour is cancelled or postponed by SpiceRoads because we didn't make the trip numbers and the tour can’t run, we will make a full cash refund (by bank transfer or on your credit card).

If the tour is cancelled for any other reason, including due to Covid related travel restrictions, we will give you a full credit (with no deductions for admin or any other small-print item) to use on any SpiceRoads tour with no time limit. (Exceptions being flights, special permits and other non-refundable items and these will be advised when booking the trip).

Before paying for your tour, you can cancel your booking with no charge and up until 40 days before departure, you can change your booking to another travel date or move your booking onto another SpiceRoads tour with no charges.

If you need to cancel after you have made full payment, please see our cancellation policy.

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