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Bicycle Tours From Mediterranean Cruise Ports – Part 1: Portugal and France

January 7, 2024 cyclerich 2 Comments

Passeios de bicicleta a partir de portos de cruzeiros em Portugal et la France

By Richard Fox January 2024

My husband Steve and I enjoyed 19 wonderful bike tours from the 30 ports we visited on four mostly consecutive cruises during September – November 2023. The rides took place in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey. All but 3 of the tours were on e-bikes, and 7 were self-guided. I did extensive research to decide which ports had good cycling opportunities, and read hundreds of reviews to get a feel for which ones to select. Tours were mostly booked via the apps GetYourGuide or Viator, which made it convenient to keep track of. Walking tours were booked through them as well, such as Pompeii, Ephesus and Florence. They both had liberal pay-later and 24 hour cancellation policies. Rentals and some tours were booked directly through the bike shops or tour agencies, and many times they were significantly cheaper than the app’s prices. And of course all were many times cheaper than the cruise ships’ excursions. Although the cruise ship excursions guaranteed a return to the ship in time, I made sure to arrange the excursions so that wouldn’t be an issue, and it never came even close.

In the next series of posts I describe the bike tours with links to the outfits that operated them, and the cost. The groups are 1) Portugal and France 2) Spain 3) Italy and 4) Greece and Turkey. Croatia and Albania unfortunately had no biking opportunities that worked for us at the ports.

We only had two stops each in Portugal and France, and we did bike tours in all of them: Ponta Delgada (Azores) and Lisboa in Portugal, and Ajaccio (Corsica) and Cannes in France. I wish there had been more stops in these countries.

PONTA DELGADA, AZORES, PORTUGAL

View from the Carnival Freedom of Ponta Delgada in late September. We picked up two local specialties: Queijada da Dona Amelia sweet tarts and Sao Miguel cheese.

Frequently visited on the transatlantic crossings, the Azores port of call is the lovely city of Ponta Delgada on the largest of the islands, São Miguel. The main attractions of the island besides the port city area are the Furnas Valley with its geothermal features and hot springs, and two large volcanic crater lakes with sparkling blue and green waters from the extinct Sete Cicades volcano on the western end of the island. Paths around the lakes at various levels of difficulty are popular for mountain biking and rentals can be found there. From port you may be able to find a tour that includes transportation and a bike tour, even if the tour is self guided. This would be the most scenic and unique biking excursion on the island. Unfortunately this area is frequently socked in with clouds, making the lakes’ water color a shade of gray if you can even see them at all. A webcam is available to evaluate the conditions before you go, although if arriving on a cruise ship it is probably too late to cancel at that point. The day we were at port there were no options to explore that area by bike, so we decided to rent a bike and ride the seaside promenade of Ponta Delgada.

Azores Bike Shop downtown had a good variety of bikes including e-bikes, but too pricey because they only charged by the day. We reserved a couple of nice acoustic bikes at Open Door Rentals for only 5€ per hour. The shop was about a 20 minute walk from the cruise terminal through the lovely 1500’s old town with its narrow streets lined with simple whitewashed buildings striped with black basalt. Marcos at Open Door was extremely helpful and enthusiastic, telling us about the area and the biking options. The bike path starts a few blocks from his shop near Forte de São Brás (the fort) and descends to the cruise terminal area, then back up to boulevard level. It follows the scenic waterfront adjacent to a pedestrian path, with some detours onto low traffic streets. It eventually passes three beaches before ending about 10 km (6 miles) from the start. Marcos explained that the most thrilling riding is beyond that point, into hilly coastal territory, that sounded like it would be better with an e-bike. But we were happy with our excursion, a very scenic easy bike ride with the weather cooperating nicely. Based on Marcos’ recommendations we wandered the town after the ride and found some local delicacies. Cost: 10€ each for a ~2 hour ride.

LISBOA, PORTUGAL

Lisboa (Lisbon) climbs up onto several hills on both sides of the wide tidal Tagus River. On its north bank a series of pedestrian promenades run along the river out of downtown where the cruise port is conveniently situated. Paths extend to the historic port of Belém, where Portuguese explorers and conquistadors would set off from. The Old Lisboa district extends up the hill from the cruise port on cobblestone streets to Castelo de São Jorge (Castle), where Tram 28 and a funicular climb. Several e-bike tours are offered here, mostly through Boost downtown. The well reviewed seven hills of Lisbon tour is as it seems, a very hilly ride. Not a fan of cycling on steep cobblestone streets we opted for the flat river cruise to Belém. It was a Sunday so the river paths were crowded, but still doable. Our guide, Oriana, provided ample historical facts en route, including the monuments in Belém, and treated us to pastéis de nata, a local tart made from her favorite recipe supplied by a food truck along the path. The Belém portion consisted of the impressive riverside monuments Torre de Belém (Belém Tower) and Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument of the Discoveries), but no historic town. It was an enjoyable excursion. After the tour we had time to hike through Old Lisboa all the way up to the castle. Cost: 40€ each

Our cruise ships did not dock in Porto, but several e-bike tours are also available there.

Praça do Comércio (plaza) in Lisboa was built on the site of the old Royal Palace that was destroyed by the earthquake of 1755.

Oriana offered her favorite pastéis de nata to the group

Torre (Tower) de Belém aka Torre de São Vicente

Padrão dos Descobrimentos; Monument of the Discoveries

Oriana with our group, 3 from the USA and 4 from The Netherlands

AJACCIO, CORSICA, FRANCE

The cruise terminal in Ajaccio, where our Celebrity Edge docked, is conveniently situated next to the interesting Old Town, known for being the birthplace of Napoléon Bonaparte. We were enticed by appebike’s advertised excursion on GetYourGuide of a self-guided “E-Bike tour along turquoise waters,” with promises of passing a long list of historical points of interest downtown. That ended up meaning that they let us take a photo of a free tourist map without giving us a copy, or app for the phone, gave us some direction, and set us on our way, with no customer toilet available. The walk to the shop took about 25 minutes; the advertised “200 meters from cruise port” was actually around 1.3 km. And, my agreed upon order for a large frame bike for tall Steve did not occur, he was given a regular bike with the seat raised to the max. The Peugeot bikes were good quality for rentals otherwise, except for very uncomfortable seats.

The route began on a short stretch of waterfront path in the harbor area, followed by riding inland with cars through busy city streets, at low speed limits; annoying but not a terrible experience for experienced cyclists. We reached the stretch of shoreline lined with beaches and views of those famous turquoise waters, which was indeed spectacular on this perfect sunny mild October day. After a bit of road riding a bike/ped path appeared on the sea side of the coastal road. When setting out, appebike had warned us against actually taking this path because of pedestrian traffic, but on this weekday morning in shoulder season it wasn’t crowded at all. A junction appeared with a road going uphill, equipped with a bike lane on its right side. This is the route to take for a return loop through the hills, which we didn’t attempt. Eventually the bike/ped path ended and we were back on the road, with light traffic as the coastal road here is a dead end. Steve’s bike was so uncomfortable that he just stopped at this point and waited for me. I continued to the end of the road, which was the highlight of the ride. A beautiful park with scenic hiking paths leads to the ancient Tour de la Parata (tower) atop a hill surrounded by the sea on three sides, and overlooking the four islands of the Sanguinaires archipelago.

The return ride to the shop was better, because we were able to ride the one way road around the scenic coastal perimeter of the Old Town past Citadelle d’Ajaccio, and not battle as much downtown traffic. We didn’t ride the bikes to visit the other Old Town sites; that was much better done with a walk that we did after returning the bikes. Biking distance round trip was about 28 km (18 miles). It was a beautiful ride, worth doing, but I would recommend trying E-bike Corsica for more comfortable bikes first. They did not confirm my rental requests, so I stuck with the appebike reservation made through GetYourGuide to be assured of some bike to ride here. Cost: €41 each.

The Celebrity Edge has an awesome 14th floor outdoor dining deck. This is a view of Old Town Ajaccio from breakfast.

We had to have a napolean in Ajaccio, and the Edge had French day at the buffet with awesome desserts like these. The docking location was so convenient that we just went back on board for lunch in between our biking and walking outings. We surprisingly didn’t see any napoleans advertised in the cafes.

CANNES, FRANCE

And the winner is… biking around Cannes! We were lucky to actually get here since it’s a tender port that’s notorious for cancellations due to wind, which was the fate suffered by the ship the day before us in mid November. We once again had perfect weather and did a city e-bike tour with Yourent Cannes, located a few minutes walk from the port. They had a perfect upright large bike for Steve I had requested. Mine was a runty fat tired marginal bike but it had a fun throttle. We posed on the film festival red carpet, rode coastal paths to scenic viewpoints, then through town on a crowded street and up Suquet Hill to the Cannes Castle with an awesome vista, all in about 2 hours. Our friendly fun French guide, Louis, did a good job leading us and describing Cannes and its history, but this is one place where just renting an e-bike may be preferable, which Yourent also offers on the apps or direct. The shop had a walking tour map showing the route that was easy to follow. The coastal path extended longer than our tour route took, and it would’ve been nice to be able to hop on and off over a longer period, grab a bite, and keep the bikes all day versus trudging around on foot before and after the tour as we did. One pet peeve, Yourent did not have a toilet to offer (is that a French thing?) and they sent our friends on a wild goose chase to find one such that they missed lunch, while Steve and I enjoyed crepes in a nearby cafe. Cost: 59€ each. (~ 20€ more via the apps).

Our excellent local French guide, Louis.

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Bicycle Tours From Mediterranean Cruise Ports – Part 3: Italy

December 30, 2023 cyclerich Leave a comment

Tour in bicicletta dalle città portuali italiane

By Richard Fox, December 2023

There’s nothing like bicycling in Italy. Most bike tourists experience extended tours of places like the Tuscany region, but we cruise ship travelers also had our fair share of Italian cycling bliss. Three of our four cruises stopped at a total of nine Italian ports, and some ports were visited more than once. We enjoyed five bike tours from the Italian ports.

Starting from the northwest, our Celebrity Edge stopped in the beautiful town of Portofino. There were no biking opportunities there, but it is better seen on foot anyway, especially walking around the town and out to the fort and lighthouse. The Edge also stopped in La Spezia, where we accessed a spectacular bike tour in the hills and coast outside of Cinque Terre National Park. Livorno, a stop on Norwegian Breakaway, was the gateway for a bus excursion to Firenza (Florence). Between the required shuttle to downtown Livorno to catch the next phase of travel, and uncertainty of the timing of getting to Firenza it was near impossible to coordinate a bike tour, and none were offered by the ship. Walking is the best way to see Firenza as we did, but if you have the time, it is also a lovely city and surrounding Tuscany area to explore on a bike tour.

The situation is similar in Roma, where passengers first have to take a shuttle to downtown Civitivecchia, and then figure out how to get to Roma from there, making the timing of a tour difficult. We had a few days in Roma between two cruises, and were able to take advantage of a fabulous bike tour there. The Napoli (Naples) port is adjacent to downtown, so when our Norwegian ship docked there it was easy to meet our guides nearby and do a great bike tour to a vineyard. We spent three days in Salerno from Holland America, but that was our jumping off point to tour Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast, so we didn’t bike there. Our stop in lovely Sorrento was from a surprise last minute change, so we didn’t have the chance to look into cycling there, although it seems walking was the perfect way to explore the town in the time allotted. Bike tours are offered in the surrounding countryside, better suited for longer stays there.

Holland America stopped twice in Messina on the island of Sicily, and we did a nice coastal self-guided ride there. Finally, in the Puglia region on the southeast coast we experienced a delightful bike tour of the city of Bari.

The four guided tours were led by wonderfully knowledgable and affable locals that made the already beautiful and interesting routes even more enjoyable. The spectacular scenery always thrilled the senses, and the local cuisine we sampled delighted the palate, especially the pasta, focaccia, and gelato. Like most of the Mediterranean ports, these areas combined scenic waterfront paths with fascinating and welcoming ancient cities to cycle through. The tours were booked either through the apps GetYourGuide or Viator, or directly from the shops.

Our 2nd of four cruise ships, Celebrity Edge anchored off of Portofino (banner photo) on the Italian Riviera, showing a tender heading towards the ship.

LEVANTO – LA SPEZIA: Cinque Terre Area, Liguria

Cinque Terre National Park is all about the hiking between the five charming seaside villages, although in fall 2023 some of the main trail sections were still closed due to landslide damage. The Cinque Terre train runs between the two main access cities, La Spezia to the south and Levanto to the north. Unfortunately the train mostly runs through tunnels with a paucity of vistas. The more scenic transport option if you have time is the ferry that accesses the villages. La Spezia Centrale train station is about 3 km uphill from the port, where our Celebrity Edge ship was docked. After the free shuttle from the ship to port entrance we took a cab for 15€ to get to the station for the 25 minute trip to Levanto to meet our bike tour. We later walked back to the port through pleasant pedestrian promenades through town and along the shore. I noticed bikes on La Spezia streets and the waterfront promenade, so if you stay in town you can look into a rental to explore there.
EBikeInCinqueTerre in Levanto offers e-bike adventures into the National Park, way up in the hills on back roads, then dropping down into one of the villages. Though Cinque Terre is their calling card, EBikeIn also offers an alternate route, which is outside of the park boundary but with similar views, and without the Cinque Terre crowds. Our group of four opted for this less crowded version. We climbed, and climbed, and climbed from Levanto into the Ligurian hills of Framura, our Class I e-bikes giving us plenty of assistance, with some exertion still required. Our wonderful guide, Sara, provided lots of interesting information about the region. The scenery was stunning as promised on this beautiful sunny day, with vistas of the sea and far off villages. We stopped for coffee in a small charming hamlet then back down to sea level. We passed the village of Bonassola and at a 400-year old chapel overlooking Bonassola Bay, Sara brought out local wine and delicious focaccias. We took the Mare e Monti rail trail back toward Levanto. It was mostly in lit tunnels, with some breaks for sea vistas. This was a fabulously satisfying bike ride, a home run, the best ride of our trip. No surprise that EBikeIn gets all 5* reviews. Distance: 24 km (18 miles); Elevation gain: of 500 m (1600 ft). Cost: 70-80€ each if booked directly with EBikeIn, more via the apps.
After the tour, on our return train ride to La Spezia, we stopped at Vernazza since we wanted to experience at least one of the Cinque Terre villages. As expected it was a beautiful village in a stunning setting, though overflowing with tourists. We had our traditional gelato while gazing at the village from the harbor. The Cinque Terre train is 5€ per trip, or 18€ for a daily Cinque Terre Trento Pass that includes unlimited train rides, admission to a couple of park hiking trails that require an entry fee, and other perks.

ROMA

To get into Rome from its port requires a free shuttle to downtown Civitavecchia, and then taking a train, bus or taxi into Rome that can take 1 to 2 hours. Doing a ship-sponsored tour is expensive but ensures you get back and forth in time, however they rarely offer bike tours. On our port day during our Holland America cruise we just did a walkabout around Civitavecchia, which was enjoyable. Many cruises start or end in Rome, and thankfully in our case we had three days in Rome between our Holland America and Norwegian cruises, so were able to do what we wanted without time constraints.

On our arrival day in Rome, thanks to a helpful AirBnB host who let us check in early, we did a very memorable afternoon e-bike tour, led by Mario of Landimensiontravel.it. We were the only ones on the tour, but he was just as enthusiastic and fun as if it was a big group. He gave us the option of a route to see the major sites, or an alternate tour with hidden gems with less crowds, which we took, since we had other days to see the sites like the Coliseum on foot. The shop was an easy walk from our AirBnB near Piazza Navona, versus others that started near the Coliseum. We explored his trendy Trastevere neighborhood, and swung by St Peter’s Square and way up Janiculum Hill for pano city views. We sampled some local sweet treats as we wandered mostly along narrow cobblestone back streets, with minimal exposure to crazy Rome traffic, stopping to see some lesser known but fascinating points of interest. It was the highlight of our Rome stay, and one of our favorite e-bike tours. Cost: ~65€, directly or via Viator, as we did.

There’s a wide variety of bike tours available in Rome, as well as along the Appian Way past Roman aqueducts. Many rave about that route but it can be bumpy and muddy so check conditions before taking a tour or renting a bike to do that. There is also a paved bike path along the Tiber River through Rome.

Riding towards Castel Sant’Angelo, also known as Hadrian’s mausoleum, a cylindrical fortress that lies on the banks of the Tiber River near Vatican City.

Mario showed us how to use Rome’s famous and drinkable water fountains

Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. Saint Cecilia, a Roman virgin martyr, is the patron Saint of musicians.

Famous Biscottificio Artigiano. Mario had arranged to get us cookie samples. Deliziosa!

Mario treated us to fabulous granitas in a Trastevere cafe.

NAPOLI - Campi Flegrei Region

The port of Naples is adjacent to the city, with no shuttle or tender required. We wanted to dive right in and get the feel of this historic city with a famed Margherita pizza in our cartoon balloon. We were willing to brave its crazy streets to do a city e-bike tour that included sampling of pizza. Alas our tour with Mavin BikeRent via Viator was cancelled last minute because of an ill guide. We were offered a substitute, a tour to a local vineyard north of the city, so we did that instead. All participants were picked up from near the port and driven about 20 minutes north to the outskirts of Naples to their shop and provided with good, solid e-bikes.

The route was on city bike paths and streets leaving the shop, emerging to a low traffic street along the stunning Pozzuoli seafront with views across to Capris. Our guide discussed the volcanic origins of the area that is still active and concerning. After riding through a historic district, a small industrial area and the ruins of the central market of the ancient Roman city of Pozzuoli, we reached the volcanic crater lake, Avernus (Lago d’Averno), “gateway to Hades .” Across were ruins of Roman baths and a vineyard. We rode through the vineyard on a dirt path and were treated to red and white Campi Flegrei region wine made there, along with a delicious spread of local focaccia, olives, cheese and sandwiches. We had a good visit with the other participants, a nice feature when a tour includes a meal.

The ride back started nicely around the lake, but soon went to a hilly busy road with no bike lanes, with just a couple of panoramic views out to sea from the hilltops. Our one stop was to view the impressive Roman theatre site, Anfiteatro Flavio di Pozzuoli, circa 1AD, the third largest amphitheater built by the Romans. It was closed for renovations so we just peered in from the street. I would have preferred to return via the scenic uncrowded coastal route instead of the busy inland route, even if it meant missing this one stop, although Steve enjoyed the faster inland route. Our guide exclaimed “if Napoli drivers honk at you, they’re just saying hello!” When we returned to port it was too late to go into town for pizza, alas we will just have to return. All in all It turned out to be yet another fantastic exhilarating biking day from a port city. Cost: ~85€, directly or via Viator, as we did.

Our guide explains the volcanic origins of and current threats to this region

MESSINA – Sicily

Messina has a compact and beautiful old town with the giant Piazza del Duomo facing the impressive Cathedral of Messina (Basilica Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta). Its bell tower contains the biggest and most complex mechanical and astronomical clock in the world. At noon crowds gather to watch its gilded bronze statues move and emit sounds for 12 minutes related to Messina’s civil and religious tradition .

Downtown Messina can be easily explored by bike, or on foot, just a couple of blocks from the cruise port with no shuttles required. Other interesting historic parts of town are up in the hills. The signature easy scenic bike ride here is 32 km (20 miles) up and back from downtown Messina to the northeast tip of Sicily at Torre Faro where there is a quaint village, beautiful beaches, a fort, and a giant tower, Pilone di Torre Faro, once used for high tension lines. The Riserva Naturale Orientata Laguna di Capo Peloro – Pantano Piccolo o Lago di Torre Faro (nature preserve) is also in this area.

We rented e-bikes from MediterraneaBike, about 10 minutes walk from the port. The first km of cycling from downtown was dicey riding amongst impatient Sicilian drivers, but a welcome seaside bike path then appeared, providing stunning views of the sea across to the Italian mainland. Unfortunately the bike path does not continue to Torre Faro and in a few km we were once again thrown into the mix with the speedy little cars. Traffic thinned as the route led to a community along a lake, Lago di Ganzirri, and then to Torre Faro and the features described above. A loop route wound around the other side of the lake and back the same way we came. I found this route on the Komoot app from MediterraneaBike’s web page, and it provided turn by turn instructions, which was very helpful for the Torre Faro loop portion at the end. Cost: 50€, daily e-bike rental fee, no hourly. Since it is a flat route you may consider a regular bike instead for 25€ .

Cathedral of Messina at noon, and this is shoulder season

BARI – Puglia Region

Bari is the principal city of the Puglia region of southeast Italy. Bari’s cruise port is located within a 10 to 15 minute walk of the old town district, Bari Vecchia, where bikes are allowed on the narrow streets when feasible to ride. Interesting features abound, such as ladies making and selling their pasta along the ancient streets, while on another street vendors fry and sell polenta, called Sgagliozze. At the harbor fishermen sort and sell their catch including octopus. Of the several historic churches, the main one is 12th Century San Nicola (Saint Nicolas) Basilica. Bari’s fortress, Castello Normanno-Svevo or Norman-Swabian Castle was first completed in 1132. A waterfront promenade makes for a nice scenic cycle for over a kilometer. Otherwise biking outside Bari Vecchia is on a few bike paths or with traffic in the newer sections, some streets having bike lanes or sharrows markings. Topography is fairly flat, so e-bikes while nice to have are not mandatory for an easy ride.

When planning I had seen several bike tours on the usual sites. One included a pasta making session. We did the basic 2.5 hour Highlights of Bari e-bike tour operated by ToursPuglia. Our guide, Rocco, was fun, enthusiastic and proud of his city and that made us appreciate it even more. We enjoyed the thorough introduction to Bari and the Puglia region, saw all the key sights, and had a great time. The e-bikes were the most comfortable of any on our trip, especially important for tall Steve, who had suffered in Messina. We would’ve liked even more actual riding with such nice bikes. After leaving Rocco we walked around Bari Vecchia until we were pooped. I can recommend doing a bike tour here, especially with Rocco of ToursPuglia, then walking around as we did. Cost: ~59€, booked directly or via an app.