Great Route of the Historical Villages

If 12th century villages, castles and beautiful rural landscapes sound like your kind of bike tour, then your best bet will be the Historical Villages Trail. In the heart of Center of Portugal, this trail will take you back in time through 12 villages and ancient castles, stunning natural parks like Serra da Estrela, and winding natural scenarios. Untouched and off the beaten path, this is where you will feel the authentic history and traditions of Portugal. This is the ultimate Mountain Bike crossing to do in Portugal, a big 600km loop.

Great Route of the Historical Villages - GR22

This great route connects the 12 Historical Villages of Center of Portugal by stages, in a circular track of 600 km.

Surprising castles dominating the landscape, military defence walls, natural parks of utter beauty like the Archaeological Park of Côa Valley, the Natural Park of Serra da Estrela, the Natural Park of Tejo Internacional and crystal-clear river beaches.

The stamp Leading Quality Trails – Best of Europe given by the European Ramblers Association highlights the sustainability criteria, the experience level provided to the user, the quality of the track, along with the natural and cultural richness of GR22.

The Great Route of the Historical Villages will make the connection to Spain in a near future.

Technical data and altimetry:
Length: 600 Km
No of stages: 13
No of Mountain Bike sectors: 13
Maximum altitude: 1588 m
Minimum altitude: 269 m
Positive accumulated gradient walking: 10.927
Negative accumulated gradient walking: 10.707
Positive accumulated gradient Mountain bike: 10.296
Negative accumulated gradient Mountain bike: 10.124
Difficulty level: medium
Difficulty level in Mountain Bike: difficult
Total duration: 30 days walking; 7 days in Mountain Bike; 12 days running
Advisable season: Spring and autumn