How an E-bike Made My Portugal Trip Wonderful

“Have you ever guys heard of JOMO? It’s the pleasure of lacking out!” It was a reminder from information Lander Crissman in regards to the laid-back mindset we ought to be conserving on our e-biking journey in southwestern Portugal organized by the clothing store Backroads. On this journey, there can be no time for work anxieties or type-A chasing of private bests.

As a substitute, our six-person group, together with two guides, can be spending six leisurely days biking by cork and olive groves, doing a contact of mountaineering, making an attempt our hand at browsing, and kayaking the well-known sea caves of the Algarve. We’d be staying at two beyond-luxurious lodges—every with a deluxe spa—and overlaying between 3½ and 27 miles a day. If that seems like minimal mileage for a biking tour, it’s: Backroads calls this multisport itinerary a Dolce Tempo, or “candy time,” departure. We’d additionally get a lift within the type of custom-built pedal-assist e-bikes.

I’m one thing of an overplanner in relation to journey, so I used to be glad to go away all the choices and logistics to the professionals. What’s extra, the journey can be one thing of a callback to my youthful days, once I took an annual bike journey for seven years straight. The will to not be left behind was good motivation to hit the health club persistently all year long.

However my thought of a exercise is a low-impact yoga or Pilates class or, extra usually, pedaling an train bike whereas watching TV. With that sort of health routine, I’d at all times wind up underprepared (and the terrain would at all times have extra hills than I’d thought). I’d discover myself trailing behind, legs burning, feeling lonely and discouraged. I’d repeat a favourite saying of my yoga trainer: “The physique needs to maneuver.” Effectively, it didn’t. When, I’d ask myself, would that assist van be coming alongside? 

The bodily stress of those journeys was usually accompanied by some social awkwardness, too. Most members can be there with a companion, buddy, or member of the family; I used to be at all times by myself. I’d push myself to be extra outgoing, however I discovered it onerous to insert myself, significantly as a result of I used to be often the one individual keen on taking it simple. One yr, whereas biking the Jap Shore of Maryland—what should be among the flattest terrain within the U.S.—I used to be not a lot exhausted by the mileage because the monotony of the times. After pedaling for hours, I’d have solely the time to bathe, wash my sweaty outfit within the sink, and eat dinner earlier than going to mattress. My subsequent group journeys have been out of the saddle: one was tenting and kayaking in British Columbia; the opposite every week of rafting and mountaineering round Costa Rica.

Nonetheless, there’s a deep sigh of contentment and the sense of a totally empty thoughts that I can solely discover whereas on a motorcycle. So I took one other have a look at biking journeys, hoping to discover a new (and flat) vacation spot wherein to pedal. As a substitute, I used to be inspired to be taught that e-bikes are generally provided lately, significantly in Europe and the U.S., often at no additional cost.

Andy Levine, founding father of the tour operator DuVine, says that e-bike demand has steadily grown, and that the know-how has revolutionized biking holidays. “The very fact is that e-bikes act as an equalizer,” Levine tells me. “They make it simpler to deal with climbs, experience longer distances, or just hold tempo with the group—particularly in case your coronary heart is about on a tour with extra superior terrain.”

On my Portugal journey, the bikes have been maybe too efficient: on the shut of every day’s experience, I’d discover myself considering, “Is that it?” My outfit was by no means sweaty sufficient to wish washing out. In the future, we completed our actions at 3:30 p.m., with dinner “at your leisure.” Each of our lodges, Praia do Canal Nature Retreat and Quinta da Comporta, have been gloriously remoted from civilization. However that meant there was nowhere to go close by. I hit the steam room to appease my muscle groups, however the one factor that harm was my bottom. 

It seems that JOMO isn’t for me—although I’m nonetheless pleased about this e-bike factor. Subsequent yr I’ll ebook a extra intense itinerary in some hilly place that I can brag about having “biked throughout.” (I discovered that my pedal-assist bike may flip a hill into such an insignificant impediment that it felt nearly immoral.) Although I’m not single, I’ll go for a “solos” departure, so I’ll have a better time mixing in with the group. And I would even go as far as to convey my very own extra comfy bike seat.

4 MORE OPTIONS FOR ELECTRIC RIDES

ALTITUDE SEEKERS

E-bikes are a great addition on this six-day Butterfield & Robinson journey on which vacationers ascend to 4,777 ft by means of Col du Pillon, within the Swiss Alps, and go to two cheese capitals: Gruyères and Emmental.

CYCLE SAFARI

Visitors of andBeyond within the Phinda Personal Sport Reserve, in South Africa, can e-bike by the Sand Forest with a information, recognizing fascinating birds just like the Lebombo wattle.

THE MICHELIN STARS

In 2026, vacationers can be a part of Basque chef Mikel Olaizola on a DuVine tour of northern Spain’s culinary sizzling spots, together with pintxo bars and eating places resembling Akelaŕe, which has three Michelin stars, in San Sebastián.

WHEELING THROUGH WINE COUNTRY

On a Backroads journey in northern California, cyclists begin close to San Francisco, experience alongside the Russian River, and cease at tasting rooms in Napa and Sonoma counties.—Parker Wright

A model of this story first appeared within the July 2025 situation of Journey + Leisure beneath the headline “Charging Forward.”