How an E-bike Made My Portugal Trip Superb

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

As a substitute, our six-person group, together with two guides, could be spending six leisurely days biking by cork and olive groves, doing a contact of climbing, attempting 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 masking between 3½ and 27 miles a day. If that feels 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 with regards to journey, so I used to be glad to depart all the choices and logistics to the professionals. What’s extra, the journey could 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 fitness center constantly all year long.

However my concept of a exercise is a low-impact yoga or Pilates class or, extra typically, pedaling an train bike whereas watching TV. With that form 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 desires to maneuver.” Nicely, it didn’t. When, I might ask myself, would that help van be coming alongside?

The bodily stress of those journeys was typically accompanied by some social awkwardness, too. Most individuals could be there with a companion, pal, or member of the family; I used to be at all times alone. I might push myself to be extra outgoing, however I discovered it laborious to insert myself, notably as a result of I used to be normally the one particular person keen on taking it simple. One yr, whereas biking the Jap Shore of Maryland—what have to 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 climbing round Costa Rica.

Nonetheless, there’s a deep sigh of contentment and the sense of a very 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 by which to pedal. As a substitute, I used to be inspired to study that e-bikes are generally supplied as of late, notably in Europe and the U.S., normally at no further 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 actual 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 preserve tempo with the group—particularly in case your coronary heart is ready 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 might discover myself pondering, “Is that it?” My outfit was by no means sweaty sufficient to wish washing out. Sooner or later, 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 assuage 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 guide a extra intense itinerary in some hilly place that I can brag about having “biked throughout.” (I discovered that my pedal-assist bike might flip a hill into such an insignificant impediment that it felt virtually 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 deliver my very own extra snug bike seat.

4 MORE OPTIONS FOR ELECTRIC RIDES

ALTITUDE SEEKERS

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

CYCLE SAFARI

Friends of andBeyond within the Phinda Non-public Recreation 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 part of Basque chef Mikel Olaizola on a DuVine tour of northern Spain’s culinary sizzling spots, together with pintxo bars and eating places akin to 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 underneath the headline “Charging Forward.”