Cycling the Camino de Santiago - Central Route - starting in Porto

My wife’s friends did the ride last September, starting in Porto. There was a coastal bike route or an inland one. They chose the coastal route and said in some places they walked the bikes because of all the sand. They went through a company they weren’t totally satisfied with (communications were not responded to in a timely fashion) and had Trek bikes with mountain bike type tires provided by the company. They were not the smooth road tires they were used to. She also said there were plenty of hills and the ride was more difficult than she thought it would be.

The terrain between Porto and Santiago de Compostela is very hilly. Not sure about good bike trails. You wouldn't want to use the highways.

We considered riding the camino and watched A LOT of YouTube videos about it. We opted to walk the beginning and end of the camino.

One of the videos we saw about a couple riding told how they rented the bikes prior to the start, but any mechanical failure was theirs to deal with and repair. No idea if all operators are like that...

We also considered using a tour operator for our walk to book lodging, etc. You can grab a place each night on your own if you're inclined. We wanted to ensure we had a bed and a shower. It took the better part of two days at the computer, but I found and booked places to stay, companies to transfer our luggage so we will only walk with what we want during the days, and necessary transfers to St Jean Pied de Port from Pamplona for the start, and transfers across the Meseta (because we are disinclined to walk that for a couple of reasons).

Compared to quotes we got from tour operators, we saved about $2700 for the two of us, and we also upgraded places we want to stay along the way and even built in two layover days to lounge by the pools...

It was work, but clearly, the $2700 in savings made the effort worth it.

You might want to search https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/members/ivar.1/ for cycling info. We walked the Frances in 2019 and on that route the cycling route is a bit different on certain stretches. If you do decide to cycle, on any route, please be very aware of walkers. I can’t tell you how many times I saw cyclist almost take a walker out and they tend to “take over the path”.
We plan to walk the Portuguese in 2024 and the two books I have “Pilgrims Guide Portugal” by Brierley and “Village to Village Portuguese” by Harris do not address cycling.

Also we planned our Camino on our own. It was easy with booking sites (private rooms) and bag transfer service.

HI Renee
What website did you use to book and transport your stuff? Looking to do the trip walking next summer.
Thank you