For the love of driving

What’s included?

  • 7 nights in a selection of 4* and 5* hotels. All include a daily buffet breakfast

  • Return crossings from Plymouth to Santander in 4 berth Cabins, including dinner on both crossings in the a la carte restaurant

  • 3 course dinners included on 5 nights in the hotels or at a local restaurant with wine allocations and water

  • Private parking for your car each night at the hotels.

  • 7 recced routes across the Picos de Europa down to the Serra De Estrella and back on pre programmed TomTom's

  • Loan of high powered radios for fun on the road during the tour

Sold Out - Please email us to be added to the reserve list.

The Peaks & Summits | Spain & Portugal GT Tour is a 9-night road trip (including 2 days on the ferry) that offers some unforgettable driving roads through Spain and Portugal in early October 2023.

The event starts in Plymouth, with a 22 hour mini cruise on board the Pont Aven to Santander, a group dinner is included so everyone can get together and chat about the next 7 days taking on the Peaks to Summits, 1700-mile, challenging route. Two countries, one adventure on the spectacular routes driving from peak to summit through Spain’s Picos de Europa, Portugal’s Serra de Estrella and many more national parque roads, making this a grand tour to remember!

The ultimate destination is the Estrela Mountain range, where the roads are described by many as both Portugal’s version of the infamous Stelvio pass, and the ‘best road in the world.’ We will let you decide if they are right! The Estrela is a natural wonder that sits 1993 meters above central Portugal, which is characterised by its unique rock formations, deep valleys and stunning plateaus, all that you will encounter on the journey to reach the highest point in mainland Portugal.

To get a taste for the area of those rock formations and summits, check out the spectacular video Joe Achilles did last year to celebrate 10 years of YouTube, where he took a Porsche 992 GT3 Touring on a very similar journey through Spain and Portugal to get to what he describes as the ‘best road in the world.’ It certainly gives a real flavour of what to expect! CLICK HERE

Check out more details of the peaks and summits on this trip in the brief itinerary section below.

The tour includes 7 nights in a fantastic selection of both modern larger and smaller boutique 4* and 5* hotels, most of which have spa facilities, perfect for that massage after a tough but exhilarating day behind the wheel. The event will also be based in 2 of the hotels for 2 nights so less packing up of the car, the first of which is in the Chaves area, just inside the Portuguese border, and the second in the coastal city of Porto. This will give everyone the chance to take shorter route options and also offers partners the choice of taking a break if they wish, and enjoy more of the facilities in the hotels.

There will be group dinners on 5 of the 7 nights at the hotels, that will include wine and water allocations as well as a full buffet breakfast each day to fuel you for the road ahead.

On top of the hotel dinners on 5 nights, this tour will include group dinners on the boat as well, both on route to Santander and on the return leg back to the UK, where you can discuss the best bits of this ‘Peaks & Summits’ tour.

Peaks & Summits | Spain & Portugal GT Tour 23

7 days in the car taking on the 1700-mile challenging route driving from the peaks of Spain’s Picos de Europa to the summit of Portugal’s Serra de Estrela before heading west to enjoy the coastal city of Porto…..

Peaks & Summits | Spain & Portugal GT Tour 23 route map
Peaks & Summits | Spain & Portugal GT Tour 23 route map

Peaks & Summits | Spain & Portugal GT Tour 2023

Sold Out - Please email us to be added to the reserve list.

The full tour cost of £5500** is based on 2 people sharing a double or a twin room and includes all the items listed in the features section above and those mentioned in the event description. The single occupancy price is £5100.

** Please Note: As we haven’t carried out the first recce yet, we reserve the right to alter the price both up or down as appropriate. This is because of the need to launch the event, despite still awaiting full costings for a couple of hotels. We also haven’t decided which is the best hotel for our needs around Chaves, so have booked both hotels on the recce to make sure we get you the best hotel possible within the budget.

If you wish to secure a place on the Peaks to Summits grid, please fill out the entry form below, and we will send you a deposit invoice for £1500 by return. Once paid this will secure your spot on the tour, with the remainder of the balance due no later than 90 days before the tour departs.

*Please note: By paying the deposit to GTTourz Ltd you are also confirming that you have read and understood our Terms & Conditions and our refund policy.

Those terms include the ‘loss of your deposit’ clause if you decide you cannot make the event, so we strongly advise you to take out suitable travel insurance at the time of booking to cover all eventualities resulting in you having to cancel the tour for any reason whatsoever!

The tour price does not include:

  • Any Pre or Post tour extensions
  • Road tolls
  • Fuel and Insurance
  • Food and drinks other than those items stated
  • Lunch stops
  • Spa treatments
  • Hotel extras

Individual T&C’s for this event: Peaks & Summits | Spain & Portugal GT Tour is an exclusive event for 12 to 14 cars. Please be aware that GTTourz Ltd reserves the right to cancel the tour if we do not reach the minimum number of cars (8) or for any other reasons listed in the T&C’s. If this occurs, we will offer a full refund or a place on an alternative tour of your liking (subject to availability).

Please also note: Hotel and restaurant choices may change if unforeseen problems arise. Should this occur, GTTourz Ltd will endeavour to book the equivalent accommodation and venues and notify all participants of any changes at the earliest opportunity. GTTourz Ltd tours are social driving adventures and are not fully guided tours, races, rallies, time trials, or competitive events in any way.

Itinerary

Peaks & Summits | Spain & Portugal GT Tour 23

Peaks to Summits | Spain & Portugal GT Tour

Sold Out - Please email us to be added to the reserve list.

Sunday 8th October | Arrive at Plymouth: Meet up at The Dock restaurant located in the ferry port itself for a snack before boarding the Ferry for the 22 hour crossing to Santander. We will hopefully all be in 4-berth club cabins (subject to availability) and the tour cost also includes dinner in the Pont Aven’s main restaurant, Flora. The last check-in time will be 3:45pm for a departure at 4:45pm. Please note the boat will leave without you if you’re not checked in on time, so please allow yourself plenty of time to get to Plymouth.

Monday 9th October | 3 hour drive 210km: Disembark the boat in Santander at 3:00pm.  As we want to include as many great roads as possible on this tour we have planned a route across the Picos, but it’s dependant on how quickly we clear passport control and customs checks. If we are late, we will use the coastal scenic motorway to reach Oviedo in plenty of time to check into the Barceló Oviedo Cervantes, a city centre 5* hotel in the home to Spanish F1 favourite, Fernando Alonso.

Tuesday 10th October | 6 hour drive 460km: The journey south sees us leaving the Picos and heading into the Parque Natural Las Ubiñas-La Mesa through Galicia, before skirting the Peña Trevinca, the highest mountain in Galicia! We then cross the border into Portugal and reach our hotel for the next 2 nights at Vidago Palace a proud member of the leading hotels of the world group!

Wednesday 11th October | 6 hour drive 340km: As we will be returning to the hotel tonight it’s a day to enjoy a lightweight car on this loop around northern Portugal that includes a lesser-known Porsche test route. The 30 Km section between Venda Nova and Boticas is a real test for any GT car not just a Porsche, it’s that good we will be coming back this way so you can enjoy it in either direction! The location of the hotel also means you could either have a lie-in and join the route at the lunch stop, but you will miss the aforementioned road, or maybe cut the day short and head back to the hotel after a great morning on our route around the Rabagao River. On returning to the hotel you will have the first of 2 free nights to relax and do as you wish for both food and entertainment.

Thursday 12th October | 6.5 hour drive 370km: The tour continues south to reach Portugal’s answer to the Stelvio pass! A driving paradise that is the Serra De Estrela mountain range, the highest point in mainland Portugal. En route to the majestic mountains and deep valleys, we will need to use a stretch of the A24 motorway to ensure we have enough time on the fabulous roads that follow. Once we turn off we will head east along the Douro River on the N-222, another famous road in Portugal that has been voted ‘The Best Road in the World’ by Avis! This is debatable of course, but the 22kms that separate Pinhão and Peso da Régua are absolutely amazing, with 93 bends and frequently changing viewpoints making it a great warm-up for the roads in the Estrela National Parque.

Once we reach the Parque itself, we have planned a route that takes in the best roads and views possible and includes runs over the main Stelvio esk road in both directions. As we are staying in the national parque tonight, there are options for a late night pass over the mountain at sunset for those keen to recreate some of the footage seen on Joe’s video, CLICK HERE. This route certainly ticks all the boxes for us and definitely has all the ingredients to make it a truly fabulous day behind the wheel of your car!

Friday 13th October | 5 Hour Drive 320km: Those early birds amongst the group that want to capture a sunrise over the Estrela summits can do so before breakfast, and the journey northwest begins on route to the coastal city of Porto. The route around the south side of the Parque as we leave is a great finale to our time in this driving mecca.  We then rejoin the motorway network to dispense with 100km’s of tarmac as quickly as possible, before we turn off to head across country again on route to Porto. The central location for the second two-night stay of the tour means you can really enjoy some Portuguese culture, whilst also enjoying the surroundings of the brand-new Renaissance Porto Lapa Hotel.

Saturday 14th October | 3.5 Hour drive 250km: We have planned an optional scenic route for today that heads out east along the Douro River on the N-222 to pick up the remainder of the road we didn’t use on the way to the Serra De Estrela. Alternatively, as it’s a 2-night stay again in Porto, feel free to have a lie-in and enjoy a leisurely breakfast sipping coffee and enjoying those infamous Pastel de Nata’s. Then post breakfast why not relax at the unique rooftop garden terrace whilst enjoying the unspoiled views of the downtown skyline before taking a dip in the iconic heated infinity pool. It’s your holiday, you can choose!

Sunday 15th October | 5.5 Hour drive 540 km: The penultimate day of driving heading back towards Oviedo is a longer one as we need to get as far north as possible so that you can enjoy the last days full route heading through the centre of the Picos de Europa. The route out of Porto kicks off with an 85km stint on the motorway, but don’t worry, we are heading back to the lesser know Porsche test route from earlier in the tour so that you can enjoy the 30km’s of great tarmac, but in the other direction! We then have another 80km of motorway to reach the border of Spain, not ideal, but when you have to cover ground quickly, needs must! Once there we will head north east through a couple of national parques, before a final section of the motorway leads us to our final hotel of the tour. Tucked away in a stunning Asturian valley, the Gran Hotel Las Caldas is a fantastic 5* spa hotel that offers you a chance to relax and reflect on the past week, before the final nights group dinner.

Monday 16th October | 5 hours 300km: The final drive back to Santander to catch the ferry for a 6:00pm departure will get underway at 8:30am, to ensure we have enough time to reach the ferry, on a fantastic route through the heart of the Picos de Europa that ends just 50km from Santander, where we join the motorway for a final run into the ferry terminal. The 21-hour crossing back to Plymouth offers you plenty of time to relax and enjoy a few beers and chat over the week’s tour with some new friends, before a last group dinner on the boat, again in the Pont-Avens main à la carte Flora Restaurant.

Tuesday 17th October | Disembark 3:30pm: A day on the ferry relaxing after a week on the road.

Please note: Routes and exact timings are just a guide to the day’s routes and are subject to change.

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