Post by OnlyMark on Sept 12, 2024 10:13:41 GMT 2
This is the Route N2 that traverses the whole length of Portugal.
The road/route is 739km long -
The estimate is that it would take about 12 hours to drive if you didn’t stop anywhere but in the 1980’s a lot of more major roads were built to cut this time down to about 6 hours - this meant most of the traffic diverted leaving the N2 to mainly local vehicles. There were slightly busy sections but on the whole, there was very light traffic.
It is now a road used for enjoyment for motorbikes and cyclists though I saw only a few of each.
“Estrada Nacional 2 or N2 was created by the National Road Plan of 1945 with the objective of connecting Chaves to Faro. Much of N2 resulted from the renumbering of existing roads, but some sections were built in the following decades. With a length of 739 km, the N2 was then the longest state road, crossing Portugal from north to south, "cutting" the country in the middle between east and west.”
It is a tourist/tourism route now and goes through three areas - Douro/Vila Real (mountainous, slow winding roads), Central Portugal (rolling countryside, cuisine, traditional small towns, local culture) and the Alentejo region (sparsely populated, quite empty, fairly flat).
I drove all but the first 20km and the last 20km or so over three days. I started in the south and exited in the north.
My main motivation was the drive itself, partly because I didn’t have a lot of time to go off exploring, but it is worth a lot longer than that to do so.
The road/route is 739km long -
The estimate is that it would take about 12 hours to drive if you didn’t stop anywhere but in the 1980’s a lot of more major roads were built to cut this time down to about 6 hours - this meant most of the traffic diverted leaving the N2 to mainly local vehicles. There were slightly busy sections but on the whole, there was very light traffic.
It is now a road used for enjoyment for motorbikes and cyclists though I saw only a few of each.
“Estrada Nacional 2 or N2 was created by the National Road Plan of 1945 with the objective of connecting Chaves to Faro. Much of N2 resulted from the renumbering of existing roads, but some sections were built in the following decades. With a length of 739 km, the N2 was then the longest state road, crossing Portugal from north to south, "cutting" the country in the middle between east and west.”
It is a tourist/tourism route now and goes through three areas - Douro/Vila Real (mountainous, slow winding roads), Central Portugal (rolling countryside, cuisine, traditional small towns, local culture) and the Alentejo region (sparsely populated, quite empty, fairly flat).
I drove all but the first 20km and the last 20km or so over three days. I started in the south and exited in the north.
My main motivation was the drive itself, partly because I didn’t have a lot of time to go off exploring, but it is worth a lot longer than that to do so.
