Riding your bike somewhere new can be exciting. Depending on the circumstances, though, it can also be a challenge. It’s one thing if you’re going somewhere new in your own country, but things start to get trickier when you go to ride outside the country where you live.
After all, different places have different requirements. In some cases, you might be OK with your regular motorcycle license from home, while in others, you might need an International Drivers’ License. That’s cool if you planned ahead, but not so cool if you didn’t do the homework. Also, what if you’re traveling with your little sister, and what if you promised your parents that you wouldn’t take her on the back of your bike?
These are just a few reasons why a rider like YouTuber Usernamekate might choose not to ride their own bike as a tourist in a different country. Luckily, the city she’s visiting is Porto, Portugal—which happens to offer a very excellent-looking sidecar tour service. Both she and her sister were able to partake of some excellent sightseeing from the pillion seat and sidecar of a Porto Sidecar Tours rig—and true to the nature of sidecars, it seemed like almost everyone smiled and waved as they rode by.
It can be difficult to relinquish control, particularly if you’re usually the one piloting your machine—or even if you’re just used to driving. Still, in the right circumstance, it can be fun to just be a passenger, too. If you’re not constantly worried about where your next turn is, it’s a lot easier to just take in the scenery and magnificent history of the place you’re in—especially in a place like Porto.
The cobbled streets are picturesque, but probably also not super fun to ride over at high speed. That’s why a scenic, low-speed sidecar tour like this seems like it’s the perfect way to take in this historic cityscape. Add the bonus of local guidance from a friendly tour guide who’s narrating the sights you’re seeing, and it seems like an even better idea for a place you’re visiting for the first time.
As far as we’re concerned, more cities should offer sidecar tours like this. It seems like a pretty ideal way to take one or two people around and show them the sights. It’s also a less intimidating way to get people who might not normally want to climb on the back of a bike to go out—and who knows, maybe even discover a budding motorbike passion they didn’t even know that they had.
