Europe Bike Tours & Cycling Trips

This itinerary combines the very best of these three countries, from the nightclubs of Berlin to the soaring Swiss Alps to the rich heritage and… If you step just a block or two away from the popular tourist spots, you will find that the old-world sparkle of Prague still shines brightly. The amazing buildings, squares, and streets alone are enough to alter one’s view of the world.

You can always add extra miles if you are covering distances easily, but if you set high targets and fail to meet them you will likely be miserable during the journey and come home disappointed. Take a bike-savvy friend and hunt around thrift shops and yard sales for a sturdy second-hand model. The same applies to gear you might need like panniers, cycling bags that hang off a rack on your bike. Search online sites like eBay and Craig’s List for bargains and consider making your own panniers if you’re handy with a sewing machine. There are many sites online that show how to make your own bags.

How To Select A Bike Destination For Your Cycling Triptrek 520

I stayed with complete strangers, either through Warmshowers.org or who I met out on the roads. I spent 11 days riding with a group I met in Brussels, 5 days with a couple of gentlemen I met on my way to Munich, and over a week with a fellow female solo cyclist I met in Croatia. I shared meals and traded stories with other travellers at hostels and campsites, and with cyclists I met on the road. I can’t imagine a better way to connect with the many beautiful souls in this world. Europe is an exciting melting pot of culture, architecture, cuisine, fashion, and history.

Helpful to work with an agency based in Australia on our time zone. You can find many good books on cycling in Europe, along with online info . As someone who had only toured in the US, it was such a pleasant and eye opening experience. I’ll certainly look into Camino de Santiago, I really would love to hit some of the Spanish countryside.

The Trip Planning Process And Suggested Timeline

I was at the end of the travel spectrum having exhausted all options, and had no inkling at that time about the wonders of taking a bicycle halfway around the world. There were many times in preparing for this tour and on the ride itself that I could have quit. And I gave myself the kindness and self-compassion to do so, if I needed to. Sheelagh’s no stranger to fear and anxiety, yet she decided to pedal from Scotland to Croatia on a bicycle… Sheelagh’s story of resilience and vulnerability is one that I hear again and again from solo female travelers, but it never gets less intriguing. My first bike tour was much like the first scenario, and I absolutely loved it.

Every day we would buy bread, sliced meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, peppers and english cucombers , perhaps fruit for dessert, and find a pleasant location for a relaxed lunch. Often this would be a park bench along a river or with some other view, or simply sprawled in the grass. If it was raining we could usually find something suitable after a bit of a search. One thing to be aware of is the open hours of stores in the country/region/town you’re in. A lot of stores are closed from 12-2 or something of the sort, and may be closed an entire weekday as well.

The 6 Best Cycling Tours In Europe

The European Union has tried to promote cycling vacation by establishing a network of cross-europe bike routes called Eurovelo. For more of my travel guides like this, visit my Destinations page. Be sure to check out my guide on How To Plan A Backpacking Trip here. One thing to note when you buy a local sim card is that make sure that it actually allows you to go roaming with your data. Go to a proper phone carrier shop, let them activate the roaming data and they should provide you with all the information you might need to stay connected while traveling for 3 months. Buses are one of the best and cheapest ways to travel around Europe.

Swans like to call Lucerne home, and it’s easy to understand why. Set beside a gorgeous glacial lake, this Swiss village has mountain views, a restored medieval covered bridge and pretty flower-covered windowsills everywhere. Hike into the surrounding mountains, rent a paddleboat on the lake or wander the winding streets. Lucerne is a great place to try traditional Swiss cuisine like raclette or fondue – and save your extra breadcrumbs for the swans.

Through French Countryside To Paris

They are the companies I use the most and are always the starting point in my search for travel deals. Make copies of your personal documents, including your passport and ID. Forward your itinerary along to loved ones so they’ll know where you are. If you’re worried about scams, you can read about common travel scams to avoid here. That said, there are scams and petty crimes you should watch out for, especially around popular tourist landmarks.

The more challenging course goes over the river down through Carlux and to St Nathalene through the magical wooded countryside. Also, you do not have to worry about your luggage, as it can be transported in between hotels so you can have fun cycling. Cycling around will give you a chance to sample some regional delicacies ranging from truffles to foie gras and the locally produced walnuts. Families can plan to visit in June to see the greener vegetation. Or come during in the last days of August or September to swim in the warm waters (about 24ºC/75ºF).

Hiking Tours

Now busy at home with a growing family, he works from our farm headquarters as our chief tour designer and stays very busy managing our routes and tour quality control. Cycling tours are a great alternative way to travel to destinations you might not see otherwise. These bicycle tours are not possible from a rental car or train.

The route came from my personal desire and what I could see as a certain community need for an off-road touring route across Europe, in a similar vein to the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in the United. I wanted to make a mostly rideable, relatively easy route, where the difficulty comes from its length, the various climates it crosses, and the amount of time it’ll take to complete it. This entirely solo project has taken me around three years to complete. I usually try to plan overnight stops in decent sized towns to give me variety in lodging, dining, and evening activity if I feel up for it. Particularly if you’re traveling in the high season and haven’t made reservations, you should make sure you end up in a town or city with multiple lodging options.

Accommodations

Traveling this way, you’ll not only save money while keeping fit, but you’ll experience a quieter side of Europe that many travelers rarely see. Some crazy people cycle the world with only $2,500 per year. I can’t imagine how it’s like to cycle the world with $5,000 was extremely hard for me. With $5,000 yearly budget, I could stay at a cheap hostel or hotel only sometimes. And I could get only $1-$3 meal that it’s very hard to go to a restaurant which costs like more than $10. For the tour, I had only one or two impressive things per year like visiting the Serengeti Safari tour for three days, $300.

Having interesting accommodation is an important part of any cycle vacation. If you are not camping consider the above suggestions when making your European Bicycle Touring accommodation arrangements. Rotel Inn in Passau along Danube Route caters to cyclistsI did look at some of the hotel search sites such as booking.com and Air bnb and got advice in a few places from bicycle forums. If a hotel booking site (i.e. booking.com) says the hotel is sold out, check direct with the hotel. Hotels normally hold back rooms for walk-in’s and direct sales and in one situation I was able to book 3 rooms in a desirable small hotel when booking search sites showed it sold out. On another situation our bicycles required repairs so we ended up extending our stay at one Bed & Breakfast and reducing our stay at another and revising our route slightly.

Travel Help

Signal turns, behind you before turning or changing lanes. Bike from Munich to Barcelona — a grand tour of Europe from the seat of your bicycle. We work hard to recruit, train, and support our trip leaders so they can create the kind of trips that have made us successful since the 1980s. Safety and risk management are at the forefront of our decision-making–from trip planning to leader training to supporting our groups in the field. Please keep in mind that sending mail to your child on an Overland trip is different than sending mail to a traditional camp because your child will be on the move.

Out of the countries covered in this guide, countries that are not part of the EU are the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. If you want to backpack Europe, then you may need a Visa. Entry and Visa requirements vary between different European countries although many of them do follow broadly similar criteria. Also, be aware that not all European cultures take kindly to drunkenness. The Mediterranean cultures tend to frown upon people who can’t handle their shit. The further north you go, the less people care about your state of mind.

Spanish Pyrenees To Costa Brava Bike Tour

Donald’s website contains links to cycle-friendly accommodation. Then, it’s into Sweden and long stretches without services on remote backcountry tracks and trails. Andy grew up in Oxford but got bored of normal life working in bike shops in his late 30s, so he left his home in South Wales to ride around Europe, looking for a new place to live.