Rent a Bicycle in Germany

Here are two great resources for renting bicycles in Germany and for general information about bike touring in Germany.

Before you start looking around, however, note the two photos. Very few companies in Germany offer lightweight touring bicycles. Most are fully equipped city or hybrid bikes complete with fenders, lights, racks, and more. They are pretty substantial bikes. So keep that in mind as you explore your options. Bike Rentals Plus has actually shipped lightweight touring bikes from Italy to customers in Austria for rides down the Danube to Budapest. (One fellow bought one of our used bikes in perfectly good shape. We shipped it to him in Vienna and he sold it in Budapest for 60% of what he paid for it. Everyone was happy!

Bicycle Germany is a web site by Tim and Maxa Burleigh, avid touring cyclists. There may be more information than you want, here, but at least they've done a lot of research for you. If you looking to rent a bike in Germany, start on this page.

Here's another blog with fairly recent bike rental options in major German cities.

For more photos of Germans and Austrians cycling the Danube Bikeway visit our Flickr site.

To Take your own bike or not to take your own bike?

Now, that . . . is a good question.
(The fellow with the bike cases on the right brought his own bikes; his wife is shepherding their personal baggage; others in this group ordered rental bikes, ready to ride which you see on top of the van).

Of course you’d want your own bike on a European trip. Why not? You should weigh the pros ad cons and consider all the options BEFORE you head down any path.

1) DON”T EVEN THINK about “shipping” your bike. Take it as accompanied baggage on the airline (#2 below), MAYBE, but don’t ship. Take a look at this web site and run a test on shipping your bike with them.
Sports Express

My test showed a price of $397 (economy) and $625 (express) ONE WAY from Denver to Bologna.

I called UPS for another price: $502.85 ONE WAY with lots of red tape and, trust me, the potential for your bike to be held up in Italian customs upon arrival. The cost for a return shipment from Italy was $788.42. So that’s a total of $1,291.27 both ways.

2) Accompanied baggage on your airline:
a. Some airlines will take your bike for free but with recent fuel surcharges and generally high costs airlines are looking for every opportunity to charge you an extra fee. So plan on $75 – 125, worst case, for each direction.
b. Buy a Bike Friday or other folding bike and avoid this charge.

Explore options yourself if you’d like: here are a couple web sites:

International Bicycle Fund page on traveling with your bike.

League of American Bicyclists

3) Once you arrive overseas.
a. Where you headed? Are you going to get on your bike at the airport and head off into the sunset? (What an image, I love it!)
b. Or are you going to be picked up, rent a car, take a bus or train?

In all these cases you need to plan for the next step once you get off the airplane:
1) BEST CASE SCENARIO: Make sure your rental car or van is big enough to hold your bike(s) luggage and all your passengers. (Or, have someone pick you up at the airport!)
2) NEXT BEST CASE: Fly in and out of the same airport. Book a hotel nearby and make sure they have space to store your bike case while you are out on the road.
3) Be prepared to wrestle your bike in its case onto trains and buses. Not easy, but doable. We’ve done it plenty!
4) DO NOT: Ship your bike, boxed or not, on any European trains separate from you. You WANT your bike on the train WITH you, in your compartment where you can see it. If there is a bike or baggage car where you deliver the bike and hand it to an attendant, then you are ok relinquishing the bike (get a claim check!) Otherwise, keep it with you!
5) Bikes on Trains: most European train systems will allow you to take your bike on the train with you for a small fee. In France and Italy, for example, all short and medium haul trains take bikes. The long distance trains are more problematic. So don’t plan to take bikes on those trains. For our post on bikes on trains click here.

Costa Rica Bicycle Tour

Bicycling in Costa Rica is great during the winter months, especially when temperatures are 23º (F) in Minneapolis, 16 º in Milwaukee, and 22 º in Cleveland, as they are today. You can take your own touring or mountain bike to Costa Rica without much problem. We can suggest some hotels near the airport in San Jose where you could leave bike boxes or cases. If you take a touring bike or racing bike make sure you put a little heftier tires (25 – 28 would be best) for the roads there. But quite honestly, you’ll likely have more fun in Costa Rica with a mountain bike. It will open up the entire country to you so you can explore. Without a mountain bike you’ll be limited to paved roads with lots of potholes. But contrary to popular belief (notably people who have driven a car in Costa Rica) while the roads are pretty bad, they’re not bad for bicycling. Bicycling in and around San Jose isn’t very pleasant because it’s congested and there’s quite a bit of traffic. So head north to La Fortuna to explore on the flat of the San Carlos plains or into the foothills of the Cordillera Central and the hills around Arenal Volcano. La Fortuna is a great place to be based for a few days, to rent a bicycle, or to take a half-day or full day bicycle tour. Our best recommendation for renting bikes here by the hour or by the day is Bike Arenal. We set this company up about six years ago and taught them most of what they know. They do a great job. Tell ‘em the folks from Bike Rentals Plus sent you and they’ll treat you with tender loving care. AND, they’ll show you the real Costa Rica. Bike Arenal can also take you on a half-day or full-day bicycle tour. A great way to see the wildlife, enjoy the flowers, and get to know Costa Rica.

Springtime in Paris - a Weekend Bicycle Tour

Ok, this isn't a bicycle tour in the real sense of the word, but it would be hard to beat a low-cost, do-it-yourself weekend in Paris with bicycles like this one!

Get yourself to Paris, check in to a centrally located hotel, and make use of the Velo Libre bike-share network for your transportation. The hotel listed on this link, Hotel Andrea Rivoli, has a Velib' station right outside the door!

For a photo essay on the Paris Velib' program, visit our Flickr pages. This little photo essay shows you how the program works.

Here's a detailed description of how the Velo Libre program works.

And this link hooks you up with the official Velib' web site in English.

Renting a Villa for a Site-Based (Hub and Spoke) Bicycle Tour

We see lots of people now renting villas for a one or two-week bicycle tour. They may take their own bike or they'll rent one in country and spend time relaxing by the pool, pedaling, and touring nearby villages.

The best places for bike trips like these are Tuscany, in Italy, and Provence in the South of France. Both regions have a dense network of roads, lots of sights to see, great food, people, and plenty of villas for rent. On a villa bicycle vacation you can take the entire family, even the non-cyclists. Those who don't pedal can enjoy the pool, go walking in the countryside, or drive to the nearby village while you enjoy pedaling!

Here are just a few resources for your next villa and bicycle vacation:

About.com has an Italy blog by Martha Bakerjian. Martha lives in Tuscany and has spent time in Sardinia. Her blog has a variety of lodgings listed.

Bike Rentals Plus can help you with villas in Provence and in Tuscany as well.