The competition to attract do-it-yourself cyclists is on in Italy as different regions attempt to lure cyclists to explore their region in particular. The Region of Lombardy (around Milan and including north-central Italy from the Po River to the crest of the Alps) has put up a web site in cooperation with Movimento Lento (Slow Travel: They have a series of itineraries by bicycle listed as follows:
Bergamo a Brescia
Brescia a Cremona
Brescia a Desenzano
Lecco a Milano
Novara a Milano
Novara ad Alessandria
Pavia a Milano
Canale Muzza
L'Adda nel Lodigiano
So take a look at the Movimento Lento web site.
The site is in Italian but easy to navigate. The folks at Bike Rentals Plus can help by delivering bikes and advising on logistics.
Showing posts with label do-it-yourself. Show all posts
Showing posts with label do-it-yourself. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
How to Find the Perfect Tuscan Villa for your Bicycle Vacation
There’s a charming Tuscan villa with your name on it. The plan for the week is to ride to wineries and castles on a trusty steed rented from BikeRentalsPlus! Everything is arranged: the kids have the downstairs room, the pool behind the villa is definitely open for the week and the family will be dining on Florentine steak at local restaurants that you’ve painstakingly researched.
But you’ve never done this sort of thing before – what should you expect? Lucky for you, we’ve compiled the comments from our 2009 customers into usable advice for next time. First: a bit of wisdom on the Italian train system, and then we’ll dive into customer feedback.
Planes, trains and automobiles
After arriving by plane, many customers rent cars – or they take advantage of Europe’s favorite transportation: the train. This year, many of our customers sieged trains with bikes in hand, ready to ride off into the Italian sunset. But navigating the Italian train system is sometimes harder than it is easy, so we wanted to share some travel tips to smooth the path of future and returning customers.
First, make sure to book the right train. Regional trains (designated by a little “R”) are the only ones in Italy that will accept bikes. There is no need to reserve these ahead of time, although it’s not a bad idea to check out and print the desired itinerary online the night before. Go to www.trenitalia.com to find the perfect route (there is an English version). Enter the departure and arrival towns (spell the names right or it won’t work!) and click the “all solutions” button to view all regional trains.
At the train station, buy at ticket at the counter or through an automated machine – but don’t forget to buy a ticket for yourself and your bike. Bike tickets usually cost around an additional €3.50. On the way out, validate both tickets (stamp them) in one of the many yellow boxes on the walls in the train station, or else you might end up with an additional but unwanted ticket from train personnel who occasionally pass by once onboard.
After purchase and validation, located one of the electronic departure screens inside our outside to find out which “bin” (short for “binario,” or platform) the correct train departs from. Be prepared to do some awkward weightlifting: some train stations have elevators and most do not allow passengers to cross the tracks for any reason – unattended, or mostly at all. So the only way to get from here to there is to go down stairs with the bike and back up the stairs on the other side. Batting the eyelashes at strong Italian men sometimes helps in this predicament, if one happens to be female.
Once the stairs are behind you, hopefully the train is already waiting on the tracks. Now where the heck does the bike go? Look for the little bike icon on the train, usually right behind the engine in the front of the train (but sometimes also towards the back of the train). Take a deep breath: getting in the train requires lifting yourself plus bike up the steep steps into the train. Once inside, most likely the bike will be hung by the wheel in a small bike car – so it’s not a bad idea to remove panniers ahead of time, if panniers are in use.
If for some reason you are picking up a bike in Italy and riding to France, then taking the train back with your bike, regional trains won’t do the trick. Long distance travel requires a faster train with less stops, such as an ES, InterCity or Freccia Rosa. On these trains, riders must take apart and pack up their bikes so they will be considered as luggage.
Finding your way
You said:
“The maps were pretty sparse and we could have done with somewhat more detailed ones”
“The map scale was 1:200,000. This did not provide nearly enough detail. After our first day, we found a store that sold maps and purchased a 1:100,000 map.”
“Most of the small highways had no road signs, nor town direction signs at intersections... Often what looked like a fairly major road on the map was fairly small street in reality.”
Our marked maps are maps with highlighted rides – so customers need to be comfortable reading and following a map without other written cues. The Italian countryside is a puzzle comprised of tiny, bike path-sized roads along routes created in Roman times. As such, the roads are winding and scenic, but can be confusing. Part of navigating in Italy is being comfortable with the fact that at first, visitors do get lost – but it’s how they react that counts.
One suggestion is that all cyclists purchase the local Touring Club Italiano (green) or Michelin yellow map of the area they’ll be riding in. The most common maps in Italy are the T.C.I. 1:200000 regional maps; they work quite well for bicycle touring even though a more detailed map might be useful especially for navigation in a city. F.m.b. makes more detailed maps that are generally available at rest areas on the highwy or book stores.
All riders should have a map to help them make decisions on the road. Customers who have purchased routes from us can use them in tandem with the Michelin or Touring Club maps. For example, if you want to lengthen or shorten the route, use the Michelin map in concert with our routes to do so easily. TCI or Michelin maps of various scale can typically be found at gas stations, souvenir shops, etc.
After buying a map, get comfortable with your new friend. Check out the map’s key for clues on what kind of terrain to expect. Squint closely: there are little chevrons – or tiny black arrows – pointing toward one direction on the road. The direction the arrows point indicates a climb or a descent, depending on which way the route is ridden. Eventually, the arrows will point in both directions (with a spot in the middle sans chevron) indicating the top of the hill.
Look even closer at the arrows and to see what else they explain: road steepness. One arrow means a 4-7 percent grade; two arrows means a 7-12 percent grade; and three arrows means more than 12 percent grade (and requires a really good breakfast!).
Also, get friendly with the little red dots placed along each road. These points indicate distance – two red dots with a red number in the midde (for example, 8.9) represent a tally of the kilometers on that section of road. By adding up each of these sections, riders can easily make predetermined or purchased routes longer or shorter. Maps allow flexibility and aid in answering the question of whether to lounge by the pool or check out that castle on the next hill.
Know what to look for – find signs for villages along the way and try to find them on the map. Upon entering a town there will be a large white sign with black lettering on the side of the road that announces the city boundary. Upon leaving, there will be another large white sign with the same town name, except this one will have a red slash through the word, signaling that you are no longer in the town.
Cyclists also need to know what not to look for: road signs may fall in this category, as usually only the main roads are visibly numbered. Instead, use landmarks like lakes, mountain ranges, historical buildings or even towns. And don’t be afraid to ask a local. A friendly Italian can literally point you in the right direction, even if you don’t understand much of the spoken directions. It might be a good idea to memorize at least the basic Italian direction words (like straight, left, right, etc).
Mechanical difficulties
You said:
“Also, having to deal with a malfunctioning seat clamp while out on a long ride. I had to find a hardware store in a small town and buy an allen key.”
Before each rental, each bike is personally ridden and checked by our in-house mechanics. But as cyclists know, stuff happens out there – so before vacation learn a couple basics, starting with how to fix a flat tire. We will gladly come to your rescue in dire need, but we encourage all of our customers to know how to fix a flat, if the need should arise.
Most of the time, we enjoy meeting our customers and doing a short bike fitting with them – adjusting the seat height and handlebars, putting pedals on and making other small adjustments. Ask our representative for additional help if you think you’ll need to adjust something later – they can demonstrate easy moves like readjusting seat height or handlebars (with the help of tools, if needed).
In any case, bringing a couple simple tools (allen wrench set and pedal wrench if you’re bringing your own pedals) also might not be a bad idea. In some cases, we can provide tools to our customers. But we have a limited supply, so we cannot guarantee we’ll be able to lend any of ours.
Hungry and thirsty for more
You said:
“I probably didn't carry enough water or snacks as it was very hot.”
In Italy, one rarely experiences the “middle of nowhere” feeling – small towns are sprinkled like parmesan cheese across Italy. Bring at least one water bottle – especially during the hot summer months – but there’s no need to stress about running out of acqua. Each town has a public fountain with potable water – unless specified otherwise by a sign that reads “Aqua non potabile”. Look for a fill-up in main squares (called piazzas), along the main road in town or by churches and cemeteries, where Italian visitors need fountains in order to water flowers on gravestones.
If stops are included in each day (maybe a castle tour or a late lunch at a restaurant with a killer view) remember that Italian working hours are not like American working hours. Italian time is fluid: the hours on the window may say “Open at 0900,” but if it’s raining or visitors are in town, the owner might decide to come in later. Local shops do what they please, especially in small towns or non tourist destinations. While bars open early, Italian stores and restaurants typically open later (around 0900 or 1000) and will close during the day for several hours (usually around 1300-1530… or so). Think about polishing military time skills, since Europeans are very comfortable with the 24-hour clock!
Also keep in mind that many stores might also be open on at least one day of the weekend – typically Saturday, when they might be open for part of the day – but closed on another weekday. And since Italy is a Catholic country, most stores, restaurants (and some bike shops) are closed on Sundays – so keep that in mind when planning your vacation abroad.
A few things to definitely pack in the suitcase: a windproof and/or waterproof layer (especially if riding in the mountains or visiting during fall or spring), sunglasses, phrase book, sunscreen, your own helmet and/or pedals (we only provide flat pedals or toe cages) – and of course, an open mind and sense of adventure.
But you’ve never done this sort of thing before – what should you expect? Lucky for you, we’ve compiled the comments from our 2009 customers into usable advice for next time. First: a bit of wisdom on the Italian train system, and then we’ll dive into customer feedback.
Planes, trains and automobiles
After arriving by plane, many customers rent cars – or they take advantage of Europe’s favorite transportation: the train. This year, many of our customers sieged trains with bikes in hand, ready to ride off into the Italian sunset. But navigating the Italian train system is sometimes harder than it is easy, so we wanted to share some travel tips to smooth the path of future and returning customers.
First, make sure to book the right train. Regional trains (designated by a little “R”) are the only ones in Italy that will accept bikes. There is no need to reserve these ahead of time, although it’s not a bad idea to check out and print the desired itinerary online the night before. Go to www.trenitalia.com to find the perfect route (there is an English version). Enter the departure and arrival towns (spell the names right or it won’t work!) and click the “all solutions” button to view all regional trains.
At the train station, buy at ticket at the counter or through an automated machine – but don’t forget to buy a ticket for yourself and your bike. Bike tickets usually cost around an additional €3.50. On the way out, validate both tickets (stamp them) in one of the many yellow boxes on the walls in the train station, or else you might end up with an additional but unwanted ticket from train personnel who occasionally pass by once onboard.
After purchase and validation, located one of the electronic departure screens inside our outside to find out which “bin” (short for “binario,” or platform) the correct train departs from. Be prepared to do some awkward weightlifting: some train stations have elevators and most do not allow passengers to cross the tracks for any reason – unattended, or mostly at all. So the only way to get from here to there is to go down stairs with the bike and back up the stairs on the other side. Batting the eyelashes at strong Italian men sometimes helps in this predicament, if one happens to be female.
Once the stairs are behind you, hopefully the train is already waiting on the tracks. Now where the heck does the bike go? Look for the little bike icon on the train, usually right behind the engine in the front of the train (but sometimes also towards the back of the train). Take a deep breath: getting in the train requires lifting yourself plus bike up the steep steps into the train. Once inside, most likely the bike will be hung by the wheel in a small bike car – so it’s not a bad idea to remove panniers ahead of time, if panniers are in use.
If for some reason you are picking up a bike in Italy and riding to France, then taking the train back with your bike, regional trains won’t do the trick. Long distance travel requires a faster train with less stops, such as an ES, InterCity or Freccia Rosa. On these trains, riders must take apart and pack up their bikes so they will be considered as luggage.
Finding your way
You said:
“The maps were pretty sparse and we could have done with somewhat more detailed ones”
“The map scale was 1:200,000. This did not provide nearly enough detail. After our first day, we found a store that sold maps and purchased a 1:100,000 map.”
“Most of the small highways had no road signs, nor town direction signs at intersections... Often what looked like a fairly major road on the map was fairly small street in reality.”
Our marked maps are maps with highlighted rides – so customers need to be comfortable reading and following a map without other written cues. The Italian countryside is a puzzle comprised of tiny, bike path-sized roads along routes created in Roman times. As such, the roads are winding and scenic, but can be confusing. Part of navigating in Italy is being comfortable with the fact that at first, visitors do get lost – but it’s how they react that counts.
One suggestion is that all cyclists purchase the local Touring Club Italiano (green) or Michelin yellow map of the area they’ll be riding in. The most common maps in Italy are the T.C.I. 1:200000 regional maps; they work quite well for bicycle touring even though a more detailed map might be useful especially for navigation in a city. F.m.b. makes more detailed maps that are generally available at rest areas on the highwy or book stores.
All riders should have a map to help them make decisions on the road. Customers who have purchased routes from us can use them in tandem with the Michelin or Touring Club maps. For example, if you want to lengthen or shorten the route, use the Michelin map in concert with our routes to do so easily. TCI or Michelin maps of various scale can typically be found at gas stations, souvenir shops, etc.
After buying a map, get comfortable with your new friend. Check out the map’s key for clues on what kind of terrain to expect. Squint closely: there are little chevrons – or tiny black arrows – pointing toward one direction on the road. The direction the arrows point indicates a climb or a descent, depending on which way the route is ridden. Eventually, the arrows will point in both directions (with a spot in the middle sans chevron) indicating the top of the hill.
Look even closer at the arrows and to see what else they explain: road steepness. One arrow means a 4-7 percent grade; two arrows means a 7-12 percent grade; and three arrows means more than 12 percent grade (and requires a really good breakfast!).
Also, get friendly with the little red dots placed along each road. These points indicate distance – two red dots with a red number in the midde (for example, 8.9) represent a tally of the kilometers on that section of road. By adding up each of these sections, riders can easily make predetermined or purchased routes longer or shorter. Maps allow flexibility and aid in answering the question of whether to lounge by the pool or check out that castle on the next hill.
Know what to look for – find signs for villages along the way and try to find them on the map. Upon entering a town there will be a large white sign with black lettering on the side of the road that announces the city boundary. Upon leaving, there will be another large white sign with the same town name, except this one will have a red slash through the word, signaling that you are no longer in the town.
Cyclists also need to know what not to look for: road signs may fall in this category, as usually only the main roads are visibly numbered. Instead, use landmarks like lakes, mountain ranges, historical buildings or even towns. And don’t be afraid to ask a local. A friendly Italian can literally point you in the right direction, even if you don’t understand much of the spoken directions. It might be a good idea to memorize at least the basic Italian direction words (like straight, left, right, etc).
Mechanical difficulties
You said:
“Also, having to deal with a malfunctioning seat clamp while out on a long ride. I had to find a hardware store in a small town and buy an allen key.”
Before each rental, each bike is personally ridden and checked by our in-house mechanics. But as cyclists know, stuff happens out there – so before vacation learn a couple basics, starting with how to fix a flat tire. We will gladly come to your rescue in dire need, but we encourage all of our customers to know how to fix a flat, if the need should arise.
Most of the time, we enjoy meeting our customers and doing a short bike fitting with them – adjusting the seat height and handlebars, putting pedals on and making other small adjustments. Ask our representative for additional help if you think you’ll need to adjust something later – they can demonstrate easy moves like readjusting seat height or handlebars (with the help of tools, if needed).
In any case, bringing a couple simple tools (allen wrench set and pedal wrench if you’re bringing your own pedals) also might not be a bad idea. In some cases, we can provide tools to our customers. But we have a limited supply, so we cannot guarantee we’ll be able to lend any of ours.
Hungry and thirsty for more
You said:
“I probably didn't carry enough water or snacks as it was very hot.”
In Italy, one rarely experiences the “middle of nowhere” feeling – small towns are sprinkled like parmesan cheese across Italy. Bring at least one water bottle – especially during the hot summer months – but there’s no need to stress about running out of acqua. Each town has a public fountain with potable water – unless specified otherwise by a sign that reads “Aqua non potabile”. Look for a fill-up in main squares (called piazzas), along the main road in town or by churches and cemeteries, where Italian visitors need fountains in order to water flowers on gravestones.
If stops are included in each day (maybe a castle tour or a late lunch at a restaurant with a killer view) remember that Italian working hours are not like American working hours. Italian time is fluid: the hours on the window may say “Open at 0900,” but if it’s raining or visitors are in town, the owner might decide to come in later. Local shops do what they please, especially in small towns or non tourist destinations. While bars open early, Italian stores and restaurants typically open later (around 0900 or 1000) and will close during the day for several hours (usually around 1300-1530… or so). Think about polishing military time skills, since Europeans are very comfortable with the 24-hour clock!
Also keep in mind that many stores might also be open on at least one day of the weekend – typically Saturday, when they might be open for part of the day – but closed on another weekday. And since Italy is a Catholic country, most stores, restaurants (and some bike shops) are closed on Sundays – so keep that in mind when planning your vacation abroad.
A few things to definitely pack in the suitcase: a windproof and/or waterproof layer (especially if riding in the mountains or visiting during fall or spring), sunglasses, phrase book, sunscreen, your own helmet and/or pedals (we only provide flat pedals or toe cages) – and of course, an open mind and sense of adventure.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Bicycle Italy's Piedmont Region
Dreaming of designing your own bike tour of Northwest Italy around Turin? The region is ready for you! The region's new web site "Piemonte Ciclabile" (Cyclable Piedmont) lists thirty some bike tours and routes you can do on your own. Each tour has an interactive map that shows lodging options along the route. This is a great service for those planning their own tour.
The Piedmont is one of the best areas for bicycling in Italy. It enjoys a mix of mountainous (indeed, Alpine) terrain as well as great vineyard riding through the hills of Monferrato and flat rides across the rice paddies of the Po Valley. Piedmont cuisine is also excellent - a mixture of the best Italian food and more refined cuisine of France.
Of course, if you prefer to take an escorted bike tour there are plenty of those as well. Click here for one example.
The Piedmont is one of the best areas for bicycling in Italy. It enjoys a mix of mountainous (indeed, Alpine) terrain as well as great vineyard riding through the hills of Monferrato and flat rides across the rice paddies of the Po Valley. Piedmont cuisine is also excellent - a mixture of the best Italian food and more refined cuisine of France.
Of course, if you prefer to take an escorted bike tour there are plenty of those as well. Click here for one example.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Rent a Villa for a Week of Loop Rides, Yes
But be careful to find out where that villa is located! Is it at the top of a three kilometer long gravel road? Or, perhaps at the end of a two-mile long dead end leading to a small provincial road so that every ride you take requires you to repeat the same twenty kilometers every day.
In short, some villas lend themselves to great mountain biking, others are great for racing or hybrid bikes. But if you've not seen the property or if you are relying solely on the beautiful pictures on the villa agent's web site, be careful. Ask a few critical questions and take a look at some online resources. You might have just rented the perfect villa for mountain biking. But if you aren't a mountain biker . . .
The folks at BikeRentalsPlus! have plenty of experience in matching you up with the right type of accommodation.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Resources for Accommodations on your Italy Bicycle Tour
The top image is of a farm house accommodation in Tuscany (an "agriturismo") while the bottom image shows bungalows in a campground near Rome.
If you are bicycling by yourself or if you are camping you can often "wing it" in finding a place to sleep at night. But as we've explained elsewhere, "when you are organizing a ride and you have one or ten other people, you need answers to questions like:
1) How long is today's ride?
2) How high is that mountain pass (or, from the engineer, "what's the total vertical today?")
3) Where are we sleeping tonight?
4) Where's the best lunch stop today?
. . . and on and on and on."
So here are a few resources for finding that lodging in advance. And even if you don't book in advance (since many people prefer not to be locked into a specific destination) you can at least get an idea of what is available.
Italian Hotel Directories:
ENIT - the Italian Government Tourist Board has the most comprehensive data base of Italian hotels. Theoretically, it is comprehensive, ranking all hotels in Italy by star class and location. It helps to know your Italian geography a bit (especially the Regional, Provincial and Communal - township - hierarchy). Using this you can find a hotel almost anywhere in Italy. And, there's an English version!
Here is an example in finding a hotel in or around Palermo, Sicily:
Type Palermo into the "Town" field and click "search."
You'll find a pretty blank screen that offers you 70 hotels in Palermo and "hotels in the municipality of Palermo." Click on the "70 hotels in Palermo" text and you'll find a list of those hotels and a further list of 40 municipalities. Both lists are very useful in finding lodging in the Palermo region. Click here to see that page.
Bicycle Friendly Hotels, Farms Lodging, and Pensions in Italy
"Albergabici" is a portal that gathers hotels, pensions, farms (agriturismi), hostels and a few campgrounds that claim to be friendly to cyclists. It is sorted by Region, then province and town. The lodging lists can then be sorted by type of lodging (4 star hotel, bed and breakfast, agriturismi, etc.)
Here's the page for Palermo.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The Heart of Sicily - Gangi
This post is part of a thread about a Giuseppe Garibaldi "themed bicycle tour" design and implementation in Sicily. To see the whole thread click here.
The view of Gangi from the west at 6 p.m. in the evening light reminds of a bee hive of human activity.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Designing Your Own Bicycle Tour
This post is part of a thread about a Giuseppe Garibaldi "themed bicycle tour" design and implementation in Sicily. To see the whole thread click here.
I've designed a lot of bicycle tours over the last 25 years. Indeed, one of the best things about this business for a geographer is to sit home in Colorado during the winter designing tours and then be able to go pedal the route and see how it came out. This takes practice, though, and I want to tell you an anecdote to warn you about the drawbacks of doing this.
In Sicily now I'm alone. Hence, I've not booked any hotels in advance and although I've got a route in mind I've already varied quite a bit from it. When you are pedaling alone nobody cares where you sleep, how far you ride, or how hard the ride is. That's the biggest drawback of designing your own route for family or friends. Everything needs to be pretty predictable as you'll always get questions such as where do we sleep tonight? How far is it? What's the hotel like? How much climbing is there, and so on.
The parent company of Bike Rentals Plus! - ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours has a great tour in the Dordogne region of France that I designed in 1995. But we heard this anecdote from three couples - customers - who came one year on that tour. It seems that the year before six couples had the idea of flying to Paris, renting couple of vans (6 people per van), taking their bikes, and heading off to the Dordogne for their own bike tour. So there they were the first day - they had booked the first few nights hotel, and they went out for ride. But the next day the weather was a little threatening. "Hey," somone said, "it looks clear to the west. Let's drive west for an hour and take a ride."
Now France is a great place to ride a bike - it's hard to go wrong. But it is also hard to just pick a spot and go riding. Those rides take planning, especially where there are 6 couples! It turns out that the three couples who came on our Dordogne tour the following year were so frustrated with the lack of planning, the driving around looking for rides, they decided to come back with a professional tour company the next year to do it right.
The moral of this isn't that you shouldn't designe your own tour. Go for it. But remember that if you have eleven other people to take care of, lodge, feed, and track evey day, you should do some planning. And to do that you probably need local knowledge. Today, many tour operators will design a tour for you for a fee. They might even arrange luggage shuttles to help from hotel to hotel. And some provide the service of recommending and booking hotels.
So, what do you do? Design your own or hire a professional? Above all it depends on your level of risk. Rent a villa and design your own rides locally. That's pretty easy if you get the right villa. Head out on a ride on your own. That carries low risk and high satisfacion if you are ready to jump on the train, make sure you've got your bike. But as you add people, make sure they are game to share the rish with you. Otherwise you are on the line and you'd best get some level of local help to make the most of your trip!
I've designed a lot of bicycle tours over the last 25 years. Indeed, one of the best things about this business for a geographer is to sit home in Colorado during the winter designing tours and then be able to go pedal the route and see how it came out. This takes practice, though, and I want to tell you an anecdote to warn you about the drawbacks of doing this.
In Sicily now I'm alone. Hence, I've not booked any hotels in advance and although I've got a route in mind I've already varied quite a bit from it. When you are pedaling alone nobody cares where you sleep, how far you ride, or how hard the ride is. That's the biggest drawback of designing your own route for family or friends. Everything needs to be pretty predictable as you'll always get questions such as where do we sleep tonight? How far is it? What's the hotel like? How much climbing is there, and so on.
The parent company of Bike Rentals Plus! - ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours has a great tour in the Dordogne region of France that I designed in 1995. But we heard this anecdote from three couples - customers - who came one year on that tour. It seems that the year before six couples had the idea of flying to Paris, renting couple of vans (6 people per van), taking their bikes, and heading off to the Dordogne for their own bike tour. So there they were the first day - they had booked the first few nights hotel, and they went out for ride. But the next day the weather was a little threatening. "Hey," somone said, "it looks clear to the west. Let's drive west for an hour and take a ride."
Now France is a great place to ride a bike - it's hard to go wrong. But it is also hard to just pick a spot and go riding. Those rides take planning, especially where there are 6 couples! It turns out that the three couples who came on our Dordogne tour the following year were so frustrated with the lack of planning, the driving around looking for rides, they decided to come back with a professional tour company the next year to do it right.
The moral of this isn't that you shouldn't designe your own tour. Go for it. But remember that if you have eleven other people to take care of, lodge, feed, and track evey day, you should do some planning. And to do that you probably need local knowledge. Today, many tour operators will design a tour for you for a fee. They might even arrange luggage shuttles to help from hotel to hotel. And some provide the service of recommending and booking hotels.
So, what do you do? Design your own or hire a professional? Above all it depends on your level of risk. Rent a villa and design your own rides locally. That's pretty easy if you get the right villa. Head out on a ride on your own. That carries low risk and high satisfacion if you are ready to jump on the train, make sure you've got your bike. But as you add people, make sure they are game to share the rish with you. Otherwise you are on the line and you'd best get some level of local help to make the most of your trip!
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