Bicyle Paths, Routes and Logistics in France

France is arguably one of the best places in the world to ride a bicycle, primarily because of the dense network of rural roads and because of complete coverage of the entire country by Michelin maps at a scale of 1:200,000. Finally, the French government tourist office has provided an online resource to help you plan.

In addition check out the resources on the EuroVelo website.

Surprisingly, despite their centralized government, the French have done a terrible job of helping you find a hotel. There is no centralized data base of hotels in France to help you plan your bike tour. Michelin Red Guides are great, but contain only 60-70% of the lodging facilities in France. Normally they'll leave out the cheaper hotels or pensions - often the ones cyclists are looking for.

Logis de France, however, a marketing consortium of small, private hotels in France has a wonderful online resource where you can search for lodging using an interactive map of France. It is great for planning a bicycle tour. Give it a try!

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.

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.

Bicycle Touring in Japan

Considering a bicycle tour in Japan? Take a look at the Japan Cycling Navigator for general information. For bicycle rentals in Japan try Outdoor Japan for information on renting a touring bicycle.

How to Choose a Tour Company

Ten Questions to Ask Any Bicycle Tour Operator

How do you know which one is the best bicycle touring company for you?
Here’s a list of questions that will help guide you to the right choice.

1. How long has your company been in business?
New companies are okay, but be aware that the Internet has enabled small and inexperienced companies to look very impressive. This question will help you determine just how much and what kind of experience a company really has.

2. How is your company structured? Do you have staff in the home office AND overseas?
Some companies have a skeleton staff in the home office, and these same people run their tours overseas! That may be okay, but make sure that the BEST people are both answering questions in the home office AND running tours abroad.

3. Describe your tours for me. Who takes them? Is there a good match between your needs and the tour company? What is the "culture" of the company? Who will you be traveling with, veteran cyclists? Experienced travelers?

4. What distinguishes your adventure travel company from others?
Do they provide luxury travel?
The packing list you’ll receive for most tours includes a section about “what not to bring” including your gold jewels, your evening gown, or your business suit. Our tours are casual and our philosophy is to enjoy the best of the local culture, including authentic cuisine and centrally-located, locally-owned comfortable hotels.

Do they cater to extreme sports or just the adventure portion of your trip?
We love to ride our bikes and believe that there is no better way to explore the world. We have itineraries for all levels of experience and ability, and we find nothing more satisfying that converting “non-cyclists” to cycle touring. By getting out of the car or bus, your senses are open to the sights, sounds, smells around you…AND you become accessible to chance encounters with local people. When’s the last time you had an old Italian woman cheer for you on the uphill as she beats a rug on her balcony?

Are they an educational travel company? Do they provide guided tours, or self-guided tours? If you are looking for something specific, such as a wine tour, culinary tour, or cooking classes, can they provide this?

5. How long have you been running the specific tour I am interested in? Whether it's a bike tour through Italy, France or Turkey, every adventure tour has a "life" of its own. If the company has been offering a tour for a long time, they can tell you all about it. If it's a new tour, there are probably some bugs that need working out. That may be okay if they're a reputable travel company. But you should at least ask.

6. What is your most popular active vacation, and why? This lets you know where and in what they specialize. They should be able to tell you a lot about this particular tour.

7. How have past customers described the degree of difficulty on this tour? Many travel companies rate the difficulty of their active vacations. This allows you to choose a vacation package that suits your fitness level. Our tour rating system clearly ranks the physical challenge of each tour we offer.

8. May I speak with someone who has been on this tour? You should be able to speak with a staff member who has been on the tour that interests you. When you pick up the phone to ask if you’ll survive the climb over the Andes, you’ll talk to someone who has actually done it. Alternatively, ask for names of customers who have done the trip.

If you are a single woman in your 50’s interested in touring Europe, for example, ask to speak to someone like you who has been there before. If you travel as a couple, ask for the email addresses or phone numbers of at least two couples.

9. Tell me about the composition of the group on the vacation I've selected. You probably don't want to be the only single 30-year-old in a group of older couples on a cycling tour through France. So, ask about group composition. But remember, you'll probably have more fun with a mixed group rather than a homogeneous group anyway.


10. What is the history of this particular tour? Does this tour usually fill up? How often have you cancelled it? You want to ask these questions for two reasons: First, if it is a popular tour that fills fast, you don't want to be left out! Second, if the tour cancels often (which is sometimes the case during low or “shoulder” season), you don't want to get stuck with an airplane ticket and no tour!

Our Single Most Important Piece of Advice: Begin Planning NOW!

If you are experienced at bicycle touring you know that planning ahead, especially for an overseas trip, is critical.

I'll never forget in 2001 when we were in Italy for the summer and were headed to Ireland to develop a new escorted bike tour. We flew into Shannon Airport and had been in touch with a bike shop in Ennis to rent bikes. I had been talking with this fellow for two weeks and was satisfied that he could provide good quality bikes for our ride.

We arrived in Ennis with panniers, as usual, and a duffel bag with shoes, helmets, locks, tools, and so on. When we got on our bikes the duffel would be strapped astride the panniers to collect the daily flotsam and jetsam you tend to collect: jackets, lunch, maps, and on.

We shuttled to our hotel, spent the night and headed off to the bike shop. "Oh that's right," says he. "You were coming today, now weren't you?" The bikes weren't ready. "Come back after lunch," says he. After lunch, the bikes weren't ready. We finally got them about 5 p.m. and lost an entire day of riding.

The moral, of course, is: make sure you can depend on your rental suppplier OR make sure to bring your own bikes. But if you bring your own bikes you need to:

1) Know where you are arriving and how you'll get to your inbound base (by train? by car? van? or will you pedal?)
2) If you pedal, where will you leave your cases or bike boxes?
3) And if you are pedaling, how's the route from the airport? Is it doable?

In short, think ALL of this through before you get on the airplane.

One last story: We had an acquaintance here in Colorado who had found three weeks to fly to Rome and do some cycling in October one year. We talked at length about his plans. He would: fly to Rome with his own bike, begin pedaling right at Leonardo da Vinci Airport, head north, and then maybe take the train back to fly home.

His bike didn't arrive on his flight. And it didn't arrive the next day. He waited four days for his bike to arrive and he was so paranoid that it might come in and he wouldn't connect with it that he spent a bundle of money staying in a hotel near the airport shuttling back and forth twice a day to see if it arrived.

He was so demoralized with having spent so much money in the hotel and for having missed out on four days of cycling that he changed his ticket and came home on day 5!