Rent a Bike for a Day in Santiago, Chile

There is nothing better after that long, overnight flight to Santiago than to explore by bicycle. In Santiago, Chile "La Bicicleta Verde" offers rates on single speed cruiser bikes,multi-speed mountain bikes and hybrid bikes. La Bicicleta Verde also offers half-day bike tours. These are a great introduction to any city! Tours cost $30 and include a green bicycle, helmet, 1 bottle of water and a local snack (and, of course, a bilingual guide.)

So if you are headed for a bicycle tour of Chile's wine country, think about exploring Santiago by bike during your layover day!

Despite the photo, helmets ARE available and recommended with tours and rentals from La Bicicleta Verde!

Italy's Cruiser Bike Tours Shows off Florence, Rome and Pisa

Italy's Cruiser Bike Tours offers half day, relaxed guided tours for 39 euros and half day self-guided bike rentals (including helmet, MP3 player with an audio guide, and a map) for 39 euros per person.

Interested in just doing your own thing? Cruiser Bike Tours will rent you a cruiser for an hour (4 euros), five hours for 10 euros, and all day for 15 euros. For more information on bicycle rentals click here.

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.

Half-Day Bicycle Tours in Buenos Aires

So you're on your way to Antarctica, Patagonia, or just to visit Argentina. You have a layover day or four in Buenos Aires and can get away for an afternoon. We have the perfect half-day bicycle tour for you. Actually, this is perfect for most of a day because the neighborhood of San Telmo, where this bike tour company is based, is one of the most interesting quarters of Buenos Aires. So go early for your tour, explore the Plaza Dorrego, take your bike ride with La Bicicleta Naranja Tours and Rentals then come back late afternoon for drinks in Plaza Dorrego again as it fills up with both tourists and locals at that time.
For more photos of bicycling in Argentina visit our Flickr pages.

Hotels that Include Bicycles - What Bicycle Would you Like with that Room?

Here's an update from the NY Times on hotels in Europe that offer bikes. The article, by Jane Margolies was published May 3, 2009 in the electronic edition.

Remember that innovative hotel that offered you a non-smoking room years ago? Well, now you can ask for a bicycle with your room!

Hilary Howard reported in the NY Times Dec. 21, 2008 that some hotels and hotel chains now offer the option of a bicycle along with the room.

Here are just a few (please let us know if you find others!)

The Bowery in NY City
The Gansevoort South in Miami
The James in Chicago
The Element in Lexington, MA
And according to Howard, all future Element Hotels will include free bikes!

Of course, this is nothing new for us here in Fort Collins, Colorado as the Armstrong Hotel has been offering crusier bikes to its guests for several years now.

The Broadmoor, in Colorado Springs doesn't provide free bikes but you can rent them.

In Portland, OR: Hotel Jupiter will rent you a bike for a nominal $10 for 4 hours and $20 for 12 hours. Just give them a call: 503-230-9200 or drop in to their web site at www.jupiterhotel.com.

Near Atlanta, GA: Callaway Gardens offers bicycles for rent on their grounds.

In Europe:

Germany: Berlin - Hotel Gates
Belgium: Brugges - several hotels offer bicycles

We're working on building this list so please post a comment if you find hotels that provide free bikes or rental bikes at a nominal cost.