Choosing the best bicycle tour for you

Have you always wanted to cycle along Spain’s Costa Brava? Want an excuse to brush up on your German? Maybe you’ve dreamed of conquering the mighty and stunning climbs in the Italian Dolomites. Or, perhaps you’ve never been to Portugal! Think about the places where you’d love to fully immerse yourself. To get inspired and take a deeper dive, explore our map and destinations.

Every season offers distinct advantages. Spring is mild and flowers are abundant. Summer in Europe and South America is buzzing with tourists. So whether you want to catch the grape harvest in France or escape to South America next winter, browsing tours by date helps you narrow your choices, especially if you stack that on top of your preferred destination.

We rate our tours from level 1 to 5, with 5 being the most difficult. The rating system is based on distance traveled and elevation gained/lost. Searching tours by levels is a great way to narrow your search. Each day’s ride is also rated by the same system, so be sure to study the daily ride summary. Think about how much time you will dedicate to training and be sure to consult our free training programs designed for every tour level.

In the office we have a bit of an ongoing joke: “No one told me about the Plus!” We offer tours that mainly land between 8 – 14 days. If you only have so many vacation days to work with, you may choose what we often call the “short version” of a departure. If you can manage a longer trip we always recommend – and will certainly tell you about – booking the Plus! This is the extended version of most of our tours and will help you get the full feel for the region you’re exploring. For travelers with an appetite for even longer trips, we also offer ExpeditionPlus! Tours for our adventurous cyclists. Another pro-trip from many of our travelers is to combine two of our tours (and earn a volume discount!).

Every ExperiencePlus! bicycle tour offers a unique experience. While we design tours with common goals in mind, every destination offers a different opportunity to explore and absorb new highlights, from art, architecture, and culture, to scenery, history, and food. Some tours include guided visits of castles, whiles others introduce you to artisans, or local specialty products. Some tours focus on the experience of riding a bucket-list route. Get to know our four tour styles and then study the tour highlights to get a feel for what’s in store.

If you’re traveling alone, you can focus on your needs. But, if you’re traveling with family or friends, do your cycling and vacation wants and needs align? Do they need to? Thanks to e-bikes, couples and families with differing cycling abilities can enjoy the same tour without being on the same kind of bike. But planning a successful vacation is about more than the bike. Are the interests and needs of your traveling companion(s) similar or vastly different? Is one of you going to make the other happy? Pro tip: Get clear about everyone’s priorities!