My Girlfriend and I are planning a bike tour of Italy. We are both avid cyclists, as we are both triathletes. We both own decent road bikes (Cervelo P3's with Di2), which we may, or may not, bring with us. We are also both 55 and might prefer decent rooms versus hostile style group sleeping arrangements (for this trip at least).
The last time, which ended up being the only time actually, we did a bike tour we went with a large group of extended friends (20 in all) to Croatia on 2018. We started in Split, and Island hopped to Brach, Vis, and Hvar, before returning to Split. It was only 7 days and even though we got the a day early, we wished it was longer.
The next year about 12 people from that group did a barge tour of Amsterdam. We didn't attend and we heard there were a few conflicts within the group.
In June of 2020, we were supposed to go to Portugal, with 8 or 10 others from the original group, for a bike tour down the coast followed by a 3 day trip into Barcelona before coming home. COVID happened and the trip was postponed and then cancelled.
So, now we are looking into a trip for just the 2 of us where we can ride bikes, see countryside, eat amazing food and drink plenty of wine.
The tour company she is looking at has us staying at one place for a week and making different excursions from there. I don't like the idea of staying at the same place for a week, if there might be so much more to see if we covered more ground. Also, they include breakfast, light after-ride lunch, and dinners. I really don't want to eat at the same place for 6 out of 7 nights in Italy! (1 evening we go to a barbeque at a local farm).
So, I'm asking:
Who has traveled to Italy?
Who has done bike tours?
What suggestions do you have for us?
What regions are best for what we want to do?
Is self guided better so we can have our own pace?
Sould we just get rental bikes so we don't have to worry about traveling with our bikes?
Lastly, we are now considering doing the wee in the the Dolomite region (with the hotel as the hub) and then doing another week as a different night in a different place for another week. I hate to say it, but we are even considering a 15 day tour where you stay at 6 different places, so you have an extra day to explore each location. So, yeah, we have no idea which way to go!
Sorry for the long write up and thanks for any helpful or funny replies!
-Ken
The last time, which ended up being the only time actually, we did a bike tour we went with a large group of extended friends (20 in all) to Croatia on 2018. We started in Split, and Island hopped to Brach, Vis, and Hvar, before returning to Split. It was only 7 days and even though we got the a day early, we wished it was longer.
The next year about 12 people from that group did a barge tour of Amsterdam. We didn't attend and we heard there were a few conflicts within the group.
In June of 2020, we were supposed to go to Portugal, with 8 or 10 others from the original group, for a bike tour down the coast followed by a 3 day trip into Barcelona before coming home. COVID happened and the trip was postponed and then cancelled.
So, now we are looking into a trip for just the 2 of us where we can ride bikes, see countryside, eat amazing food and drink plenty of wine.
The tour company she is looking at has us staying at one place for a week and making different excursions from there. I don't like the idea of staying at the same place for a week, if there might be so much more to see if we covered more ground. Also, they include breakfast, light after-ride lunch, and dinners. I really don't want to eat at the same place for 6 out of 7 nights in Italy! (1 evening we go to a barbeque at a local farm).
So, I'm asking:
Who has traveled to Italy?
Who has done bike tours?
What suggestions do you have for us?
What regions are best for what we want to do?
Is self guided better so we can have our own pace?
Sould we just get rental bikes so we don't have to worry about traveling with our bikes?
Lastly, we are now considering doing the wee in the the Dolomite region (with the hotel as the hub) and then doing another week as a different night in a different place for another week. I hate to say it, but we are even considering a 15 day tour where you stay at 6 different places, so you have an extra day to explore each location. So, yeah, we have no idea which way to go!
Sorry for the long write up and thanks for any helpful or funny replies!
-Ken
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