Planning and undertaking a European bike trip.

Bicycle Touring in Europe

Part II

On this Page:

When to Go
By Commercial Group? Or, by Personal Tour?

On related pages:

Why Bicycle in Europe? How much will it cost?
Bring Your Own Bike or Rent or Buy? What Kind of Bike? Customizing Your Bike?
Trains and Bicycles.
Maps, Guidebooks, Hotels, and Tourist Site Information Sources
What Should You Pack? Security, Traffic, and Safety.
How far will you ride?
Best European Cycling Trips: Author's ratings, and when, where, and how to do them.

When to go:

Weather matters. Do you really enjoy sweltering heat, or bitter cold, or biking under constantly heavy wind or rain?

European winters are cold and windy (in the north); and cool and rainy (in the south). Late fall and early spring can be cool and rainy everywhere. Most bikers will avoid planning long bike trips for these seasons.

Southern European summers can be very hot; heat waves may occur even in northern Europe. For every region, there is an ideal time to bike, which is indicated in the chart below. The chart is a rough guide only; climate is influenced by the sea, by elevation, and by the protection of mountain ranges to the north. For example, the weather of the French, Italian and Spanish Rivieras is suitable for biking for longer periods than nearby regions, such as Provence, exposed to northern winds. Moreover, the weather can vary greatly from year to year.

If your schedule limits you to certain months, you have two choices: Ideally, take your bike trip where the whether is best. Or, take a chance, and bike with a less than ideal prognosis. In the latter case, unless you enjoy cold and rain, it is obviously better to risk weather that is dry and too hot.

When planning a personal trip, or choosing a group tour, you should ask yourself how you will handle very rainy days. A late spring or summer drizzle is one thing; a constant downpour, another. If you are taking a self-organized trip, are you going to allow extra rain days — days to stay put if the weather is poor? Or is there an alternative means of transportation? If you are taking an organized trip, is van transportation available on inclement days to move you comfortably to your next hotel?

Researching the climate for a European ride:

The author has found the following helpful in researching European climate:  Go to the URL http://www.wunderground.com. On the bottom of the page enter a major city and country near where you wish to ride and press "enter".  On the left of the page for this city, a few inches down from the top, click "Travel Planner".  On the page that comes up enter the dates that are relevant, and "enter".  The resulting page normally will contain several years of detailed climate data for the period you are interested in.

By Organized Group?   Or by Personal Tour?

If you aren't staying in Europe, and if you only have a week to devote to your bike tour, if you don't mind groups, if you don't have the time to plan, and if you have extra money in your pockets, then by far the best solution is to opt for an organized bicycle tour with a reliable organization.

You don't have to transport your bike, or search for a decent rental.
You don't have to research and contact hotels in advance.
You don't have to work out your general itinerary, and each day's routing.
You don't have to choose restaurants.
You don't have to find the special points of interest worth visiting.
You don't have to ride under the rain or if you're tired (applies to groups with vans).
You don't have to cope with communication in foreign languages.
You don't have to feel out-of-place, immersed in a foreign culture.
You don't have to repair your bicycle yourself.
You don't have to worry that you will be stranded .
You don't have to carry saddle bags.
You don't have to limit the clothing you bring with you.

So why would anyone, such as the author, ususally prefer to bike on their own, or with friends?

You will prefer to bike on your own, or with friends, if:

(1) You enjoy the challenge of planning and route finding, and have the time to do it; or if you enjoy bicycling ad-hoc, that is, without a planned itinerary or a fixed nightly destination.

(2) Group interactions drive you crazy, or if you planning a bicycle honeymoon!

Your interests diverge from those of a typical group, for example, if you want to spend long times in certain cities, or in museums. Or if you wish to take a longer or harder trip than groups do. Or if you wish to bike where bike trips don't go.

(3) You wish to save money, typically sixty to seventy percent of the price of the trip for the same level of accommodations and meals (see the cost chart on this site). You can save even more by sleeping in the most modest hotels or youth hostels; not to mention the additional enormous savings if you carry heavier saddlebags and camp.

(4) You want to be out of your home culture; that is, if you to desire to be immersed in, or more attuned to, a foreign culture.

The last point may require explanation: Riding in an large, organized group of your own nationality means absolutely that you are relating to others within your own culture, even though you see, smell, taste and hear the other culture around you. You won't be arranging things with restaurant and hotel owners, or with tourist offices. You won't be asking for directions and help with bike repairs. You won't have much of a chance to practice or learn a foreign language. You won't have a chance to get into long conversations at night with local friends you make along the way. Lulled by the security and relationships of the group, you won't be as intensely observant, and your conversations, both during day and evening, will mainly be about bicycling and interests from home.

Commercial Self-Guided Tours:

A variation of biking alone or with friends is the "self-guided tour" offered by some outfitters and travel agencies, in a few regions of Europe. These cost 25% to 75% more than a comparable level do-it-yourself trip, or about 1/2 to 2/3 of a guided trip, but include various services, depending upon the agency, such as bike rental of an appropriate bike, transfers from major cities to/from the cycling location, help in case of a breakdown, hotel reservation, and luggage transfer between hotels.

The choice is yours!

Individual or small group self-touring

Doing it yourself requires planning, both planning ahead before you go, and some planning every day. It requires contact with the people of the country or countries you are biking in.

Much of this general section that you are reading has information helpful for planning a trip yourself. Additionally, each tour description on this site —after a general part applicable to all types of bicycle touring— contains a long section with details on how to organize the trip yourself.

European individual and small group bicycle touring require the basic skills of independent European travel. This Site generally assumes that you have the general skills necessary for independent travel. If not, you may wish to take a look at the partialy commercial (ads and book) site of John Burmont, http://www.enjoy-europe.com, which contains useful information for a beginning overseas traveler. Also please take a look at this link with many suggestions and recommendation for European bicycle touring...not all of which agree with this site!  http://draco.acs.uci.edu/rbfaq/FAQ/4.6.html.

<Continue to Part III:
Bring Your Own Bike or Rent or Buy? What Kind of Bike?>

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