Bike Vacation Recommendations

[skreaminquadz]

Hi HC!

A recommendation I have closer to home is Vermont. I spent a week riding there last year and it was excellent. Not a lot of traffic and awesome scenery. Oh, but you gotta like hills ; )

Enjoy your vacation!

[culimerc]

A couple of years ago, my wife and I rode around the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia. The Bay of Fundy is known to have some of the largest tidal variation in the world. Plus it’s not exactly hugely populated. Made for great riding and amazing scenery. We started in Wolfville, took a day out at the tip of the peninsula of Scot’s Bay (which is definitely worth the day), then went east towards Turo, and then back west towards the mouth of the bay at Cape Dor, where there is a light house with rooms for rent where you can look back to the Peninsula at Scots Bay.

[jrenaut]

I can’t speak to the biking there, but the Bay of Islands in north New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.

Melbourne, Australia, in addition to being one of the coolest cities I’ve been to, has extensive bike infrastructure if you’re looking for something urban.

[creadinger]

I’ve done tours in Scotland, Nova Scotia, and a few tours in the northeast/mid-atlantic, and I can say that they’re all great places to go as well. Recently I did some research into La Route Verte in Quebec because I’d like to take my wife up there sometime, and it seems really nice too.

One resource I would recommend for any information related to bike touring across the world is http://www.crazyguyonabike.com. On that site people post journals of tours they’ve done, or are doing and they range from 2-3 day mini-tours to cross country trips, to multiple times around the world spanning a few years. It’s great because people post pictures from all corners of the globe giving you a glimpse of what life is like in a place you’re probably really unlikely to ever go. There are definitely some great journals about the New Zealand/Australia area, in fact I was looking at one couples’ trip across the Nullarbor plain in western Australia just a couple of days ago.

When you figure things out, I’d be very interested to hear what you come up with!

[lisaworld]

South Island of New Zealand is great. Roads tend to be narrow though with no shoulders and traffic can be fast. The South Island is much less populated than the North Island though so you can get away from the traffic somewhat. Hands down NZ is the country where I’ve seen more blind corner overtaking in cars so you have to be careful. Best riding is on the farm roads though. Also keep in mind that Fall is their Spring so depending upon when you plan on going might still be cold.

Air New Zealand, last time I looked, will take your bike as one piece of luggage which is a huge advantage. Don’t know about Quantas.

You haven’t indicated what you are looking for in regards to a cycling vacation. To me that means leaving the country and heading somewhere really remote. Fall is a great time ride in the Himalayas, either Nepal or India. Also a good time to ride from Lhasa to Kathmandu passing Mount Everest along the way, though you’ll have to hire a guide since China doesn’t allow independent travel in Tibet anymore. I’ve ridden in the Indian Himalayas a few times and will be going back in Sept for another month of riding The monsoon is past by then (so you can actually GET to the mountains), the weather is still nice, and the harvest is on preparing for the long winter. It is remote, rough, and high (13,000ft-17,000ft) but spectacular.

[Arlingtonrider]

Check out http://www.biketour-reviews.com. Lots of great information, including the countries where the bike tour companies operate and helpful reviews and descriptions. I’ve bookmarked this site and keep it handy for daydreaming. Don’t rely too heavily on their cost info though (e.g., Backroads is often less expensive than VBT)

[dasgeh]

My husband has done a Trek tour in Austria/Czech Republic and a “self guided” tour in New Zealand, I’m pretty sure on the North Island. While Trek was very nice, I think he actually preferred the trip in New Zealand. A company set them up with bikes and cue sheets, and they had reservations at B&Bs along the route. The B&B owners drove their bags to the next stop every day. The pictures and stories are AMAZING. Let me know if you want more info…

[CCrew]

I want to go to NZ to see the Hobbits

Actually I’d like to go because the scenery in the movies just looks plain awesome.

[WillStewart]

Tuscany, Italy has a number of great bike routes to explore;
http://www.lkjh.org/bike/tuscany/index.html

Don’t forget bike camping on the C&O canal;
http://bikewashington.org/canal/plan-camping.php

[dbb]

@CCrew 12653 wrote:

I want to go to NZ to see the Hobbits

Actually I’d like to go because the scenery in the movies just looks plain awesome.

Been there, done that. Scenery is way better than the movie set. When we were there in Summer 2010, they were reconstructing for the latest movie. They took all the structures/caves down after the last batch of movies. I’d expect they did the same this time.

Check it out on Google Earth at 37d51m26.98s South and 175d40m50.82s East.

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