Suggestion for first Cycling Holiday abroad

[Cathryn]

Interesting. Not our experience at all - we found Italian driving excellent, no issue whatever. UK drivers are the worst in the world IME, if you can cope here, you can cope anywhere.

Italian road surfaces, on the other hand...

View attachment 767456

Brill photo!

We found south of Florence it got a little hairy! But everyone has different experiences!

 

[Brandane]

We're doing that from the Loire valley this summer. Driving down so the bikes can all go in the car. Loire a Velo path and quiet surrounding roads will make up the cycling.

I did this very thing a good few years ago. Drove down to Amboise (between Blois and Tours, on the Loire), with the bike in car. It was fantastic. So many options for day rides from Amboise, and a regular train service if you wanted to go further afield.

 

[MichaelW2]

Slovenia is lovely in Sept, lots of varied terrain, hearty peasant food, a network of tourist farms to stay, good bike hire.

 

[T4tomo]

I did this very thing a good few years ago. Drove down to Amboise (between Blois and Tours, on the Loire), with the bike in car. It was fantastic. So many options for day rides from Amboise, and a regular train service if you wanted to go further afield.

We're staying in Turquant, a little place between Angers & Tours where the Vienne meets the Loire

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Girona in Spain for me. Lots of pro cyclists live there so the city is well set up to cater for cyclists. Loads of routes, road and gravel, great weather, bike hire options, big cafe and food culture. It is also a beautiful city and quiet as all the tourists are in Barcelona. Easy to get to from the UK as well.

 

[TomDW]

Girona in Spain for me. Lots of pro cyclists live there so the city is well set up to cater for cyclists. Loads of routes, road and gravel, great weather, bike hire options, big cafe and food culture. It is also a beautiful city and quiet as all the tourists are in Barcelona. Easy to get to from the UK as well.

Agree, that whole region is very cycle friendly. The BikeExpress people do a holiday around Rosas in that region. You could obviously organise it yourself and there are plenty of hire shops around. I was thinking of doing a gravel week around Tossa del Mar sometime. We did a road bike holiday with a few country tracks and realised that there's a whole other holiday to do off-road. Girona is a too busy and pricey now, best to say some where else.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

I'm going to offer a leftfield option that doesn't require a passport...

Longleat Center Parcs.

~2 miles from Warminster town centre, that has a train station, usually no problem getting your bike on the direct train from the Portsmouth end.

The hire bikes are decent, but you might miss a road bike or higher end MTB. You can even take the Ridgeback ebike hybrids and Specialized eMTBs off campus, which were £65/75 for Mon-Fri iirc.

Windhill bike park just by Longleat estate, a maze of bridal paths and lovely quiet lanes towards King Alfred's Tower.

Option of ~70+ mile loops to The Mendips for the day, without having to tackle many busy roads.

Bit hillier than western South Downs, you will do well to average less than 75 feet per mile on routes that don't cover the same roads heading out and coming back.

Prices plummet once kids are back at school for Mon-Fri stays and the weather is usually good around mid September.