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Italy Cycling Tour recommendations



 
 
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  #11  
Old November 12th 04, 02:10 AM
Rick Warner
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(Gary K.) wrote in message ...
I just flew to Venice (by myself last May) and asked Italians in a bike
shop for the best route to Rome. From Rome I headed up to Tuscany and
then to the Lakes in the North and back to Venice. It took me 3 weeks and
about $3k. I learned that you should positively enter and leave large
cities like Florence, Venice, Rome etc. using the trains to avoid the
traffic (they're so easy and cheap.) And next time I would go south from
Tuscany because the winds would be at your back. The winds were extremely
strong.

It's easy to find nice hotels or Agritourismo (farmhouses) for $30-40.
Then ask for the best restaurant in town, a glass of the local wine...

I had a terrific time. I had nothing planned and it all worked out.

I liked San Gimingnano (just south of Florence) the best.


S.G. is very nice, but so are Siena, Volterra, and bunch of lesser
known towns ;-)

The agritourismo's are often great, and getting a half-board or
full-board option at one is often better in price and in food quality.
We stayed in one in the hills west of Asissi that had fantastic food,
about the best we had in Italy, and 5 course dinners that left you
rolling to your room. And the house wines are often very good, and at
very good prices.

Another option, depending on one's penchant for bigger hills, is to go
north from Venice to the Dolomites and/or Alps. Very different
culturally and geographically from Tuscany and Umbria but very
worthwile IMO.

Love the idea of going unplanned. Two years ago when we did Umbria
and Tuscany areas we had it all planned. This year we did the
Dolomite-Alps-Lake circuit and the only thing impinging on us was the
departure date from Venice. Other than that we were free to connect
the dots as we saw fit. Never had a problem finding a room, even had
some nice surprises along the way.

- rick
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  #12  
Old November 12th 04, 08:52 PM
Roland Mosler
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magicant2000 wrote:

Been doing some research online, but wanted to know if anyone had
first hand experience with any cycling tours through Italy.


Go to Sicylly. The people are nice, you can change the difficulty nearly
each day as you like, ...
It was by now the most pleasant part of our travel.

Roland

--
Reise durch das Globale Dorf - http://www.ImpetusInMundum.de
Größte Bildersammlung einer Radreise im Netz
  #13  
Old November 12th 04, 08:52 PM
Roland Mosler
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Posts: n/a
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magicant2000 wrote:

Been doing some research online, but wanted to know if anyone had
first hand experience with any cycling tours through Italy.


Go to Sicylly. The people are nice, you can change the difficulty nearly
each day as you like, ...
It was by now the most pleasant part of our travel.

Roland

--
Reise durch das Globale Dorf - http://www.ImpetusInMundum.de
Größte Bildersammlung einer Radreise im Netz
  #14  
Old November 13th 04, 02:19 AM
Jim S
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I also went with Experience Plus. It was very reasonably priced, wonderful
tour leaders, nice routes - they do have a website. We went in mid May - 9
riders, 3 leaders - it was very special.
We did a pretty easy ride from Venice to Florence. I was 4 months pregnant
so we had to change our plans from a harder ride to an easier ride and they
couldn't have been more accomadating.


"Sarah Clatterbuck" wrote in message
om...
(magicant2000) wrote in message
. com...
Great info - thanks very much. Being solo makes it a bit more
challenging to go self-guided, although certainly not impossible (or
even unlikely).

Anyone had positive or negative experience with group tours?

Thanks again for any advice.


Hi,

My SO and I have done two tours in Italy - one guided and one
self-supported. They were both great.

http://www.secadvertising.com/Italy2002/
http://www.secadvertising.com/Italy2004/

The guided tour was in Tuscany with some time on our own in Umbria.
Wonderful. We went with ExperiencePlus. That is the 2002 trip. I would
recommend Umbria and points south for April. It is too cold up north,
in my opinion.

Our self-supported tour was Dolomites, Alps, and lake country. Great
for mega-hill lovers (though Umbria is very rolling as well). This
tour would not be possible in April. Many of the mountain passes don't
open until mid-May.

As the other poster said, use trains in and out of big cities. They
are absolute mayhem on a bike. All the local trains allow bikes. You
just have to buy a 3 Euro supplement for the bike at the window.

The one nice thing about being on a guided tour is that you get lost
less. We had GPS and the Tour Club Italia maps on our self-guided trip
and still spent a lot of time backtracking to find obscure roads we
had missed.

Best of luck,

Sarah



  #15  
Old November 13th 04, 02:19 AM
Jim S
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I also went with Experience Plus. It was very reasonably priced, wonderful
tour leaders, nice routes - they do have a website. We went in mid May - 9
riders, 3 leaders - it was very special.
We did a pretty easy ride from Venice to Florence. I was 4 months pregnant
so we had to change our plans from a harder ride to an easier ride and they
couldn't have been more accomadating.


"Sarah Clatterbuck" wrote in message
om...
(magicant2000) wrote in message
. com...
Great info - thanks very much. Being solo makes it a bit more
challenging to go self-guided, although certainly not impossible (or
even unlikely).

Anyone had positive or negative experience with group tours?

Thanks again for any advice.


Hi,

My SO and I have done two tours in Italy - one guided and one
self-supported. They were both great.

http://www.secadvertising.com/Italy2002/
http://www.secadvertising.com/Italy2004/

The guided tour was in Tuscany with some time on our own in Umbria.
Wonderful. We went with ExperiencePlus. That is the 2002 trip. I would
recommend Umbria and points south for April. It is too cold up north,
in my opinion.

Our self-supported tour was Dolomites, Alps, and lake country. Great
for mega-hill lovers (though Umbria is very rolling as well). This
tour would not be possible in April. Many of the mountain passes don't
open until mid-May.

As the other poster said, use trains in and out of big cities. They
are absolute mayhem on a bike. All the local trains allow bikes. You
just have to buy a 3 Euro supplement for the bike at the window.

The one nice thing about being on a guided tour is that you get lost
less. We had GPS and the Tour Club Italia maps on our self-guided trip
and still spent a lot of time backtracking to find obscure roads we
had missed.

Best of luck,

Sarah



  #16  
Old November 13th 04, 06:03 AM
Steve Juniper
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

If interested in more inexpensive tours, another option would be to check
out www.wideopenroad.co.uk. I too 2 tours with them and have signed on to
their Rome-Sardinia-Corsica-Nice June ride. Their trips run about US$118/day
versus others at $371-435. WOR tours are supported camping with maybe 3
hotel days in a 2 week trip. Half the dinners are included 'group dinners'
and you are on your own for the rest. Obviously I like them or I wouldn't be
going back for thirds...

Steve J

"Jim S" wrote in message
...
I also went with Experience Plus. It was very reasonably priced, wonderful
tour leaders, nice routes - they do have a website. We went in mid May - 9
riders, 3 leaders - it was very special.
We did a pretty easy ride from Venice to Florence. I was 4 months pregnant
so we had to change our plans from a harder ride to an easier ride and they
couldn't have been more accomadating.


"Sarah Clatterbuck" wrote in message
om...
(magicant2000) wrote in message
. com...
Great info - thanks very much. Being solo makes it a bit more
challenging to go self-guided, although certainly not impossible (or
even unlikely).

Anyone had positive or negative experience with group tours?

Thanks again for any advice.


Hi,

My SO and I have done two tours in Italy - one guided and one
self-supported. They were both great.

http://www.secadvertising.com/Italy2002/
http://www.secadvertising.com/Italy2004/

The guided tour was in Tuscany with some time on our own in Umbria.
Wonderful. We went with ExperiencePlus. That is the 2002 trip. I would
recommend Umbria and points south for April. It is too cold up north,
in my opinion.

Our self-supported tour was Dolomites, Alps, and lake country. Great
for mega-hill lovers (though Umbria is very rolling as well). This
tour would not be possible in April. Many of the mountain passes don't
open until mid-May.

As the other poster said, use trains in and out of big cities. They
are absolute mayhem on a bike. All the local trains allow bikes. You
just have to buy a 3 Euro supplement for the bike at the window.

The one nice thing about being on a guided tour is that you get lost
less. We had GPS and the Tour Club Italia maps on our self-guided trip
and still spent a lot of time backtracking to find obscure roads we
had missed.

Best of luck,

Sarah




  #17  
Old November 13th 04, 06:03 AM
Steve Juniper
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

If interested in more inexpensive tours, another option would be to check
out www.wideopenroad.co.uk. I too 2 tours with them and have signed on to
their Rome-Sardinia-Corsica-Nice June ride. Their trips run about US$118/day
versus others at $371-435. WOR tours are supported camping with maybe 3
hotel days in a 2 week trip. Half the dinners are included 'group dinners'
and you are on your own for the rest. Obviously I like them or I wouldn't be
going back for thirds...

Steve J

"Jim S" wrote in message
...
I also went with Experience Plus. It was very reasonably priced, wonderful
tour leaders, nice routes - they do have a website. We went in mid May - 9
riders, 3 leaders - it was very special.
We did a pretty easy ride from Venice to Florence. I was 4 months pregnant
so we had to change our plans from a harder ride to an easier ride and they
couldn't have been more accomadating.


"Sarah Clatterbuck" wrote in message
om...
(magicant2000) wrote in message
. com...
Great info - thanks very much. Being solo makes it a bit more
challenging to go self-guided, although certainly not impossible (or
even unlikely).

Anyone had positive or negative experience with group tours?

Thanks again for any advice.


Hi,

My SO and I have done two tours in Italy - one guided and one
self-supported. They were both great.

http://www.secadvertising.com/Italy2002/
http://www.secadvertising.com/Italy2004/

The guided tour was in Tuscany with some time on our own in Umbria.
Wonderful. We went with ExperiencePlus. That is the 2002 trip. I would
recommend Umbria and points south for April. It is too cold up north,
in my opinion.

Our self-supported tour was Dolomites, Alps, and lake country. Great
for mega-hill lovers (though Umbria is very rolling as well). This
tour would not be possible in April. Many of the mountain passes don't
open until mid-May.

As the other poster said, use trains in and out of big cities. They
are absolute mayhem on a bike. All the local trains allow bikes. You
just have to buy a 3 Euro supplement for the bike at the window.

The one nice thing about being on a guided tour is that you get lost
less. We had GPS and the Tour Club Italia maps on our self-guided trip
and still spent a lot of time backtracking to find obscure roads we
had missed.

Best of luck,

Sarah




  #18  
Old November 18th 04, 12:25 AM
FeltnA
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Roland Mosler wrote:
magicant2000 wrote:


Been doing some research online, but wanted to know if anyone had
first hand experience with any cycling tours through Italy.



Go to Sicylly. The people are nice, you can change the difficulty nearly
each day as you like, ...
It was by now the most pleasant part of our travel.

Roland


My friends were he
http://tabla.xenya.si/gallery/album696?page=1 there's also one movie.

It's ultimate MTB destination: Monte Pasubio and

Start at Pian delle Fugazze (1163m).

Complete report:
http://tabla.xenya.si/viewtopic.php?t=20564



Good guide:
http://www-math.science.unitn.it/Bike/

  #19  
Old November 18th 04, 12:25 AM
FeltnA
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Roland Mosler wrote:
magicant2000 wrote:


Been doing some research online, but wanted to know if anyone had
first hand experience with any cycling tours through Italy.



Go to Sicylly. The people are nice, you can change the difficulty nearly
each day as you like, ...
It was by now the most pleasant part of our travel.

Roland


My friends were he
http://tabla.xenya.si/gallery/album696?page=1 there's also one movie.

It's ultimate MTB destination: Monte Pasubio and

Start at Pian delle Fugazze (1163m).

Complete report:
http://tabla.xenya.si/viewtopic.php?t=20564



Good guide:
http://www-math.science.unitn.it/Bike/

  #20  
Old November 18th 04, 12:31 AM
FeltnA
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

magicant2000 wrote:
Been doing some research online, but wanted to know if anyone had
first hand experience with any cycling tours through Italy. Looking
for nice countryside, medium to difficult riding and a one week
itinerary in April. Cost in the $2k - $3k range. Self-guided is okay,
but if there are groups, you've had a great time joining I'd love to
hear about them.

I've seen a lot of websites and ads, so I'd like to hear some
un-biased feedback from anyone who cares to share.

Thanks!



OK, you can visit Slovenia, too. It's not far from Italy, it's cheaper
and much nicer and more beautiful.

If you need any info on Slovenia, please send me an e - mail to
i n f o (a t) f e l t n a . c o m

for start check:
http://tabla.xenya.si/gallery/Skupne-ture (some biking photos from
around Slovenia)

http://www.freakoutdoor.com/index_ang.php
 




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