How much are cycling tours in Europe?
Any you reccomend?
The rates are all over the place. Depends on when, where, how many days, etc. Unless you have a burning desire for a tour, why not just tour solo? Plenty of great roads over there and you won’t have to pay the overhead of a tour. I have ridden in Italy and France, and both offer layouts that are hard to get lost. With towns just a couple of miles apart, even without a map you are fine. For me, the only reason to consider a tour in Europe is that in some countries, you just won’t find food/drink available on the road on some days. Once did a 100 miler in France and lucked out finding a water source in a local park at about mile 80.
Now if I were to do a tour, I personally would tie it together with some race viewing - perhaps April for Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. For Flanders, look up the name Gregg Germer or go to chainstay.com He’s a Texan in Belgium. Former racer. Never stayed there, but did race against him once. I would love to do the pedestrian version of Flanders and Roubaix the day before the pros.
It’s really going to depend on what you want. This is a growing and expanding category.
Of course you can go complete DIY, but then on up from that there is all kinds of different options, levels of riding, levels of accomodations and support and so on.
What are you looking for? What do you want to do? Hate to bring money into it but, what is your budget?
Breaking Away does great bike tours all over Europe. My husband and I have done several tours with Breaking Away including TDF tours. They take care of your bike, plan your routes, plan/provide group meals and suggest restaurants for lunches, provide airport transportation and bike mechanics. It was a great experience for us. We are saving for the Tuscany tour next year.
Putting in a plug for Backroads, depending on your budget. They are not inexpensive vacations, but they do a fabulous job. Wake up, eat, ride, eat, ride, shower, dinner, sleep…repeat. My first (of 8 ) trips with them was in Tuscany…one of the best vacations I’ve been on.