One of the great things about taking a vacation is having a bold new experience to call your own, not just for a day but for a lifetime. Now you can add cycling to the mix.
European Cycling tours are all the rage at the moment. They combine two things everyone loves – the brilliance of Europe and the fun of cycling. To that end, here are a few of the destinations you can experience via a cycling holiday from Hooked on Cycling.
Cycling in the UK
The lush green landscape of “England’s mountains green” and the daily excitement of London make the UK a natural fit for cycling tours. You’ll have the opportunity to cycle through some of the most naturally beautiful as well as historically and literarily significant sites in the country. Experience for yourself the misty moors which inspired the Bronte Sisters, or the pastoral beauty of the Derbyshire countryside captured by Austen in Pride and Prejudice. England in all its lush greenery has inspired everyone from Chaucer and Shakespeare to the Pearl Poet, author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Real-life Regency ladies and Medieval knights have trod these grounds, and now you too can have the chance to cycle through them in style!
Cycling in Western Europe
From the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame and the countless other hot spots which tourists visit every year, a cycling tour of Paris can help you experience the City of Lights in true Parisian fashion. With that said, there’s a lot more to be seen on a cycling trip through Western Europe.
You’ll have the opportunity to take in several other great cities, from Brussels to Berlin to Barcelona.
You’ll be able to experience the alpine beauty which inspired Goethe, or the vibrant Spanish countryside as brought to life in works such as Cervantes’ Don Quixote and Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.
You’ll be able to take in the beauty of the Neckar River, which Mark Twain wrote about in A Tramp Abroad before writing of his own Mississippi River in the immortal Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
You’ll be able to cycle through the French countryside so lovingly painted by Manet, Renoir, van Gogh, and the great Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters.
A cycling tour of Western Europe can make you feel as though you’re cycling through literature or art itself!
Cycling in Southern Europe
If you’re in the mood for food, history, and culture, a ride through Southern Europe can’t be beaten. Bike through Rome and see all the great sites of the Eternal City, from the Coliseum to the Trevi Fountain, all while taking in the wine and cuisine of one of the West’s everlasting bastions of beauty. Ride past the ruins of ancient Greek civilisation in Athens, take in the Parthenon, breathe the crisp Greek sea air, and see the land that brought us Homer, Sophocles, and the foundations of Western Literature.
Whatever your ideal vacation destination might be, a cycling tour is the best way to see it in all in style!
