Italy (all)

From Zürich (Switzerland) to Sicily (Italy). Through Lugano-Como-Bergamo-Verona-Vicenza-Padova-Ravenna-Rimini-Ancona to Pescara. After Pescara the river ``Sangro'' comes down out of the Abruzze mountains. I followed this river to get on the other side of Italy. Further through Napoli-Amalfi,down the coast of Calabry to Messina (Sicily) -Siracuse-Agrigento-Marsala-Trapani-to Palermo. (the capital of Sicily) Total kilometre 2731

My girlfriend suggested we cycle from her brother's house to her mom's. Of course, her brother lived in Switzerland, and her mom in Austria, and there were a few mountains in between. I immediately jumped at the chance. Little did we realize that it would be the hottest summer in the Dolomites in 250 years. It was swelteringly hot, but we persevered, and had a great trip through some amazing scenery.

After the long German winter, we are impatient to get started with the cycling season. Looking for a land of early spring sunshine and mild temperatures, we decide on Apulia, southern Italy, the heel of the boot.

Apulia is more than just sunshine. There are many small roads with little traffic, beautiful beaches and an excellent cuisine. Those interested in history and art won't be disappointed: with Palaeolithic finds, Greek vases, Romanesque churches, Norman fortresses and Baroque cities there is much to see.

We toured two weeks, 750 km and stayed in hotels or pensions.

We are now in Cambodia, after 10 months of cycling thru New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand. Our site is bilingual.

Our web site is about the trip that we are now realizing. We have gone across the world to go back to Canada. We already crossed 5 different countries in 10 months. We will keep biking for around 2 more years. The subject treated by the web page is mostly about our trip (story, pictures, organisation) but we added a lot of other stuff like recipes, rock climbing, and small articles. We are French-Canadian, so our web site is belingual.

I decide to leave Switzerland and cycle until Tibet. The road decide for me and I finally arrive one and an half year later in Cape Town, South Africa. This is a journey dedicated to freedom, people and nature. This tour may continue to South America but I'm still working as a tour guide in Namibia to get money for the next destinations.

Have a look on my cold stage in Turkey, nice time in Syria, amazing Sudanese crossing, wild Tanzanian experience, pure Namibia, etc... I hope you will enjoy and feel free to contact me.

In the summer of 2004 we cycled 2250 kilometer from Holland to Rome. During the trip we passed through 10 countries and cycled through the Ardennes, Vosges, Alps, Apennines and Tuscany. We enjoyed the beautiful italian villages and met a lot of other cyclists. A lot of pictures, tips and travel stories in Dutch (English translations will soon appear).

In 2004 fietsten we van Nederland naar Rome. We fietsten door 10 landen en door/over de Ardennen, Vogezen, Alpen, Appenijnen en Toscane. We genoten volop van de mooie Italiaanse stadjes en ontmoetten heel veel andere fietsers. Veel plezier!

From the beginning of the Italian Alps to Munich, and way back to Venice.

Bike Tours: Travelogues, photos, maps and tips about long distance bike traveling in Greece, Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Slovenia, France, Spain; Mexico, Canada; South America and others.

Reiseberichte und Reisefotografie von Radtouren in Europa (Italien, Griechenland, Spanien, Mallorca, Frankreich, Tschechien, Slovenien etc.), Kanada, Mexiko, Südamerika und viele mehr. Lass dich inspirieren!

These pages describe a week long cycle tour through Central Tuscany in May 2006.

The route took me from Siena to Florence via Castelnuovo Berardenga, Vagliagli, Radda, Gaiole, Panzano, Montefioralle, Greve, San Polo, Strada, and Impruneta.

In questa sezione del sito personale di Paolo Adamoli vengono descritti alcuni viaggi in bicicletta dal 1998 al 2006.

Oltre a itinerari classici come il Danubio da Ulm a Bratislava, è interessante l'ultimo viaggio, nel luglio 2006, da Magdeburgo al mare del Nord e lungo il Nordsee-Ostsee-Kanal sino a Kiel, sul mar Blatico.

Cycling from Luni to Rome on the mediaeval pilgrimage road, the Via Francigena.

We fietsen vanaf Heraklion een rondje Kreta. Vanaf hier varen we naar de peloponissos, waar we richting Patras fietsen. We gaan naar Italie waar we richting Sicilië fietsen. Via Sardinië en het prachtige Corsica, varen we naar Touloun. Als afsluiter nemen we een paar hoge alpen passen zoals de Galibier. Na 3000 km en 2 maanden nemen we het laastje stukje de trein naar Huis.

I do not believe my eyes. Before us lies a wide, completely flat valley. A late evening sun shines over the valley below. The 2.400 meter high Monti Sibillini rise majestically out of the plains. This is one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen.

Willem Hoffmans and I set out from our homes in Holland for a journey to Italy. Through the Vosges, the Jura and across a lot of cols in the French Alps we reach the Italian border. In Italy we make a lot of detours through Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio.

Bericht über eine organisierte Tour von Florenz nach Siena.

Pour changer un peu, mon tour 2003 s'est fait en groupe, avec véhicule d'accompagnement et tout le matériel pour camper. Au programme: de grands et beaux cols.

Zur Abwechslung wurde meine 2003er Tour in einer Gruppe gefahren, mit Begleit-Fahrzeug und Camping-Material. Auf dem Programm: grosse, schöne Pässe.

To change a bit, my tour 2003 was done in a group, with accompanying vehicle and camping stuff. On the programme: high, beautiful passes.

A tour from Venice to Rome in bella Italia. We travelled a total of 668 kilometres in seven days, with around 32 hours of cycling time. After a couple of short easy days on the flat, we hit some evil hills and late summer heat as we headed south of Bologna into Tuscany, before finding an easy direct route straight into the heart of Rome and St Mark's at the Vatican.

Stiamo progettando, sperimentando e segnalando percorsi cicloturistici sul territorio trentino, cercando di unire le piste ciclabili e promuovere una mobilità sostenibile da parte dei turisti trentini, italiani e stranieri. Un modo nuovo di conoscere il territorio valorizzando le forme di ospitalità biologiche e sostenibili (quali agriturismi, aziende bio, ecc..) Criteri di costruzione dei percorsi:

• i punti di partenza sono raggiungibili in bici, treno o autobus;
• i punti di ristoro/pernottamento consigliati saranno in prevalenza le realtà segnalate nella Guida al consumo critico `Fa' la cosa giusta!';
• i percorsi sono adatti a cicloturisti, anche non troppo allenati, anche se affrontano alcune salite (inevitabile per il territorio trentino), poichè si sono bilanciate pendenze e distanze. Inoltre è possibile utilizzare il servizio di trasporto pubblico per evitare tratti impegnativi o in caso di stanchezza per completare le tappe;
• i percorsi valorizzano la rete delle piste ciclabili del Trentino e le uniscono (con itinerari progettati e sperimentati) in modo da non percorrere strade trafficate, se non per tratti molto brevi. Si snodano anche su strade sterrate, comunque percorribili con biciclette da cicloturismo, attrezzate con borse.

While the railway stayed mostly in tunnels, our road wound its way through short tunnels on our way to Flüelen at the end of the lake. It was along these cliffs that William Tell was said to have duped the Austrians, who had taken him captive and were returning by boat to their headquarters when a fierce storm arose.

Now with over 50 images.

Joris en Stella fietsen vanaf augustus 2005 van Nederland richting China. Na een uitstapje door het middenoosten wordt nu de weg naar het oosten voor gezet.

Web site for our bike trip from Geneva to Milan. The three of us, Mike, Steve and Dave left from Boston and Denver on July 29th and rode about 275 miles over the next 8 days - with one day off for rain. For the most part, the route was relatively flat, except for two days in the Alps. We crossed the Simplon Pass from Switzerland into Italy - made famous when Napoleon decided it was a good route to invade southern Europe.

We did this as a self-guided trip without escort or SAG. We pre-booked hotels for about half the nights and stayed flexible on routes and destinations for the rest.

Web site for our bike trip from Geneva to Milan. The three of us, Mike, Steve and Dave left from Boston and Denver on July 29th and rode about 275 miles over the next 8 days - with one day off for rain. For the most part, the route was relatively flat, except for two days in the Alps. We crossed the Simplon Pass from Switzerland into Italy - made famous when Napoleon decided it was a good route to invade southern Europe.

We did this as a self-guided trip without escort or SAG. We pre-booked hotels for about half the nights and stayed flexible on routes and destinations for the rest.

We have cycled many kilometres trough Europe. On our first trip we cycled from Holland to Sweden. After Sweden we cycled trouhg Great Britain. And we cycled further trough Holland, Belgium, France, Spain and ended our tour 6000 km later in Faro (Portugal).

On our next trip we are going to cycle from Heraklion, Crete to Holland. This trip starts 14 April 2006. More info on our site. In the future we will expend our tours outside Europe.

Die klare Struktur etwas vom Anfang bis zum Ende zu machen reizt immer, so das Konzept von der Quelle zur Mündung. Zu oft hört man das Vorurteil, die Po-Ebene sei langweilig. Vielleicht für den zu bedauernden Autofahrer auf der Autostrada. Wir haben die Strecke am Po als abwechslungsreich und hoch interessant erlebt, mit schönen Landschaften, reizvollen Dörfern und großartigen Städten.

Unsere Radtour führte uns zu den Städten Verona, Padua, Venedig, Treviso und Vicenza, eine herrliche Fahrt in die Kunstgeschichte Venetiens. Auch zu der Geschichte Venetiens gehören die mehr als 2.000 Villen, die in der Zeit zwischen dem 15. und 18. Jahrhundert im Hinterland Venedigs gebaut wurden,deren Architektur wir heute noch bewundern können. Vor allem stand Andrea Palladio dieser Villenarchitektur Pate. Dafür dass wir immer wieder mal verkehrsreiche Straßen in Kauf nehmen mussten, wurden wir ausgiebig belohnt.

Cycling the Elbe and Danube cycle ways.

Two tours, one of the Danube cycle way from Germany to Budapest, then through Slovenia to Venice, and the Elbe cycle tour from Hook of Holland to Prague via Hamburg; passing through Germany and Dresden.

The Route:

Americas: Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina
Atlantic Traverse: Azores Islands [Portugal]
Europe: Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey
The Middle East: Iran
Central Asia: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, India
South East Asia: Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia
Australasia: Australia

Welcome to the Brink Expedition!

Imagine attempting a global traverse that would take you 50,000 kilometres through some of the most difficult terrain and extreme weather on the planet, all the time attempting to use only human power and the natural elements.

Starting deep in the heart of Amazonian South America the Brink Expedition will encounter unforgiving Patagonian winds, snowed over Himalayan Mountain passes, monsoons on the sub-continent and the oppressive heat of Australia's Red Centre.

So while the clock ticks, the seasons will turn, making this a full-throttled Race Against the Elements!

This tour includes scenic detours around Greek islands, the Peloponnese, and proceeds through Italy, Austria, and Germany. This site also has tours in the USA: Colorado, Wyoming, Montana; and in Portugal and Spain.

Although the tour that I had on the legendary climbs of the Tour de France in 2004 tempt me back to indulge in nostalgia, this year (2005) I decided to bicycle on the cols of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de Suisse, and beside it to take part in the hard Fausto Coppi bicyclemarathon / gran fondo, which is a real challenge with its 187 km and has 4400m height difference.

Before the fantastic marathon, I bicycled to France to climb the Col de la Moutiere, and when I were there it was logical to climb also the 2802m Cime de la Bonette. Both cols are unforgettable.

Next to Briancon I enjoyed the nice Col du Granon (2413 m) which was not only steep but very beautiful. In 2005 at the Colle Finestre (Italia) there was a hard fight between profi Giro d'Italia racers; on my tour I had the most remarkable experience after a light rain, when the Sun could shine between the clouds.

In Switzerland I had cold weather for days, but I could climb nice cols. I loved Grimselm because I enjoyed very much the feeling of a triathlon race, and I loved Gotthard because its ``old'' feeling - thanks to the cobblestoned road.

In the last 3 days - through sunny weather - I went up to the legendary Passo Gavia, Passo Rombo / Timmelsjoch and last day the 2829m high Gletscherstrasse. The highest point on the last day!

In 2004 I succeeded in cycling through the French Alps, which had been one of my Great dream, plan for years. For years I felt that a tour in France can have more problems than in the nearer countries, but with the experiences of my tour in 2003 (along the Adria and to Montenegro), in 2004 I felt enough encourage to cycle up to the famous french cols. I had read a lot of travelogues (Trento Bike Pages, Velofahren.de, biketrip.org, etc.) and I tried to think about every problems which can occur through a French Alps tour: weather, busy campings, the effects of the Tour de France, and maybe some mechanical problems, etc.

In the first two days and in the last two days I had some problems, adventures, but just between the high mountains of the French Alps everything happened well. During the 12 days between the mountains, I climbed almost all of the passes / cols, that I planned for the whole tour, this means 21 serious ascents, 13 of them are above the height of 2000 m. The most famous cols where I cycled are: La Bonette (2802 m), Col du Galibier (2645 m) , Col d'Izoard (2361m) , Alpe d'Huez (1860m), Col de Iseran (2770m), Col Agnel (2744m), etc.

Although there was 1 or 2 rest days in the plan, as I didn't have any serious - whole day long - rain through the tour, every day I was riding my bicycle. The beautiful nature and the experiences, adventures, ascents gave my power to climb them. Usually 1-2 days with panniers were followed by a ``light'' day without panniers (but with 2 climbs).

It began as a crazy idea whilst on holiday in France back in 2003 and within a couple of weeks had turned into a serious plan. Now after two years preparation and a couple of false starts we're finally off.

The plan is to ride from our home in Chesham to the south coast city of Portsmouth where we can catch a boat to Bilbao on the north coast of Spain. Then we'll cross France to the Black Forest in Germany where we can pick up the famous Danube cycle path which we plan to follow to east to Vienna. After that we want to spend a couple of months in the Alps before heading south for a lap of Italy. The final leg of the tour will see us cross France again to the Pyrenees before we head south to Spain where we plan to follow the coast round to Portugal and back into Northern Spain where we can catch the boat back to England.

These pages describe a week long cycle tour through Southern Tuscany in May 2005.

A number of the rides were inspired by Iris Origo's compelling description of life in Tuscany during the Second World War ('War in Val d'Orcia - An Italian War Diary - 1943-1944') and James Hudson's article ('Tuscany, the Hills, the Gelato') in the January/February 2005 issue of Adventure Cyclist which was illustrated by Sue Kemp's water colours.

I thought it was not so difficult to go up to the Gavia pass, but it might have something to do with getting used to these long and steep climbs. I also learned from the italian the day before that the Gavia road had been paved since two years back all the way (something I was not totally sure on after reading about it elsewhere). The steep part begins at Sta Caterina Valfurva (1738 m). Before this I took the photo just beside here and it is apparently the Punta S. Matteo mountain top (3678 m) one sees here (it looked much better in real life!). I was a very beautiful road to go up and it seemed so nice and still it was difficult to really comprehend I would be in Milano later in the day. Just behind the corner where I took the photo, cows were walking up a terribly small path in the terribly steep hillside. I wondered if they would lose balance and fall down on me if I called at them. (Original text selected by Andreas C.)

22 full days of cycling (I cycled a little the first day upon arriving at Nice and cycled 81 km on a travel day). I visited around 115 mountain passes. A total of 3532 km for 22 days (161 km/day). I climbed ca. 73078 m (3322 m/day). Maximum inclination/steepness: walking: 33% up Col de Traversette in snow; 42% down Grand col de Ferret. Steepest cycling was perhaps up Monte Zoncolan with 6 km at around 15% on average. Most difficult was probably Koralpenstrasse with an average gradient of 11,2% for the final 14,4 km, which make it into one of the hardest climbs in the Alps that could be cycled with a normal racer cycle. From snow to blazing sun around Nice. From Nice to Lavamünd and back again.

Diari di viaggio in bicicletta e con altri mezzi in Patagonia, Brasile, Stati Uniti ed Europa. Consigli utili sui viaggi in bicicletta, migliaia di immagini ed un forum per gli appassionati cicloviaggiatori.

Because we wanted to see the small villages, as well as select big cities, we decided that our best route through Italy was to zigzag across Umbria and Tuscany. The big cities on our list were Venice, Assisi, Florence, and Rome. Some of the surprisingly pleasant small towns in between included Urbino, Gubbio, and Poppi. Not a real straight line. We had planned on 60 mile days to give us time to be tourists. We discovered however that some days clocked in closer to 80 miles, and many days had between 4000 and 9000 feet of climb. Luckily the weather was conducive to riding - Sunny and 75, but in retrospect we would have preferred fewer miles each day. Italy is a country to savor.

Welcome to the diary from our 2004 trip to Italy. Our planned route was to travel up from Rome, following the coast for the first few days, then cutting in to Florence through Tuscany. We'd get back to Rome by looping down through Umbria.

In the summer of 1999 I cycled a little over 7000km across Europe, from Nordkapp, at the northern end of Norway, to Calabria, the southernmost region of Italy. It was the best bicycle ride and adventure of my life so far. This is my attempt to share what I saw and felt.

``The Great Heart Travelers'' promote the blood donation riding around the world. They made a Europe tour of 5400 km in 2004, and a tour in New Zealand in 2005. (Follow the archive link at the bottom of the page to go to the European tour.)

A 2 week tandem tour of the Abruzzo and Puglia regions, taking in the Gran Sasso region (Campo Imperatore), and the Gargano Peninsula. Includes daily ride reports, maps, photos, planning and packing info.