downtheroad.org

Tim and I have been talking about our future. We have tickets from New Zealand to Alaska (May 2008) but after an extended tour visiting all of our friends and family in North America we are free to roam for the next several years. We planned to go to Europe next but we have learned that if we do not have tickets in our hands we really do not have plans. This brought up the question: What are the top ten places to bike tour in the world. To narrow the field please limit your answers to two to six week sections of favorite places you have been or want to go. Of course, it is always possible to connect these sections together for longer trips but the two to six week limitation will focus on the best regions. In addition, answers are preferably in the form of a top ten list but any number of places listed in order of importance would be helpful.

Thank you in advance for your help.

staehpj1

While in the US be sure to ride at least a portion of the Pacific Coast Highway (Oregon is especially nice). The Colorado Rockies are not to be missed either.

I haven't seen any of it yet, but the area covered by Adventure Cycling's Great Parks North route is high on my to do list.

I have not cycled outside the US so I have no recommendations of where to go outside the US.

vik 

Alberta & British Columbia - in the summer!

Baja in the winter. Baja gets my ***** five star rating!

raybo

While I was looking around for sites to add to my bike touring archive, I found this link which contains a list of the "World's 25 best bike tours." This might be a place to start.

Ray

niknak

You're cycling in one of the best places right now, New Zealand! I hope you're not limiting yourselves to just six weeks with the Kiwis. Particular spots that I like in NZ are the East Cape, Otago region, the northern part of the south island and around Punakaiki. NZ also has some amazing hiking. The Rees-Dart and Hump Ridge Tracks were our favorites. I could go on and on about the wonders of cycling around NZ...

jamawani 

Best Places?

It depends on what you like. Remote and wild? Scenic and civilized?

If you are from New Zealand, the Great Basin would offer you something truly different.
It's kinda like Central Asia in topography - high and dry - with rugged mountains.
Nevada is not for the uninitiated - as tough or tougher than Alaska.
In fact, because there are so few roads in Alaska, it feels busier in Alaska.

I'm wondering - - why are you starting in May up north and heading south?
May is fabulous in Alaska, but July and August in the "Lower 48" can be really hot.
I notice you said that you already have your tickets - -
So Nevada may be a no-go - just too hot by July.
But there is nothing more beautiful than a silent desert blooming after spring rains.

I'd be glad to share 20 years of touring experience in North America.
Just not sure where you will be going.
If you are crossing North America - west to east -
I would recommend South Dakota and the Black Hills.
The Canadian crossing involves lots and lots of Prairie riding.
Same for eastern Montana and North Dakota.
Kansas can be brutally hot - esp. for Kiwis.

If you cross South Dakota, you have the Black Hills to break up the Plains.
Plus if you take back roads - you'll have very little traffic -
And friendly folks in the little towns.
No place on earth beats the Great Plains for hospitality.

Best - J

Pic - Stone Cabin Valley east of Tonopah

downtheroad.org

We are from Arizona and are currently in New Zealand for 8 months as part of a multi-year trip. Although we have been in this country for several weeks now we have not seen much more than a computer screen because we are wrapping up work on our second book. Once the book is off to our professional editor, we will have 6 months to explore New Zealand. I cannot wait!

We picked May to fly to Alaska because that is when it is getting cold in the South Island and warming up in Alaska. I have a twin sister and family in Valdez we will visit first before Tim and I start heading south. After that we thought about the west coast, winter in Mexico, and then a summer crossing the USA. It is the years after that we want to visit or revisit the top ten places to bike tour in the world.

Niles H.

Heinz Stucke [can anyone tell me how to put an umlaut on the "u"?] talks about his favorite places at

https://www.bikechina.com/heinzstucke1z.html

****
(His writings are in five sections on bikechina.com. If anyone finds the exact location of the passage where he talks about his favorite places, please post.)

gerv 

On a PC, hold down on the ALT key while typing 129 on the numeric pad. Although it might not work on a laptop.

Machka 

1) The Icefield Parkway here in Alberta ... to extend that tour to 6 weeks, you could include a jaunt out to Radium and over to Golden and/or over to Calgary ... oh and don't forget to explore Highway 11 from Saskatchewan River Crossing to Red Deer. I know many of those highways/routes like the back of my hand.

2) Vancouver Island. I've cycled there once, but enjoyed it despite the rain and a bad crash. The scenery is gorgeous and there are lots of great roads for cycling. Evidently it isn't as rainy in the summer as it is in early April.

3) Tasmania ... I spent 3 weeks cycling there and barely saw the State. I could easily spend a good 6 weeks there.

pathebikeguy

Most of my trips are short; 2 to 3 weeks.
Also they are mostly in the winter months.
I highly recommend CUBA, Mexico's PACIFIC COAST - Oaxaca and Guerrero; MOROCCO
You can see my itineraries; route maps; photos etc on the following site;
https://www.geocities.com/pathebikeguy
Dont forget to sign the Guestbook.

P_Raider

Tim/Cindie,

I have been on your website numerous times and found it particularly helpful before my friend and I set out for a month in Vietnam. For the trip we used the Lonely Planet Cycling Vietnam book as our base. Amazing country!

As I am from Ireland, I'm going to be biased and say that Ireland is one of the best places to tour in Europe! See the Lonely Planet Cycling Ireland book for routes. I will be doing the Kerry peninsula (Ring of Kerry) early next year just as a long weekend trip. Ryanair.com do cheap flights to Ireland from all over Europe (€35 for bikes each way)

Also, have you been to the Pyrenees? I'm not long back from doing the Raid Pyreneen - 710km from Atlantic to Med in 100 hours. THE best cycling I have done. See the links below

www.bikepyrennes.com
www.cyclepyrenees.com

Hope this is useful.

Paul

Julien

My own top routes have been so far :

1) the North Sea Cycle Route (loosely followed, substituting the Fillefjell Pass through the mountains between Bergen and Oslo rather than following the coast)

2) the Blue Ridge Parkway preceeded by the Skyline Drive, from Virginia to Tennessee, USA, in the fall colours

3) the Neckar River valley in southern Germany, only a one day ride but oh ! so beautiful ! ...combined with a tour around Bavaria

4) from Darwin to Uluru in Australia

5) from Morocco to la Côte d'Azur in France following the Mediteranean coast

Enjoy !

arie

Raybo's link is very useful indeed (Ridetheroad).
I would add to this list my personal favourites:
1. France, Loire-valley
2. Italy, Tuscany
3. ...and my finest ride was this year: southern Colorado/Utah and Northern Arizona.
But that's not an eye-opener I suppose ;-)

SBirk

I haven't been able to make it to many of the beautiful places that others are mentioning...

However -- I can recommend the cycling, history and culture on "The Way of St. James" (aka El Camino de Santiago de Compostela) in Spain. The Camino is a collection of old pilgrimage routes that all end up at Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. The main route starts in St Jean Pied de Port and finishes in Santiago, about 475 miles later.

spinnaker

And don't forget about the Italian lake region.

hoogie

shush, or they will all want to come here! watch out for the drivers though, they are amongst the world's worst!

avatarworf

I can second Morocco as a top choice -- fantastic place to go and we had no problems at all. No stoning by kids as we had feared, although a few do ask for candy and money in touristy areas. Wild camping is so easy. It is affordable too and there are a range of landscapes to enjoy: desert, mountains, plains, gorges, colourful cities. You could spend anything up to 3 months in Morocco but six weeks would give you a good tour.

From there I would highly recommend going to Portugal (not the Algarve but less than 100km from the southern coast and things get very appealing). Certainly our favourite in Europe for scenery, food and value for money. Campgrounds were sometimes less than 5 euros for both of us and very clean. Spain is good away from the heavily trafficky and developed Mediterranean coastline but more expensive.

Next on my list would be Canada's east coast, from Quebec east.

Third would be the region of northern Italy (Trentino Alto Adige / Cortina d'Ampezzo) and the southern bit of Austria that joins it.

classic1

Bendigo, Victoria, Australia

A town of only 80,000 people with 47 pubs.

no tengo coche

I didnt see Japan mentioned yet. So I'll mention that region. I was on the southern island of Kyushu, so I can't speak for Honshu and areas closer to Tokyo. But from my experience, the weather was ideal in may, warm but not to hot, even in early june, super friendly people. There can be a fair bit of traffic, but drivers are very curtious and not aggressive. Roads are also in great condition usually. And finding a random place to sleep is never an issue. One night was spent sleeping at a shrine (sacrelig?), and another on a beautiful cove. Never needed to use a tent either.
And the decent into Nagasaki was one of the most amazing I've ever done. Felt like something out of a video game or anime movie.
Its on my Must Return To list!

gcottay

Thanks, all, for an excellent thread. I've already done two of the suggested tours and it isn't even afternoon nap time yet. <G>

If you are wondering if anyone aside from the OP is really interested in hearing about your great tour, the answer is yes!

downtheroad.org

No, unfortunately we have never been to the Pyrenees or (Europe in general) on this trip. Even though we have been going for almost 6 years we have only visited Central and South America, SE Asia/China, Australia, and now New Zealand but just because we have been through does not mean that we cannot revisit a place. We have learned that it is impossible to see everything in one visit.

We have seen the Pyrenees many times on TV (back when we owned a TV) while watching the Tour De France and it looks so beautiful that it has to be on the top 10 list. The problem with my top 10 places to bike tour in the world list is that it has hundreds of items on it. The next 20 years should be very interesting.

Cindie Travis
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BRUCE NORTHCUTT

On a laptop it is, FN + ALT, J K 9
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BigBlueToe

arie, I'm very interested in this area. Did you post a journal anywhere? What time of year did you go? My touring is mostly in the summer, and I worry it would get too hot. I do have a week off in March though.

Thanks.

Creamcrackered

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Central Asia are top of my list. Argentina, Chile and Bolivia are also up there. Turkey is also very good.