Frank and I have been enjoying cycle touring in Europe so much that we thought we’d like to spread the love and share some of our impressions and experiences thus far!
We’ve now ridden about 7000km of beautiful routes through parts of the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Greece and in this video we share why we, as Canadians, love cycle touring in Europe so much. We provide some advice and tips for others interested in planning their own bicycle adventure.
Topics include the excellent cycling infrastructure, cycling culture and the many reasons we keep coming back to explore more cycle routes and enjoy the sights and history of this part of the world.
We also talk about flying with bicycles, planning your route, navigation, finding and booking accommodation (including camping), charging phones and other devices, bicycle and gear security, phones and sim cards and more.
So if you are new to cycle touring, or if you’ve enjoyed it in your home country but would like to venture to Europe, we hope this video will really help you get ready for your adventure. We were complete rookies not too long ago, so if we can do it, we feel anyone can! Let this be your starter guide to Cycle Touring in Europe!
Interested in viewing our other videos? You can use these links:
“In the Footsteps of the Romans” series (Via Claudia Augusta)
“Alpe Adria Radweg”- https://youtu.be/zOWp4xnp1yQ?si=nylFqz5-RXj0ZBYU
“Rhine Cycle Route EV15” https://youtu.be/_1QZmaFO9Js?si=tlytIS7plXX3T5PF
“North Sea to Adriatic” https://youtu.be/BELKTPhI2UM?si=6VG4TjFtfZvtRoPq
‘EuroVelo 17 Rhone River” https://youtu.be/RwySPs0e1Rw?si=Dzb0WA-JrwVAuOjz
“Cycling Across France on EV 6” https://youtu.be/DakL95Qf1VI?si=P36UEwnTBtYp2Eed
Please note we have NO sponsors or business affiliations with any products mentioned!
If you would like to know more about the EuroVelo network, check out this excellent video by “Vera and Eddie” https://youtu.be/OWmXRgXNEjc?si=ninhqIjNV14bcI-n
Guidebooks and maps we’ve used: (Many of these are available on Amazon)
EuroVelo 6 set of maps published by Huber “EuroVelo 6 from Atlantic to Rhine River by bike” Map 1-6, also Basel to Budapest (7 Maps)
http://cartography-huber.com/p10/p13/shop/products/eurovelo-6—set-1-atlantic—basel
http://cartography-huber.com/p10/p42/shop/products/eurovelo-6-set-2-basel—budapest
Bikeline guidebooks are published by Verlage Esterbauer https://www.esterbauer.com/bikeline-produkte/
Bikeline Guidebook “Via Claudia Augusta”
Bikeline Guidebook “Alpe Adria Radweg”
EuroVelo 15: Cicerone guidebook “The Rhine Cycle Route” by Mike Wells
https://www.cicerone.co.uk/cycling
EuroVelo6 Loire section
https://www.cicerone.co.uk/the-river-loire-cycle-route Loire Valley guide (Kindle version)
EuroVelo6 Danube section
https://www.cicerone.co.uk/the-danube-cycleway-volume-1
EuroVelo 17 (The Rhone River Route) Guidebook by Mike Wells published by Cicerone
https://www.cicerone.co.uk/the-river-rhone-cycle-route-2
Route planning resources:
https://en.eurovelo.com/
https://waymarkedtrails.org/
https://veloplanner.com/
https://www.bikemap.net/
https://cycle.travel/
https://www.komoot.com/
Accommodation
https://www.bettundbike.de/en/
https://welcometomygarden.org/
Country-specific resources
https://schweizmobil.ch/en/cycling-in-switzerland
https://en.francevelotourisme.com/
https://bicitalia.org/it/
https://www.adfc-radtourismus.de/
Route-specific resources
Ciclovia Alpe Adria Radweg
https://www.viaclaudia.org/en/via-claudia-augusta-welcome
The Alpe Adria Cycle Path: From the city of Mozart to the Adriatic Sea
https://www.italia.it/en/friuli-venezia-giulia/things-to-do/alpe-adria-cycle-route (Italian section of Alpe Adria)
https://www.cicerone.co.uk/the-river-loire-cycle-route Loire Valley Guidebook (we used Kindle version)
Filming our tour:
GoPro Hero 10 Black https://gopro.com/en/ca/shop/cameras#blt4c6db2a4abe5bade
Windslayer (noise reduction) https://www.amazon.ca/HSU-Windslayer-Housing-Reduction-Accessory/dp/B08NSM5GPC
0:00 Introduction
2:50 A word about chapters
4:04 Our touring experience & the routes we’ve ridden
8:13 What’s so great about cycle touring in europe?
10:01 Europe’s cycling infrastructure
16:57 Intro to our tips and advice list
17:44 Navigation
22:25 Navigation-local names of routes
24:25 Accommodation – how and when we book them
26:01 Booking hotels
27:01 Campgrounds
31:12 Wild (Stealth) camping
31:54 Phones and Sim cards
37:38 Security of bikes and gear
42:53 Charging your devices
45:25 Food and water
46:39 Food- Sunday closures
50:08 Food-Warning about foxes!
51:17 Chairs
52:33 Planning your tour
1:01:32 Best time of year
1:01:36 Flying with your bike
1:08:08 Filming our tour
1:13:45 Favourite Routes and best beginner routes
1:15:34 Closing
25 Comments
Excellent and very thorough video. Here are a few things that might be useful as well: 1 – remove the rotors on your bicycle so they don't get bent in transport (I carry a compact torque wrench for this and also reassembling my bike that has carbon fiber components), 2 – when you get your e-SIM set up go to Google maps and share your location with whoever you are riding with so you don't always have to ride together, and you can keep track of each other but this only works if they have not turned off their data (it can also allow you to keep track of each others phones), and 3 – I also have been using Wise bank where you can transfer money from your bank account to your Wise account and convert it to whatever currency you need, almost instantaneous. I ordered a physical Wise bank card, which I forgot in Canada one time and was able to load the bank card into my Google wallet for Portugal and Spain. The physical bank card is useful in areas where the phone tap to pay function is not available, like Costa Rica.
My wife and I really enjoy your videos and style of travel. Having cycle toured many times in Europe and some of the exact same routes, we concur with your advice and tips. We too are 60 something out of Vancouver area. Our next tour we expect to be a combo of the North Sea/ Baltic Sea routes. Well done!
That is the best and most informative video of bike touring I have seen thankyou.
A++ video. Super valuable content! Answered just about all of my questions for bike touring in Europe as we plan to ride the EV6. Spurred my interest for riding the Via Claudia Augusto!
Excellent! thank you 🙏
Thank you, Daphne. So great to hear of folks taking to 2 wheels after retirement. I am off to cycle from Roscoff to Santander to celebrate my hip replacement in May. All your advice is fantastic, so thorough, and comprehensive. I am excited after watching your film, I am planning and dreaming. Keep up the fantastic filmmaking.
That was a great video, thank you. I've completed a few shorter trips with our kids (4-5 days) here in New Zealand, but never overseas. Looking forward to retirement and having time for longer trips.
Great info for ageing potential bikepacking newbies like me, look forward to the next update! 👍🏻
Just discovered your channel and love it! Thanks for sharing all your adventures ❤ Already looking forward to the next video!😊
Love your videos and thanks so much for posting! Like you, I’m a Canadian retiree (Vancouver in my case). I really enjoy long distance cycle touring in Europe (e.g. Around the Zuiderzee in the Netherlands and down to Bruges, Canal des Deux Mers across France.). Your adventures make me feel like a sissy. With many severe health issues to cope with, I always book inn to inn on dedicated cycle paths using a luggage transfer service. No busy roads and no camping. It is the ONLY way I could do it. On my European trips, I feel inspired by the number of retirees in their 70’s and even 80’s still doing long distance touring on ebikes. Makes me hopeful about my own cycling dreams even as my health window shrinks year by year. I hope your health window remains open for many more of these adventures in the years ahead!
Such an inspiration. You’ve convinced me to attempt the North Sea to Adriatic as a tribute to my mother who I recently lost.
Hi Daphne
Love your videos.
( from Roscrea Ireland)
I And my Octogenarian friend Aidan (Monk) intend cycling Passau to Vienna in June.
We will hire e-bikes but we hope to pre book either self catering accomodations or hotel rooms x 2 as we travel.
Bit worried about which side of river etc. We have 7 to 8 days so we wish only about 35 to 50 km per stage.
Any advice would be welcome!
Regards
Paddy
Thank you for sharing all of your insights! So inspiring to watch and dream during the winter months.
Do you speak multiple languages?
Thank you so much! Every summer I take my Brompton bike to Europe for Euro Velo adventures mostly along the Loire and Danube rivers. I'm 75 now and hope to have many more years of cycling adventures ahead of me. Thank you for your inspiration!
what a fantastic resource! Thank you for your efforts to share your passion for cycle touring. did you take the footage of the bear yourself? Gulp.
Super useful video with plenty of good tips. Would love to have a follow up with your pannier packing contents and bike set-up. Many thanks!
Hi Daphne and Frank. You were kind enough to give Kerry and I a ride from the spot where the Great Divide Trail meets the highway to Field back in 2021. We were inspired by your tales of bicycle touring then, and are even more so now. We're about to launch on a three month cycle tour through Europe, and are super grateful for this information packed primer on so many important elements. You're terrific role models for us. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Tom & Kerry Carlson (aka Chipper and Bounce)
Hi Daphne, My husband and I really found this video extremely helpful. We especially appreciated describing packing the bike for the airport, transporting around the airport etc, as well as the security at Calgary airport needing to get into the boxes. This has been very inspirational as we want to do a trek in the EU in 2027 either May-June or Sept-Oct, so many thanks!!
Great explainer video. I love learning how other people like to do these things, im a compulsive advance planner and booker lol. Just a couple thoughts I have from my experience, one is in NL and some other places you can also use a site called Vrienden op de Fiets (friends on bikes) for accommodation, and second is about the bike box it is actually in the small print in EU that they can open your box at check in to inspect it but ive never had it happen but I do pop a small roll of tape inside the box so if I do have to open it I can tape it again, and to open it I just use my house keys to cut the tape. And a final thought, its a shame you haven't done Spain, its utterly wonderful the roads are super easy, either quiet back roads, or with very wide shoulders you can safely use as a bike path and the drivers there are in my opinion the best in europe at riding around you nicely and safely, great asphalt, weather, food, people, hugely varied terrain and environments. One of my favourites to cycle in for sure.
Great info. Thanks so much!
Just found your channel. I found this video very interesting and helpful. I am also a Canadian who must struggle with transportation of the bike to Europe. One thing I could add to your info is that Schiphol airport in Amsterdam sell bike boxes that only require taking off the peddles and turning the handlebars. Then you just wheel the bike in. I believe the last one I bought was 25 euros. We buy it at the Amsterdam airport , use it for our trip home, store it in the garage and then use it for our next trip to Europe. Then we wheel our bike out, dispose of the box and hop on a train from the airport to wherever we want to start the next trip. Easy peasy.
What I would like to knowis his packing list? He's only carrying two bags. Thank you for your long video!
Mountain biking.If you put bags on your bikethey call it bike packing. Like back packing.
❤