suggestions for European family cycling holiday??

dr05

Hi, does anyone have a suggestion for somewhere flattish, interesting-ish & covered with those fab cycle-lanes that mean your kids won't get run over the second you set off? We had a brilliant cycling hols last yr on France's Ile de Re, & our kids are desperate to do more, but I can't seem to find anything on-line, apart from some slightly ghastly looking organised tours in Holland... I'm sure there are some beautiful bits of Holland which don't involve clogs or bloody tulips, but I can't think how to access that sort of cycling info.... Plus, there must be other areas of Europe which are beautiful, not too hilly & have cycle lanes.... aren't there? Any resourceful cycling families got some suggestions for us, please?

adamedwardsteather

Have a look at Maurach in Austria. Its on the Munich - Innsbruck cycle route and you can cycle round 2/3rds of the lake. We saw lots of families out and about on our non-cycling holiday last summer. We took the rack railway and the lake ships instead!

Hope useful

Adam

Haynes

Not sure if this fits the bill but look into the Belvedere Hotel, Riccione, Italy.

I went off for hilly 50mile+ road rides whilst family stayed at the hotel in the pool or met up with us for various bbqs organised by the hotel. They have 4 levels of ride each day. My 7 year old went for a 10 mile ride along the flat sea front along cycle paths with a climb to a view point at the end. A german lad on the kids size giant road bike was riding 30 odd miles a day with his family on the road tour group.

Excellent food, totally set up for cycling, nice staff, great atmosphere, beautiful scenery.

GraemeT

Have a look at this link:
http://www.cycling-in-switzerland.ch/02_cyling_routes/change/frameset_radwadern_change.html
Although there are lots of hilly routes, there are also plenty of flatish ones.
The routes are well signposted, almost always cyclepaths or quiet roads/cyclelanes.
The maps even show the surface and level of traffic and the site has links to hotels, alternative transport etc.

Graeme

optombenno

Easy One!

Try the "Voie Vert" (or Voie Verts plural as there are lots of them!) in France. The one we use runs for 35k through gorgeous Burgundy Vineyards and is as flat as they come. It used to be an old train track. (north of Chalon sur Saone to Cluny) it;s well "tarmaced", has lots of detours ("ballades" they are called as they are circular routes) off it to villages and churches, towns and cities.
delightful routes as well as good cuisine and wine!
Keep quiet about it though as it's very quiet normally - we dont want the whole world to know the gastronomic and Inexpensive delights of rural france.!

David

mountaincarrot

I'd second the cycle routes through the Bourgogne. I was there last year with the family. Lots of great smooth tarmac wide cycle routes.

Off the flat cycle routes (which are canals and rivers), there are also any number of small very quiet roads with super 500-1000 foot hill climbs and teeny little villages.

crackle

Oooh! I found this with interest having just posted a darned similiar question in Touring, which on reflection might be better off here.

Now in answer to your question I was looking at www.bretonbikes.com

Now let's see: Not hilly, errr well Brittany is a bit: Offroad, errr some bits are... but seriously it might be the next step up.You don't say how old you're kids are? I've cycled in Brittany in the past, the roads are very quiet and these people provide everyhting including kiddi back tandems and equipment and routes and backup.

My kids are eight and ten and I'm seriously considering this for next summer. I'd like to hear if anyone has got experience of it but I particualrly like the idea of it being all in, planned and therefore hassle free ..... and the tandems could be the icing on the cake, even if we only had one and a kiddi bike, they could take it in turns maybe.

nonnac85

if you want to go somewhere a bit different, there are some good rides around postojna and skocja which are in Slovenia

ademort

Hi why not try Zeeland in the Netherlands. I have lived in Zeeland for fifteen years, ther are plenty of cycle paths and you could do a different cycle route every day if you wanted. Try this link www.vacatio-apartments.com. Also Zeeland has much to offer for the tourist, places to visit, night life good clean beaches, what more could you want. Regards Ademort

jellybellywmb

More or less anywhere on the West Coast of France I have been to various places for South West to North West and it is riddled with cycle paths . The french really are bike friendly as the cycle paths are not just painted gutters as they are over here, they are proper surfaced paths away from the traffic. So whether its a 20min ride to the beach or a day out with a picnic and perhaps the odd cold Stella on route, then France gets my vote.

jellybellywmb

Probably my favourite area is http://www.vendee-tourism.co.uk/discover/Cycling-in-Vendee.html[url][/url]

kieranb

second the vendee, went there 2 years ago, very good cycle paths along the coast and very quiet roads inland, also very flat. don't be put off by the busy coastal road just turn off this and in no time you will be cycling on empty streets. We stayed in a campsite near the coast and cycled to various beaches/towns/attractions every day. Also saw some local road race one day.

paul_bhoy

Just come back from Flanders in Belgium. Cycle routes everywhere, many seperated physically from the roads. My 13 year old hates cycling on the road here but really enjoyed the cycle paths in Belgium.

Nice and flat although there can be quite a head wind.

Have a look at this website, although not in English you'll get the jist off it

http://www.fietsroute.org/index.htm

delfy

Go to Denmark,using the Harwich ferry and their train network. Good cycle paths, good beaches, good food. Can usually find something connected with Vikings or go to Odense for the Hans Christian andersen experience.