Cycling From Paris to Rome and looking for advice?

Craig8701
Craig8701 Posts: 15
edited March 2013 in Tour & expedition
I am cycling from Paris to Rome this summer over 16 days and i was wondering if anyone had any good information about routes to take, bike shops along the way, hotels that are cyclist friendly ect. Hope to put all my information up on a website for others to learn from my trials and errors.

I am going: Paris, Sens, Semur-en-Auxois, Dijon, Besancon, Neuchatel, Interlaken, Airolo, Lugan, Milan, Parma, Bologna, Farenze, Pisa, Siena, Montefiascone, Rome


Cheers :)

http://paristorome.webs.com/

Comments

  • Craig8701
    Craig8701 Posts: 15
    Forgot to say I am credit card cycling with one friend and me average day is going to be about 60 miles with my biggest being 80 miles.

    Cheers
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    Hi Craig,

    We might be able to help each other. I've listed some threads below about my London to Rome summer tour, although we are going fully loaded.

    I'll be having a good look at your route as ours is not set in stone yet!


    London to Rome in June, thoughts?
    http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12668401

    Kit! Touring on a Roadie.
    http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12670354
  • Craig8701
    Craig8701 Posts: 15
    I still need plan my route exactly but mine is specific to arriving in all the places I wanted to visit on the way. I could have done a much quicker route but then as I have the time I’m stopping off at some of the tourist spots.
    You will also have the freedom of doing miles per day as you feel because you are camping where as I am going from a set point to the next point as I will be booking hostels ect in advance.

    I found the michelin website good for looking at routes and the google maps is good for checking some stuff as well. Think I will have to buy michelin yellow maps though to plot some of the routes like through the alps.

    When is it you are going on your tour?

    If i find any info that might help you I will put it up here or email you. My email is craigauchinachieis@hotmail.com if you want to get in touch.

    Cheers
  • Hi,

    Myself and my wife are also doing a charity bike ride this year, 2013: 'Home 2 Rome' (from Leicestershire). We are after some advice on routes through France and Italy, in particular the best routes through the French Alps. We will be making a stop in Pithiviers in France as our town is twinned with this town, and then looking at possibly heading towards Torino to then head to the west coast of Italy, and follow the coast all the way to Rome. This is still quite sketchy so any advice on roads to avoid, ideal routes etc would be much appreciated. We will post more route info as we get it sorted.

    Thanks

    Richard
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    Hi Richard,

    Here is the route I took and detailed route over the Alps. I sense it doesn't suit your desire to visit certain places in France but I could be wrong.

    Happy to go into details on the Italian coastal route.

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/146m ... jnDWc/edit
  • Thanks for the route info. We would be really interested to know a bit more about the Italian coastal route, ie; the terrain and the roads you took.

    Thanks

    Richard
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    Harder than the Alps! I'm putting a blog together and will include this kind of info and post it up in a few days.
  • andymiller
    andymiller Posts: 2,856
    The Italian Friends of the Bike have put together some very useful resources:

    Here's the page for cycle routes and cycleways:

    http://www.bicitalia.org/cakebi/networks/rete/2

    You might find the Ciclovia dei Pellegrini (Pilgrims' Cycleway) of interest (it's 'inspired by' the pilgrim routes).

    They also have a site for bike-friendly hotels (although I have to say that I've never found a bike-unfriendly hotel - hotels will always find you a corner or storeroom somewhere.

    http://www.albergabici.it/albergab/index.htm

    When it comes to places to see then the UNESCO website about the 47 Italian World Heritage sites is a good place to start.

    If you want to check terrain then then Google Maps terrain view is a pretty good option.
  • culverwood
    culverwood Posts: 256
    I have cycled the Via Francigena route from Canterbury to Rome which crosses and joins your itinerary at some points. The only comment I would make about your route is the dog-leg to Pisa seems to add unnecessary miles but if you want to go there it's your choice, Lucca or San Gimignano would be alternative stops with less miles.
  • iPete
    iPete Posts: 6,076
    blog. done.

    forgot how much information is in my head. Doesn't scratch the surface but it might help some people get started.

    http://ctoc3.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/a ... d-to-rome/