Luxury Bicycle Trips, Tuscany- Italy

"Luxury Bicycle Trips" implies what? Before you can tell whether a particular luxury bicycle trip in Tuscany is the one you are looking for you need to have a pretty good idea of how you would define your ideal cycling vacation. Here's some ideas..

Cycling: First and foremost if you're not bringing along your own bicycle one of the most critical issues maybe the quality and sizing options of the bicycles they are able to offer. Ask for specifics and see if it might be important to bring along your own seat and/or possibly your own clipless pedals.

Tour Guide: The second most critical issue may be the skill and knowledge of the leader. Some trippers are interested in having a total cycling focus, looking for a trip leader that is possibly a prior Tour de France competitor as their definition of a luxury bicycle trip. Tuscany can provide some challenging terrain and their intent is to return home with greater bicycle skills then when they left. Hot tubs, swimming pools and gourmet food are great, but the quality of training and the challenge of track is more important.

Support Services:
A van the accompanies all the rides to make repairs, picks up your purchases and picks up you, if the cycling becomes too much certainly should be on the hit list of a quality operator.

A full service, cycling tour guide should have no problem making arrangements for the shipping of any purchases or a bicycle to your home address or to the plane at the time of departure.

Accommodation:
To some, luxury implies modern five star accommodation, with access to a health spa and associated services in 2008 architecture. For others, 5 star suggests a beautifully restored ancient abbey or famous wineries set in the foothills of Florence, off the beaten track with archeological artifacts a short walk away. Where do you fit in this spectrum of choices?

Wine Tours:
Maybe your definition of a luxury bicycle trip includes a visit to an exclusive wine cellar that allows the sampling and purchase of limited edition wines from the Chianti Region, or maybe a Brunello produced only in the Montalcino area... and maybe you would like to be accompanied by a world class aenologist to expand your expertise in this area.

Many of the best luxury bicycle tour operators can make arrangements for field specialist to be available in the area of your interest, be that wine, language or art and design the itinerary and route stops to reflect this passion.

Food:
From gourmet spreads to cooking classes with top chefs to authentic pecorina, prosciutto and salami made in house by the same people that are cooking your meal are all options in Tuscany. It is only a mater of knowing your preferences and matching that with a bicycle trip itinerary. Tuscany can offer the basic low cost trattoria family restaurant or an exclusive restaurant adjoining some of the most famous wineries.

Some tour operators design the vacation around one home base and take day trips from there returning to the same villa each night and eat every meal on site. For me, a variety of experiences is important if I'm going to consider it a luxury bicycle trip. In Tuscany there are so many unique, and world class restaurants that I prefer to go off site at least some of the time to see what other dining options are available.. but that is for you to decide. Again the point is to know what questions to ask and what services they offer.

Entrance Fees:
Would you like to have a repertoire of historical and cultural sites included in the agenda. If so the best tour operators will make advance reservations so visits will not be delayed with long waits in line. This can save you a two hour wait to see the most famous "David". Better yet is when the entrance fees are included in the cost, so you're not jockeying currency or unexpected expenses at the time of your visit.

I hope this list gives you some ideas on what to look for to find THE luxury bicycle trip. Tuscany has so much to offer!

More Information:
Tuscany Bicycle Tour Information

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