Europe 3 day circular route - help!

[Scottie26]

A group of friends and I want to fly to a European city and set off on a 3 day circular cycling route. Want great scenery, moderate cycling (30 miles per day, moderate terrain), and some rustic places to stay. Any ideas?

 

[Percy]

Barcelona or Nice spring to mind - easy flights, choice of coastal or mountainous cycling (or both).

For something a bit diffeent, I can recommend the ride from Sofia to Vratsa in Bulgaria. Doesn't provide much of a circular option though.

If cities is your thing, you could fly to Budapest and get to three capitals in your three days - Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna (fly back from Vienna). Great cycling along the Danube.

 

[Fietslogies]

Ghent-Bruges-Ypres-Ghent (Belgium) or Ghent-Oudenaarde-Tournai-Oudenaarde-Ghent

Ghent-Bruges-Ypres-Ghent is a perfect cycle triangle for you and your friends, combining the three most important cities of the County of Flanders in medieval times.
It even fits more or less with your 30 miles idea, except for the last day
Use http://www.fietsnet.be/routeplanner/default.aspx to map your ride, and to know which signposts you have to follow on the road.

About renting bikes in Ghent, see my earlier post.
http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=38160

Other suggestion is the region along the river Schelde between Ghent, Oudenaarde and Tournai, by combining these 3 signposted circuits to one big tour:
Scheldevalleiroute 1 + Scheldevalleiroute 2 + Scheldevalleiroute 3 + a bit along the river (both sides are fine) towards Tournai.
http://www.tov.be/uploadedfiles/_producten/routes/Vlaamse_Ardennen/fietsroutes/Scheldeval1.pdf or http://users.telenet.be/roger.blomme1/FietsRoutes/Scheldevallei1route_Web_1.pdf + http://users.telenet.be/roger.blomme1/FietsRoutes/Scheldevallei2_Web_OK.pdf + http://www.tov.be/uploadedfiles/_producten/routes/Vlaamse_Ardennen/fietsroutes/Scheldeval3.pdf + a last part between Berchem and Tournai. The 4 links above show some interesting sidesteps in the Belgian countryside. The following link is based on the towpaths along the river 'Schelde' between Ghent and Saint-Quentin in France.
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-pat...urnai-Gand-Audenaerde-Tournai-Gent-Oudenaarde

Websites of the mentioned towns:
Ghent: http://www.visitgent.be
Bruges: http://www.brugge.be/internet/en/index.htm
Ypres: http://www.ieper.be/ieper_en.aspx?SGREF=10587
Oudenaarde: http://www.oudenaarde.be/
Tournai: http://www.tournai.be/en/officiel/

Ghent has no airport but has good train connections with the Brussels Airport.

Good luck

 

[Brains]

I was going to suggest Bruges, a second option would be Vienna.
Take a train to Passau and cycle back to Vienna, stunning scenery, a cycle tour anyone can do, B&B and Pubs all along the route

 

[dragon72]

Oooh, so many places to recommend.
I really enjoyed the riding in Alsace. Fly to Strasbourg ride to the beautiful town of Colmar via the Vosges mountains in France, then over the border into Germany for a bit of Black Forest action, then back to Strasbourg for choucroute and beer.

 

[Andy in Sig]

Munich. It will more than meet all your requirements, especially the pretty little historical towns and villages which surround it. It's also particularly good for flying to with a bike: get into airport, go down the escalator to the train station and get out at the second stop and away you pedal, in the direction of say Freising and Pfaffenhofen.

 

[HJ]

How about the Bodensee Radweg (around Lake Constance) fairly flat and very scenic...

Fly to Friedrichshafen with Ryanair, you almost land on the cycle route!!

 

[Andy in Sig]

Great idea but the only drawback is that about half the route is in Switzerland which is very expensive indeed.

 

[Telemark]

Great idea but the only drawback is that about half the route is in Switzerland which is very expensive indeed.

There's only about 50 miles (80k) worth of Switzerland, and if you want to take it more leisurely, you could hop across into Germany at Konstanz (narrow bit half-way along the Swiss part) overnight and then back again in the morning to continue ...

T

 

[Cathryn]

Fly to Salzburg and hire bikes. Take the bikes on the train to Krimml and follow the TauernRadweg back to Salzburg. Utterly stunning and primarily downhill all the way!! It was my first tour and I've been hooked ever since.

 

[Andy in Sig]

There's only about 50 miles (80k) worth of Switzerland, and if you want to take it more leisurely, you could hop across into Germany at Konstanz (narrow bit half-way along the Swiss part) overnight and then back again in the morning to continue ...

T

That's what I tend to do when I nip down there at the weekend: breakfast in Konstanz, zoom around Switzerland for a few hours and then back into Germany. I was thinking more in terms of doing an overnight stop and dining there.

 

[rualexander]

My suggestion would be fly to Girona. You then have a couple of options. A loop to the west towards Olot and back (taking in the Via Verde cycle track if you want, or stay on the roads), good scenery (hills and forests), nice roads, nice small towns and villages.
Or a loop from Girona over to the coast around St Feliu de Guixols, giving a different type of scenery, forested hills, farmland, and coastal views. The Via Verde cycle track also goes from Girona to St Feliu de Guixols.
Girona is a very nice town to spend a night or two in. The airport is easy to cycle out of, with a reasonably quiet rural road leading from it.

 

[srw]

My suggestion is to throw a dart at a map of Europe. Get to where your dart lands in whatever way you can - train, plane, ferry, whatever - buy a map when you arrive and strike out in whatever direction takes your fancy. Stick to quiet roads, and fix accommodation on the way.

You'll have a great time.