Touring - Cycling Tour in Italy, France (Sept or Oct) - any suggestions

Me and a friend are looking to do a cycling vacation in Europe this fall (Sept or Oct). Considering Italy or France, but open to suggestions elsewhere as well.

This is a last minute idea, and it's getting late to book something. Any suggestions for a good tour company that runs trips in Sept or Oct?

We're both strong club riders (A- level); ride 4,000+ miles per year. Not kids though (45 & 54). Want to do some climbing, but not looking to kill ourselves.

Thanks

Hi,
what about corsica?
It's my favorite vacation island, french, italian influences, but before all: corse.
It has hundreds of lovely coast places, flat roads in the east, steap high mountain roads in the center, a wild and rocky west coast, many quiet places and and and...
The picture is from my favorite mountain climb road, the restonica valley from corte to Melo lake.
If you decide to go to there, I will give you a list of my favorite cycling roads.
How to get there? You can fly into Pisa or Genova in Italy or into Nice or Marseille in France and take a 5 hours ferry to Bastia in the north or Ajaccio in the west.
Or you succeed in flying into Calvi, Bastia, Ajaccio or Figari on the island itself.
I think there is no great difficulty to find sleeping places of all categories in fall.
You may google for some more pictures: Bavella, Bonifatio, GR20, Palombaggia.
marmotte

Is there any reason why you don't want to plan the trip yourselves? It's very easy to do, will give you a lot more flexibility, and will cost a fraction of the price. If you're worried about finding accomodations, that should be no problem at all in Sept/Oct in both France & Italy.

How many days do you want to go for? What sort of accommodations would you like? Any particular type of landscape, scenery, sights, or food you're seeking?

I've toured every imaginable way--from fully loaded self-contained with a friend to going the sagged group tour way and have enjoyed all of them. Most recently, I went here and had a great time:

http://www.belvederericcione.com/en/index.htm

You get a touch of luxury, great food, reasonable prices, a very welcoming atmosphere and some fine cycling. I had a fantastic time.

I agree with the suggestion that you organise the trip yourself, accomodation is no problem, you don't even need to book ahead at that time of year. As for places to go....why not try Burgundy in France. It has everything a cyclist wants, quiet roads, lovely countryside and great wine and food. Plenty to see as well and it's central and easy to reach. Go for it!

Me and a friend are looking to do a cycling vacation in Europe this fall (Sept or Oct). Considering Italy or France, but open to suggestions elsewhere as well.

This is a last minute idea, and it's getting late to book something. Any suggestions for a good tour company that runs trips in Sept or Oct?

We're both strong club riders (A- level); ride 4,000+ miles per year. Not kids though (45 & 54). Want to do some climbing, but not looking to kill ourselves.

Thanks
Worth looking into: Check out Ciclismoclassico (http://www.ciclismoclassico.com/index.htm). There trip calender lists tours of varying duration and skill for both September and October. I've heard good things.

Disclaimer: I've never toured with them, nor do I have any affiliation-but they are headquartered about 10 miles from my apartment.

-Looking ahead to next year perhaps see what Bike rides for ordinary people (http://europe.bikeridesfop.org/ScheduledTours.htm) is putting together. Unfortunately this years trips are all booked out. Bruce puts together some excellent trips (inexpensive to boot), with a primary focus this year around Burgundy.

Disclaimer: I've never toured with them either, but have gone on a couple local rides organized by Bruce.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!! I'll be doing some further research based on all your good ideas. I'll report back.
Thanks again.

I'm looking at spending the first half of October in Tuscany. With my bike, of course.

Does anyone have much experience camping while bike-touring in Italy?

If so, did you use official campsites, or do it more Ken Kifer Style (http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/touring/), using whatever woodsy areas you could find? I'm curious to know how plausible it is to avoid hotels altogether. It's a lot more fun to spend one's money on bike stuff rather than accomodation, I find.

I'd appreciate any stories or feedback that people have on the subject. Thanks!

When I toured Italy I stayed in official campgrounds every night. Before heading over I got the book of campgrounds from the Italian Camping Association, and used it to plan the trip.


I'm looking at spending the first half of October in Tuscany. With my bike, of course.

Does anyone have much experience camping while bike-touring in Italy?

If so, did you use official campsites, or do it more Ken Kifer Style (http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/touring/), using whatever woodsy areas you could find? I'm curious to know how plausible it is to avoid hotels altogether. It's a lot more fun to spend one's money on bike stuff rather than accomodation, I find.

I'd appreciate any stories or feedback that people have on the subject. Thanks!

I'm looking at spending the first half of October in Tuscany. With my bike, of course.

Does anyone have much experience camping while bike-touring in Italy?

If so, did you use official campsites, or do it more Ken Kifer Style (http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/touring/), using whatever woodsy areas you could find? I'm curious to know how plausible it is to avoid hotels altogether. It's a lot more fun to spend one's money on bike stuff rather than accomodation, I find.

I'd appreciate any stories or feedback that people have on the subject. Thanks!


I did it both ways. If you camp in southern Italy, which the tourists pretty much ignore in favor of Tuscany and the north, be ready to be invited into people's homes. Folks would hardly let me set up a tent without insisitng I stay with them. It was wonderful.

Thanks very much for the feedback. The friendliness of the South sounds very appealing. Where in particular did you tour, Blackberry? Any recommended routes? Any areas to avoid?




If you camp in southern Italy, which the tourists pretty much ignore in favor of Tuscany and the north, be ready to be invited into people's homes. Folks would hardly let me set up a tent without insisitng I stay with them. It was wonderful.

Thanks very much for the feedback. The friendliness of the South sounds very appealing. Where in particular did you tour, Blackberry? Any recommended routes? Any areas to avoid?

My tour of Italy was part of a larger European tour which started in Greece and ended in Ireland. We took a boat from Corfu (Greece) to Brindisi (Italy) and then meandered north towards Rome, Tuscany, Venice and beyond. The region I'm thinking of is called the "Mezzogiorno" which translates into "midday." I believe it remains one of the truly undiscovered gems of Europe, and below is an article I found by Googling that tells a little more along those lines.

http://www.inntravel.co.uk/destinations/italy_south.htm

I have never met warmer or more friendly people than in my travels in this region. Any time my friend and I asked a farmer for permission to camp on his land, he refused to let us set up a tent and instead insisted that we take shelter under his family's roof. Of course we shared, dinner, wine, and conversation--all of which led to some great memories. My Italian was pretty poor, but somehow the wine seemed to bridge the gap.

I can't say we found any place to avoid, but then we had no real itinerary. We more or less went by the seat of our pants and providence, luck, or some unseen hand seemed to continue to lead us in the right direction.

Here are some books I found on Amazon that might help. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/sim-explorer/explore-items/-/1585730815/0/101/1/none/purchase/ref=pd_sexpl/104-2081587-6751936

Hope this inspires you to find your own way. As you can probably guess, Italy in general and southern Italy in particular were highlights of a trip that was wonderful from beginning to end.