3 Countries
 

If you could drop in and visit any 3 countries around the world for a few days or few weeks, which would you choose, and why?

Would you want to cycle there? And more specifically, would you want to tour by bicycle there?

Is there something in particular you would want to see in each of those 3 countries?

CZech rep, Germany, Belgium for the beer :beer:

Benelux , entering thru Strassbourg France .. into the Ardennes forests.

as a Veteran I paid my respects to the fallen at the WW1 war graves in Flanders.
Passendaele.. Tyne Cot.
on my way into Belgium , having followed the NL Delta works
down the coast to Brugges ,
in a Hostel based Pub, in the town of Kortrijk , I was hosted by a fellow cycling fan.
who was one of the people doing the landscape maintenance
of those square miles of grave sites .. in his House in Ypres.

Italy, France and Chile.

Italy and France both have great coastlines and historic old towns. The food would be superb also.

I'm planning to take a short tour in Italy this summer.

Chile has a epic assortment of geography to see.

Open ended amount of time?

If so, my response would generally include my home country and two countries I haven't been but seem intriguing.

The home country since this is where I have most connection with people, language, culture and chance to connect on bicycle. At present this is USA and I've cycled in all 50 states, but if my home country were somewhere else than that would be my answer. I am a big fan of Canadians riding across their country, Australians seeing more of Oz, Indians exploring their country, etc.

Beyond the home country answer, one that has been on my intriguing list for a while is the Pamir Highway through Kyrgyzstan. A combination of the raw beauty, challenge and less developed aspects put this on the list. If I could cheat on your rules and get to my start cycling through a few other central Asian countries :) that would be bonus too.

The other one on my intriguing list would be northern India, particularly Rajasthan and Kashmir. I've been to southern India but not the north and mixing the classic Taj Mahal visit with some desert cycling and Himalayan foothills is intriguing. Again if I could get to my starting point by cycling across China/Tibet and Nepal even better :)

Colombia - Beautiful country, beautiful people.
Cuba- Caught in a time wrap.
Russia - To get to know first hand.

I would say:

1. Canada, my home country: Tofino, BC to St. John's Newfoundland (That's coast to coast). That's about 7600 km (about 4722 miles) through all 10 provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

2. France: I would try to do a thorough "Tour de France", but for starters, I will do Paris - Nice

3. Australia: Brisbane - Sydney - Melbourne - Perth... That would be something else...

Naturally, like most humans, I want to go where I am not allowed.

1. North Korea - probably not much traffic, crime or tourist. "To boldly go where no bike tourist has gone before"

2. Cuba - I already like rum and coke and hear they like bikes. Unfortunately my country "the home of the free" does not allow its citizens to go there and I do not want to break the law as many Americans do when they go.

3. China - A wonderful place to bicycle tour but after getting arrested on my previous 9 month visit I doubt that they let me return. see http://bit.ly/cJqfVi

Cuba is a great country to cycle through. A lot of Canadians go to Cuba every year, but very few actually get to visit the "real" Cuba. Most of them stay in hotels / resorts and don't even bother coming out. Going bike touring in Cuba would be a treat and it's very safe. You don't even need to camp anywhere. "Casa Particular", sort of a private bed & breakfast is very affordable.

It's still very strange to me why USA won't allow its citizens to visit Cuba. I understand the "issues of the past", but still... Americans are free people. They should be able to go anywhere they please if they can afford it, even to the moon and US should not restrict them. (Of course, as long as you don't do anything illegal or something that can hurt the country)

1. Norway - 1# reason: Pining for the fjords
Cycling around for at least a month, for the scenery.

2. New Zealand for the same reasons

...
#X. I'm not sure how high on the list I'd rate this, there might be some countries ahead of it, but I'd like to visit the middle east and see some of the cities (and food), and I don't think I'd want to be on a bike. Probably for a shorter amount of time.

My general desire to bike is directly related to whether or not I'm going to see the city vs. the countryside.

That's the best place to see the Norwegian Blue; a remarkable bird, beautiful plumage.

Kyrgyzstan: Looks very pretty, not a popular tourist country overall

Pakistan: Mountains, friendly people.

New Zealand: Little bit of this, little bit of that. Mountains.

(it really is sleeping you know, really)

Having now travelled to several countries, the next 3 countries, or parts of countries (which I've never been to before) I'd like to visit are ...

New Zealand
Scandinavia (OK, that's 5 countries ... but if I had to pick one, probably Norway)
Canadian Maritimes

There are lots more ... but those are probably the top three. :)

My wife and I talk a lot about where we want to tour in the future. However, we preface the start of our discussion with "Where do we want to cycle tour"; and then the discussion goes on from there. A fellow cyclist we met on our last tour summed it up well when we were discussing our nebulous destination with him. He said, "the journey is the destination." Riding there is almost as important to us as where "there" is.



Our short list right now include:
-Cuba
-Across Canada
-Eurovelo Route 6 from the coast of France to the coast of Romania. I know that is several countries, but some are small:)

My list of what I want to see is pretty universal. It includes the people, culture, historical buildings and places, museums, small towns, and local foods. My wife is an old church buff. On one tour I told her, "we will never get out of this country (it was a small one) if we stop at every old church." So she only stopped at every third one!