dag1369

Well I am looking at moving overseas within the next year; work related, and wanted to hear which countries are your favorites and why. Before I pick where to live I figured I would see which countries have the best cycling.

My options are as follows; Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, England, & Turkey. These are the countries I can choose from to live in. I figure once there I can travel throughout Europe.

Guam, Korea, & Hawaii are other options.

dag1369

My bad I meant to post this in the Europe forum. I can not delete this post. Could one of the mods help me out here? I have created a new post and placed it in the correct forum. Thank you and sorry for the mis-post.

Machka 

When it comes to Europe, I have cycled in England, Wales, France, and Belgium, with a quick dip into Germany. If I were to put them in order of preference it would be France by a long shot, then Wales, England, and Belgium (can't really comment on Germany).

Is France not on your list?

dag1369

France is not one of my options; can only go where the job is. Spain is probably the closest.

Oostal

Germany has a very nice network of bike roads with signs everywhere. Not so useful for road cycling, but nice to go riding with some friends or family. Also among the European countries it is one of the safest places to ride. The terrain varies a lot depending on the exact region. It is definitely nice in Southern Germany, as you have rolling hills everywhere and in the extreme South you end up in the Alps. Much of the Northern Germany is very flat and covered with agricultural land. The Northern part of Italy is also a heaven for cycling- very green and close to the mountains. A large part of Belgium is flat and very densely populated, but there are nice regions as well, plus a long cycling tradition. No idea about the conditions in the UK, although I might end up living there in a year...

botto 

uh huh, sure.

Pedaleur

Meh. I'd put Germany at the top of the list of the OP's choices for safety and 'comfort'.

A little boring if you pick the wrong part, though.

Personally, I'd take Spain or Italy if I had the choice. Where in Italy, OP?

dag1369

My options are:

Germany = Ramstein or Spangdahlem

Italy = Aviano or Ghedi

Spain = Rota or Moron

UK = Mildenhall or Croughton

Belgium = Chievres

BarryJo

Kalifornia has some great riding, and the weather aint bad either

scirocco

Not the UK, that's for sure. Remote rural areas are not too bad, but a lot of the roads are congested and narrow with poor sightlines and lots of fast traffic with not much respect for cyclists. And then there's the weather.

Cedfromfrance

I would pick Spain by a long range ! Moron near Sevilla ? If so both places are in the South, it will be boiling HOT in the summer, hope you can handle 45 Deg... but very nice all year round with relatively warm temperatures in the winter as well, ideal for cycling.... Great people and great country.
Shame you cannot pick France though ...
Ced x

chasm54

If you choose the UK, I'd opt for Croughton over Mildenhall. Suffolk is beautiful, but flat - whereas from Croughton you can esily get into the Cotswolds to the South West - which is beautiful, and not flat.

But go for Aviano. Great climate, close to Venice in one direction and the Alps in another, within cycle touring distance of Tuscany to the South West and the Balkans to the South East - no contest.

guadzilla

Spain - make sure you spend some time in the Costa Brava region. Gorgeous villages, some really nice restaurants and a fair number of Spanish roadies.

dag1369

I am moving to Korea for a year and afterwards I am off to Italy. I am excited and already looking for good places to ride at each location.

colombo357

I like to ride in Spain as well. Their steak is absolutely delicious and makes you ride faster for some reason.

Tapeworm21

Give me America or give me death.

Machka 

Machka 

If we're just talking favourite countries for cycling in general (not just European countries), I'd have to say that Canada is pretty good. There's a wide variety of scenery and lots of quiet country roads that make cycling a joy. I've cycled thousands of kilometres over 5 provinces, and they all have their appeal.

Australia also has a wide variety of scenery and lots of quiet country roads too. I've cycled in 4 states and 1 territory here, and for the most part the cycling has been good.

And as mentioned above, Europe has some great cycling.

We've got a whole list of other places we want to visit and cycle as well.

Ice41000

Spain or Italy. Good weather and cycling culture.
Belgium is cycling friendly but weather sucks.
England - bad weather and AFAICT from the posts made by Brits, is not realy cycling friendly.
Turkey - reasonable weather but traffic is horrible.
Have no ide about your other options.

BillyD

If it were me the choices would be between Italy and Hawaii. Period. I mean, hey, I've only ridden in Italy and nowhere else abroad, but how are you going to top Italy?

And Hawaii . . . . . . what's not to like about Paradise?

ColinJ

I'd love to cycle in all of those places, but I live in England so most of my cycling is done here and I can assure you that there are many fine areas to cycle round if you bother to go and look for them.

England is a pretty small country so in some places (London, for example!) it is very crowded, traffic conditions are bad, and drivers act accordingly. Having said that, there is a lot of beautiful quiet countryside surrounding many of the big cities. Villages many hundreds of years old, green fields, rolling hills ...

We don't have huge mountains, though we do have some spectacular small ones in The Lake District, for example. Sometimes, small is beautiful! You can go out for a wonderfully spectacular, demanding ride but not have to be a mega-fit rider to achieve it. You won't suffer altitude sickness anywhere in the UK!

You won't have to worry about bears, wolves, snakes, poisonous spiders, nasty diseases ...

The weather can be disappointing, there's no getting away from that. We have a moderate, damp climate and extremes of heat and cold are rare. It's why the countryside is so lush here. Green = water!

The language issue may not bother you, but the fact that we speak English must be a bonus!

It is easy to get to those other countries from here. I've often left my house with my bike and unpacked it in a hotel room is Southern Spain less than 10 hours later. France and Belgium would be even quicker to get to.

I'm sure you'll have a great time wherever you go.

I hope one day to make it over to the USA and Canada for a long tour.

hao

I think the more important question is:
What do you do that you get to pick wherever you want to live?!

Matt Gaunt

It's not a bad assessment. There are some great roads for cycling in the UK but generally traffic and / or weather will reduce your enjoyment. Suffolk's pretty dry and the Cotswolds are very pretty and relatively cycle-friendly, in terms of your options.

Matt Gaunt

Great post. Although if you're saying the Fred Whitton isn't demanding, you're a better man than me.

dag1369

I am in the military and am ready to head back overseas. I spent 3 years riding all over Japan and that was crowded. I am headed to Korea then Italy.