Having just completed my first ever tour (a two week tour of Italy), I am now a wide-eyed newbie who is thirsting for his next touring destination. Got me thinking about starting a thread where people could talk about their favorite countries/areas for touring. Fire away....the more details, the better.

Back to Italy? Last year I spent two weeks in Tuscany, south of Florence. I went through the Chianti region, Siena, and south to Pitigliano, then into Umbria (Spoleto, Assisi, and the Monte Sibilini area). Very pretty country, lots of history for me to soak up, and a great place to tour. Northern Tuscany (Lucca and points north) is supposed to be very scenic, and not as touristy as central/southern Tuscany.

I'm planning a longer tour next spring to include Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, I'm really looking forward to it.

Thanks for the info. I went through Lucca on my way from Pisa to La Spezia. Awesome town and someone at a local bike shop gave us a beautiful scenic backroad to get back to the coast. Highly recommend.

So far, I've loved everywhere I've been in both Europe and Australia.

The Canadian Rockies are also one of my favorites ... they are right in my backyard, but I still love riding in them and touring in them every year.

New Zealand, Pacific Coast, Rocky Mountains (Colorado & Canada).
I did not love Australia - too big, too uniform, except for Tassie.
Wish I had some input about Europe... maybe someday.

Tasmania.

Hmmm, I loved Scotland, New Zealand and Tasmania for different reasons. The truth is, however, that I've never regretted going anywhere. There might have been the occasional town that disappointed or didn't interest me, but generally in those situations I just move on to the next place.

The Irish are fun...
Good place to tour
A lot of nice places in Oz as well,
Then again China was fun...

With the exception of Brittany, France (too boring) everywhere has been good. My top three are:
- Central Asia
- South America (Chile, Argentina, Bolivia)
- Turkey

Of all the places I've been to with my bike, my favorite was Morocco. For route details check outwww.geocities.com/pathebikeguy/morocco and www.geocities.com/pathebikeguy/morocco2002

I've posted this link before, but you may not have seen it, jignall. A very experienced couple's top 25:
https://www.ridetheroad.com/web/world.aspx

As for my favorites:

SW France, especially Lot & Dordogne valleys
northern Thailand (Chiang Mai-Golden Triangle area)
Corsica
south-central Chile (Lake region) & adjacent Argentina
Tasmania
Rocky Mountains (tour from Denver, Colorado to Jasper, Alberta), USA & Canada
New Zealand
Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada
Hawaii (all of Kauai, all of Maui, and windward side of the Big Island)
west coast of Scotland & Scottish highlands (but I had sunny & warm weather, which isn't likely to be repeated anytime soon!)
Michoacan, Mexico
just about anywhere in France not listed above except for area directly between Paris & Belgium

My favorite destination has been Laguna Beach, CA, where I have a good friend with a grand house on the top of a coastal hill.

I like to do this ride annually.

I have gotten the route down to a series of 50 mile very nice days. Since I used to live in Santa Cruz (and now live in San Francisco), I get a lift down to Santa Cruz and have a friend drive me to Carmel where I actually get on the bike. I could leave from San Francisco, but I prefer the Big Sur coast and don't need to do the extra two days yet one more time.

My experience is limited to the US, but...
The Oregon coast was great, as was western Colorado, and Virginia.

OTOH: The entire transamerica route was great in it's own way. For example Kansas, the place mostly sucked, but the people were great.

France has something for everyone. Can't beat it.

+1

I love Paris, and I was quite taken with the area between Paris and Strasbourg ... especially the canal routes.