Alicat, that's a tough one. Overseas, I've only been to France and both trips have been fantastic. Take the time to learn a little French - it will go a long way. Here in the US, I've had some fantastic trips with the folks that run the Oregon Bicycle Ride (and Bicycle Idaho) and also Planet Ultra - their Tour of Southern Utah is spectacular - five national parks in seven days and a new trip to the Grand Canyon coming next summer. A teammate and his wife spent three weeks on the South Island of New Zealand with Adventure South - they shot over 800 pictures...and the 80 they showed at a club meeting were amazing.
Your photo shows it; the Dolomites. But you were just there. The Pyrenees were great, too. I used to love riding around Southeast Asia, even when it was a war zone. Suspect it is even nicer now; my time there was 3 and half decades ago or so but heard from lots of folks the last few years who have had a great time in that area. So many places...
I've heard great things about the cycling in Australia and New Zealand, however, given that the seasons are reversed I am not sure what sort of weather you will find at that time of year. Vietnam is amazing. I have not biked there, but know people who have. The roads can be kind of dodgy but it's an amazing country. You could start in the North in Halong Bay, bike down through Nha Trang and finish up in Ho Chi Minh. Splurge and stay at the Ana Mandara resort in Nha Trang. It would be the perfect honeymoon spot.
All of our bike tours have been fantastic. Maybe for all out relaxation and romantic, I'd have to give it to the supported tour we took in Tuscany with a week on our own in Rome, Umbria and Florence first (no cycling that week).
For beauty, it has to be the Dolomites. We did a tour through Dolomites, Alps (Sud Tirol) and Lake country. I'd skip the riding in the lake country. The only good ride was to Madonna di Ghisalo.
Our honeymoon was from Bordeaux to Barcelona through the Pyrenees.
We also did a tour down the Pacific coast that was relaxing and fun and close!
I've also heard great things about cycling in Ireland and New Zealand, but have no first hand experience.
I'll send you some links off line so you can read about the specifics and see pics.
While I've never done a bike vacation before, I've heard awesome things about Costa Rica for mtb and St. Lucia for cycling (though it's an island & therefore the routes available on a long trip are probably not incredibly extensive).
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Alicat, that's a tough one. Overseas, I've only been to France and both trips have been fantastic. Take the time to learn a little French - it will go a long way. Here in the US, I've had some fantastic trips with the folks that run the Oregon Bicycle Ride (and Bicycle Idaho) and also Planet Ultra - their Tour of Southern Utah is spectacular - five national parks in seven days and a new trip to the Grand Canyon coming next summer. A teammate and his wife spent three weeks on the South Island of New Zealand with Adventure South - they shot over 800 pictures...and the 80 they showed at a club meeting were amazing.
Good luck with your decision...
Ken
Your photo shows it; the Dolomites. But you were just there. The Pyrenees were great, too. I used to love riding around Southeast Asia, even when it was a war zone. Suspect it is even nicer now; my time there was 3 and half decades ago or so but heard from lots of folks the last few years who have had a great time in that area. So many places...
i haven't been to too many exotic places
i've probably had the most fun at one of the moab mountain bike festivals in years past that no longer exist nor does the moab i remember
and last year up in arcata was pretty special
for me it's the people i'm with, not the place
so i'm not going to be much help.....
yeah, the moab trips of the early nineties are prolly the most memorable.
lots of epic rides, bruises and scrapes, busted bike parts.
sounds like a perfect honeymoon, eh?
Moab was awesome in 1994 when the MTB craze was in full swing.
Park City Utah and Sun Valley Idaho were also great MTB trips.
for our honeymoon we did a tandem ride for two weeks, self supported from san diego to tuscon, AZ.
was fun - but very, very, very hot. it was in october.
we rode along the border of mexico/us and stopped in all these littly tiny funky towns out in the desert.
it was cool because we got to see a part of the u.s. that most people don't know about and we saw it up close and slow on the bike.
we camped a lot and stayed in a few motels. carried lots of water and fuel for our camp stove.
moab is cool too. we did a mtb tour too. driving and stopping in different places along the way to ride - in moab, colorado, tahoe, etc.
I've heard great things about the cycling in Australia and New Zealand, however, given that the seasons are reversed I am not sure what sort of weather you will find at that time of year. Vietnam is amazing. I have not biked there, but know people who have. The roads can be kind of dodgy but it's an amazing country. You could start in the North in Halong Bay, bike down through Nha Trang and finish up in Ho Chi Minh. Splurge and stay at the Ana Mandara resort in Nha Trang. It would be the perfect honeymoon spot.
All of our bike tours have been fantastic. Maybe for all out relaxation and romantic, I'd have to give it to the supported tour we took in Tuscany with a week on our own in Rome, Umbria and Florence first (no cycling that week).
For beauty, it has to be the Dolomites. We did a tour through Dolomites, Alps (Sud Tirol) and Lake country. I'd skip the riding in the lake country. The only good ride was to Madonna di Ghisalo.
Our honeymoon was from Bordeaux to Barcelona through the Pyrenees.
We also did a tour down the Pacific coast that was relaxing and fun and close!
I've also heard great things about cycling in Ireland and New Zealand, but have no first hand experience.
I'll send you some links off line so you can read about the specifics and see pics.
While I've never done a bike vacation before, I've heard awesome things about Costa Rica for mtb and St. Lucia for cycling (though it's an island & therefore the routes available on a long trip are probably not incredibly extensive).
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