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Uba is one of the greatest places to cycle. The roads are great (mostly concrete), very little traffic, friendly people and it’s as safe. They say the crime is almost non-existent. It’s not an expensive country and you can have a great time with less than CUC $ 40 a day, which equates to around UK £25 (March 2008).
Get the NYC DOT bicycle map (download or free at bike shops). Also note DOT has information on bridge closings. Sometimes if a bridge is closed they have a free van service. Stick to the paths on the map, watch out for pedestrians, and car doors. Good luck.
www.bikeforums.net is a good source of info. See info on avoiding bike theft. Hint: get a strong U lock and take the seat post with you.
Consider buying a folding bicycle in NYC and returning with it. bfold.com, nycewheels.com and others have folding bikes. Strida would be a good bicycle for touring NYC. Dahon make very nice general purpose folding bikes. Folding bikes can usually be brought on the subway and trains. A bit iffy on crowded buses.
This is a great little hotel in a superb location for both (snow-sure) skiing in winter and outdoor activities the rest of the year. Amazing views in all directions. Good home-cooked food and very reasonable prices. They've got a lovely big garden and sunny terrace where you can relax/read/gaze at the stunning mountains across the valley. It's easy to reach from Salzburg, Linz or Graz airports.
We've been there in winter and also on walking holidays in summer and can't decide which we liked better. The village (Bad Mitterndorf) is really unspoilt by tourism - no package tours go there and the atmosphere is really Austrian. It's on the edge of the Austrian Lake District - great for swimming in the hot summers! We just keep on going back for more. Oh, and they've got mountain bikes that guests can use free of charge, too.
www.austria-skiing.com
www.austria-walking.com
Tel : +43 (0) 3623 2638
email : pensionbinder@aon.at
Flexible cycle schedule taking you round the base of Kilimanjaro, across the plains to the Serengeti and through the cooling shadows of the Rift Valley Wall.
Spectacular scenery, unique cultural experiences and a wildlife safari on top! How can you resist?
www.adsportleisure.com or info@adsportleisure.com
Adventure Sports & Leisure are a company based in Arusha, Tanzania. Responsible tourism is their thing, unique life-changing experiences is their talent! Don't be put off by their website - email them!
Casa Tío Juan is a self-catering rental house that sleeps up to 12. It's a traditional village house in the centre of Hoyos del Espino in the heart of the Sierra de Gredos. We had a great time there and will definitely be returning! Great mountains, stunning scenery and so much to do. The village has bars and restaurants, shops, a bank - everything that you could want within a few minutes walk. By car you can vistit Ávila, Toledo, Salamanca. The Sierra de Gredos is an undiscovered gem. Go before everyone else does!
Once your kids can ride a bike there's no better way to see Paris than cycling about it. The high spot of our recent half-term break was a morning spent exploring the Marais, Bastille, Louvre, St. Germain de Pres, Les Halles and many back streets in between.
Our guide, Paul, founded Bike About Tours with a friend and gives a charming and personal view of a city he clearly loves. Some of his enthusiasm rubbed off on the kids who particularly relished spotting locations from Ratatouille, or finding out how many Parisians slip in dog poo each day. Paul takes only safe back streets and cycleways, stopping for lunch at a boulangerie on the way.
Every so often we would park the bikes and explore a secret garden or a hidden alleyway on foot, letting Paris work its magic on children and adults alike. By the end of four hours we felt like we belonged. Try it, you won't be disappointed.
www.bikeabouttours.com
www.pret-a-rouler.fr
+33(0)624580215
Meet 10am by Charlemagne's statue in front of Notre Dame Cathedral
Paris is perfect for those with kids, and especially the park at La Villette. On the Canal de l'Ourq there is the awesome dragon slide (almost two stories high), playgrounds designed for specific age groups, a submarine my five-year-old nephew wants to return to with his big brother and cat (!) (3€ each). Just by the park bikes can be hired that take the whole family along the traffic-free canalside to the forest of Sevran, where coffee and ice cream can be had in the old poudrerie, where Nobel of the Nobel prize worked - well worth a visit. And if it rains, back at La Villette there is always the Cite des Sciences - again with exhibits tailored to tots and to slightly older kids. Further afield, there's Paris Plage for sunbathing, sandcastles, misters, boules, rock-climbing (5 years old and upwards), the fountains and concerts at Parc Andre Citroen, the fireworks on July 14, or the swimming pool on a barge by the Francois Mitterand Bibliotheque, or the fantastic mini Paris Plage at Canal St Martin where another five-year-old loved her tot-sized pedalo and the tea dances and water fountains. Paris is perfect for families, especially in the summer, and since almost everything referred to above is free or cheap, it won't break the bank. Plus - no hours spent travelling to, or queueing at, airports.
Just get on Eurostar and you are within 15-20 minutes walk of most of the above.
Want to drive to Padstow to sample the various Rick Stein fare on offer? Here's a tip. Don't. Get on your bike instead. Go to Wadebridge (a pleasant enough place in itself), park there and then cycle down the beautiful, flat, and car free Camel Valley Trail along the river. There are ample bike hire places right by the trail itself, all with baby trailers, child-seats, kids' bikes (we took a three-month-old and a very excited two-and-a-half year old) and decent grown up bikes. Even for the seriously unfit/uncoordinated, it takes all of 45 minutes to amble into 'Padstein'. Once there, you avoid the six mile traffic queue and can securely park your bike for 50p in the many 'bike parks' at the end of the trail. And now you've worked up an appetite, Padstow is your oyster...
Another tip, avoid the hordes and head for the back streets - the Rick Stein Cafe (his 'third' restaurant) has his trademark great food, is very child-friendly, and doesn't take bookings. On the day we were there (a gloriously sunny August day) we had to wait for 20 minutes, which was a shorter than the queue for his fish and chips takeaway!
Off the beaten backpacker trail, this truly unique, extremely well-equipped backpacker accommodation is located on the idyllic East Cape, just a ten-minute drive to art deco Napier, Hastings or sleepy Havelock North.
With only 11 beds, it is important to book ahead but well worth a few days' stay to relax and enjoy the surrounding award-winning vineyards.
Those who enjoy cycling and wine (or even just a good day out) should book themselves on the 'on yer bike' wine tour for a unique and entertaining wine tasting experience (bookable through the hostel). The relaxed owners with a small, toy, farm holding and soon-to-be vineyard are a pleasure.
Birdwatchers, or those who enjoy another good day out should try Gannet Beach Adventures to get a background to the area, excellent views and a chance to see around 17,000 gannets.
www.bbh.co.nz/ for the hostel
www.gannets.com/index.html
We thought it would be a good idea to rent bikes for a day and venture out to the Palmerai. Unfortunately, after cycling what seemed like the right number of kilometres in the requisite direction, we found nothing except for dusty building sites. Our time (and money!) would have been better spent catching a petit taxi to the palmeraie, or probably better, to one of the beach clubs to relax, rather than getting stressed out as motorbikes and cars whizzed past us, churning up dust. Not recommended!
We rented our bikes from a motorbike parking spot near the Hotel Ali, which is near the Place Djemaa Al Fna.
We had a fantastic time in Beijing; it's definitely one of my favourite Asian cities. It has an energy about it (aside from that generated by the neon signs and buildings everywhere) that's very infectious and belies its reputation as a bit of a concrete jungle.
One of the best things I did was to take a bicycle around the backstreet hutongs of the city, true Chinese style. The architecture is from Imperial times and it really feels like you're stepping back in time to when the Forbidden City was still really
forbidden to mere mortals. This way you can escape the crowds too, and find some street markets where you
can bargain to buy anything from knockoff designer clothes to Chairman Mao alarm clocks and the
ubiquitous Little Red Book. And make sure you have your hotel's business card so you can show it to
someone when you get lost!
The area has some outstanding scenery, very well established mountain biking routes, then tucked away in a tiny churchyard in Keir, is the grave of the inventor of the bicycle.
While passing through Penpont on your way to visit it, stop at the tea room for a decent cup of tea and reasonably priced food, then pass by the old smithy, which was where Kirkpatrick MacMillan lived and worked, then on to the parish church to visit his grave (which you will eventually find has a plaque next to it).
There's lots more to see and do in the area. For example, Joseph Thomson a native of the village of Penpont was a world famous explorer of the African continent. There is a monument to him in the nearby town of Thornhill.
Just took a trip to Extremadura to look at some property and ended up falling in love with this amazing and almost unknown region of Spain.
Gorgeous unspoilt scenery, unbelievable historical sites, Merida is the best preserved Roman town in Iberia! Could not have enjoyed the exploration without the help of the guys at La Sierra agency, they not only sell property but can arrange cycling and hiking expeditions, accommodation etc.
Based in the mountain town of Montánchez, right in the middle of the triangle of three world heritage towns, Caceres, Merida and Trujillo.
www.la-sierra-properties.com
www.finca-al-manzil.com
tel. 0034 678447876
Stay on the opposite side of the river to Hampi Bazaar. The accommodation is better value (you may even get a swimming pool if you're lucky!), cleaner and quieter than in Hampi Bazaar. There are some lovely places, some with circular rooms and beds, some cottage-style rooms. We paid about Rs350 (£4-ish) for a double. We could see women working in the paddy fields while we had our breakfast, whereas in our place in Hampi Bazaar we were regularly woken by shouting and hollering.
You need to get a coracle back and forth to access Hampi Bazaar (and the bulk of the famous ruins) and they do stop at about 10pm - but there's plenty going on over that side of town, films, etc, and you can even get alcohol there. (It's prohibited in Hampi Bazaar for some reason).
We took a bicycle out and explored that side of the river (way past the Hunamyan Temple!) and had one of the nicest experiences of rural India in our whole 5 months there. My partner had little kids pushing and pulling his bike along for most of the way from village to village. There really were very few non-Indians who ventured in that direction. We were a bit of a novelty to say the least!
There's at least 10 guest houses over that side - all budget at around Rs300-400.
Go to Hospet station. If you arrive during the day, get the bus to Hampi Bazaar (the taxis all know you're giong in that direction and charge a fortune. I think the bus was Rs30 (40p). You then need to find the river and take a boat across (Rs50 if I recall correctly).
Laos is a mountainous and landlocked country located in the centre of Indochina. It has common borders with China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Laos is 236,800 sq. km in land area, the major part being mountainous and forested. Geographically, the country is divided into three areas: the North, the Central and the Southern parts.
Laos is an adventurer’s paradise, offering treks to off the beaten track destinations that few tourists get to. It’s a country that receives relatively few visitors and that is one reason why it is so special and why we love it.
The Hoge Veluwe national park is a few miles north of Arnhem. As you cycle through the dense forest and heath land you suddenly emerge in what - surreally - appears to be a desert. Sand dunes stretch out into the distance as you follow one of the well-signposted cycle routes.
Heading back into the woodland you reach the centre of the park: the Kroller-Muller Museum - one of the largest galleries in the Netherlands and home to significant works by Van Gogh, Seurat, Picasso and Mondriaan.
Don't bother hiring a bike - the park provides thousands of free cycles, which can be picked up from designated areas.
Cycling is a great way to see Hong Kong in the autumn sunshine, and this film shows you how to pack in rural scenery, temples, local food and even a day at the beach.
If you have broadband, download the high-res version by following the link below; otherwise you can watch it low-res in eight episodes on youTube by searching for HK cycling bend.
What a fantastic tour! This is one of the best tours I have ever done. From the time we got collected, right until the end of the tour, we were treated to a taste of Thai life.
I think this tour is a must-do for everyone visiting Bangkok and we will recommend this tour to everyone we know from New Zealand that is coming to Bangkok. We had the best day!
www.absoluteexplorer.com
info@absoluteexplorer.com
Tel. +66(87) 077 9696, +66(89) 145 4409
We went on this fantastic bike tour last summer around Christchurch on these funky blue retro-style bikes. We even had bells! It was a great way to see all the secrets of Christchurch and lots of fun, took about two hours and included a walk in some native forest as well. We had a fantastic guide, a real gem of a chap.
You can get free maps, useful illustrated leaflets and small books at the GNTO offices in Athens at 26 Amalias Street. You can also download free maps of Greece from several interesting websites.
www.gnto.gr/pages.php?pageID=805&langID=2
www.in2greece.com/english/maps/maps.htm
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