Travelogues bicycle vacations
Travel reports about bicycle tours
Our bicycle vacation travelogues are extended travel stories about bicycle tours in different countries. There are 21 travel reports about bicycle vacations. These travel journals are illustrated with 496 photos. Each travelogue has a separate page with independent travel information.
Bicycle vacation Cambodia
From Bangkok to Singapore by bicycle (I)
Bicycling on dusty roads with potholes large enough to sleep in, along rice fields and villages without running water, where a battery provides electricity for the huts. There is a lot more to see in Cambodia than the touristic highlights of temples and palaces in Angkor near Siem Reap or those in Phnom Penh: cows and buffaloes in fields, chickens (in bunches of 20) and pigs on moped back seats. The most exhausting part: waving and answering the 17 photos.
Bicycle tour Cambodia travel informationTravel story & photos: Aart & Gerrie Dijkzeul
Bicycle tour Costa Rica
From Ocean to Ocean through Houseplant Country
Bicycling in Costa Rica, from the Caribbean to the Pacific coast through landscapes with hundreds of different kinds of animals and plants; crossing volcano slopes, through rain forests full of outsized houseplants, along mangrove woods and beaches with palm trees. Passing villages and towns with friendly people, restaurants and hotels in all kinds and sizes. It's warm, but not too dry. 30 photos.
Bicycle tour Costa Rica travel informationTravel story & photos: Pieter Parmentier
Bicycle vacation Costa Rica
The peaks of the volcanoes hide behind the clouds
Bicycling in a tunnel of green in tropical rainforest where rivers and waterfalls rustle, orchids bloom and monkeys swing screaming from tree to tree. On the Pacific coast it's dry, but even here every now and then the peaks of the volcanoes are hidden by clouds. The Panamerican Highway turns out to be not too busy and better for bicycling than many local roads full of rocks, potholes and bumps. On the peninsula of Nicoya suger cane is harvested; here you can swim with pelicans, while the local population is entertained by a bull rodeo. On the Caribbean coast it's wet. This is Chiquita land. 26 photos.
Bicycle tour Costa Rica travel informationTravel story & photos: Aart & Gerrie Dijkzeul
Bicycle Vacation Cuba
The Tobacco Route and the Salsa Route
These two bicycle routes take you through a large part of Cuba. The mountainous Tobacco Route (427 km) leads from Havana to the Sierra del Rosario in the western province of Piñar del Rio, via Playa el Salado, Las Terrazas, Soroa, Pinar del Rio, Viñales and Canabas. The Salsa Route (830 km) also starts in Havana, but takes you through the flatter, central part of Cuba, along Matanzas, Cienfuegos and Varadero. 29 photos.
Bicycle tour Cuba travel informationTravel story & photos: Lyda Riedstra
Bicycle vacation Cyprus
Bicycling in the mountains and along archeological sites
Cyprus has many different types of landscapes. Wooded mountains, deep valleys and narrow canyons. At lower level, there are vineyards, often on terraces. For cultural cravings there are monasteries, churches and archeological sites. A perfect island to tour by bike or car. But there are hardly any pretty towns or nice fishers villages. And the coast has been mostly ruined by developments. 27 photos.
Bicycle vacation Cyprus travel informationTravel story & photos: Piet de Geus
A Paradise of Peace and Quiet
Farmhouses in Bohemia
In Bohemia wooded hills alternate with rolling grainfields. Every now and then a castle appears. Hundreds of ponds are scattered over the landscape and every few miles you pass by a picturesque village. If you rent a farmhouse you can expect visits by deer. 11 photos.
Bicycle vacation Bohemia travel informationTravel story & photos: Piet de Geus
Bicycle Tour around Lake Volta
Ghana is green, hot, loud and praises the Lord
A 2000 km bicycle tour around Lake Volta. From the green, relatively wealthy south of Ghana to the poverty in the north and along the west bank of the lake back to the coast. People are friendly everywhere and are eager to show how they live and work. Ghana is a warm country, literally as well as figuratively. The work is mostly done by women, who carry heavy loads on their heads, while the men sit on benches. 46 photos.
Bicycle vacation Ghana travel informationTravel story & photos: Aart & Gerrie Dijkzeul
'Kríti very nice. Jámas!'
To get to know the real Crete, you have to go there in Spring
When the snow starts melting off the mountain peaks, Crete is in bloom and peace and quiet still reign. The best time to explore the real Crete, before its natural beauty is withered and mass tourism takes over the island. An introduction to Crete and its hospitality during a 500 miles bicycle trip. 16 photos.
Bicycle vacation Crete travel informationTravel story & photos: Piet de Geus
Bicycle tour Laos
Wooded hills with rustling brooks and waterfalls
Bicycle trip from Pak Beng, a sandpath with guesthouses, along valleys and paddies to Muang Houn, with its two streets a larger town. Luang Prabang, with over 60 temples, is a mix of Laotian atmosphere and French grandeur. Via the karst mountains and the caves of Vang Vieng to Vientiane, the modest capital on the Mekong. The trip ends with a short stretch in Thailand. 34 photos.
Bicycle vacation Laos travel informationTravel story & photos: Aart & Gerrie Dijkzeul
Bicycle vacation Malaysia
From Bangkok to Singapore by bicycle (II)
Bicycling along endless rice fields and in tropical rainforest, where signs warn you for 'crossing elephants'. In Muslim villages, signs show how to wear a veil. One day it's slipping and sliding over tree roots, another day it's walking between the tops of giant trees. 14 photos.
Bicycle tour Malaysia travel informationTravel story & photos: Aart Dijkzeul
Bicycle vacation Myanmar
Gorgeous landscapes and friendly people
Bicycling tour through a country with more stupas and buddha statues than inhabitants. Gold leaf shines everywhere. On bad roads through beautiful landscapes around Mandalay, along Bagan (with thousands of old stupas) and Nyaung Shwe on Lake Inle. Via Yangon, with its impressive Shwedagon Paya, to Ngwe Saung on the Gulf of Bengal and Pathein on the Ayeyarwady River. 39 photos.
Bicycle tour Myanmar travel informationTravel story & photos: Aart & Gerrie Dijkzeul
Bicycle vacation Panama
We're in the tropics: at 6:30 AM we are already on our bikes
Every now and then we see a village in the hills. The Caribbean coast of West Panama is green and unspoiled. Off the coast lie little islands. South of the central mountain ridge it is hot and dry. The city of David is bigger than expected. Parque Nacional Volcan Baru isn't far, nor are the Pacific beaches. Via coastal towns to San José in Costa Rica. 20 photos.
Bicycle tour Panama travel informationTravel story & photos: Aart & Gerrie Dijkzeul
A mountain-bike expedition to Machu Picchu
Crossing the upstream Amazon hanging on a rope
Except for the well-known Inca Trail, there also is a mountain-bike route to Machu Picchu. Or is there? Climbing endless hairpin turns to 4,300 m, just below the white peak of Nevado Verónica, descending 80 km to an old Inca sign post and through valleys to Santa Teresa. Crossing rivers by rickety suspension bridges and hanging in a little container... and then it's only a little farther over former train tracks... until the police inquires where we think we're going. 15 photos.
Mountain-bike tour Peru travel informationTravel story & photos: Pieter Parmentier
The Middle Ages in Alentejo province
Fortified towns along the Spanish border
On almost every hill top along the Spanish border in the Alentejo sits a fortified town, where time has stood still since the Middle Ages. The larger towns, Evora, Elvas, Estremoz and Castelo de Vide, each have their own particular charm. Bicycle trip through the Alentejo province of Portugal. 26 photos.
Bicycle vacation Alentejo,Portugal travel informationTravel story & photos: Piet de Geus
Bicycle Tour of Senegal
Mud cabins within a round reed fence
Senegal's nature is not spectacular, but the rather flat country is excellent for a trip during the winter season in the northern hemisphere. Bicycling along villages with traditional mud cabins and baobabs in the yellow grass. Along the shore one sees fishermen in brightly painted
piroques, women are working the land, while men are sitting in the shade of a tree discussing world problems. 36 photos.
Bicycle tour Senegal travel informationTravel story & photos: Aart & Gerrie Dijkzeul
Tour of Slovenia
Mountain ranges, fast-flowing rivers and green slopes
Canoeing on the Soca, followed by a thousand kilometers bike tour of mountainous Slovenia. From Piran on the Adriatic, along the Croatian border eastward to Ptuj and via the Karawanken, the foothills of the Alps, which form the border with Austria, back west to the Triglav mountains. Triglav, with its 2864 m the highest peak of Slovenia, is climbed on foot. 31 photos.
Bicycle vacation Slovenia travel informationTravel story: Piet Kuijten. Photos: Miro Vogric, Danila Lazar, Koen & Piet Kuijten
From the Slovenian Alps to Lake Balaton
800 kilometers through countless river valleys
From the wild nature of the Alps to the crowded banks of Lake Balaton: a bicycle trip of almost 800 kilometers through countless river valleys. Leaving Slovenia and entering Hungary is a sea change: grander landscape, villages that are not as painstakingly neat and the people definitely more warmblooded. 15 photos.
Bicycle vacation Slovenia, Hungary travel informationTravel story & photos: Piet de Geus
The Moorish Heritage of Andalusia
Biking in the mountains of al-Andalus
The Moorish heritage of Andalusia is not just the Mezquita in Córdoba or the Alhambra in Granada. It also includes the white villages with Moorish quarters and fortresses, which lay scattered between countless olive groves and wild mountains with spectacular canyons. Biking there, you also get to see a lot of Baroque buildings as well as religious processions. 20 photos.
Bicycle vacation Andalusia travel informationTravel story & photos: Piet de Geus
Bicycle vacation Thailand
From Bangkok to Singapore by bicycle (I)
Bicycling in crowded Bangkok, along wharfs where boats are built by hand, between plantations with rubber, palm and banana trees and along touristic beach resorts. Crowded and noisy towns where one meets no western tourists, and remote beaches where a bucket serves as shower. 12 photos.
Bicycle tour Thailand travel informationTravel story & photos: Aart Dijkzeul
Bicycle vacation North Thailand
Bicycling along the Mekong River is pure joy
Bicycling in North Thailand: from Chiang Mai, where every temple tries to outdo the others with shiny goldpaint, through green hills via Doi Mae Salong in the mountainous Golden Triangle to Mae Sai, the most northern part of Thailand. Then along the Mekong River to Chiang Saen for the ferry crossing to Laos. 18 photos.
Bicycle tour North Thailand travel informationTravel story & photos: Aart & Gerrie Dijkzeul
Bicycle vacation Viet Nam
Cycling from Bangkok to Saigon II
The Mekong delta is a green area with river arms, channels and canals. It's busy on the water. Most transportation takes place by boat and there are even floating markets. Saigon is a real metropolis with 7 million inhabitants and interesting museums (of course about the Viet Nam war). 14 photos.
Bicycle tour Viet Nam travel informationTravel story & photos: Aart & Gerrie Dijkzeul
Book your bicycle holiday online
Via online reservation systems like À la Carte Vacations you can book airline tickets, hotels, rental cars and holiday houses. You can build a fly-drive itinerary with maximum flexibility, book a flight plus a hotel hotel for a night or weekend. Prices for hotels and car rental is usually much lower then what you pay at a travel store or at the location.
