Bike Tours in Italy!

7-Day / 6-Night Bike Tours

Inns

• Il Chiostro del Carmine, Siena
• Hotel Dei Capitani, Montalcino
• Il Chiostro di Pienza, Pienza
• Hotel Umbra, Assisi

Rates and Dates

• $2995 - May 16-22, May 30-Jun 5, Jun 13-19, Sep 12-18, Sep 26-Oct 2, Oct 3-9, Oct 15-21

Itinerary / Distances

• Day 1: Arrival Day & Walking Tour of Siena
• Day 2: 26 or 34 mi (42 or 56 km) Intermediate
• Day 3: 23 or 27 mi (36 or 40 km) Easier to Intermediate
• Day 4: 29 mi (47 km) Intermediate
• Day 5: 27 mi (43 km) Intermediate
• Day 6: 29 or 35 mi (47 or 57 km)
• Day 7: Departure

Deposit

$300

Bike Rental

$100

Single Travelers

Supplement for guaranteed private room (when available): $360

Supplement for single travelers willing to share a room: $180*

*This fee will be fully refunded if we find someone to share your room. See "Single Travelers" at The Details for more information

What's Included

Coach transfer at 1 PM on Arrival Day from Florence to Siena (if needed); walking tour of Siena by a local professional guide; 6 nights of lodging (double occupancy); 6 breakfasts and 5 dinners (wine is included with all dinners, and one dinner is a personalized wine tasting meal in Montalcino); all gratuities for accommodations and meals; all transfers during tour; detailed maps and itineraries; 2 experienced Italian guides; full van support; transfer to train station for your trip back to Rome or Florence. Airfare is not included.

Cancellation Policy

If you cancel...
(a) at least 61 days prior to your tour we will return 100% of your tour payments;
(b) 60 days or less from the date of the tour you must pay the full tour price.

Should Bike Vermont have to cancel your tour we will refund all your tour payments immediately as full settlement.

We strongly recommend you purchase Trip Cancellation Insurance as soon as possible. A detailed comparison of trip cancellation insurance policies and prices is available online and links for these sites are available at the end of the reservation page. We recommend CSA Travel Protection based on their rating by Consumer Reports. We will also send you an application form with your Confirmation.

Terrain

Intermediate

• Average Daily Mileage: 25.8
• Average Daily Mileage with Options: 31

Dream of Spring Special - Sign up for our June 13-19 or September 26-October 2 Italy bike tour by March 12, 2010 and save $400 per person/$800 per couple. Discounted price is $2595!

Please also see our Walking Tour of Cinque Terre !

This tour has been carefully designed to capture the essence of the Tuscan and Umbrian experience (think of places such as Siena, Montalcino, Pienza, Spello and Assisi!). We have selected absolutely stunning accommodations, include superb meals, wine tastings, and personalized walking tours of Siena and Assisi. You will be led by talented, engaging and very experienced bilingual Italian guides, whose intimate knowledge and love of all things, places and people Italian will assure that your vacation is a visual, culinary, and cultural delight.

The hotels are exquisite. Each was carefully selected by us not only for their superior quality but also to ensure that you are always staying within the city walls so you can stroll the narrow cobbled streets, visit the shops, see the sights at your leisure, and truly immerse yourself in all the day-to-day Italian experiences that make this a true adventure. Il Chiostro del Carmine is one of the few small elite hotels within the walls of Siena; every room at Hotel Dei Capitani in Montalcino offers endless views over the Tuscan countryside; Hotel Relais Il Chiostro de Pienza, located in the heart of the Renaissance town of Pienza, is surely one of Italy’s finest; and the recently renovated Hotel Umbra provides the perfect setting for our stay in Assisi.

We have taken great care to develop a tour that offers you the full pleasures of the sunny and enchanting Tuscan countryside as well as visits to a delightful collection of small villages and towns. We travel through vineyards; past olive groves; and along narrow ancient roads lined with cypress. We wander the narrow alleyways of tiny medieval villages like Murlo; Montisi; Castlemuzio and Bevagna; listen to the monks chant at Sant'Antimo; gaze in awe as we tour the Basilica di San Francesco in Assisi; relive movie scenes from "The English Patient" as we stroll the grounds of Santa Anna in Camprena; and delight in a visit to the elegant Castello Banfi estate and vineyards.

We are also the fortunate beneficiaries of the Italian obsession with all things culinary. Abundant regional produce, wild game, local mushrooms, olive oil, pecorino cheese, local truffles, and homemade pastas, all complemented with the finest local wines (and a superb Brunello wine tasting event!) assures that we will be treated to the finest regional cuisine imaginable.

We designed this route fully mindful of the need to accommodate the energy and desires of all types of riders. Montalcino and Pienza are both on hills and we will be encouraging some to ride in our carefully positioned van the 2-3 last miles into town. Likewise, on Day 3, there are a few challenging miles before arriving at the abbey at Sant'Antimo. Due to these exceptions (all avoidable with a short van ride), and despite the fact that the vast majority of the cycling is "Easier to Intermediate", we think the tour, as a whole, is appropriately rated "Intermediate."