You may be bicycle touring on a well signed route but there are always situations where good bicycle route maps are required. A situation I have run across a construction zone which has caused the bike route signed to be temporary moved. Another situation is a number of local bike routes met and it is not clear which route is yours
Bicycle Route Maps along Danube Trail
In Germany, Switzerland, Austria and some European countries you will be able to travel on a bike trail. In most other countries in Europe and North America you need good maps.
For Europe bicycle touring maps are available for every country. If not using a signed long distance bicycle route I hand out copies of each day’s itinerary to each group member along with an emergency contact location such as a tourist office in the next town should someone get lost?
The bicycle route signs in the picture are along the Danube Trail in Austria and can be found about every 10-15 km. Yet on the Danube Bike Trail in Hungary there were no signs and we had many other cyclists asking us for directions. In Germany and Switzerland you have lots of bicycle route signs, elsewhere you will need bicycle route maps.
When cycling in the Lakes District of Austria on a route both well signed and listed on my bicycle touring map, but it suddenly ended. This is unusual in Austria. The lesson I learned is to use specific brand of bicycle touring maps that I can trust, I no longer use that particular brand.
Another reason for bicycle route maps is that in some countries such as Germany there are so many local and national cycling routes it can sometimes be confusing as to the correct trail.
In North America you usually need to use a road map along with a cycling guide as there are few good bike maps. In cycling friendly Wisconsin with many bike trails there were few (very few) signs and lacking bicycle route maps we had to ask the locals for directions (often). In Canada only Quebec has extensive signed bicycle routes and maps (Velo Quebec).
Whatever type of map you use a scale of 1:50,000 is necessary to obtain the detail necessary for bicycle touring.
Bicycle route maps should always be listed as an essential item on your packing list.
←More from European Bicycle Touring Routes
You Might Also Like
Bicycle Touring in Switzerland: So why go bicycle touring in Switzerland? Switzerland has a reputation of being very mountainous. While that is true there - Bicycle Vacations Europe: When you think of bicycle vacations Europe, cycling across Switzerland usually does not come to mind. Imagine however a destination
- Cycling Tuscany: Cycling Tuscany through a land of hills, vineyards and stone villages. There are no bicycle touring routes in Tuscany so
- European Bicycle Routes: The Danube Bike Trail from Passau, Germany to Vienna is emerged as one o the top European Bicycle Routes for
- European Bicycle Touring Routes: There are many great European bicycle touring routes. With the bicycle culture in these countries I find motorists are generally
- European Bike Routes: Germany’s Bodensee to Konigsee, one of the many great European bike routes. The 410 km Bodensee to Konigsee bicycle route travels