Bicycle Touring in Europe Differences

Bicycle touring Europe differences first came to light for me in the year 2000 when three cycling colleagues and I headed overseas for our first bicycle touring trip in that region. We planned to head down the famous Romantic Road tourist route stopping to see the castles, walled towns and enjoy the local wines..

At the start, in our hotel in Wurzburg I noticed a local map showing a bike route going exactly where we had planned. So the next morning we got on what we thought we a local bike path and 420 km later at the Austrian border it ended. This was my first experience of European long distance bicycle touring.

Seven bicycle touring in Europe Differences

This was our introduction to European bicycle touring and there were other surprises as well:

• Others bicycle touring – lots of cyclists who were long distance touring as we do not see as many in North America. In Hungary where signs were rare we were able to compare notes with plenty of others also along the route.
• Long distance cycling routes – with very detailed signs cross many counties such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, etc. In Hungary a motorist stopped in middle of road to give us directions as the local citizens are very much aware of the bike routes. Try asking in North America the average person where to find the local bike routes.
• Very detailed cycling maps – which show the routes, terrain, where to stay, possible sightseeing are available on this site as well as many bookstores.
• Accommodation – many of the small local hotels along the route cater to cyclists and have locked bicycle storage rooms. They are not surprised when we arrive by bicycle. In North America when we attempted that we had to explain in detail what we were doing and were not always welcomed. In fact in France and Austria and other areas there are bike hotels with specific services for cyclists.
• Patient local drivers – they are used to cyclists (even those fast drivers in Italy) and are very patient with cyclists when you are on local roads.
• Restaurants – for example in Austria and Slovakia along the Danube route in particular there were restaurants that catered just to cyclists (there was not always a paved road nearby). It is common in countries such as Germany and Austria for local cyclists to head out into the country to a country restaurant for lunch on weekends.
• Trains – except for the fastest express trains most in Europe have bike compartment and the front or rear of the train. In many European countries local cyclists take advantage of discounted weekend train fares to head out into the country for the weekend, particularly in Germany.

So there you are, some of the bicycle touring in Europe differences that make it such a wonderful experience.