Cycling + Food = An Epic Travel Adventure

Four bike tours that satisfy your appetite for mouthwatering food, and adventure on two wheels.

A culinary bike tour is the triathlete’s ultimate recipe for the perfect getaway. You’ll log solid training miles while exploring a dreamy destination, refuel with regional gourmet fare and immerse yourself in the local culture. Imagine rolling through fragrant lavender fields in Provence, where you’ll rebuild your carb stores with local chocolate, cheese, and wine. Or pedaling through medieval towns in Italy to a truffle festival, then to a cooking class and meal with a resident Michelin- starred chef. With the number of tour operators catering to foodie cyclists growing by the day, you can find the ideal itinerary for your specific tastes—and fitness level. Presenting four drool-inducing tours.

Gourmet Cycling Travel Provence Luxury Tour

Provence, France
2018 dates TBD (2017 trips were 6 days/5 nights)
Gourmetcyclingtravel.com
Cost: $4,495
Average day: 15-20 miles on flat roads and mellow hills plus a big climb option

Imagine the perfect day in the south of France—a leisurely pedal through the Rhône River Valley touring olive groves, fields of lavender and sunflowers, wineries, and villages frozen in time. Add a stop at colorful Provencal markets, a private cooking class, wine and chocolate tastings, and all the incredible French cuisine you can eat, and you’ve got this fantasy bike tour. This tour offers a lot of flexibility to accommodate varying rider levels—you can go ride the iconic Tour de France climb Mont Ventoux while your spouse/travel partner sips a local Chateauneuf-du-Pape after a short spin to the winery.

More reasons to go: Pool access at both hotels, private cooking class and wine tastings, Mont Ventoux.

Duvine Piedmont Truffle Bike Tour

Piedmont, Italy
October 17-22, 2017; October 16-21, 2018
Duvine.com
Cost: $5,395
Average day: 20-30 miles on rolling terrain

Duvine’s immersive, high-end farm-to-table culinary bike tours offer plenty of interaction with locals for a truly authentic experience. The Piedmont Truffle tour is a delectable example of this approach: Between ridiculously scenic rides along winding roads through the Italian countryside, guests join a truffle hunter for a forest expedition (and attend a festival celebrating the famous—and pricey—fungi); enjoy lunch at an off-the-map, family-run ristorante; and peruse a local market with Maurilio, a renowned Italian chef, before taking his cooking class and dining at his wife’s Barbaresco winery. During the Hazelnut Ride on day four, you’ll ride through hillsides lined with the eponymous tree in the birthplace of Nutella.

More reasons to go: Strong Italian coffee, spa services (massage, for an extra fee) at the nightly luxury accommodations.

Beercycling Flanders Tour

Flanders, Belgium
July 22-29, 2018
Beercycling.com
Cost: $2,650
Average day: 20-45 miles, mostly flat

You know you’re in for a good time when the bike tour company motto is “Getting you from Pint A to Pint B.” You’ll visit eight breweries, and a couple Trappist monasteries, to learn about the Belgian beer- making tradition, and eat traditional fare that is cooked with beer and/or paired with it. Ninety percent of the riding on this trip is flat—which is a good thing, considering the amount of eating and drinking you’ll be doing along the way. In addition to three hosted meals at famous beer-centric establishments, you’ll also indulge in beer pairings with chocolate and cheese. The tour starts in Antwerp and totals about 240 miles, culminating in a six-course meal with a sampling of 12 different beers over four hours.

More reasons to go: Proximity to the famous cobblestone roads of the spring classic cycling race, Tour of Flanders, and vehicle support if you get a flat/overindulge.

Trek Travel California Wine Country Explorer

Calistoga, Calif.
Nov. 5-10 or 12-17, 2017; multiple dates in 2018 (6 days/5 nights)
Trektravel.com
Cost: $2,399-$2,799
Average day: 30 or 50ish-mile options

This bucket list-worthy bike tour traverses Napa Valley and Sonoma County, the epicenter of California’s wine and food scene. You’ll explore tranquil country roads and vineyards, and dine every night at a different foodie destination (Sam’s Social Club and Spoonbar to name a couple), where you’ll sample the local bounty of artisanal dishes, paired with wine, of course. Ride highlights include a visit to the Velo Vino tasting room—a wine-and-cycling hotspot in St. Helena established by the founders of Clif Bar—and a stay at Indian Springs Resort and Spa, a historic property with a fantastic spa (try the mud bath using volcanic ash) and long-course mineral pool.

More reasons to go: High-end loaner bikes, from the Trek Domane SL7 to an electric bike, simplify travel.

DIY Epicurean Adventure

Pedal unsupported through the heart of Oregon’s Willamette Valley on the 134-mile Scenic Bikeway and sample the region’s acclaimed, farm-fresh food and wine along the way. Check out Rideoregonride.com for more trip-planning info.