Beyond Biking: Announcing New Tour Extensions

Cruising along, almost half way into our big 30-year jubilee but we’re jumping with joy and tooting our horns about something really cool and exciting to announce:

Our NEW pre and/or post tour extensions in Italy!

So, what exactly is an extension, you ask? Who doesn’t love an exciting beginning or cherry blossom ending to a story?

The concept of the extension is a literal interpretation of the word itself: extending your tour and winding down your week on the bike with an absolutely grand experience where you might find yourself: strolling and tasting your way through Florentine markets with a local guide, stepping into a real Bolognese kitchen to whip up some tasty tortellini, roaming the back-trails of the Cinque Terre, attending your first opera in Verona or buzzing around in the rolling hills outside Florence in everyone’s favorite vintage car: the classic, iconic Fiat 500.

Grand, indeed. And we’ve got 9 of them.

We’ve been busy cooking up this great collection of 1, 2 and 3 day fun-filled experiences that are so distinctive, not only are we excited to share these with you, we’re dying to get you there! You’ll see for yourself. Imagine a night or two (you choose) before or after of of our Tuscan rides, in Florence, roaming the alleyways of this enticing place with one of our top expert city guides; listen to stories, anecdotes, art and architectural tidbits, Medici gossip, legends and facts–all rolled up into a 3-hour spellbinding visit. Along the way you’ll have a chance to peek into artisan workshops, food carts or specialty food shops/ botteghe for a delicious bite of some yummy Florentine nibbles (think: crostini with truffles, artisan chocolates, fresh or aged pecorino cheese).

Or, how about an exciting drive out of town in the adorable, zippy Fiat 500 up into the winding roads of nearby Fiesole to catch the views of Florence, attend a wine and food tasting lunch followed by a lesson in how frescoes are made? This is the real deal. Our Florence Extensions are simply divine.

Another off-the-charts joyful experience (and recommended as a natural extension to our Munich to Verona tour)–is our new Verona Opera Bites Extension. This 2 (or 3) day option is a wine-music-food lover’s”icing on the cake” end to any tour. In Verona we pamper you up at a spa hotel and then shuttle out to the countryside for some Valpolicella and Amarone tasting while being serenaded by professional opera singers. This is just a teaser to an (optional) opera performance night: an unforgettable add-on to your awesome week in the Dolomites!

In the Cinque Terre, we’re offering a slightly different nature-intensive approach to the beloved five lands. Visualize a backstage experience. We base ourselves from a magical stone villa perched on a hill–overlooking the Mediterranean sea–in the hills just outside of Levanto. From here, we hike our way over to the Cinque Terre villages on less trodden trails that bring us over a gorgeous ridge and down to the lovely, sparkling sea and famed villages. Amazing Ligurian food at the inn prepared by Chef Luca. Relax. Sip wine. Take a deep breath and take it all in. We’re convinced this is a perfect blend of rural Mediterranean life and the bustling seaside; a heaven-sent experience of authentic Liguria. Our Cinque Terre extension is perfect before or after our Piedmont spin, any one of our Tuscany rides or a nice pre-trip/post add-on to Bike Across Italy.

So that’s just a snap-shot of our 9 new extensions!

Hop on over to our extensions page to learn more about these pre or post tour mini-adventures.