Francewithfive

We are a family of five (kids ages 5,10,12) looking to plan our second trip to Europe this summer. We have been to S France and Tuscany as well as Paris and Venice. We want to find a new spot to explore. We would like to incorporate a bike trip of approx 5-7 days into our two and a half week vacation. The rest of the time would let us settle in and get to know the people and culture,
With a five year old it has to be very low key, she will likely be in a trailer or trail a bike.
Countries of interest for us are: Scandinavia, a different part of France, England. We are open to anything at this point.
Has anyone done a family bike trip through a tour company or on your own?
It could involve a home base with day trips or a town-to town tour.
Thank you!

menachem

netherlands is super easy (and safe!) to tour, especially with children: great infrastructure, great stops, also always family friendly. heck, you don't even need a map, as signage is excellent.

England I would never recommend! It's too unsafe, bicycle-wise.

how about a bike/barge tour? different scenery every day, well supported, but with wiggle room for your children.

colduphere

I did not want to respond as we have travelled and hiked as a family of five, and I have cycled a lot in Europe, but we have not cycled as a family. But now I can say I agree with everything Menachem said. Or Denmark.

Francewithfive

Thanks - I heard the same thing about the Netherlands. A bike/barge tour sounds interesting..any companies you have used or heard of that do this?

bilboburgler

There is info on a whole bunch of routes within Europe on this website
http://www.mybikeguide.co.uk/

all of these routes link up well with trains (incase anyone gets tired) and all are flat. Of these I would focus on the following if you have small kids, the Netherlands (North Sea on this site) but there are loads of other routes (look at the book page for other routes), Lake Constance, Mosel river, The Midi (along the canal) and Ile de Re which is especially good.

The other issue will be timing, end of July to Mid August is busy busy, best avoided.

bilboburgler

Taking the canal du midi and hiring bikes is a great holiday, but can be smelly (espec. August)

Finecheapboxofwine

I inquired about a family bike tour a couple of years ago. Here is some info you might find helpful:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-france-or.cfm

I do not recommend Sweden for biking as there are not enough devoted paths here. I see crazy folks on the highways however- not recommended!

janisj

I'd not plan a family bike tour anywhere in the UK. The rural bits generally have narrow roads w/ no shoulders (though there are some dedicated long distance bike routes), and the cities are REALLY not a place for safe/fun biking.

I'd maybe do the Netherlands for the bike segment - then you can always fly to England or Scotland for the rest of your trip.

bilboburgler

If you decide UK is the thing then you want http://www.sustrans.org.uk/
They build and sustain the impressive bike paths across the UK. Where the paths are not cycle specific they use very quiet roads. I use them but I would not let a 5 year on the roads compared to the areas I've already recommended

menachem

nor the other children, for that matter.

sometimes the sustrans routes I used had very strange routing, or ended up to be a mud trail through the woods.

menachem

bike barge tours, for instance:

http://www.cycletours.com/tours/index.html

this would be my choice:

http://www.cycletours.com/tours/neth...lroute_157.php

the landscape of the river IJssel is, imo, the most beautiful of the Netherlands, with extremely scenic towns on its borders.

menachem

"The bicycles on board are mostly unisex touring or. trekking bikes with light-weight frames and normal mount (ladies model), with 7 gears, hand brake & hub brake and pannier bag. Prices of other bikes (e.g. E-Bikes, children’s bikes, “slip streamers”, tandems, parent-and-child tandems etc.) and child’s saddles (front or rear) are on request. "

dreamon

Not one of the countries you mention but maybe check cycling around Bodensee. http://www.bodensee-radweg.com/en There are organised tours or you can simply get someone to transport your luggage. And it's flat! A side tour to Stein am Rhein and/or Schaffhausen and Rheinfalls would be nice.

dreamon

Sorry, one more thing - with Bodensee in some cases you can cycling one way and catch a ferry back. Or if the little one is tired, they could take the boat while the older ones cycle with the other parent and meet up at an end point for the day. Ferry services are not always very frequent though.

Have also heard that there is heaps of cycling in the Loire Valley but I've no personal experience of that.

bilboburgler

The Loire has a great bike path along the river, but off the path the roads are generally a little more worrying. If I was taking kids to this area I would look at Le Loir to the north (no path but very quiet roads, but still I think my original proposals (Lake Constance is Bodensee BTW) are safer.

Have a great day

bigtyke

Not in your stated area of interest, but the Danube in Austria has a very developed cycling infrastructure. No matter where you decide on, check out www.crazyguyonabike.com

menachem

My objection would be that most of those write -ups are by well trained men, not by people witch children.

AlessandraZoe

We-ell, actually...

We cycled a lot as a family, both on our own and with tour companies. In the US, we primarily created our own trips around one hub. For example, Niagara area has a great trail system on both sides of the border, and doing Washington, DC by bike was a lot of fun.

But we only did tour companies when we cycled in Europe.

<i>DISCLAIMER: Our youngest was 7 bordering on 8 when we did our first European cycling trip, and even when we cycled in the US, she was only in a Burley one day. She was a chubby kid and she nearly blew out my husband's knees in Jackson Hole, so we told her pretty early on she was on her own if she planned on joining us.</i>

Our first cycling trip with a tour was in France, a country that we had visited a couple of times before we hopped on the bike. Even though I spoke enough French to get by, and even though the kids had some smatterings of French, I just was always worried that in an emergency, I would not have a clue as to what to do. My husband is a financial wizard but a mechanical flunky, so all bike repair would have fallen on my shoulders.

So I DO have a master bike thread on this website that explains what trips we've done and why we liked doing them:
http://www.fodors.com/community/trav...neral-tips.cfm

My biggest suggestion?

CALL some major companies:
--Backroads
--VBT
--Discovery
and ask them about what trips they'd suggest for you with kids your ages. They'll tell you straight up which trips could accommodate your youngest. All three of the above companies provide good bikes, even for kids, but they do not provide Burleys for all trips, nor do they accommodate children on all trips.

If you are feeling rich, then call Butterfield and Robbins.

The important thing is that you don't have to book with these companies, but you'd get an idea of what's out there.Look at their websites for exact itineraries. Maybe you are a year away from doing your ideal trip.

Happy planning and enjoy. We did.
AZ

Francewithfive

Thanks you so much everyone. The Netherlands is sounding like a perfect spot for our cycling portion, We will not join an organized tour but will definitely get some ideas from the websites mentioned. Can't thank you all enough.
We have to decide whether to pick a home base or move every few days. I am leaning towards a home base. Any suggestions?
Any good rentals (preferably an apartment) for a few days in Amsterdam?
Again, many thanks, this forum is always an incredible resource!!!

menachem

Why not base yourself in Haarlem and rent your stuff there? That way you have the beautiful dunes and the sea and good trains that will take you to Amsterdam CS in about 20 minutes.

Also, the area between Haarlem and Leiden is great cycling country

http://www.rondjehaarlem.info/

http://www.rondjehaarlem.info/fietsroutes_haarlem.php

you can even cycle to Amsterdam and back!