What are people's favorite country/region to cycle?

Sounds as if this is just a general poll of web-readers with no purpose in the mind of the poster. But to respond, if you are a lazy cyclist go for Holland. If you are ambitious and in good shape, go for Austria, which has a lot of great bicycle routes.

Austria is my favorite. People are wonderful, the food and drink excellent and the scenery is unbelievable. Early May is a great time to go. There are not as many cyclists on the paths then and I have found the weather to be just right.

The Loire Valley of France is my favorite. Lots of small roads with virtually no traffic. Gentle hills, lots of chateaux to see.<BR><BR>I found Holland (cycled there in 73) to be a pain. Many of the cyclepaths were brick or poorly laid block. Very windy.<BR><BR>Southern England was fine altho I found it stranger to cycle on the 'wrong side' than I have driving.<BR><BR>The area around Strasbourg in France is alos very nice altho it can get a little hilly if you are carrying all your gear.<BR><BR>I also liked Austria and the romantic road in germany (there is a bike path that runs most of the length of the road now, altho when I cycled it, I just cycled on the main road with no problems)

The Ticino region of Switzerland. If you get tired, hop a train.<BR><BR>Along the Rhine.

quebec - as you can tell from my response to your other post re: cycling, I think biking, hiking, and just plain &quot;wanderlust&quot; is more of a Germanic or Northern European trait. Nowhere in Europe have I seen more bikers, or hikers and specific accomodations than in Germany, Austria, or the Netherlands or Denmark. Just surfing the German Tourist Office site with their list of trails, bed &amp; bike accomodations and bike rentals at over 250 bahnhof's will give you some idea as to their love of &quot;wanderlust&quot;.

CharlieB--<BR><BR>have you actually rented bikes at any of these train stations? Just want to know what the condition of these bikes is, and whether you could actually ride them for 20-30 miles a day.

julies - no I have not rented at bahnhofs, but have rented troughout Germany. I have seen these bike rentals at bahnhofs, but only came across this info by surfing the German Tourist bureau site, which has links for more info. The bikes we rented were 3 speed pleasure bikes - nothing special - not 10 speed or dropped handlebars. Perfectly adequate for a 10 - 20 mile sojourn. Higher grade touring bikes might be available.