Dorsaneo13

Myself and my husband will be in Italy for 3 weeks in Sept. We rented bikes in NYC 2 years ago and cycled around the city and got me thinking that would love to rent a bike again in Italy and cycle to see some places when we are in Italy.

We are roughly going to be in Milan, Tuscany, Abruzzo, Almalfi coast, Verona, Lake Garda and Venice.
Out of these places where would people recommend that we rent bikes to take in the sites ourselves.

Thanks

bvlenci

First of all, three weeks is not a long time to visit this many places, some of which are large cities that need more than a day or two, whereas others are entire regions. You might want to plan a more specific itinerary to see how many days you could carve out for biking.

We once did a biking holiday in Lombardia (the region where Milan is). I enjoyed it tremendously. There is a large national park there, along the river Ticino, where there are also canals with bike paths. We were based in the town of Abbiategrasso, which is a nice little town, and not very touristy. Here is an album of my photos from the trip:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1039588...ardiaMay132010

Of the other places you mention, I think only Verona (and possibly some parts of the Lake Garda area) are suitable for biking. For Tuscany and Abruzzo, it would depend on where you would be, as both of the those regions are largely hilly or mountainous. The Amalfi Coast and Venice would be absolutely out of the question. Milan has a center that is trying to be as much as possible car-free, so biking there might be a possibility. The last time I was there, these new rules hadn't taken effect yet, so I don't know what it's like now. I didn't see anywhere that I would have wanted to bike at the time we were last there.

bvlenci

I think this is a better link to that photo album:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1039588...eat=directlink

Dorsaneo13

in abruzzo the only part we will be prob going to will be around cheati as that is where my husband's ancestors come from. know that is in the mountain area. thank you for taking almalfi coast and venice out of the question. i guess we haven't gone into detail yet on where we will be going in the other regions yet.

guess i was looking for anyone who may have cycled in any part of those region's and recommended any locations. will have a look at your albums def sure there are some amazing pics.

zoecat

I've never done this, but...If you are near the town of Pienza while in Tuscany, there is a bike rental shop in town. The area has some hills and the roads can be narrow, but you could ride some of the white (dirt) roads in the valley below Pienza and enjoy some spectacular scenery without traffic. I recommend a detailed map of the specific area.

snowgirls

We just did a 3 week cycling trip in Italy in Sept 2013.If you have never seen Lucca, its a cycling haven and you can tour around the whole of the medieval city by cycling on top of its very wide medieval walls. Rentals are on the left as you enter thru the west wall. You can also bike through the old city as its mostly car free but it was still very full of tourists in September. As well, we stayed outside of the old city walls and there was a dedicated bike path along the sidewalk so it was easy to bike to the hotel which was about 10 minutes bike ride away ( Eurostars hotel)Lucca is flat unlike the rest of Tuscany which was hilly/ mountainous.

susoir

If you like hills (like I do), then Abruzzo is a fantastic place to ride. Here's a link to a post I did on a cycling website about cycling in Abruzzo:

http://www.podiumcafe.com/2010/11/24...-abruzzo-italy

There are also flat rides along the coast, on cycling paths alongside Abruzzo's beautiful beaches. Finding bikes to rent might not be as easy there as in a more turisty region like Tuscany. There is a bike hotel in Giulianova, where they would arrange bike rentals for you if you stayed there, and they might give you a lead on a bike rental outfit even if you don't stay there. There are also two bike hotels on Lake Garda, and a few in Tuscany.

http://www.italybikehotels.it/en/all-our-hotels

I've stayed at two bike hotels (In Riccione and Finale Ligure), and it's a nice set-up. They have bikes, guided rides if you want them, maps, etc.

In Florence, this bike tour company looks to have some nice day trips, but I haven't tried them, so I can't give a personal recommendation:

http://www.ibiketuscany.com/tours/vi...rence-to-siena

Tuscany is a great place for cycling, as is the Veneto region (though not Venice itself, of course).

bilboburgler

The whole PO valley is set out to support a bike culture with long distance bike paths (sort of in place) quiet roads and towns with low levels of car traffic (Padua, Ferrara)

have a look at the bike routes show on http://mybikeguide.co.uk/ and if you look on the Articles section you will also get to a North South route.

Puglia is not bad (again generally flat)

Tuscany is set up for bike tour companies as it is so ***** hilly, you can ride along the rivers but the level of traffic is a bit too high IMO and most of the interesting spots are on the top of the hills