Italy Bike Hotels

This was my last weekend of prepartion before heading to Italy. In one week, I will be riding along the Adriadic Coast and the Hinterlands of Romagna.

I spent much of the weekend at Orange Peel Bike Shop. It was my last chance to work out the final details of my bike equipment, light touring configuration and to get mechanical instruction from Brock Webster, the owner of the shop.

In addition to all of the bike advice Brock has dispensed throughout my preparations, he also alerted me to the existance of "Bike Hotels" in Italy. I have not heard of this concept anywhere else in the world, but it is exactly what you might expect in Italy.


View Italy Bike Hotels in a larger map

There are hotels scattered around the country that cater to people on cycling vacations. Riders of all abilities, at least those who would choose to spend their vacations riding, use these hotels as home-base for doing day-rides around the various regions of Italy. People stay anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks to get a deep exposure to the rides surrounding the hotel.

The hotels have guides on staff who take any guests who want a group ride out into the countryside. There are apparently enough people wanting to ride in groups during popular times of year that they have 4 or 5 different groups every day. The hotel provides breakfast in the morning and packed food for the ride. I am sure it varies by hotel, but I think rides leave at about 9:00am and return between 2:00 and 4:00pm. That's plenty of time to work up a pretty good appetite for some Italian fuel.

When you return to the hotel each afternoon, they have a secure place to store your bike, a shop for any repairs and food waiting for you to start recovering for the next day. You can then go out to the pool, get a massage, walk on the beach or explore the town until it's time for dinner.

I can't imagine a better setup for a solo traveler. Thanks Brock!

I built a map tonight that marks the locations of all of the Bike Hotels around Italy. They don't precisely correlate to the "Possible Destinations" map I put together a couple of days ago, but I'm sure I will be using a number of them to get within striking distance on two wheels.