You heard enthusiasts say that there’s nothing like getting in touch with nature. It is perhaps a cliché, yet its appeal undeniably and continuously beckons many travelers all over. You’ll never get tired of watching the sunrise and the sunset from the different parts of the planet, even when you know you are looking at the same sun. It will inspire you to drag yourself from bed just before it marvelously rises and to kick the pedal harder to make it to the peak of a hill just before it sinks behind the mountains.
Bike touring is so liberating. It lets you experience nature and culture in unforgettable ways. Once you are ready for a cycle tour, whether on your own or with others in an organized tour, it is time to decide on your destination. The Guardian asked their readers for suggestions. What emerged as top choices are shared in its Travel Section’s City Cycle Tours Around the World: Readers’ Travel Tips.
Johannesburg: … Start at the Johannesburg botanical gardens in Emmarentia, follow a well-trodden track along the river through a pleasant linear park, and end up at Conrad Drive. It’s a 10km round trip, and it might just change some preconceptions about this wonderful, much-maligned city.
San Francisco: … “Bike the Bridge” tour. You approach it from Fisherman’s Wharf, taking in spectacular views, before cycling across (on the footpath) and ending your trip in Sausalito. Here, you can grab a glass of crisp California white wine before taking a ferry back to the wharf. A perfect way to spend a day!
Marrakech:… You start early and wind your way around streets and through squares, as guides give hilarious descriptions of the places you stop off. It ends just as the city is waking up, after you have been treated to delicious fresh orange juice in Djemaa el Fna and have begun to know the city that little bit better.
New York: … Sunday morning Harlem tour started with a meander through Central Park, on to Marcus Garvey Park … hit Bill Clinton’s office and the Hotel Theresa, … Apollo Theater, … The coffee and pastries at the Hungarian Pastry shop went down a treat before our return via Columbia University and lovely Riverside Park along the Husdon River.
The other destinations suggested in the blog are Tseung Kwan O in Hong Kong, Madrid, Berlin, Munich, Melbourne, and Lucca in Tuscany. Each has its own brand of charm that can suit your taste and whim for the moment.
Tseung Kwan O has excellent paths that can take you to locations with amazing panoramas of the South China Sea, the Po Lam District and places where you can get a taste of the local life.
Madrid has a 60-kilometer path circumnavigating the city called Green Ring or Anillo Verde that can take you around city and its vast parkland, Casa de Campo.
Berlin’s Fat Tire Bike Tour is a route that will take you around the city’s center, a zoo and a beer garden.
Munich can be toured with a guide from Mike’s Bike Tour. A half-day tour includes a ride through the Englischer Garten and lunch at a beer garden.
Melbourne has a 30km trail offering numerous points of interest from the Yarra River, the cricket ground and through he Herring Island Environmental Sculpture Park. The route goes through the old Inner Circle railway, Royal Park, the Melbourne Zoo, and back in the centre via Docklands Precinct through the Maritime Museum and the business area.
Lucca, Tuscany has this path, a 4.2km ring around the old city built in the 16th century. It is sheltered with pines, beech, holm oaks, and plane trees perfect for cycling. Cycling around the city is a common mode of transport in this city.
Looking for a green way to enjoy these destinations? Try cycle touring; it isn’t only sustainable for the planet, it lets you commune with nature in many glorious ways.