The cycling holiday travel guide – how do I get to my favorite cycling destination?

With Cycling Destination, we are here to help you. For example, by finding your ideal cycling holiday destination. What’s in a name. But we look further than that. The increasingly strong demand for sustainable alternatives to travel is a trend. It’s no longer obvious that we just take the plane to sunnier or other places. This is separate from all the hassles with baggage and staffing problems at the airports. But how do I get to my destination if I want to take a different means of transport than car or plane? Or maybe the plane is the only option. That’s of course also possible. We have put the possibilities together in this cycling holiday travel guide.

Text: Sander Kolsloot

Car – where can I go?

The car was introduced in the early 20th century and has since become a symbol of freedom. With the car, you can get almost anywhere, although reaching the top of Mont Blanc remains a challenge. Now the question arises: what is accessible by car? I always follow a rule of thumb myself: if Google Maps If something says that it takes 10 to 12 hours, that is the absolute maximum for me in a car. Even if you are driving with several people, 12 hours in a small space with luggage, on the road, with traffic jams is a big challenge. So if you want to spend a maximum of one day traveling, I always set a maximum of 12 car hours and that is the maximum I can achieve. I find the Dolomites (and especially the trip towards Alta Badia) really on the edge.

Which destinations are worth visiting?

• Netherlands, Not to be underestimated
• Germany
• Belgium
• Luxembourg
• France (up to the foot of the Pyrenees)
• Switzerland
• Austria
• Czech Republic
• Poland
• Denmark
• Liechtenstein
• Northern ItalyThe Dolomites, the three lakes, Piedmont.
• Monaco (not to be underestimated)
• West Slovakia
• Great Britain: here you have to choose between the tunnel or a night on the boat
• NorwayHere too, it is an option to take the boat from the Eemshaven.
• Southern Sweden

Electric driving

Would you like to travel by electric vehicle? Then the range gets a bit shorter. We have already gone in the direction of Switzerland with an electric bus. Promised: our bus had a small range and a moderate charging capacity. But a trip of normally nine and a half hours turned into one of fifteen (!). On the return journey we were also out of luck. That’s a long ride. You also depend on the charging network. That is well organized in countries like Germany, Switzerland and France. Other popular cycling countries, such as Poland and the Czech Republic, still have challenges. Belgium is getting better and better, but in the Ardennes it’s a search. Pay attention to that if you’re in, for example, North Groningen departing and continuing to drive to Luxembourg or North-East France (the VogezenSo prepare yourself well for your trip and use your charging station apps for good planning.

Train

The train is undergoing a beautiful comeback. Anyone who keeps an eye on travel news has probably heard about the (re)introduction of a number of night trains. Hooray! For myself, I have tried a number of night trains and I must say that I find it a very pleasant way to travel. Therefore, I live in Utrecht and from there you can almost every night get on the NightJet heading towards Germany and/or Austria. In addition, several (night) trains depart towards Switzerland. For myself, I tried the night train to Zurich and it literally ‘ran like a train’. Currently, there are also night trains to France and several routes are again in development. For example, European Sleeper now a night train on the route Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague.

However, traveling by train is not without its obstacles. For example, you can’t bring your bike on every train. Connecting to another train can also be tricky at times. I’ll leave the price of a train trip out of consideration for now, because with a few handy tricks and tips, you can go a long way.

Useful sites for train travel

• LocomocheapThis handy comparison site gives a quick overview of which trains are available in Europe and at what cost. You can then book directly at the source; the NS International website is hopelessly complicated and often not up-to-date.
• Ouigo.comThis site of the French SNCF offers almost ridiculously cheap tickets, where you can also travel by bike. The prices for bringing a (packed) bike are the same as on the Dutch train. But now you can travel in four hours from Lille to Aix-en-Provence. There is also a variant for Spain!
• The Trainline: Another handy site. Here you also have the option to travel with the BlaBlaBus or the Flixbus. For a real backpacker feel.
• Omio also offers many options for good train connections.
• If you would like to go to the UK: There is a Night train from London to Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Inverness and Penzance (in Cornwall).

Tips & Tricks

• The trains have different classes and modes of transport. You can book a seat on the night train, a sleeper in a six-seater coupe, or a real bed in a private coupe or shared with two others. Of course, there is a difference in price.
• Please note that the beds no longer than 1.90m. With my height of 1.93 that is difficult, but it works just fine. Not everything is fantastic in a hotel either, let alone the space in an airplane.
• Check in advance Whether you can bring your bike or not. If not, arrange for a rental bike on site. Sometimes you can bring your bike on local trains. In Switzerland and Austria this is possible on many routes, but you must make a reservation. You can also bring your bike in a bicycle carrier.
• Think globally, instead of locally. We often reason from Amsterdam, Utrecht, or another station within our national borders. While, for example Duisburg It is a major ICE hub and from there the world is at your feet. Also BRUSSELS-SOUTH It is an important hub towards France. For example, you can get on trains from OUIGO and bypass Paris-Nord and the difficult transfer there. Additional tip: From Brussels South you are in Barcelona in 6 (!) hours!
• Be flexible. Trains can be cancelled. Where we often accept traffic jams or delays when traveling by car, that can still be a challenge when traveling by train. Make it a real journey and remember that it’s a lot more relaxing to travel by train instead of in the car. Plus: you’ll visit places you wouldn’t otherwise see!

Bike

In all the enthusiasm for transportation methods, we almost forget about the bicycle. Because as explorer Nynke already proved in her article about Bikepacking The adventure is just around the corner. For those who don’t want to immediately cycle from Breda to Rome, there are beautiful alternatives. A bikepacking alternative is something to do in a week, for example. You can then participate in The Ride (gravel). Then you don’t have to worry about anything and travel by bus and by bike back. You can also arrange this yourself by booking a train to go somewhere and cycling back.

Another alternative is to do a ‘round trip’. This can be done in several ways, but the most convenient is to start at home and then finish again at home in seven (or six with a rest day, or five with two rest days). For example, that could be a round trip from Utrecht to Breda to Flanders to Wallonia to the Eifel to Arnhem to Utrecht. Alternatively, check out Ride Around for the ‘real round trip’.

Boat

The boat is an interesting option, especially towards England and Scotland, but Scandinavia is also a very nice alternative. The different options in a row

• DFDS Seaways operates the famous route from IJmuiden to Newcastle. From here, the ‘Cold Dark North is at your feet and you can continue your journey towards Scotland. This is always a night boat, so you have the choice of a private suite type.
• Stena Line offers the possibility of going from Hoek van Holland towards England. Both by day and by night boat. A great solution for those who don't like tunnels or flying.
• UPDATE: The Eemshaven-Norway ferry service is bankrupt. But even here it’s ‘think global’. Because just across the border you can still go up. Eemshaven-Norway. Scandinavia is at your feet if you want to go to Norway from Eemshaven. Holland-Norway lines offers help with multiple crossings.
• There are even more useful sites, such as ‘the boat’: FerryGoGo
• The cycling cruise may sound outdated to the younger generation, but it is of course a nice option for relaxing trips further into Europe. Among other things. Dreamlines, BoatBikeTours and TUI offer these options.

Aircraft

We deliberately chose the plane as the last option on this list. I must say that after losing my bag twice, I have developed some reservations about flying. Apart from sustainability/CO2 emissions and other possible objections.

Still, there are destinations in cycling country that are fantastic, but only accessible by plane unless you are going to cycle for one day and travel three times for two days. Mallorca by boat and train is still a huge challenge. So here are some destinations that can and should be reached from the Netherlands by plane:

• Canary Islands: Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria. Although you could always come up with an alternative, it is practically impossible to get here using a means of transport other than the plane.
• Islands off the Mediterranean Sea: Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sicily and Sardinia. Here too, the plane is almost the only option. There is a good ferry service from Toulon, but then it becomes a two-day journey.
• Greece, Central Europe (Hungary, Slovenia), Turkey and the Balkans. Also Cyprus is a challenge, to talk about Romania and Bulgaria not to mention.
• Southern Spain and Portugal. Difficult to get to by train and really a very long drive by car. For a longer cycling holiday, you can do this with a stopover, but for a week or less it is not an option. Read the experiences Ruth in Roquetas de Mar of our trips to Andalusia.
• All countries outside Europe. The US with a cruise ship can do it, just like North Africa. But soon you’re at the limits of what’s practically possible. Asia could be done by a very long night train. But then you’d have to plan a week’s journey. Taiwan, Beautiful, but not easy to do.

Final thoughts

We have tried to make this article as carefully as possible. Personal experiences may differ, such as the one time you spent 25 hours on a night train journey or the one time you drove from Utrecht to Croatia in exactly 12 hours. All of these are possible, but we try to use times and estimates that are more ‘average’. Do you have any tips that fit into this? Then add them in our comments. For now, many happy reads and travels!