Imagine a time in your life when you are typing into your out of office email auto-send “Sorry I cannot answer your emails right now, I am cycling around Europe and will be back in approximately three months!”
Maybe you live outside of Europe and want to explore a whole continent on one extended cycle tour, but without the need to carry all of your own kit. You might be retired and looking for a new goal or taking a break from work and fancy living the dream cycling out on the open road. With Freewheel Holidays, your goal could become a reality with our 'Overland Cycle Cruise around Europe'.
We have created ‘The Ultimate Cycling Tour’ and planned out three exciting itineraries that cover total distances of over 3000km over 10 individual stages with 74 days of day-to-day cycling. The whole journey will take over 3 months to complete using a mix of cycling and public transport to get to the next starting point.
Each cycling stage includes luggage transfers, hybrid bike hire, route notes and support as well as pre-booked hotels and directions. We actually sell all of the cycling holidays as inidividual tours.
If you were to plan this tour independently, then you would spend months and months carrying out research into the journey and planning out the best possible cycle route. All you need to do is tell us the route option that you would like to do from our schedule and we will piece together the overall itinerary.
The Ultimate Cycling Tour has been planned out by our leisure cycling holiday experts and showcases three routes across Europe from ‘West to East’, ‘North to South’ and ‘From the East to Spain’.
Product Manager of Freewheel Holidays Steven Rittey explains why he is excited about the possibilities of the three itineraries...
"Having watched and been inspired by the excellent BBC series ‘Race across the World, we’ve put together a selection of back-to-back itineraries for the best possible bike ride around Europe.
The holiday is made up of individual cycle tours that we currently sell on our website and we think that it is the ultimate European cycling holiday for someone looking to live the dream without all of the planning.
This might just be the greatest cycling holiday of all time.’’
Hotel accommodation and bike hire is included on all tours and your luggage is transferred behind the scenes each day. All route maps, notes and detailed will be given out on a per cycle tour basis.
Route 1: West to East
Total Cycling Distance: 2674km
Total Duration: 72 days
Total 'From Price': £7131
View the route map here >>
| Tour | Route | Duration | Start Point | End Point |
| Tour 1 | Lisbon to the Algarve | 8 days | Lisbon | Sagres |
| Transfer by Coach/Train | ||||
| Tour 2 | Andalusia | 9 days | Granada | Seville |
| Transfer by TGV | ||||
| Tour 4 | Provence Highlights | 8 days | Aix-en-Provence | Aix-en-Provence |
| Transfer by TGV | ||||
| Tour 5 | Turin and Piedmont | 8 days | Turin | Turin |
| Transfer by train via Verona | ||||
| Tour 6 | Innsbruck to Munich | 7 days | Innsbruck | Munich |
| Transfer by regional train | ||||
| Tour 7 | Passau to Vienna | 8 days | Passau | Vienna |
| Cycle | ||||
| Tour 8 | Vienna to Budapest | 8 days | Vienna | Budapest |
| Transfer by Night Train | ||||
| Tour 9 | Krakow to Warka (Warsaw) | 8 days | Krakow | Warsaw |
| Cycle | ||||
| Tour 10 | Natural Belarus | 10 days | Warsaw (Minsk) | Warsaw |
Route 2: North to South
Total Cycling Distance: 3218km
Total Duration: 74 days
Total 'From Price': £9100
View the route map here >>
| Tour | Route | Duration | Start Point | End Point |
| Tour 1 | Lofoten Islands | 8 days | Bodo | Bodo |
| Train to Oslo then ferry cruise to Copenhagen | ||||
| Tour 2 | Copenhagen to Berlin | 10 days | Copenhagen | Berlin |
| Cycle | ||||
| Tour 3 | Berlin Lakes | 8 days | Berlin | Berlin |
| Train to Munich via the new high speed train | ||||
| Tour 4 | Munich to Salzburg | 8 days | Munich | Salzburg |
| Cycle | ||||
| Tour 5 | Salzburg to Lake Bled | 8 days | Salzburg | Bled |
| Cycle | ||||
| Tour 6 | Lake Bled to Venice | 8 days | Bled | Lido di Jesolo |
| Cycle | ||||
| Tour 7 | Venice to Florence | 8 days | Venice | Florence |
| Cycle | ||||
| Tour 8 | Florence to Rome | 8 days | Florence | Rome |
| Train from Rome | ||||
| Tour 9 | Umbria | 8 days | Assisi | Assisi |
| Train | ||||
| Tour 10 | Apulia to Lecce | 8 days | Apulia | Lecce |
Route 3: East to Spain
Total Cycling Distance: 2890km
Total Duration: 83 days
Total 'From Price': £8130
View the route map here >>
| Tour | Route | Duration | Start Point | End Point |
| Tour 1 | Tallinn to Vilnius | 11 days | Tallinn | Vilnius |
| Train via Bialystok | ||||
| Tour 2 | Warsaw and the Masurian Lakelands | 8 days | Warsaw | Warsaw |
| Night train to Prague from Warsaw | ||||
| Tour 3 | Prague to Passau | 8 days | Prague | Passau |
| Regional train | ||||
| Tour 4 | Munich to Lake Constance | 8 days | Munich | Lindau |
| InterCity train | ||||
| Tour 5 | Geneva to Lyon | 8 days | Geneva | Lyon |
| Cycle | ||||
| Tour 6 | Lyon to Orange | 8 days | Lyon | Orange |
| Regional train | ||||
| Tour 7 | Canal du Midi | 10 days | Sete | Toulouse |
| InterCity train | ||||
| Tour 8 | Bordeaux to Biarritz | 8 days | Bordeaux | Biarritz |
| Regional Coach | ||||
| Tour 9 | Green Coast of Spain | 8 days | Santander | Gijon |
| Regional Coach | ||||
| Tour 10 | Camino de Santiago | 8 days | Sarria | Santiago de Compostela |