VBT Bicycling Vacations

Highlights

• Stay in diverse locales, from the spa town of Monte Real to the old fishing village of São Pedro Moel.
• Cycle along the Silver Coast’s sandy beaches framed by Atlantic waves, pine and cork forests, and stunning rural landscapes.
• Indulge in Portugal’s delicious fresh seafood, enticing pastries, espresso, and affordable, excellent wines.
• Spend the night exploring the medieval walled city of Óbidos after the day trippers have left.
• Visit Alcobaça’s Gothic monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site, founded by Portugal’s first king in the 12th century.

Highlights

• Stay overnight in the white-washed city of Ostuni, in a 13th-century palace turned into a small intimate hotel
• Cycle the Ionian and Adriatic coastlines at your own pace, stopping to explore whatever and whenever you wish
• Stay in the seaside towns of Santa Maria di Leuca and Otranto, rich in ancient history and legend
• Enjoy ample opportunities to swim at sandy beaches and Mediterranean coves tucked under limestone cliffs
• Ride into Lecce, known as the “Florence of the South” for its exuberant Baroque architecture

Highlights

• Savor fresh farm cuisine during stays at fattorie lodgings
• Dip your toes, lounge in the sand, or swim in the Tyrrhenian Sea
• Learn from a Tuscan chef how to prepare cantucci almond cookies
• Taste locally pressed olive oil at a local oil mill
• Walk a panoramic trail with a local guide on Giglio Island

Highlights

• Admire the magnificent vistas of France’s most renowned wine regions by river and by bicycle.
• Enjoy the best of both worlds: an all-inclusive river ship cruise and VBT Bicycling Vacation.
• Ride among the lush, fertile vineyards of Burgundy and Provence, pausing at your leisure for wine tastings and tours.
• Learn the history of the magnificent Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct and UNESCO World Heritage site’s museum, and savor a delicious picnic lunch.
• Walk the cobbled and historic streets of Lyon and Avignon as a local guide brings them alive with history and lore.

Highlights

• Learn how historic windmills work and how they are used to reclaim land called “polders.”
• View rare and historic flower bulbs at the flower garden museum, Hortus Bulborum.
• Explore the living catalog of spring flowers at Keukenhof Gardens.
• Explore Holland’s “Green Heart,” a rural and peaceful nature zone.

Highlights

• Delve into the imagination of artist Vincent van Gogh on a private guided tour.
• Roll through pastoral landscapes of olive groves, vineyards, farms, and villages, set against the lofty Alpilles.
• Stride across the Pont du Gard, the magnificent, UNESCO-cited Roman aqueduct.
• Join a local guide on a tour of Avignon, the “City of the Popes.”

Highlights

• Explore Hanoi on two guided tours and a cyclo (rickshaw) ride.
• Attend a performance that’s unique to Vietnamese culture: a water puppet show.
• Delve into Vietnam’s ancient history on a guided tour of the Imperial City and the Forbidden Purple City of Hue.
• Admire shifting landscapes of fish and duck farms, rice paddies, palm forests, mountains, and coastline on scenic cycling routes.
• Savor the local cuisine—including a hands-on class at a cooking school.

Highlights

• Join a farmer and his trusty dog on a hunt for precious truffles on the trails of one of the last unspoiled woods in the area.
• Enjoy a two-night stay at the historic Tenuta di Fontanafredda, whose winery was founded by a king.
• Sip Barolo where it was born when you head into a majestic underground cellar, named one of the 100 most beautiful in the world.
• Learn to prepare pesto as the locals do during a fun and informative cooking class.
• Relax at the private beach at your Riviera hotel, where you spend three nights.