What’s on your cycling bucket list? One of the great things about being in the UK is that many of the most iconic riding destinations are more or less on your doorstep.
When you think about Tadej Pogacar tearing up the Via Santa Caterina in Siena to take the Strade Bianche crown, or the chaos of Dutch Corner on Alpe d’Huez, or the brutal cobbled climbs of Flanders that have seen so many famous battles… all of those are no more than a short flight and/or a quick drive away. Sometimes not even that! We’ve teamed up with Skyscanner to bring you four ideas for a city break with some epic cycling mixed in. Starting with one that’ll be familiar to anyone that follows ultradistance racing…
Dublin/Cork: the Wild Atlantic Way
Combine a break sampling the local food, drink, culture and craic in two (or even three) of the Irish Republic’s most vibrant cities and a touch of the epic with a day or two riding the Wild Atlantic Way.
One of Europe’s most demanding, dramatic and spectacular road cycling routes, the Wild Atlantic Way stretches from the Inoshowen Peninsula in the north all the way to Kinsale in the south west. Its 1600 mile (2,600 Km) length is divided into 14 stages running along the entire west coast of Ireland and takes in mountains, valleys, clifftops and beaches along the way.
You can fly to Dublin from pretty much every UK airport, and the flights are usually good value too. Combine a cheap flight to Dublin with the equally good value car hire available to Dublin airport, with small cars from as little as £50 a week in October and you’re good to go – although, at those prices we’d trade up to something like a Ford Focus, VW Golf or Renault Clio, all small cars you can get two bike boxes in with the seats folded down. You can also find yourself a hotel in the city – there are plenty with parking.
Visiting the Wild Atlantic Way is definitely doable in a long weekend, but a week would really let you get a lot more out of the cities and the cycling – it won’t add much to the car hire either. Spend a night in Dublin – you wouldn’t want to miss that – followed by a leisurely morning brunch before jumping in the car and heading west on the M6 to Galway City, another Irish city with a vibrant cultural scene that’s worthy of your time in its own right. It’s a two and a half hour drive from Dublin which should get you there in time to stretch your legs before fuelling up for the ride ahead in one of Galway’s many fine restaurants… or bars.
Galway City is the start and end point for two stages of the Wild Atlantic Way giving you the choice of a day, or indeed two days riding either north through Connemara and into the Gaeltacht – the heart of the Irish speaking part of Ireland or south towards The Burren, the Cliffs of Moher, and Kilkeel.
Spend a couple of days exploring the Wild Atlantic Way before heading back to Dublin for some post ride r&r and sightseeing before heading home safe in the knowledge that you’ve burnt off all that fine Irish hospitality (probably) on a fine Irish cycling adventure.
Alternatively, fly into Cork rather than Dublin. You’ll be swapping out the Guinness for Murphy’s or Beamish, but also planting yourself much closer to the Wild Atlantic Way – Kinsale at the southern end of the route is less than an hour’s drive from Cork and the city provides an excellent base from which roughly a third of the route accessible in less than two hours driving time. Car hire prices are on a par with those from Dublin. We’d be tempted by the last stage out from Kinsale through West Cork, but you might choose to head for the Ring of Kerry or the Dingle Peninsula. Cork itself has plenty to offer: it’s a city that’s into food to the extent that it even has a butter museum – spread the word.
Bike to pack: You can ride the Wild Atlantic Way on any sort of road bike, but for longish days on the Burren or the West Cork coast something with an emphasis on comfort and endurance would be my choice.
Florence: Strade Bianche & Siena
Florence is home to the Italian Renaissance and a big airport, that’s easy to get to from the UK with plenty of good value flights. There’s loads to see and do in Florence, of course, and it’s certainly worth setting aside a day or two just to wander round the city and soak up the culture. But if you’ve brought your bike with you, then you’ll be itching to get out on the Tuscan roads. Car hire is pretty cheap with lots of choice, and if you’re staying in the city then spending 20 minutes in the car at the start of your ride to leave the metropolitan area is well worth it: the Italians love cycling, but Italian cities are pretty chaotic! You don’t have to go far out of Florence to find some spectacular riding – head south into Chianti country for quieter roads and great views.
For cyclists, though, Tuscany’s big draw is the Strade Bianche, the white gravel roads now immortalised by the iconic one-day classic based in Siena. It’s only an hour from the airport, so you could just make Siena your base: there are plenty of accommodation options and the city, though still pretty busy, is much easier to get in and out of by bike. Another option is Gaiole in Chianti which is the headquarters of L’Eroica, the vintage bike sportive on the white roads. The Eroica long route starts from Gaiole but passes through Siena, so you could ride the loop from either base. If you’re in Siena, make sure you throw in the brutal ramp of Via Santa Caterina up to the old town at the end, just to get the full experience of what it’s like to race the classic!
After bigger hills? If you make Gaiole in Chianti your base then it’s only an hour and a half in the car to Sansepolcro, and from there you can leave Tuscany and explore the borderlands of Marce and Emilia Romagna: head over to Carpegna and try your hand at the Cippo, Marco Pantani’s favourite training climb
Bike to pack: If you’re heading to the Strade Bianche then something with 30mm+ tyres will give you the best experience. You could bring your gravel bike, or an all-road bike might be a better fit if you’re mixing in road days too. For the full Eroica experience you need to be on board a pre-1987 steel racer with toe clips and straps. No big tyres, brifters or clipless pedals for you!
Lyon: The Alps and more
France’s second city and its gastronomic capital, Lyon has a large airport that’s well served by UK airlines and there are loads of great cycling destinations a short (or medium-sized) drive away. There are thousands of options for accommodation in such a big city, of course, but if you’re in France for the cycling then you’ll definitely be wanting to get a hire car, lob your bikes in and head south.
Option 2: The famous climbs of the Tour de France
One of the great things about cycling is that you can ride pretty much every iconic climb there is in cycling, because they’re all public roads. Touch down at Lyon-St Exupéry airport and you’re only an hour and a half by car from Le Bourg d’Oisans and the foot of the legendary Alpe d’Huez climb.
So many other famous climbs are in reach too. The Galibier. The Col de la Croix de Fer. The Col du Glandon. The Col du Lautaret. If you’re ticking off the big-name climbs, it’s really ground zero. It’s not the most exciting place to stay, but for a day or two doing your bucket-list climbs it’s fine: after all, you’ll be too tired to do anything else once you get back.
If you want to mix the riding with a bit more in the way of culture then Annecy is a lovely place to base yourself. You can walk round the city and take in the main sights in a couple of hours but there are loads of places to stay and eat, and you can even take a pedalo out on the lake if you’ve had enough of the hills. The Semnoz climb at over 1,660m is the biggest out of Annecy, and there are plenty of others – Col du Forclaz, Col des Saisies, Col de la Croix Fry – that have Tour heritage within reach of the city on a day loop. Or you could drive a bit further into the Alps at the start of the day to tackle some of the real monsters.
Option 2: The Ardeche
Rarely visited by the Tour de France, the Ardeche is fantastic place to ride your bike. The Ardechoise festival in June every year closes off a big chunk of the region every year for one of the best sportives you can do, but the roads are quiet and picturesque all year round. Aubenas is about a two-and-a-half hour drive from Lyon, and it’s an excellent base. There is plenty of accommodation, it’s not expensive and you’re only a short hop away from some great riding. The cols might not be names you know, but there are plenty of climbs that’ll take you from the town at around 200m to well over 1,300m, over the course of 20 kilometres and more. And because Aubenas is on the river, it’s nearly always downhill to the finish! You’ll have earned a walk round the old town and dinner in a bistro; the local trout is especially good.
Brussels, Flanders and the Ardennes
Okay, this is a bonus one, but if you want a city break with added cycling then Brussels and Flanders have to be on the list. If you live in London and the South East you could drive without flying; in fact it’s easily driveable from anywhere 100 miles beyond London. I drove from Bath and on an early start was passing Brussels by lunchtime. However, if you’re travelling from somewhere further away in the UK then a plane and hire car might be your best bet.
There’s a lot more to Brussels than moules, bierre and frites, though some will be sold right there. It’s a city boasting fantastic museums: Train World and the Institute of Natural Sciences being two particular standouts, plus world class art galleries and restaurants including the fabled Tram Experience… a tram (you guessed that) moving through the streets of Brussels, while a roster of Michelin starred chefs rustle up a six (or seven) course meal for your delight and delectation. It’s not cheap, but you probably guessed that too. Brussels also has one of the most renowned club scenes in Europe – especially if you’re into electronic music and a whole variety of other things to do too. As any Eurocrat could tell you, you can have a wild time in Brussels.
But that’s not all… add in a hire car, bring your bike and you can take it to the next level. As well as the many attractive diversions Brussels and Belgium have to offer, the place has a strong claim to being the beating heart of European cycling, of the racing variety at least. It’s home to some of cycling’s biggest races and most legendary cyclists and the most iconic bits of the most iconic races – and in some cases the whole routes – are there to be ridden. Better still: because Belgium is small, most are not much more than an hour’s drive from the capital, and some considerably less: the entire loop of the 2021 Road World Championships is half an hours drive from Brussels.
If short sharp cobbled climbs are your thing then hop in your hire car head west down the E40 to Ghent and in less than hour you can be burning off some frites as you head for the Kemmelburg (good luck!). If you’ve got a lot of Frites to burn you could try the Ghent Wevelgem Challenge route, all the best bits of the iconic race including the Kemmelburg. Twice. All that and we haven’t even mentioned waffles!
Bikes to pack: A road bike, or maybe a cross bike because… Belgium
Got a favourite bike getaway?
We can’t cover everything here! Let us know what your favourite places to cycle are in the comments below.
3 thoughts on “Pack the bike on your next city break! From the Wild Atlantic Way to terrific Tuscan white gravel, here are some great alternative city break ideas that incorporate cycling”
Can we have a look at rail
Can we have a look at rail options to some of these destinations (and not just from London)? One of the aspects of cycling is the greater propensity for the market to be conscerned for its environmental impact.
What’s that Skippy? You don’t
What’s that Skippy? You don’t think I should “fly to the ride” at the same time as being smug about “one less car”? Get stuffed Skippy, you can go swim with the polar bears!
So while humans gonna human,
So while humans gonna human, perhaps even some nugatory “harm reduction” on the resource consumption / emissions front could still fit with “slightly nicer places” *over here*…