Asia is a popular destination for many of our Backroads travelers. We wanted to share with you some of our favorite Asia bike tours and Asia walking tours as you plan your travels for 2013.

Myanmar – This year, Backroads is introducing an 8-day, 7-night Myanmar bike tour running through March and a Myanmar walking tour, which runs in December. Traveling to Myanmar is an experience few have had the opportunity to enjoy, as this country has largely been closed to tourism. Many of the locals you meet on our bike tour to Myanmar may never have seen someone from outside their country. On our bike trip, you’ll explore the “golden land” including temples, rivers, ancient ruins, a monastery and an extinct volcano and meet a few monkeys along the way.

Thailand – Elephants, rice paddies and fire balloons, oh my! These are just a few of the adventures you’ll experience on our Thailand biking tour. The 8-day, 7-night trip lets you take in the best of Thailand with help from the locals. You’ll receive a blessing from village elders, light a fire balloon and make a wish, eat incredible homemade Thai curry and sample the country’s delicious street food, and conclude the trip with a jungle trek on an elephant. Looking for adventure? This is the one! Thailand biking runs in January, February and December.

Bhutan – We offer a Bhutan walking tour and a Bhutan multisport tour for those looking for a more active exploration of Bhutan. Namgay, a longtime friend of Backroads and Bhutanese local, will give you an inside tour of this lovely country hidden deep in the Himalayas. He’ll lead you on a hike to a 14^th century temple accessible only by foot, rafting down the Po Chhu River, to a visit to an impressive giant Buddha statue,  past a temple hanging on a cliff and to a local teahouse for a warm brew. The 8-day, 7-night Bhutan adventures run March and April and September through November.

China – See China like you never imagined by bike. Our China bike tour lets you pedal through this ancient country through both rural villages and modern cities. Don’t be surprised when local children rush out to greet you, so excited to see visitors! You’ll also take a private boat cruise down the Li River, visit local street markets, see the famous Terra Cotta warriors, pedal the 500-year-old city walls of Xian and see the Great Wall. China Biking is a 9-day, 8-night adventure running April, May, September and October.

Vietnam/Cambodia – See Vietnam and Cambodia by bike or by hiking through these areas. These are some of our most popular Asian bike tours and Asian walking tours. If you choose by bike, you’ll share the road with many others, like food carts, water buffalo and locals and kids headed to school and work; it’s quite an experience! Visit Hoi An, Vietnam’s oldest town, bike over Cloud Pass, stop at Cam Kim Island, ride through Angkor Wat at sunrise and visit famous ancient temples. Our Vietnam bike tours and Vietnam walking tours run January-March, November and December and are 9-10 days.

Where have you visited in Asia? Are there any Asia tours you’d like to add to your bucket list or 2013 travel plans? Let us know!

If you have any questions about our adventure tours to Asia or would like to get one booked, please give us a call 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific at 800-462-2848.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and we can’t think of a better gift for your significant other than an adventure tour to a romantic destination. Just picture yourselves biking the great outdoors together, exploring a new country and enjoying gourmet dinners and magnificent wines as your reward in the evening.

Here are our top 3 recommendations for a surprise Valentine’s Day vacation with Backroads:

Loire Valley Biking — With its fairytale castles full of towers and turrets at every turn, this is your chance to play princess and knight in shining armor. The Loire Valley in France is a countryside full of castles like the romantic Chateau de Chenonceau built in the 1500s and the home of the king’s mistress Diane de Poitiers and later Queen Catherine de Medici. We’ll also visit Chinon, known for its full-bodied red wines, and Leonardo da Vinci’s last residence, Clos Luce. Join hands as we head to the centuries-old wine cave and enjoy quintessential French cuisine throughout the France bike tour. The trip is 6 days and 5 nights and runs April through October.

Bali Biking – Looking for an exotic Valentine’s getaway to a warm weather locale? Look no farther than Bali! On our Bali bike tour, couples can swim in the famed Blue Lagoon, visit an ancient temple and cycle past lush green landscapes in Bali where romance is sure to bloom. Enjoy the adventure of rafting the Ayung River, cycling up a volcano and relaxing at the spa. The trip is 8 days and 7 nights and runs March-April, October and December.

Wine Country Biking – Closer to home, rekindle the romance on our California Wine Country bike tour. Pedal along rolling hills and endless vineyards and enjoy a picnic under the majestic redwoods. Of course, there’ll be plenty of wine to taste along the way. Our 6-day, 5-night wine country biking tour heads through Sonoma and Napa and along the coast, and includes several Michelin-restaurant starred meals. This is one of our more popular trips and it runs March through December.

When you travel with Backroads, we provide the ultimate in service with three trip leaders and two support vans on every trip to move baggage from hotel to hotel and provide you with anything you need from a snack to a ride to a bike repair. You focus on the romance; we’ll focus on the details J.

Hurry and call us soon at 800-462-2848 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific to surprise your sweetie with a Backroads adventure tour of a lifetime on Valentine’s Day!

You may have heard of the Italian Lake District, but did you know Argentina has one, as well? This Argentina bike trip, which was new for us in 2012, lets you do everything from seeing 300-year-old trees to learning the tango!

Our Argentina Bike Tour takes you through what is called the “Seven Lakes” area in the Patagonia region of the country and through three of Argentina’s national parks. You’ll pedal past beautiful mountain vistas, quiet scenic roads and shimmering lakes. Also in on the Argentina biking tour, you’ll see glaciers, arrayan trees and ride along the Continental Divide.

Love adventure? Take a tango lesson on this bike tour, ride the single-track trail on the Quetrihue Peninsula and kayak and fish at a lodge set along Lago (Lake) Nahual Huapi.

Love food? We got you covered! Sip yerba mate, enjoy homemade empanadas and sample acclaimed wines just like the locals.

Here’s how several of our riders described their bike tour to Argentina with Backroads:

“What a beautiful part of the world this is. Rich in culture, nature, outdoor activities, great food and amazing people!”

“Overall, this trip definitely ranks among my very favorite Backroads trips ever (of six so far). The leaders, the accommodations, the biking, the scenery, the weather – everything was fantastic! And the rafting on this trip was SO much fun. The local guides were great and made navigating the exhilarating rapids the most fun rafting experience I’ve ever had.”

The bike trip is 7 days and 6 nights of amazing scenery and adventure and is a great winter weather escape. Enjoy Argentina’s Lake District Biking January through March and in December of 2013. Call us to book your spot at 800-462-2848 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific daily.

You’ve heard about Paris in the springtime, right? Well, that holds for most of Europe, as well! We love traveling Europe in the spring, as the weather is just right for an active tour, and most of the crowds haven’t arrive quite yet. Of course, we like to take the “backroads,” so you’ll mostly avoid the crowds with us anyway!

Some other benefits of taking a European hiking tour or a European bike tour during this time of year include the fact that airfares are often lower in spring (not to mention there are fewer people on the planes) and you have a better chance of meeting more locals. Most Europeans vacation in summer, plus the nice weather has them out and about, allowing you to strike up a conversation as you hike past or hop off your bike.

Where to go? Here are some of Backroads’ top active tours for Europe in the spring:

Loire Valley – Can you picture this magnificent land of castles in all its glory with lush green grasses, gardens in full bloom and migrating birds? That’s the Loire Valley in spring. Take a Loire Valley biking tour with us for the chance to see these beautiful castles in the open air, indulge in top-notch French cuisine, explore vineyards, and if you take our Loire Valley family biking tour, try your hand at fencing! The Loire Valley tours run March through October 2013.

Provence – Ah, Provence, what isn’t there to like? On a spring Provence tour, expect to see the cherry orchards and almond trees blossoming as you hike Provence or bike Provence under a bright sunny sky. Try our new Provence Biking tour, which takes you from the windswept Alpilles to perched Luberon Villages. Pedal past red-tiled roofs, vineyards and 12^th century castles and ruins, and enjoy delectable French cuisine. Other options include our Provence Walking and Hiking Tour, our Provence and Costa Brava Walking and Hiking Tour, which takes you into Spain, and our original Provence Biking Tour through the Cotes du Rhone vineyards, Crillon Le Brave and the Luberon.

Tuscany – Travel Tuscany in March and look forward to blooming azaleas and camellias to add to the overwhelming beauty already offered by the Italian countryside. Whether you like to walk, bike or cook, Backroads has a Tuscany tour for you! Our new Tuscany Cooking and Walking tour lets you cook with Italian nonne (grandmas), sample honey made by monks, tour a working cheese farm and work off all the calories as you hike to your next destination.

Spain – Can you smell the orange trees in bloom, yet? You will when you arrive in Spain in spring! The almond trees, as in France, cherry trees and camellias are also blooming. There’s also a host of religious and secular festivals that happen in spring, so as you walk or bike past a small town or village, you just might come across a wonderful local celebration. Backroads offers many Spain tours like Andalucia Biking, Mallorca Biking, Pyrenees to Costa Brava Biking and Spain Hiking. Which will you choose?

Greece – Our Greece Biking Tour takes you to the gorgeous island of Crete, where spring means lots and lots of wildflowers. What better way to see them than pedaling past and smelling their sweet scent? On our Crete biking tour, you can ride coast to coast, relax at the beach, see ancient ruins and sample olive oil. Departures begin in March.

What do you bring to mind when you think of Europe in the springtime? If you’ve never experienced it, please join us on a European biking tour or a European walking tour and enjoy this wonderful time of year to travel across the pond. For more information on booking an active European vacation in the spring, give us a call 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific at 800-462-2848. See you beside the blooming f

Sicily often gets ignored besides some of the more popular Italian tour destinations, like Tuscany, Rome and Venice. But this jewel of an island, sitting off the Italian coast, is a draw all its own and that’s why we added a Sicily biking tour for families to our 2013 active travel line-up.

The Italian bike tour, which runs March through June, lets parents enjoy an active European family vacation while keeping the kids plenty occupied and learning a lot without even realizing it!

On the Sicily family tour, groups will bike past Mount Etna (Did you know it’s Europe’s largest volcano? Shh, don’t tell the kids they learned something J!), taste freshly-made olive oil, stroll through a local fish market and tour Siracusa’s old city, Ortygia.

Sound too boring for kids? Just wait! They’ll have a chance to paint pottery in Caltagirone, inhabited since the Bronze Age, where we’ll also race them to climb 142 stairs; dance to local folk music; hit the countryside in Jeeps; bake biscotti; and try to eat their gelato before it melts! There’s even a scavenger hunt just for the kids in the town of Ragusa Ibla, and your family will get to visit two World Heritage sites. Oh, and they get to eat pizza with French fries on top. That’ll make a great story to tell their friends when they return home!

Spring break is a great time of year to travel to Sicily, especially for those from cooler climes who are looking for a warm weather getaway. The flowers are in bloom from the blossoming almond trees to fragrant citrus trees and wild rosemary. It’s a wonderful time to be out in the open air on your bike so you can take in the wonderful smells all around you.

Plus, you don’t have to worry about the kids plopped on the couch playing video games all spring break. They’ll be out in the sun, getting exercise, expanding their mind and learning a wealth of new things no textbook could teach them.

There now, have we convinced you that your family should come biking in Sicily with us this spring? Good, now call us to book it right away before you change your mind! Call us 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific at 800-462-2848 and start counting down the days till spring break. Ciao!

We know a handful of celebrities who’ve made Italian lakes into national news. George Clooney would be one! These lakes are definitely hot spots among the elite due to their beautiful landscape and scenery.

You can pretend to be a star yourself when you join Backroads for our Italian Lakes Hiking Tour. This walking and hiking tour takes you along Italy’s “great” lakes: Maggiore, Como (Clooney’s favorite), Lugano and Orta.

Start your Italian hiking trip at Lake Orta (in Italian lago d’Orta) and explore the medieval hamlet town of Orta San Giulio. This area inspired the likes of Flaubert and Tchaikovsky and you’ll see why! Enjoy dinner and accommodations at Villa Crespi, built in 1879 and known for its Mediterranean cuisine.

On Day 2, you’ll hike 4000 feet above Lakes Ort and Maggiore and visit the towns of Stresa and Isola Bella, famous for its fountains and art. The next couple of days let you stroll past chapels and bridges on this Lago Maggiore walk, enjoy a wine tasting, see huge villas and castle ruins and take a ferry to Bellagio, “the pearl of the lake.”  There, you’ll get some cooking tips from a local chef.

On your final two days, head to Villa Melzi, one of Lake Como’s grand estates (sorry, it’s not George Clooney’s J), visit a farm known for its cheeses, milk and yogurt for a local lunch, and explore an 18^th century villa.

During your hike of the Italian lakes, you’ll get to spend your evenings at lovely villas and hotels, including the Grand Hotel des lles Borromees, the setting for part of Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms; and the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni, built in 1872 as a retreat for an aristocratic family and featuring Murano chandeliers.

Which lake do you think will be your favorite? It’s pretty difficult to choose, we have to warn you!

Call us at 800-462-2848 7 a.m.- 5 p.m. Pacific to reserve your spot on this Italy hiking tour. Departures run throughout May, June, August, September and October of 2013. Let us know if you spot George Clooney out on his yacht!

Walking tours, whether you’re hiking the Alps or walking through sunflower fields in Tuscany, are wonderful ways to get outdoors, burn some calories and experience the beauty of the world. But if your feet start to hurt or you run out of water to drink, your fun may dissipate in a hurry.

As a leader in active travel, Backroads takes guests on hundreds of walking trips every year and our Trip Leaders make sure everyone enjoys their walking trip the fullest. Here are 10 tips from our Trip Leaders to make sure you have the best walking tour:

1. Strengthen abdominal muscles before your adventure trip to prevent lower back pain.
2. Train by time, not by miles. You’ll be spending most of your day hiking on a Backroads trip. Get comfortable going slower for longer periods of time.
3. Eat and drink small amounts often.
4. Consider using a personal hydration system (such as a CamelBak); if you’ve never tried one, use it before leaving home since some people find them uncomfortable for the neck and shoulders.
5. Dress in layers: a breathable synthetic layer (never cotton, which stays wet once you’ve begun to sweat) next to your skin; a light insulating layer or vest; a windproof/waterproof layer on top. If you’re comfortable for the first 10 minutes of activity, you’re overdressed!
6. Use high-quality socks. Your feet will thank you for wrapping them in padded, insulated, breathable materials such as Capilene or Smart Wool.
7. Think about resting the leg that is not active. While hiking, this means relaxing your foot as you swing it forward to the next step.
8. When you start feeling tired or sore, change your pack position while hiking.
9. Loosen your shoe laces at the first sign of foot discomfort; feet swell after prolonged physical activity.

What are your best tips for preparing for and getting the most from a hiking tour? Be sure to browse our vast selection of hiking trips like our popular Vietnam and Cambodia Walking and Hiking Tour or our New Tuscany Cooking and Walking Tour. Call us at 800-462-2848 today with your questions or to book a hiking tour. Happy travels!

Imagine someone with the ultimate entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for the outdoors and you’ve got Tom Hale, the leader of Backroads, the No. 1 active travel company in the world.

Back in 1979, Hale, a competitive runner in high school and at the University of Oregon, was inspired in the middle of the night to start a bike touring company. That “bright idea” led him on a 5000-mile solo bike trip throughout the West to plot the beginnings of Backroads, which has become the largest active travel company in the world.

His first tour, a Death Valley bike tour, took just four people, including his mom. Today, Backroads leads some 1800 trips each year to 36 countries around the globe.

Hale’s spirit of exploring the world through the “back roads” and up close and under one’s own power resonates throughout every bike tour and walking tour we offer today.

When not planning Backroads adventure tours or traveling the world, you can usually find him exercising so he can stay as fit as all of his Trip Leaders! His regimen includes the unique sport of skate-skiing during the winter months, as well as biking, core work and the occasional hike.

You can also find Hale with his family, including wife, Liz; daughters, Avery and Georgia; and son, William. He recently celebrated his daughter’s high school graduation with a Private Trip for 40 to Czechoslovakia!

We’re glad he couldn’t sleep that night and hope you are, too! We look forward to having you experience Backroads. Just give us a call at 800-462-2848 7 a.m.-5 p.m Pacific for more information or request our 2013 catalog.

A new addition to our 2013 line-up of bike tours and hiking tours is our California Winter Fit Trip. It’s a great spring break choice, as the dates run through March and into April.

Lots of people head on vacation to relax and overindulge on food and as a result end up with some extra pounds when they return home. This healthy vacation lets you get away, take in some amazing views, enjoy top-notch cuisine – and you may not gain an ounce… you may even leave a few pounds behind!

California Winter Fit takes you to the winter playground that is northern California from the Sugar Bowl to Mount Tamalpais. Get ready to do everything from show-shoeing and cross country skiing to biking and even yoga on this California tour! But we promise it won’t seem like exercise; it’ll just seem like the trip of a lifetime.

We start at Donner Summit, which offers some fantastic skiing and snowshoeing. End your day with a downward facing dog yoga pose to stretch those hard-worked muscles. Next, we’ll head to Sonoma County and enjoy a hike in Jack London State Park followed by a wine tasting, of course. Then get ready to enjoy a meal at Michelin-starred Santé restaurant and a visit to the Sonoma Mission Inn Spa (see, you get rewarded for your hard work!).

The last three days take us to Mount Tamalpais region where we’ll start with a hike among the redwoods. We’ll also take a bike ride on one of the Bay Area’s most popular cycling loops. We’ll cap off the week with a ferry ride from Sausalito to San Francisco and enjoy a finale lunch.

Are you ready to get fit with us this winter? Call us today at 800-462-2848 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific Time to reserve your spot on this Spring Break adventure vacation.