In this series of blog posts, we thought we’d tackle some of the most common questions we hear from guests who are considering taking a Backroads active bike tour or walking tour.

Many of our guests worry and wonder if they will be in the right physical condition to enjoy a bike trip or walking trip. So we’ll answer this common question: What kind of shape do I need to be in for the best bike tour or best walking tour experience?

We’ve got good news! Backroads’ active trips are designed for all levels of fitness. There are some trips that are more challenging than others, however, so be sure to check the Activity Level of the trip on our website or ask our Backroads’ Trip Consultants when you call.

We categorize bike trips and hiking trips from levels 1-5. A level 1 activity level on any given leg or day means an average time of 2-3 hours, 10-20 miles on a road bike, 10-15 miles on a mountain bike or 2-5 miles walking or hiking. Contrast that with a level 5 activity level which means 5-7+ hours, 56-75+ miles on a road bike, 31+ miles on a mountain bike or 11-13 miles walking or hiking.

Also, keep in mind that our Trip Leaders are often able to customize a trip for guests. So if you’d prefer to get in more activity, they may be able to provide you with a longer route. Or if you’re more tired than you expected after a leg, hop on one of our two support vans that accompany most trips and head back to the hotel for a rest.

To prepare for a Backroads trip, we recommend following an exercise regimen to improve your fitness and enhance your experience prior to your trip. Try working up to biking or hiking the distances you’ll be covering on your trip. We also recommend cross training, which combines different aerobic activities with weight training and stretching exercises. This is the exercise of choice for many of our Trip Leaders. The better conditioned you are, the more fun you’ll have!

Got questions? Our Trip Planners are happy to answer them 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific time at 800-462-2848.

Part of what makes Backroads so special is our emphasis on introducing our guests to the local culture of the region where they’re traveling. We often employ local guides who live in the area to give you an authentic look at what it’s like to live there and our Trip Leaders are also incredibly knowledgeable about the areas where they travel.

From the design of the trip to our Trip Leaders, we’ll guide you along the way to explore the local culture, but here are a few tips in advance to help you get the most out of your active trip.

• Stop – You are on a bike tour or walking tour, after all, so you have the option to stop and take in the world around you. Hop off the bike and browse the local food market or walk into a café and strike up a conversation. You’ll be amazed at the rich interactions you’ll remember for years to come.
• Know Your No-No’s – Following the proper etiquette in other countries can be an important way to demonstrate respect for another culture and increase the likelihood of engaging interactions.  For specific regional customs, ask your Trip Planner before you leave or check with your culturally-savvy Trip Leader as to the correct “do’s” and “don’ts.”
• Be Chatty – Learn a few basic phrases and practice them with the locals. Don’t be shy. Ask questions and share your excitement and you’ll be surprised by the enthusiastic response! Check with your Trip Planner for a list of commonly used words and phrases.
• Get Educated – Read up on the region before you get there. Backroads provides a list of travel-inspiring books for recommended reading for each of our bike trips and hiking trips.
• Take a Picture – Photographing new places is one of travel’s most rewarding gifts. Be sensitive when shooting local peoples and religious or ceremonial sites by asking permission first. Show your appreciation by thanking them. You could also ask for their name and address and sending them a copy of the photograph.

What tips do you have for immersing yourself in the local culture? How did you strike up a conversation with a local on an active vacation? We’d love to hear!

For more advice on how to enhance your cultural experience before you depart, check with our Trip Planners 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific daily at 800-462-2848.

We think food and active travel go perfectly together. For one, you can burn off most of the calories you consume dining on delicious local cuisine and two, there’s no better way to experience the true flavor of a region than through its local fare.

Backroads offers several hiking tours and biking tours that have a big food focus whether it’s taking a cooking class, shopping the local market or dining with locals. Here are some of our favorite active tours for foodies:

Puglia Biking Tour

Tour the Puglia region of Italy by bike and experience all of its gastronomic delights! On our 6-day, 5-night Puglia Bike Tour, you’ll travel the Italian Adriatic Coast, which brings to mind the whitewashed coastal villages of Greece. Olive trees and fennel stretch as far as the eye can see interspersed with age-old farmhouses. You’ll sample a full-bodied primitivo and other notable vini Pugliesi, cook with local Pugliese chefs during a culinary lesson, learn how mozzarella is made and enjoy organic homemade Pugliese dishes. The Puglia Biking tour runs April-June and August-October.

Peru Walking & Hiking Tour

You may be surprised to hear that our 7-day, 6-night Peru hiking tour also has a food focus in addition to the amazing Machu Picchu ruins and active Andes activities.  Some of the culinary experiences in which you’ll indulge in Peru include sipping a pisco sour at the Cusco Museum, shopping the lively Pisac market and take a cooking class with a local Peruvian chef from Sol y Luna. Then get ready to burn all the calories you’ve consumed during two days of hiking to Machu Picchu. The Peru walking tour runs March-October, as well as some dates in December.

Tuscany Walking & Cooking Tour

New for 2013 is our Tuscany Walking and Cooking Tour. Tuscany has always been a popular destination for us and guests are always asking for recipes and techniques to recreate the mouth-watering Tuscan dishes at home, so we’ve created a Tuscany tour focused around one of everyone’s favorite highlights of the area: its glorious food! On our Tuscany cooking & walking tour, you’ll have the opportunity to cook side by side with Italian “le nonne” (grandmas),  chat up a Tuscan butcher about meats, have lunch under the grape vines, enjoy a private wine talk, sample honey made by monks at Monte Oliveto Maggiore, visit a working cheese farm and much more! The 6-day, 5-night trip runs May-July, September and October.

Did we make you hungry?! Go ahead and reserve your spot on one of these fantastic food-focused tours for 2013. You’ll come home full of culinary inspiration and stories to share with family and friends. Call us today at 800-462-2848 7 a.m.- 5 p.m. Pacific.

Here at Backroads, we believe we’re the best choice for an active vacation, be it a walking tour in Europe or a bike tour through southeast Asia. Sure, lots of active travel companies make claims about why their service is the best, but we can prove it! How? The Backroads’  Quality Index, a way to demonstrate to you the true differences that set Backroads’ active vacations apart from the rest.

In Part 1 of our Quality Index blog post, we’ll share with you 6 reasons we believe Backroads is the leader of the pack:

Never Subcontracted – We run all of our own active tours around the world, allowing us to control the quality. We never subcontract to other vendors.

Two Support Vans – On all of our bike trips, walking trips and multisport trips, we support you with two vans*. That way, if part of the group needs a break, they can head back to the hotel, while the other van supports those still walking or biking. It also allows us to provide snacks, fix bikes, etc. without sacrificing service to everyone else.

Three Trip Leaders – By sending three Trip Leaders on EVERY tour, we ensure that everyone is catered to. Our active trips have a 6:1 guest to leader ratio, and our travelers consistently score our Trip Leaders 9.7 out of 10, saying they “make all the difference.”

Local Expertise – On our international trips, we bring along local guides to pair with our Trip Leaders to give you an authentic experience of the region where you’re traveling.

The Right Bikes – Our bike fleet is the best in the active travel industry with more than 4000 expertly maintained bikes, including our custom titanium Backroads bike, our top-rated Specialized S-Works Roubaix and women’s Ruby Pro, and our Co-Motion Periscope Torpedo tandem.

Thoughtful Trip Design – We employ a team of nine trip designers, lead by our founder and CEO Tom Hale who brings three decades of experience, ensuring you truly get to see the “back roads” and the best of each area.

What is your favorite part of the Backroads experience? To experience our quality firsthand, call us today at 800-462-2848 7 a.m.- 5 p.m.  Pacific to get start selecting the perfect active tour for you.

*95% of Backroads guests travel with the support of two or more vans and three leaders. The remaining 5% are on trips with very few guests where only one van and two leaders are needed to maintain our high service standards.

Hiking Peru is a once-in-a-lifetime, bucket list experience. We’ve seen people celebrate major milestones like graduations and birthdays by gifting this amazing hiking tour. Strap on your hiking boots and get ready to turn back time hundreds of years to step inside the remains of an ancient civilization.

If you choose to check this item off your bucket list with Backroads, we think you’ve chosen wisely! We’ll handle all the details, making sure you see everything you should, that you stay in amazing lodging, ensure delicious food to refuel you for hiking and provide three Trip Leaders on every hiking trip to guide you for the ultimate trip to Peru.

On our Peru Hiking Tour, you’ll start at Cusco, once the center of the Pre-Columbian empire; journey through Puca Pucara, Q’enko, Temple of the Moon and Sacsayhuamán; and learn the meaning of an indigenous “Pago a la Tierra” ceremony from a longtime Backroads friend and local shaman. Next up, walk among the Inca salt pans’ honeycomb of pools, visit Pisac’s vibrant market and view the Pisac ruins.

Day 4 gives you a chance to meet the Peruvian locals, interacting with kids at a local school, shopping for local ceramics and taking a Peruvian cooking class with a local chef. On the last three days of your Peruvian journey, you’ll venture toward the mysterious Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas. Hike the Inca Trail to reach the Gate of the Sun and a stunning view of this ancient site. Then explore the Lost City itself with a local expert and learn more about the area’s flora and fauna from a Peruvian naturalist.

Our Peru Walking Tour is a 7-day, 6-night adventure that runs March-October and December.

One note, permits to hike the Inca Trail are extremely limited. We recommend booking a minimum of 4-6 months prior to your departure date to significantly increase your chance of securing a permit. If permits are unavailable during some seasons, you will take a train to Aguas Calientes, bus to the entrance and hike into Machu Picchu.

So don’t delay to schedule this life-changing trip! Why not go ahead and schedule your daughter’s 16th birthday trip now or plan your son’s graduation gift in plenty of time? Call us at 800-462-2848 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific daily and we’ll get you all set up!

With St. Paddy’s day only two months away, we thought it would be a great time to highlight Backroads’ Ireland biking tour and Ireland walking tour. Although we don’t travel to the Emerald Isle on St. Patrick’s Day itself, you can head there during the warmer months of June, July, August and September to see Ireland beautiful and green in all its splendor.

On our Ireland Walking & Hiking tour, Backroads’ Trip Leader Mike Murphy (could that sound any more Irish?!) will lead you on an inside tour of County Kerry, Ireland. A local, who’s been with Backroads since the early 90’s, he knows just where to take you for the best fish and chips, and, if you’re lucky, an afternoon pint.

You’ll see the Irish countryside at its finest, strolling down country roads and along coastal cliff walks. We’ll take you hiking around Caragh Lake, and be sure to hold on to your hat at Windy Gap! Then get some culture in Killarney where you can browse local boutiques and craft shops. Hear long-told stories by a local storyteller at 15^th century Ross Castle.

We’ll also take you to Killarney National Park full of lakes, mountains and gorges and through charming Kenmare with its cheerfully painted row houses. Finally, enjoy a private whiskey tasting and trek over Mount Knockagarrane where you’ll find one of the largest stone circles in County Kerry.

If you enjoy biking, try our Ireland bike tour where you can travel a bit further. Start in Moll’s Gap and the Gap of Dunloe where you’ll see emerald hills, small farms, quaint cottages and woolly sheep. Do a five-mile climb (gradually) to Caha Pass, take a ferry to Garinish Island where you’ll hear local songs and legends and ride to Ring, a waterfront hamlet where the famous Irish rebel Michael Collins was born. We’ll also make sure to work in time for a pint or two should you need to wet your whistle J.

Does a bike trip or walking trip to the land of shamrocks, moss and jade strike your fancy? Then give us a ring 7 a.m.-5 p.m. daily Pacific time to set up your guided Ireland tour.

Spring is on its way and with warm weather comes a renewed vigor to head outdoors, explore the beauty of the world and try new daring adventures. Traveling solo can be an experience of a lifetime whether you’re just looking for some “me” time or you want to meet others traveling single.

Backroads offers active vacations for singles and solos to a host of warm destinations across the world this spring that will give you just what you need to say goodbye to winter and hello to a new you! Here’s our top 5 spring singles vacations:

1)      Piedmont Biking – This is a new singles bike trip for Backroads in 2013 and we chose it because of its wonderful combination of gourmet cuisine and beautiful vistas. The Piedmont area of Italy is known for its wines, truffles, hazelnuts and cheeses, and you’ll get to sample a bit of each, as well as explore several vineyards. The Piedmont bike trip also takes you through medieval towns with ancient castles and views of the Alps. The singles tour of the Piedmont region runs June 2-7.

2)      Tuscany Biking – One of our most popular Italy bike trips is Tuscany biking. You’ll pedal through many of Tuscany’s most famous towns like Pienza, Siena and Montalcino and get plenty of opportunities to sample fine wines and nosh on delicious local cuisine – the perfect place to strike up a conversation with one of your trip mates. Get ready to cycle past cypress trees, rolling hills, olive groves and vineyards to your heart’s content! Our singles Tuscany tour runs for five nights in May, June, August and October.

3)      Andalucia Biking – Olé! On this Spain biking tour for singles, you’ll get to enjoy all the best things about the Andalucia region of Spain from flamenco dancing and fiestas with your fellow travelers to gazpacho and tapas for refueling. Can you smell the orange and lemon trees’ fragrant blossoms? You will as you cycle past sweeping vistas through ancient whitewashed villages and the beautiful cities of Sevilla and Granada. Our singles bike trip through Andalucia runs for five nights in April and November.

4)      California Wine Country Biking – Single travelers love our California Wine Country biking tour, which takes you through five valleys of world famous vineyards. Chat up others while mingling over glasses of wine after a great day on the bike. You’ll also enjoy Northern California’s famous gourmet cuisine without worry of calories since you’ll burn plenty while biking. The singles Wine Country bike tour runs 5 nights in May, September and October.

5)      Bali Biking – Go exotic on our singles bike trip through Bali and experience this tropical paradise with new friends. Ride past emerald rice terraces, lovely villages, amazing temples and giant teak trees. Explore the vibrant art scene, cycle up a volcano, snorkel the wreckage of the USS Liberty and engage in a host of adventures. Our Bali singles trip runs April, October and December for 7 nights.

Have you considered traveling solo? Get more information about Backroads’ well-known Singles-Solos program designed specifically for this great group of travelers.

Call us at 800-462-2848 7 a.m.- 5 p.m. Pacific time to book your singles vacation and get ready to have a spring you’ll never forget.

2013 has arrived and we know you like to travel as much as we do. So we’ve listed out some of our top 10 New Year’s resolutions specifically dedicated to travel. Lots of people make “travel” itself a New Year’s resolution, but we wanted to go deeper and make some suggestions of how to improve your travel experience in 2013.

Here are Backroads’ top 10 New Year’s travel resolutions:

1)      Travel somewhere you’ve never been – At Backroads we travel to hundreds of destinations around the globe, and we can help you find a bike tour or hiking tour to a place you’ve yet to discover. Instead of taking the same trip you do every year, be bold and try something new!

2)      Travel somewhere unexpected – Sure, everyone wants to take a Tuscany bike tour or a Provence walking tour, but consider traveling to a location more off the beaten path. For 2013, Backroads has introduced bike trips to Myanmar, for example, a country that has largely been closed to the modern world for many years. By biking through Myanmar, you will truly discover an “undiscovered” world untouched by tourism.

3)      Add activity to your trip – At Backroads, we believe half the fun of travel is the way you travel. Step out of the car or tour bus and hop on a bike, walk or even kayak down the river. Your travel experience will be so much richer out in the open air with some activity mixed in. You’ll even be able to enjoy all the gourmet dinners we provide without the guilt!

4)      Bring your kids along – Afraid to travel with your kids? Don’t be! We offer wonderful family adventures that will make a trip with the kids a great experience. Our family bike tours and family walking tours are designed with lots of kid-friendly activities, whether it’s a scavenger hunt, eating gelato in Sicily or fencing in the Loire Valley, that will entertain and educate not just them, but you, as well. Browse our family adventures.

5)      Try a solo trip – Traveling alone can be a life-changing experience and you can do it without worry with Backroads’ Singles + Solos travel program. We offer trips around the world designed for traveling solo. You’ll enjoy meeting other solo travelers on the trip and get plenty of time to explore the world on your own with the unparalleled service, support and guidance of the Backroads team. Browse our singles trips.

6)      Travel at a different time of year – Always take a summer vacation? Try traveling at the holidays to create once-in-a-lifetime memories. Paris in the spring? Yes, it’s lovely, but Europe in the fall can also be a wonderful time to travel. Mix it up this year!

7)      Try a new food – Backroads offers gourmet meals at many Michelin-starred restaurants and plenty of opportunities to try food local to your destination. It might be a little out of your comfort zone, but be brave and try a new food or dish. You just might be surprised at how good it tastes!

8)      Try something adventurous – Add some adventure to your travel! With Backroads, you can fence in Loire Valley, zip line in Costa Rica, hike a volcano in Hawaii and Sicily, visit ancient temples and the list goes on. No ho hum vacations for us! Make your travel exciting in 2013!

9)      Engage the locals – To really get the most out of travel, try to immerse yourself in the local culture. When you bike or hike a destination, you’re more likely to stop and have a conversation with the farmer selling produce by the road or chat with the couple next to you at the café. Make an effort to talk to the locals, ask them about the area and their favorite things to do. You’ll likely come away with a new world view.

10)   Learn a new language – It’s easier to engage the locals if you know a little bit of their language. Challenge yourself a few months before your trip to learn some key phrases in the language of the region you’ll be visiting. Not only will you feel more confident and comfortable, you may just be inspired to learn the language fluently.

Have you set any resolutions related to travel? Let us know what they are and if we can help you meet them! Give us a call 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific any day of the week if we can help you stick to those travel resolutions with a Backroads bike tour or Backroads hiking tour. Happy New Year!

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.

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!