With summer on its way, we’ll be leading hundreds of families to destinations around the world in the coming months and we thought it would be a great time to introduce you to some of our family trip leaders. They are responsible for making sure adults AND kids have fun (not an easy job!), learn a lot and have an opportunity to get an authentic view of the culture they’re visiting.

In today’s post, we’d like you to meet Rebecca Sorensen. Rebecca left her job as a film/TV production coordinator in LA to travel the world! After spending four months traveling, including biking in Thailand and biking in Italy, she decided she didn’t want travel to be a hobby but a lifestyle. Enter Backroads!

These days You can find Rebecca leading families on a variety of Backroads family bike trips and family hiking trips, including our Yosemite Multisport Tour in California. On that tour, she’ll take you rock climbing, walking through the giant sequoias, hiking past waterfalls and alpine meadows, and to a visit of the Ansel Adams Gallery. You can even enjoy a family game of bocce ball or ping pong!

Rebecca also leads the Hawaii Big Island Multisport trip where families get to walk through a rain forest, ride horses, snorkel, visit a coffee plantation and bike part of the Kona Ironman Triathlon course. Of course, we work in plenty of swimming and beach time, as well.

“I think families really bond on an active vacation, because they are out there every day experiencing new things together. There’s nothing like biking and hiking together as a family—exploring a national park, being able to smell the trees, pick up rocks and pine cones, and really appreciate the nature that surrounds you,” says Rebecca. “It’s beautiful, challenging, and in the end, it’s something you’ve accomplished together.”

Want to travel with Rebecca? Give us a call daily 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific at 800-462-2848 and we’ll answer any questions you have and get you booked!

Red or white, many of us agree there is little better than a great glass of wine. On these bike tours and hiking tours, wine takes center stage right next to the fantastic scenery. Whether you’re swirling a glass on an Italy bike tour or sipping a burgundy on a France walking tour, these 5 active tours give you the best of vino and adventure:

Piedmont Biking

Tuscany isn’t the only fantastic region of Italy! We’ve added this 6-day, 5-night Piedmont Biking tour for 2013 to showcase the beauty of this area of Italy. While you’ll enjoy plenty of biking through the Italian countryside past villages, castles and hot sulphur springs, wine is definitely front and center. You’ll pedal past beautiful vineyards and farmland day after day, stopping in Nizza Monferrato, a town known for its wine production, and Monforte d’Alba, a storybook wine village with views of the Alps. You’ll pass over “the underground cathedrals” in Canelli, which are passages underneath town that store hundreds of bottles for area wineries. Finally, explore 1,000-year-old La Morra, one of the most important Barolo wine-producing towns in Piedmont. Tours run May, June (for singles only) and September.

Alsace Biking

The Alscace region of France is another area of the world known for its wine. On our 6-day, 5-night Alsace & Black Forest Biking trip, we’ll let you see why! Ready to sip perfectly chilled Riesling after climbing the steep hills to Ribeauvillé? This tour is for you. Other highlights include stops at a charming, family-run winery, pedaling across a sea of grape vines that rises and falls gracefully against the Vosges Mountains, crossing the Rhine and delighting in Black Forest cake IN the Black Forest! Tours run May, June and September.

Dordogne & Bordeaux Biking

On this 6-day, 5-night France biking tour, you’ll see everything from prehistoric caves to modern day vineyards and wineries. Enjoy an exclusive Périgordian feast prepared by a Backroads’ friend and served in the garden, bike through the Bordeaux region, get a lesson in wine tasting from an oenologist at the Vignobles & Châteaux wine school, and visit the World Heritage site of St-Émilion. Tours run May-October.

http://www.backroads.com/trips/BDXI/dordogne-bordeaux-france-biking-tour?p=D518

Burgundy Biking

http://www.backroads.com/trips/BBUI/burgundy-france-biking-tour?p=D518

The rich flavors of Burgundy extend beyond its magnificent wine and blend into its friendly people, small villages and lovely architecture. On this 6-day, 5-night Burgundy bike tour, you’ll journey through lush forests, vast farmland, lovely lakes and quaint villages, and stop by the Vézelay World Heritage site. Enjoy delicious French gourmet cuisine paired with wines, and take a private cellar tour with a tasting of artisanal whites and reds at Maison Alex Gambal. Visit Château de La Rochepot and taste its wines and take a private, guided tour of 15th-century Hospices de Beaune. Tours run May, June, August and September.

Wine Country Biking

http://www.backroads.com/trips/BWCI/california-wine-country-biking-tour?p=D518

You don’t have to travel overseas to enjoy world-famous wines. Right here in the USA, California produces its share. On our Wine Country Biking tour, you’ll visit several famous valleys and vineyards in Sonoma, Carneros and Napa. Enjoy plenty of wine tastings interspersed with biking among northern California’s beautiful rolling hills. You’ll also enjoy a stop at the famed redwoods. Tours to wine country run 6 days and 5 nights March-December.

Do you love to combine travel with wine? Let Backroads plan your bike trip for you, handling all the details from meals to hotels to tours so all you have to do is sip and bike! Call us 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific daily at 800-462-2848 to get started.

With much of the country covered in snow or experiencing freezing temperatures, dreaming of summer sure sounds good! Now is the perfect time to begin planning your summer vacation and we can’t think of a better vacation than a guided biking trip with Backroads to some of the most amazing locations around the world.

As you begin to map out your plans for summer, we present 5 Fun Biking Tour Destinations to tempt your travel taste buds:

Tuscany, Italy Biking Tour – All we have to do is say the word “Tuscany” and most people are ready to pack their bags. Fields of sunflowers, rolling hills, cypress and olive trees, Tuscan red farmhouses…it’s a winter daydream’s perfection. Backroads offers this popular Tuscany biking tour throughout April through October, so select a date that works best for you. Plan to sample cheese and olive oil, and pedal past medieval structures, Renaissance architecture and charming hilltop towns. You might want to start reading Under the Tuscan Sun right now to get your mind off snow and onto your upcoming Italy bike tour.

Spain Biking – Biking Spain is a great summer choice with its many sparkling, sunny, white-sand beaches. Our Pyreness to Costa Brava Biking Tour gives you the best of Spain starting off in vibrant Barcelona, through the Pyrenees foothills and onto Costa Brava with its Mediterranean beaches and blue seas. Stop by the Dali Museum, sample “cava” (Spain’s version of champagne), cycle past sunflower fields and tour a medieval castle. This Spain biking trip runs May-October, leaving you plenty of summer vacation choices.

Loire Valley, France Biking – Picturesque castles as far as you can see make the Loire Valley a fantastical choice for summer. With flowers and gardens in full bloom, you’ll be privy to France at its finest. On this France Biking tour, you’ll explore several castles, take a private tour of a wine cave and enjoy gourmet French cuisine. Loire Valley Biking tours run April through October.

Wine Country Biking – Anytime is a good time to visit Wine Country, but summer brings with it a special charm. The rolling hills are lush and verdant in early summer, making it not just a trip for the taste buds but a feast for the eyes. Our Wine Country Biking tour takes you through five valleys of world-famous vineyards, including Sonoma and Napa. Enjoy a stop at Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve and a bike through beautiful Bodega Bay. Tour the wine country by bike March through December.

U.S. National Parks Tours – No need to stray further than the U.S. of A. for an adventure-filled summer vacation. Backroads offers bike tours through National Parks, like Yellowstone, Acadia, Grand Teton and Death Valley. Choose from a family bike tour, a singles tour or a traditional bike tour of some of America’s most beautiful landscapes. National Park bike tours and hiking tours run all throughout summertime.

Where are you dreaming of traveling this summer? Let us know if we can help take your gaze away from the snow outside your window and onto the bike trip you’ll be taking with us this summer. Call us 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Pacific at 800-462-2848.

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!