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!

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!

Backroads’ new Italy biking trip through the Dolomites combines some of the best Italian views with some of the best Italian food – a winning combination. You’ll spend your days biking through Northern Italy and your evenings relaxing at premiere inns and dining on Michelin-starred dinners. This six-day, five-night biking tour begins in Bolzano, Italy and ends in Venice.

It’s perfect for avid cyclists who get goose bumps just thinking about conquering tough mountain climbs. Over the course of the tour, you’ll tame 14 alpine passes in six days. Of course, you’ll get your share of glorious descents with sweeping views as a reward!

The Sella Ronda loop is possibly one of the most spectacular rides you’ll ever experience with four mountain passes and grades of nearly 7 percent. You’ll also get the excitement of 30 hairpin turns along the Passo Pordoi. There’s also the legendary Passo Giau, serving up an average grade of 9 percent over 6 miles! Are you short of breath just reading about it? J

Take your reward in the evening with plentiful Italian food and drink, including the cuisine at La Stüa de Michil and Michelin-starred Tivoli, as well as superb regional vintages. Don’t worry, you’ll burn off all those calories on this trip, for sure, so enjoy!

The lodging for this trip is exceptional: Hotel Goldner Adler in Bressanone is a 500-year-old hotel with an amazing rooftop terrace that provides views of this historic region. Hotel La Perla is a chalet that offers views of the Dolomites, a Michelin-starred restaurant, and, oh yes, one of Italy’s best wine cellars. Hotel de la Poste, as its name suggests, was once a former inn for mail coaches and has been around since 1835.

So start getting in cycling shape and get ready to tame some of the highest climbs you can dream of! See you in the Dolomites!