Backroads in the News

Backroads just launched a weekend Texas Bike Tour which explores Austin’s hinterlands over a long weekend.

With pandemic worry reducing participants on Backroads’ walking, hiking and bike tours by as much as 90% this year, they are rebuilding business with family- and private-group expeditions with a variety of approaches.

Backroads is among a subset of group tour operators that forgoes double decker buses, guides with microphones and sign posts, and matching T-shirts for shared, upscale adventures in pristine settings.

Many guided travel companies remain on hold due the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are some adventure operators that are up and running domestically and even putting together new products to lure virus-wary travelers out of the house.

Backroads just rolled out an entire new category of trips called Dolce Tempo, which are more luxurious and less arduous while still being active, described by the company as “easygoing.”

Active-travel company Backroads is launching a category of trips designed for first-time adventure travelers or those seeking easier options, the company said Wednesday.

While biking and hiking and kayaking trips are at the core of popular adventure travel offerings, they are not for everyone. So Backroads, a company that has long been the leader in active travel trips, has come up with an array of softer adventures for 2021.

Backroads’ hiking trips for late summer and fall include Zion and Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, Olympic and Crater Lake national parks, as well as trails in the Oregon Cascades and around Sedona, Ariz.

The adventure travel company Backroads has also been filling up, with popular hiking and cycling trips to Oregon's Colombia River Gorge and Crater Lake, and Maine and Alaska.

Backroads named E-bikes as one the top trends of 2020 at the end of last year and before the pandemic anticipated putting 8,500 guests on them this year. "We know there are people out there, couples, for example, who can't ride together, and we want them to be able to ride together," said Backroads founder Tom Hale, a 35 year veteran of the cycling travel industry.

As travelers seek safety amid social distancing, the travel industry is adapting with outdoor trips, remote lodgings and private camps.

“These trips are so much fun,” she said. “If we can do this safely, we will. It’s outdoors in the fresh air, and I’m convinced that Backroads will do its best to keep us healthy. I have no doubt that every place we eat and stay will be clean.”

[Backroads] has had to make adjustments to their itineraries, their travel style and raise the levels of health and safety. The good news is that their trips will resume next week. I caught up with their founder and president, Tom Hale, to ask him about adventure travel in the wake of Covid-19.

As electric bicycles become more common, they’re opening new doors for many older adults who can’t ride a conventional bicycle because of injury and health conditions or who feel unsafe trying it. E-bikes are giving seniors new access to the outdoors and physical activities. Help from the electric motor requires less exertion, enabling riders to tackle hills and tough terrain and travel farther in less time.

Backroads has announced it will begin running a small selection of trips in the U.S., starting the third week of June. The tour operator anticipates that there will be a more robust offering for July and August.

When leisure travel resumes in California, the ethics and etiquette of visiting our favorite destinations will almost certainly be rewritten. Many in the industry anticipate a “new normal” of vacationing that will demand heightened patience and awareness both from visitors and locals.

I did a multi-sports Keys trip with America’s oldest and best-known active travel specialist, Backroads. I’ve traveled with the company before, and they are excellent across the board. It was awesome, great guides, great itinerary, great hotels and great support.

There’s plenty you can do yourself to get your bike ready to roll, according to Bob Greeneisen of Backroads, a global travel company specializing in biking and hiking trips. Here are some tips.

Southwest Arizona is a new addition to Backroads’ 60-plus global cycling destinations. The region’s exceptionally diverse riding, ever-changing scenery, fantastic food and rich culture tick all of the boxes for a dream itinerary.

Backroads is slowly starting to look toward post-Covid travel and just released their 2021 trip dates, as well as new protocol for post coronavirus trips. Backroads reports seeing a steady interest from guests wanting to travel in 2021, and have also changed their cancellation policy to offer even more flexibility with trip changes.

Backroads, the world’s largest active travel company, has come up with a series of conditioning tips to help travelers use their time at home to get in their best shape for future active vacations.

Debbie Finn, a 50-year-old Generation X-er, hit the milestone birthday, she marked it by hiking four to six hours a day in Portugal and Spain

Our Backroads Norway trips have been guest favorites and our new Norway’s Lofoten Islands Hiking & Trekking Tour is trending very popular in 2020.

People have been walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain for over a millennium...

This six-day cruise, which winds from Burlington, Vermont, up to Montreal, hits an endless procession of classic New England and French-Canadian highlights.