Backroads in the News
Backroads is regularly featured in local and national publications. Here are some of our favorite articles:
Backroads, an upscale tour operator with a focus on active trips, now allows travelers the option to cancel and receive a full refund of their deposit up until April 1 (or until their final payment due date, whichever comes first) in order to give guests more time to decide if travel will work for them without any financial risk. The company has also pushed back final payment due dates for all of its scheduled trips departing before July 1
The tour operator Backroads has created a division of trips somewhere between buyouts and group tours. The new Rendezvous option allows a small group — up to seven in Europe and nine in North America — to have its own support van and guide and the option to check in and out of events scheduled for the larger group.
The new Dolce Tempo trips (that's Italian for “sweet time”) from Backroads focus on what the outfitter calls “easygoing” hiking and biking itineraries in locales like Zion National Park and the Loire Valley meant to draw in travelers who might ordinarily opt for the view from the tour bus.
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] 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.