Experiences

If you've done much traveling, you've likely encountered a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The term may spark immediate interest but what exactly does it mean? While UNESCO is best known for identifying its famous World Heritage Sites, it's an incredibly nuanced intercontinental coalition with enormous goals.

What is the Backroads Experience? It’s the feeling of your body in motion, with the wind in your face and excitement as your experience unfolds. By bike or on foot, you explore hidden corners, meet locals and immerse yourself in the life of a region while traveling in the company of our expert leaders, the best in adventure travel. Since 1979 we’ve been exploring new places, dreaming up new adventures, and we never stop searching for the best, most inspiring ways to experience the world. We invite you to come and feel alive and engaged on your next adventure.

If you've been a guest on a Backroads trip, you probably remember how bright, friendly, hard-working and extremely energetic your Trip Leaders were. Well, it's safe to say that most Backroads employees, across the board, share similar traits. So what happens when 350 of us set aside our day-to-day work and embark on a trip of our own? A veritable explosion of epic biking, hiking, laughing, bonding, eating, toasting, costumes and dancing known as the Staff Ride!

Like many first-time travelers to Ireland, I had a vision of what lay ahead as my flight cruised towards the Emerald Isle. Lush hills and the rugged coastline, sheep and their shepherds, whiskey and Guinness, the melodic Irish lilt. What I didn't yet realize was that, while the landscape and natural beauty of Ireland are majestic, it's the Irish people who make the country truly captivating. It's the Irish spirit—a magnetic, almost irresistible pull—that drives visitors to return again and again.

Starting with the Danube, Europe's second-longest river, we set out to see how Backroads-quality biking could be combined with a luxury floating hotel. We quickly realized that this is the perfect blend. The Danube is known for having the longest bike path in the world along its banks, known as the Donauradweg. But our job was to look for more than that, to find "backroads" so guests can get off the well-ridden path and really get to know the region via bicycle.

The other day a guest asked me how we're able to hire such amazing leaders with such consistently exemplary values. He then asked whether we specifically recruited for values, which prompted me to review the criteria we use to screen leaders.

One warm and lazy afternoon, I found myself meandering about the twisted and narrow pedestrian streets of downtown Seville. As I made my way back toward the main square, I spotted a tiny nun (almost a full head shorter than myself), nearly doubled over with what looked to be an incredibly heavy picnic basket, disappear into a small doorway. Surprised—and more than a little intrigued—I followed in the nun's laborious path to sneak a peak around the door she had left ajar.

I'm flying down the hill at 50 miles an hour. Trees blow past me as I rapidly descend in elevation. Suddenly, smack in the middle of the road, I see two grizzly bears. I slam on the brakes, skidding sideways on my road bike. Somehow, I maintain control and stop, a mere 20 paces away from the two grizzlies. Startled, one runs to the side of the road, but the other holds his ground.