Activities

Canyonlands Vista
June 12, 2018

Hiking in Utah's Desert: Discovering its Subtle Beauty

The high desert is one of those places always worth visiting, particularly in the spring. Seemingly barren at first glance, it's the small springtime pops of paintbrush red, prickly pear pink, penstemon magenta and cliffrose white that draw our attention. These blossoms help us understand that the desert is not just a giant sandbox, but rather a colorful landscape teeming with life.

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Backroads Leader biking in Tuscany
June 8, 2018

Tuscany's Best Cycling Routes

Working as a Backroads Trip Leader in Tuscany certainly has its perks. Besides the great food and wine, there is a fabulous cycling culture supported by an excellent infrastructure of well-paved and well-marked roads. Over the years I've created a list of my favorite rides in the region, some featured on our Backroads trips and others a combination of local favorites. Here are my top five bike rides that showcase the best of the heart of Tuscany, the idyllic region between Florence, Arezzo and Siena.

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Hikers at Ten Peaks
May 3, 2018

Best Five Hikes in Banff National Park, Canada

Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada is a hiker's paradise. Backroads offers spectacular hiking trips there—walking and hiking through Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks or taking it to the next level and hiking by helicopter! If you'd rather explore the park on your own, here are our top five, not-to-be-missed hikes in Banff. So let's tie up our boots and get going!

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Heather on Skyline Trail Jasper
February 1, 2018

Top 5 Hikes in Jasper National Park

You've probably heard of Banff, Canada. But do you know about the other park that flanks its northwestern border? Jasper National Park is known as much for its beauty as it is for how you get there: by way of the Icefields Parkway, a world-class journey that you'll never forget. And the hikes along the way are simply unparalleled. You'll experience some of them if you come along for the ride with Backroads, or you can tap into the park's majesty on your own with a few of our favorite Jasper hikes—we’re sharing our top five!

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Safari South Africa
January 25, 2018

Africa's Wildlife: The Big Five

Game hunters in Africa originally coined the phrase "Big Five" to describe the five animals deemed hardest and most dangerous to hunt on foot: the elephant, lion, rhinoceros, leopard and buffalo. Because of their size, aggression, intelligence and speed, these animals were trophies that came with significant risk, and were therefore prized above all others. Safari operators now use that same phrase to describe the animals they know their clients hope to "shoot" with their cameras.

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Backroads Leaders enjoying time off in Sapa, Vietnam
December 8, 2017

Hiking in Sapa, Vietnam - A World Apart

Chi: Our fearless guide. Four-foot-ten on a good day, eighty pounds, twenty-seven years old, mother of two. She's a Sapa trekking guide and woman extraordinaire. She's honest, fiery, fierce and tells it to you straight. Her hair is long and without a kink, falling to her hips even when pulled back. She carries a purple umbrella, protecting her skin from the strong sun.

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EuroVelo Rhine River Signs
September 19, 2017

Rhine River Cruise Biking: Europe's Easygoing Bike Paths

As I pedaled along the riverside bike path on a clear and sunny day, I couldn’t let go of the feeling that something about this riding just felt different. I was leading our Rhine River Cruise biking trip last summer and the thought kept dancing in the corner of my mind, ever-present as the smile that wouldn’t leave my face. Finally, it dawned on me.

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September 14, 2017

Women of Tuscany's L'Eroica Vintage Bike Race

It isn’t just cool that we’re a group of chicks on bikes, it’s phenomenal that we’re a team of women riding vintage bicycles in a historically male-dominated Tuscan race. We’re five Backroads Trip Leaders who have each led trips in Tuscany, and we’ve been planning to partake in the famed L’Eroica vintage bicycling race together for almost a year. This is my second experience racing L’Eroica in Tuscany, and this time I feel like I belong.

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Copenhagen, Denmark bicycle sign
December 19, 2016

On a Winter's Day in Copenhagen

It's the second winter that I'm spending in Copenhagen, the city that also happens to be the destination of Backroads' Stockholm to Copenhagen cycling voyage. Up here in the North, the winter days are short, sunrise is late and counting the hours to sunset does not require all fingers of both hands. Sometimes it seems as if the cold is not only freezing the lakes and ponds in the countless parks and city gardens, but it is also freezing time. The hands of the watch slow their pace, as if they want to save energy for the long awaited summer, when suddenly music festivals, foodie fairs and street galleries pop up at every corner as if they were tulips and Copenhagen was not a city, but a large, fertile field. While summer is the perfect time to explore Copenhagen's art and food scene, the slow winter is well-suited to chat up the locals and engage in some philosophizing, especially when a few sun rays manage to break through the cloudy sky.

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Backroads Slovenia Lake Bled
September 22, 2016

Biking Undiscovered Slovenia

Twenty years ago, I found myself in Slovenia for the first time. I had never heard of it; to me, it was just a rumor, a whisper of adventure, a place where few were aiming their sights. "You've gotta check it out, man. No one even knows it's there." So, with very little thought and absolutely no plans, my friends and I grabbed our bags and set out for the station.

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