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Active Travel Trends for 2025

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10 Best Europe Vacation Tours for Families

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An Unlikely Journey

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Nine Trips, Four Nations, One Kingdom: Which UK Adventure Fits You?

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Welcome to The BackBeat!

Your go-to guide for epic adventures. Dive into tales from the road and trail, straight from our expert Trip Leaders, and get the inside scoop on planning your next escape. From pro tips and a peek behind the scenes to bucket-list destinations and unforgettable travel stories, inspiration is here.

Pacific Northwest Train Tracks and Bridge - Licensed through Shutterstock
October 4, 2016

Upward and Onward: The Pacific Northwest by Train

After spending four years living abroad, I came home wanting to rediscover the American West with a new fervor and appreciation. Somewhere along the way, I heard you could take a train from the San Francisco Bay Area to Seattle: an overnight, day-long, 22-hour journey past mountains, woodlands, lakes, rivers, cities and small towns.

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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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Moose
September 12, 2016

Moose Tracks

I saw a moose. It was the best day of my life. Where did I see the moose, you may ask? We were on a Backroads family trip!

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The Family Wedding Chest
August 31, 2016

Norway Family Chest

One of the reasons I joined Backroads as a Trip Leader a decade ago was because it was one of the only active travel companies that had trips in Norway. Growing up, my father always loved studying our family genealogy and especially our Norwegian roots. He and my mother had visited Norway in search of family roots on their European travels back in the 1970s, when they were first married. So Norway was an obvious choice for a family trip abroad, back in 1998. On that trip we followed the family tree down to the roots but could only find the small valley our family had come from. Nothing much came from the trip other than a deep feeling of connection for myself and a little more context for our family heritage.

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Rhine River
August 26, 2016

Rhine River Cruise Bike Tour Video

This unique Rhine River Cruise bike tour combines the comforts of luxury cruising with the total immersion of active travel. And thanks to Backroads Regional Coordinator Michael Bernhard, who grew up exploring his native Germany on two wheels, it's a journey shaped by an insider's perspective: our flexible routes take you well beyond the typical tourist paths, deep into the rich culture and natural beauty of the Rhine Valley.

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Douro River Rabelo boat shipping wine / licence: Shutterstock
August 23, 2016

Rabelos and Wine on Portugal's Douro River

When I first visited Porto on a backpacking trip nearly 20 years ago, my primary interest was to explore the charming neighborhood bars of the Ribeira quarter, enjoy some fado music and savor Porto's namesake wine. Over the years, my returns to this captivating city have matured and each visit has allowed me to uncover another surprising layer of this World Heritage city situated on both the Atlantic and the Douro River. While I originally regarded the Douro as just an ordinary river, I've since come to appreciate its significance for the soul of Porto and as a transport conduit for an entire region. Instrumental in moving goods and people up and down the river were the rabelo boats, a type of cargo boat unique to this river.

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Iceland
August 21, 2016

Iceland Multi-Adventure Tour Video

We know how to say eyjafjallajökull! This action-packed Iceland Multisport Adventure - which begins with a private charter flight to get you quickly to the trailhead - is backed by our deep local knowledge and the strong relationships we've built with the country's best hotels and restaurants. In the land of fire and ice, experience the full diversity of Iceland's wild landscape while Backroads takes care of the rest.

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Prague Castle - licensed through shutterstock
July 22, 2016

24 Hours in Prague

"Praha" is Czech for "threshold": a reference to medieval trade taxes, but in many ways still an apt name today. My favorite city in Europe sits on the threshold between East and West, past and future.

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Tuscany Biking
July 7, 2016

Tuscany Bike Tour Video

Ride, relax and savor every drop of this vintage Backroads experience, one of our most popular trips for decades. Our perfectly planned routes and legendary on-trip support free you to focus on enjoying your rides through stunning Tuscan landscapes, following cypress-lined roads as they wind among sunbaked hilltop villas. No other biking company covers as much of Tuscany as we do. But just as importantly, we've figured out how to ensure the experience is captivating, not grueling - with three leaders and two vans always there to back you up.

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Yellowstone National Park Entry Sign
July 1, 2016

Best National Park Adventures

The National Park Service was established to preserve these incredible scenes—and many others—in nature and history that otherwise would likely have had a finite existence in America. There are currently only 58 national parks but a total of 409 protected areas that cover more than 84 million acres in the United States and its territories. One of the most important things we can do to help protect these areas is to visit them and to share our experiences with others. We’re happy to celebrate 100 years of the National Park Service and hope to honor many more in the future.

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