Mountain Bike Holidays in Switzerland, France, Italy and worldwide bicycle tours.

Are you looking for relaxed way to enjoy nature with your whole family? Are you looking to experience other countries in a more closer way than traveling by car or bus? Or do you need a balance to your daily threatmill and you are in search for an exhausting mountain bike track? All this, and a lot more can you find here at Mountain Bike Holidays.

We strive to provide you with an extensive choice of individual bicycle adventures, from short family friendly bicycle trips away from the dangers of heavy travelled roads along rivers and in natural parks, over extreme mountain bike tours in the Alps to a worldwide selection of mountain bike holidays offered by professional operators and destinations. All bicycle routes are tested and provided by our members.

Since the 90's mountain bicycle holidays and bicycle tourism has been booming. In Germany alone, 30 million people take their bicycles on holiday. Hardly any other form of travel offers the same feeling of freedom, it is slow enough to take in smells, colours and wind with all our senses, and fast enough to cover long distances on our own and be far away from civilisation.

Cycling today is independent of age, status and geography. The offers range from road cycling holidays for over 55 year-olds in Italy to cycling tours through the Himalayas to easy eBike tours along rivers, from cycling tours in the suburbs to barren bike rides in the desert to luxury bike resorts.

The cycling world has become huge and small at the same time. And that's good. What connects us, are the experiences and stories - and it is the unpredictable experiences we have, despite meticulous preparation, that remain embedded in our minds for a long time. Time and again we seek the experience of gliding through nature, the adventure, enhanced by the perfect combination of culture, scenery, food and activity.

On Bike Holidays, we want to give you an understanding of the global cycling world, from simple to extraordinary routes, and highlight breathtaking and beautiful landscapes from near and far.

No matter what you call it, whether mountain bicycle holidays, cycling tours or cycling experience: Cycling is always an exciting and relaxing way of spending your holidays. Often, all you need is a cycling weekend to change your life completely, some choose to cycle around the world, but all return, enriched by new experience, to everyday life.

It is easy for families to organise cycling holidays or cycling tours with children. However, there are a few things to consider. Cycling holidays with children require some special considerations in planning and implementation.

Ideally, you test the travel fitness of your family on a small weekend trip. You should test the gear and the distances that you can travel together as a family. This will also show you if your children really enjoy cycling. Naturally, good equipment for the children, helmets and warm, waterproof clothing is essential.

Cycling holidays with the family have the same great effect you get in a group of mountaineers: The joint missions and shared experiences in good and bad times weld together and help to keep up the team spirit, provided we show respect for each other.

Road cycling has a particular fascination. What is different from other types of cycling? Nowhere is the thrill of speed greater than on a road bike cycling down a pass. A speed of 80 to 90 km/h is easily reached. Everything appears smooth, road bikes are delicate, designed for elegance and high speed. We fly on silky tyres, over hot roads. The goal is to harmonise body, bike and mind. Challenge, but not excessive demand. If we sweep along with harmonious round cadence, we can feel the flow and we become one with the landscape.

Hardly any other outdoor sport reflects the spirit of our times as well as mountain biking, a mixture of high tech, nature and lifestyle, exercised by managers and dropouts alike. It all started small and crazy. Let’s leave the Swiss Army and their suspension bikes from the 1940’s aside... In 1973, the Californians Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze and Charles Kelly had the idea of using well-sprung heavy Schwinn bikes with balloon tyres to race down the mountains instead of climbing up. The media took it up enthusiastically and in the early 80’s, the first mountain bikes went into mass-production after a lot of technical refinements during the pioneer days. Shimano, Specialized, Cannondale and Trek were among the first producers. This started the global success story of the adventure of mountain bicycle holidays.

Bicycle touring, long distance cycling, mixed-terrain bicycle touring or expedition touring (bicycle trekking) are different types of cycling, nevertheless they represent the original form of cycling tourism, i.e., cycling without a specific purpose where movement is the purpose in itself.

Neither the feeling of speed, strength, stamina or daunting mountain climbs are the challenge but the pure enjoyment of mobility, a nomadic life on two wheels. Surely, we look for beautiful landscapes that enhance the cycling experience, but often we also seek the feeling of simplicity, and want to be close to nature as the French philosopher Rousseau said.