Arthur
Frommer's Travel Budget. December 2002
Spain in the saddle
Iberian bike tours from a low $875 self-guided, or just $925 with
a guide
By Reid Bramblett
ARTHUR FROMMER'S BUDGET TRAVEL
Dec. 13 Picture pedaling a bike along a sun-dappled lane, the
wind in your hair, gazing leisurely out across a lush Spanish
countryside peppered with medieval villages, glowering castles,
gaily painted Romanesque chapels, ancient Roman and Greek remains,
and noble monasteries and palaces. Imagine drinking hearty wines,
tasting succulent roast pigs, and thrilling to flamenco late into
the wee hours. Now believe you can do it all for as little as
$1,284, including airfare, all meals, lodging, the bikes, and
a guide.
CASTILLE
ON TWO WHEELS
Madrid-based Bravo Bike (www.bravobike.com) has some great deals
on several seven-day itineraries though the superior pricing doesn’t
carry over to its nine-day trips, which run about 70 percent more!
The trip prices are remarkably inclusive, covering room and (to
some degree) board, vehicle support, bike rental and equipment,
airport transfers, insurance, and a bilingual guide. Not too shabby,
considering they offer four trips that ring in at under $1,000.
Three of these are based in the Madrid Sierra, a mountainous region
just northwest of the capital city, and all include in some way
the palatial royal Renaissance monastery of El Escorial and the
ancient city of Segovia with its postcard-perfect Roman aqueduct.
Bike all the highlights of this region in four days, riding along
Roman roads, up sheep lanes, and across palace grounds. The final
three days are spent on your own touring Madrid.
The 975 ($975) El Escorial and Madrid trip bikes around all the
highlights of this region in four days, riding along Roman roads,
up sheep lanes, and across palace grounds. The final three days
are spent on your own touring Madrid. Six nights of lodging, breakfast,
and four lunches are all included.
The Royal Sites and Madrid tour 995 ($995) hits pretty much the
same stuff, but slices one day off the El Escorial/Segovia biking
portion to spend a day on a walking tour of Toledo, Spain’s
ancient capital and the adopted hometown of the marvelous Mannerist
painter El Greco, before moving onto a final few free days in
Madrid. Lodging, breakfast, and four lunches are included.
For those who want to bend their knees a bit more and work up
a good, honest sweat, there also a 925 ($925) mountain bike trip
based in the 15th century village of Zarzalejo (around the other
side of the mountain from El Escorial) which pedals up over passes,
through natural parkland, and past castles and bull farms. The
trip even includes four lunches and four dinners.
If these trips of single-day bike rides within a region doesn’t
do it for you and you yearn for a straight-through, town-to-town,
honest bike tour, you can plunk down 1,125 ($1,125) to cycle through
the same area, but in a connect-the-dot manner from Rascafria
to Segovia. The tours stay in both the famous spots (El Escorial,
Segovia) and little-heralded medieval villages along the way,
with two dinners and four lunches included. You can even do a
self-guided version of this trip on your own (you get everything
but the live guide) for 850 ($850).
Bravo also offers a coastal route along the Costa Blanca, a gorgeous
seascape of villages and towns strung along a peninsula jutting
between Alicante and Valencia, for 985 ($985), including all meals
and a room with a sea-view. You stay for the duration in the small
resort of Denia, a medieval town with ancient Greek roots, and
make morning bike rides in the surrounding area. Afternoons are
free, and there’s an optional day-long bike ride over on
the fabled party isle of Ibiza, a short ferry ride away.
All Bravo Bike tours stay in three-and four-star hotels, and the
trips leave on Mondays and return Sundays. There are still vacancies
on one or two trips each month (except popular June) for most
itinerary.
