Tuscany & Umbria (Italy) Biking Tour
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Our Italy Bicycling Adventure takes place in the heart of Italy in two fantastic provinces: Tuscany and Umbria. Incredible pastas, pizza, and bruschetta. Beautiful scenery with rolling hills and waving wheat fields. Hilltop medieval towns with winding streets and inviting shops. Country roads you share only with your bicycle. And oh - the vino!

We start our tour with three days bicycle riding in Tuscany, made even more famous by the book and movie "Under the Tuscan Sun". This part of Italy is justifiably popular. The wines are some of Italy's best - and any Italian will tell you Italian wine is the best available. The scenery is spectacular and the historic towns provide the perfect excuse to get off our bikes and do a little shopping or sample the local delicacies. Perhaps most importantly to us, Tuscany's rural roads make the bicycle the perfect vehicle for exploration.

However, Tuscany is also hilly and will be a challenge for some people to negotiate by bike. We do our best to include flat routes where possible but there is no getting around the hills.

That is one reason we combine Tuscany with Umbria. Umbria is just as beautiful as Tuscany, although less well known. In addition, it boasts the Valle di Umbria, a flat valley that makes for a perfect complement to rolling Tuscany. The short bike routes during our final four days are generally flat with an occasional climb up to a worthy hilltop town. The long routes head off to the valley's sides for more strenuous cycling. Including both Tuscany and Umbria provides us with the best of the area and suitable bicycling for all ability levels.

The cycling takes place on a combination of paved rural roads and dirt roads. Our 27-speed Cannondale rental bikes are perfect for this riding with easy enough gears to get you to the top of any hill and a strong enough frame to work both on and off pavement.

Italy is truly an amazing country with much to offer and this seven-day bicycling tour through Tuscany and Umbria offers some of the highlights of the area.

Accommodations
We start our week by staying in an "agriturismo", the Pieve a Salti, which is a converted farming operation situated on a hill in Tuscany.  While not incredibly luxurious, this three-star hotel provides clean rooms, outstanding views, and excellent food.  We then move on to the town of Piensa and the Piccolo Hotel la Valle, a new three-star hotel that looks out over the Tuscan countryside. We spend two nights in Piensa before moving to Umbria and the town of Spello. We again stay for two nights, this time at the Hotel La Bastiglia, a reconverted mill that sits on the top of the town. Every room has incredible views and this four-star hotel will make you not want to leave! Finally, we spend our last night in the town of Spoleto at the Hotel Charleston, situated right in the center of town and named after Spoleto's sister city.

For More Information
See our Italy Frequently Asked Questions page or request a detailed Trip Description by email. Also, see this list of the Towns We Visit in Italy.