What does the Champagne region of France have in common with Belgium? Bubbles! The most delicious sparkling wines and beers are an imbiber’s delight. The variety and quality of each regions’ offerings will make your head spin (but in a good way). And the wines are no less interesting in Germany’s Mosel Valley – just less effervescent.
And then there’s the biking. Vineyards, canals, picturesque villages, rolling hills and river valleys provide the backdrop to your culinary discoveries...
Tour Details
Duration
13 Days/12 Nights
Location
Champagne, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany
Season
July
Tour Type
Road Touring
Nearest City
Paris/Frankfurt
Physical Condition Required
Good
Destination(s)
Across Luxembourg, Luxembourg Champagne, France Flanders/Ardennes, Belgium Rhine Valley, Germany
Distance Traveled
Varies Day to Day
Fully Guided
Yes
Guest Capacity
19
Support Vehicles
Local Rail Lines - No Sag Wagon
Bike Rentals Available
Yes
Bike Brands
Bikes are custom-built, 21-speed road tourers, designed for the biking that is done.
Accommodations
All hotels (and sleeping berths on overnight trains) are included in the cost of the trip.
Blue Marble bypasses chain hotels in favor of family-run inns: pretty in the country, central in the towns. A 17th century courtyard is preferred to an in-room TV.
Transportation to Start Site
Please Contact Blue Marble
Dining
Breakfast (continental) is included, except on overnight trains. It is generally taken at the hotel. Snore.
Most dinners are also included. You are on your own for dinner (and its expense) two nights per “trip week”.
Included dinners may be taken in a group, or you may dine on your own, or in smaller “sub-groups”, with suggestions offered by the coordinator. On nights when you prefer one of these latter options, funds will be distributed sufficient to permit a wide selection of restaurants.
Meals are special events, and a focus of the trips, especially in the Latin countries. Choice is never lacking. But Blue Marble pride themselves on their ability to show local cuisines, often different from anglo-American tradition. “Picky” eaters, or those with special diets which exclude food types or groups, may find this focus tiresome. And since special diets are rare in Latin Europe, hosts are surprised by them. Complex dishes may contain some food you wish to avoid, hidden as a seasoning. Chefs who take pride in their creations are not only unwilling (or unable) to remove the offending ingredient, but can be unwilling to even discuss the recipe! Fortunately, the flexibility of the meal program allows you to retreat to a pizza place if the cultural experience becomes oppressive.
About Liquor
Guides showcase regional wines and beers. Guests pay for their own drinks.
Rates
$3,495.00per personCurrency Converter (Rates shown are in US Dollars. Rates and terms are subject to change.)
Additional Rate Info
Optional Private Single Room Supplement: $525 See Blue Marble's website for Canadian and Euro prices.
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Tour Itinerary
Days 1-3: Road Biking: The Marne Valley Leave Paris via bike path, along the Canal de l'Ourcq. Through the sculpture gardens of the Cité de la Science, and out of town. Farms and woodlands start you off: this Paris exit is amazingly rural. Meaux is home to France’s “other” mustard, and to Brie cheese. Pass by the romanesque churches of forgotten Picardy villages. Château-Thierry marks the start of the vineyards. Monuments and the cemeteries of World War 1 battlefields lend the weight of history (and a note of sobriety) to the proceedings.
In Epernay, visit the Moët cellars and drool at endless Dom Perignon. Mercier’s underground railway carries you through miles of millésimes.
Days 3-5: Road Biking: The Montagne de Reims Now you'll explore Champagne’s most famous vineyards. The bikes take you through the sleepy Champagne towns on the sides of the Montagne. Visit local farms to sample their delightful “produce”. Or climb to the top of the hill (a state park), and admire bizarre trees and lovely views.
Reims is home for two nights, itself home to a dramatic cathedral, witness to the coronation of a dozen French kings. Also to the cellars of most of the other bubblies you’ve heard of. Nights of fun, perhaps including a son et lumière on the facade of the cathedral.
Days 6-8: Road Biking: Belgian Flanders Meet in beautiful Brugge, Belgium’s “Venice of the North”. Cycle through farms and out to the ocean. Then spend the evening sipping red Flanders ales in cheery pubs, popping the famous local chocolates, or cruising the flower-bedecked canals.
Canals are again the theme for the next ride. Past the windmills which once drained the undersea polders, and along tow-paths lined with massive trees planted by King Leopold. Stop for a coffee at a café by a lock, or sip a fruit beer in front of an impressive brick town hall. Night in stately Ghent: Brugge without the crowds.
Days 9-11: Road Biking: The Ardennes (Belgium * Luxembourg) A train carries you to Rochefort, in the Ardennes, whose trappist abbey brews Belgium’s greatest beer. Visit the Grottes de Han, underground caverns so massive that you go in by streetcar and come out by boat. Battle of the Bulge battle sites abound. Stop by Houffalize, where gnomes run a brewery, using the piney Ardennes spring water. Or at least you think they are gnomes if you drink enough of the beer.
Cross Luxembourg in a day, through the Valley of the Seven Châteaux. One is a ruin that used to belong to local notable Atilla the Hun. No one discounted Luxembourg when he was running the show!
Days 11-13: Road Biking: The Mosel Valley (Germany) Reach Germany on Thursday, for two nights on the banks of the Mosel. Trier proudly proclaims itself Europe’s oldest city, based on its Roman past (but in that case, how could it pre-date Rome?). Delicious riesling wines compliment Germany’s most interesting cuisine.
Down the valley. Vineyards cover every inch of arable land, and much that looks like it isn’t. Pedal through the wine towns of Neumagen, Bernkastel and Traben-Trarbach. Bernkastel’s tiny “Doktor” vineyard, the valley’s most prestigious, was so named because of the good it did you to drink its wine. It still does. Saturday afternoon sees you on the banks of the Rhine.
COMPLIMENTARY VISITOR GUIDES
Click on any visitor guide below to request a free copy.
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