Italy Tuscany Road Cycling Tour 2019 Individual Self-guided 8 days / 7 nights Sport activity combined with overnights in culture and art cities like Volterra, San Gimignano and Siena. Enjoying the wines and the tasty Tuscan cooking will make your Tuscany bike tour just unforgettable! You will experience all sides of Tuscany s wonderful landscape, cycling in the hilly Volterra area and to the Mediterranean sea, through the Chianti region, where the Chianti Classico comes from, and to the wonderful Crete, in the south of Siena. The Tuscany s hilly landscape is the perfect place to begin or end a cycling season. The temperatures are perfect to cycle all the year round, so that many professional teams (i.e. T-Mobile Team) are already here in February to prepare them for the cycling season, following up the nice climate and the hilly land. On this round tour you can choose between two routes from about 70 km up to about 115 km everyday. The difference in altitude will be from 7,100 meters up to 8,500 meters. You will move from one place to the next every second day. It makes it possible to experience every city more intensively with its surrounding, and furthermore, you don t have to pack every day. Thanks to the well planned route description and to further signposting on the route, it will be a real pleasure to cycle on the tour.
Itinerary Day to Day Day 1: Individual arrival at Montecatini Terme Tour information provided and detailed tour briefing at the hotel. The arrival place: Montecatini Terme. Montecatini Terme is one of the most important spring towns in Italy. Many important people, like Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi, used to spend their time in the little town to enjoy the curative properties of the ancient famous water. In Montecatini it is possible to visit the gorgeous Terme Tettuccio or to take one of the oldest funicular in Italy Funicolare (1898), visiting the old town Montecatini Alto. From there you can enjoy the wonderful view on the Val di Nievole valley and on the Apennines Mountains. The old, charming, medieval square Piazza Giusti offers you the possibility to drink a good glass of wine or to enjoy a delicious gelato, choosing the best way to end your cycling day! Day 2: Montecatini Terme roundtrip tour 70 km + 600 m or 80 km + 800 m From the spring town Montecatini Terme, in the north of Tuscany, you cycle to the medieval city of Montecarlo, surrounded with vineyards. First you will cycle in the flat lands of the nature reserve of Padule di Fucecchio and then cycle on through the light hilly Montecarlo area with its vineyards and olive groves. The longer tours leads you to Massa and to the beginning of the Apennin mountains. Day 3: Montecatini Terme - Volterra 90 km + 1,300 m or 110 km + 1,600 m The stage leads you today through nature reserves and wooded countries, passing the Arnovalley, little medieval towns and cycling on to the south. Enjoying the typical Tuscan landscape, you reach your destination of Volterra (531meters). Stage destination: Volterra The city of alabaster. The medieval city of Volterra is very famous for its art handicraft from alabaster. The city discloses the Tuscan history from the Etruscan, through the Romans to the late middle ages and the Renaissance. The city is situated on the back of a mountain right in the middle of the Tuscan landscape. Thanks to its impressive position, depending on the weather, you can enjoy a wonderful view from the Apuan Alps to the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Day 4: Volterra Marina di Cecina (Mediterranean Sea) - Volterra 90 km + 1,400 m or 105 km + 1,400 m Enjoying the wonderful view, you cycle from Volterra through the Cecina valley to the Etruscan Coast Costa degli Etruschi. The beach and the blue Mediterranean Sea in Marina di Cecina will welcome you after the efforts of this first part of the tour! Day 5: Volterra - Siena 80 km + 1,200 m or 95 km + 1,500 m The stage today leads you at first to the city of the Gender Towers San Gimignano. The so called Manhattan of Tuscany is a little medieval town, which invites you to stay here for a longer time. On the second part of the stage you cycle through the vineyards of Colli Senesi, passing by the castle of Monteriggioni to your destination of Siena. Stage destination: Siena The city of the Gothic Siena is a UNESCO World Heritage site and just few cities could preserve their medieval aspect as intact as Siena. The Gothic cathedral "Santa Maria is just one of the many sights that Siena offers. You can appreciate its magnificent facade and admire the paintings inside that make it the richest Church of the Christianity. In the middle of the city alleys one of the greatest Italian medieval Squares, the Piazza del Campo, opens out, like a theatre. The famous horserace Palio takes place in this square twice a year.
Day 6: Siena - Asciano - Siena 90 km + 1,400 m or 110 km + 1,700 m You cycle to the south of Siena, discovering the bizarre landscape of the Crete. On lonesome asphalt roads and enjoying the wonderful view, you cycle through Asciano to the wooded country Montagnola. On the last miles you can already see your destination Siena, the city of Palio. Day 7: Siena Montecatini Terme 110 km + 1,200 m or 120 km + 1,450 m Wonderful tour passing the wine region of Chianti Classico which is like a great garden of wine mountains, forest, cypress and olive groves. In the afternoon you will stop in the village birth village of Leonardo da Vinci and go on to the wine region of Montalbano and back to Montecatini Terme. Day 8: Departure or extension of your stay
Daily Elevations: Day 2: Day 3: Day 4: Day 5:
Day 6: Day 7:
Route Technical Characteristics: Route Profile: Difficult. Every cyclist with good ground condition can cycle the tour quite well. Tuscany has a typical hilly landscape and therefore, apart from some longer climbs and more level ground districts, the tour profile is characterized by a continuous up and down. The routes are on mostly good asphalt roads, far from causeways. You may happen to encounter more traffic when entering or leaving a city. Distance: 480-610 km Travel Season: Departures Friday and Saturday from March 15 to October 26, 2019 Please note that it can be very hot in July and August
Price per Person: Double Occupancy March 13 June 29 and September 20 October 26 820.00 Single Occupancy March 13 June 29 and September 20 October 26 1075.00 Double Occupancy July 5 September 14 795.00 Single Occupancy July 5 September 14 1035.00 Single Traveler 175.00 Supplement Half Board 7 x half board (1 time outside hotel) 225.00 Road Bike Rental Carbon Frame 225.00 Road Bike Rental Carbon Frame Extra Day 25.00 Extra Nights Montecantini Terme 3*/4* Hotel Double Occupancy 70.00 Extra Nights Montecantini Terme 3*/4* Hotel Single Occupancy 90.00 Transfer Florence to Montecatini Terme (reservation necessary, paid directly to the driver) 135.00 Transfer Pisa to Montecatini Terme (reservation necessary, paid directly to the driver) 135.00 Included: 7 x nights Hotel in 4 and 3 star hotels with breakfast Luggage transport 7 day service hotline Best elaborated route description Detailed travel documents (Route description, route or general maps, important telephone numbers) Not included: Local tax from 1 to 2 Euro per day. Some hotels will charge it others don t!
Road Bike Carbon from Formigli, Dompagnolo Bikes Assisting people in realizing their touring dreams worldwide is our passion. www.okcycletours.com THIS IS A PARTNER TOUR FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT OK Cycle & Adventure Tours Inc. 666 Kirkwood Ave - Suite B102 Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1Z 5X9 Toll Free 1-888-621-6818 Local 613-702-5350 TICO Ontario Registration No: 50022848