Package tours can cost as much as $2,000 to $4,000 per week plus airfare. You get what you pay for normally. The expensive guided tours firms will have arrangements with some nice hotels and restaurants. Your experience will be quite different depending on your choice of firms. I have listed a few other firms on my Links page. The service that these firms bring is impossible to duplicate in a self-guided tour.

Guided tour companies frequently offer bike rentals as part of their package. In truth, some of the bikes they offer are great for a person with an average build and most tour companies maintain their bikes as the tour progresses. But some companies only do a halfhearted job of bicycle maintenance if you have problems.

The redeeming feature to almost every guided tour is they offer a sag wagon (a truck or van that you can put you bike on and climb in and ride to the next overnight destination). You do not get that wonderful feature when you are all by yourself on a self-guided tour. You are the bike mechanic and the sag wagon is public transportation.

The guided tour groups we have seen on the trail don't appeal to me. The groups are too large to be easily accommodated in restaurants. There is a sense of "hurry up and wait" because of the complexities of handling large groups. Personally, I am too impatient to be handled like a herd of school children.

Recently, several firms have begun offering self guided tours with luggage transfer and advance room reservations. That is a pretty good alternative; assuming that the tour goes where you want to go. There are other good firms and you can find them on the Internet or through travel agencies. One such firm is Rückenwind Reisen, a bicycle vacation group that offers their services to German speaking tourists. I love their name, it translates to tailwind travel. Their prices vary but generally, they charge €50-€70 per day for a room with double occupancy (the cost for two people to spend one night), €10 per rental bike, breakfast is usually included. That is about what we spend on rooms too. On one of our tours, we met a small group of bikers who all had baseball hats and inexpensive panniers advertising Rückenwind Reisen. They were very happy with the level of service.

I like to pick my own tour. There are over 25,000 miles signed bike paths in Germany, most of which are away from heavily traveled roads. One needs only to pick a route, buy a guidebook, point your front wheel, and pedal. It is almost that simple. If you choose a self-guided tour, you decide where you will stay and how much you spend. Hey! Not all bad. I like the freedom and the adventure. The only downside, you don’t get free hats and panniers.

One of my travel heroes is Rick Steves. He writes several travel books about Europe, the most famous is Europe Through the Back Door. Rick advises you to get away from the expensive, sheltered, and all-provided-for-tours and mingle with the locals. The less you spend, the more you will get in touch with the people of Europe and the more memorable will be your vacation. I whole-heartedly agree. I do not want to take anything away from the hard-working people who provide guided tours because they definitely provide a valuable service. I only want to suggest that you do it your self. In doing so, you will save money and have a wonderful experience that you will talk about for years.

Revised: March 30, 2008