Travel Tips For Your Cycling Vacations In Italy

In this article we present common sense tips you can employ to ensure that you have a fun and safe vacation in Italy.
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
That’s an old cliche, but it’s true. When you travel to a different country you’ll come across different ways, different customs. It’s important to know a little bit about the culture before you visit, and of course there are common sense precautions you should follow where ever you travel.
Advance Planning
Do you need medications of any kind? Always bring the medication – and the appropriate documentation to prove you need it – with you. You may be able to get the same kind of medication in Italy – but then again you might not. Better to be safe than sorry.
Do you plan to do any driving? Find out if you can drive in Italy using your regular car license, or if you need to get an “international driving license.’ If you are not familiar with international road signs – learn them before you go. While driving, check out your route in advance so you have some knowledge of where you’re going before you try to get there. Know the rules of the road in Italy and what to do in case of accidents.
Make a list of the places and things you want to see before you go, and do research into them. Some events or museum exhibits are time sensitive, so you’ll want to make sure you’re going at the right time to see everything. Now that practically every museum and art gallery is online you can easily check to make sure if there’ll be an exhibit you’ll want to see, or if a gallery will be closed while you’re visiting.
Can you get along without your cellphone? You may be able to get a special card in it to make sure it will work in Italy. Ask your service provider about that. Will you be bringing a laptop computer? Make sure you have transformers so that you can plug in batteries to recharge, not only for computers but also for other electronic devices. And not only will you need a transformer but also a converter – to make sure you don’t burn out your appliance. Just because a plug fits into the socket, it does not mean the right voltage is going through it!
Site Seeing
You’re in Italy, and you’re seeing the sites. Depending on where you are, you will be in a crowd of other tourists. If you’re traveling with family or friends make sure that you have contingency plans in case you get separated. Distribute your money in such a way that if you lose a wallet you will not lose your vacation.
Be aware of the rules for each site you visit, and make sure you follow them. Not all of the sites you visit will allow you to take pictures, for example, and if you are inside buildings such as art galleries or museums you will certainly not be able to use a flash.
If you enter a church, be as quiet and respectful as possible. Even if there are famous for their architecture and open to tours, worshippers are still there and should not be disturbed. Be careful about using a camera in this instance.
Dinning Out in Italy
It’s a good idea to drink bottled water instead of the tap water, at any time of day. It will save you from any stomach unpleasantness.
There are some countries where you can go into a restaurant, order food, and get it “your way.” This is not the case in Italy. Don’t insult the chefs by making special requests to substitute or leave off an ingredient.
As you travel from country to country you’ll find that different regions have different table manners. You may look odd, for example, if you cut your spaghetti with a fork – the Italians wrap the spaghetti around a spoon and eat it that way. However, so many tourists travel in Italy with so many different customs that it won’t invite that much comment – you’ll probably just be considered a tourist. If you are traveling on business – that is the time to make sure you eat your food the way the Italians eat it.
Italians like to linger over their food. You will not be presented with a check – you’ll have to ask your server for it. Tipping is an accepted practice, and should be done in cash. Most of the dining restaurants in Italy are the sit down type with several different courses. If you want “fast food,” a pizzeria is your best bet.
You’ll enjoy your trip to Italy much more if you are familiar with the customs in advance, have plans to take care of every contingency, and know what you want to see and when you want to see it. Avanti!

Italy Cycling Holiday, Free Style!

The last frontier of the tourism is the discovery of the nature, of its landscapes, its colours, its inhabitants and their traditions.

More and more tourist operators head at the natural beauties of the territory and at the harmony that a slow holiday can offer. Sustainable tourism, eco-tourism and green tourism are new holidays market keywords.

Today we talk about a new way to travel and destinations to discover: cycle tourism. The tourism on bicycle is an increasing tendency, addressed both to the professionals of the two wheels and to the cycle amateurs, who want to spend their holiday far from the mass tourism places, from the noises and the pollution. The background of bicycle holidays is nearly always a natural park, a country side, roads and paths far from the traffic of the city.

The sound track are natural sounds, songs of the birds, noises of the forest.

In order to live extraordinary emotions and to satisfy curiosity you do not need to dream exotic and far countries, Europe is a coffer of treasures, Italy offers sea, mounts, art, history, culture and cuisine tradition, Riccione, in Emilia Romagna, on the Adriatic Coast, offers everything and much more.

The historical hospitality of these places, devoted to the hotellerie since the boom of the 60’s, is always careful to the new tourism market trends and always ready to satisfy the new requirements of its visitors. In order to give impulse to its country side and its natural reserves, Riccione has married the new formula of the cycle tourism: holidays designed around bicycle.

There are routes adapted both to the challenges of the elite runners and the amateurs. 14 hotels of Riccione are equipped to answer to every requirement: bicycle rent service, sportswear laundry, warehouse, mechanical and medical assistance, cycle route maps and special guides, sport menus. An holiday by bicycle is a good idea for all the family: you can organize easy daily excursions, with pic-nic and children in the baby-seats available for free.

Along the Road of wines and savours, you can find small farms and producers of wines, typical oils, jams, honey and typical products. You can stop and taste in order to discover the rural and gastronomic traditions of this land, rich of history and culture. Before reserving a standard travel offer, think how much special could be to move slowly in charming landscapes, cuddled by nature.

Cyclotourism, New Travelling Trend From Italy

The tourist data of the last years testify of the new must in tourism: keep in touch with nature and look for psycho-physical wellness. More and more people choose to spend their free time in the green, listening to the stillness of the open spaces searching simplicity and emotions, tied to the pleasure of senses. Among all the green tourism offers, the farm holiday, the national Parks stays and the cycle tourism proposals stand out.

More and more people need to spend their free time in a natural context and to feel in harmony with the environment around. People look for wellness, both physical and psychological. Nature, quiet, stillness and wonderful landscapes are the new travel proposal from Italy. More and more cycling lovers decide to plan their holidays with their bicycle.

This new trend, coming from Northern Europe, has already suggested some special facilities to offer to cycle-tourists; many Italian hotels, in collaboration with local tourist agencies, have been equipped just in order to satisfy this new trend’s demand. On this wave, during the last years some hotels’ group are born with the goal to put into the tourism market a specific offer aimed to this target.

In the 2000 the Group Italy Bike Hotels has been constituted. It coordinates marketing activities and promotes the initiatives of 42 hotels from ten regions of Italy.

When a cycle tourist looks for a valid travelling proposal, entrusting the Italy Bike Hotels Group, he will find some guaranteed bicycle facilities: free cycle tourism info, cycle-maps of the holiday area, cycle-guides on demand, bicycles warehouse, bicycles rental, breakfasts, lunches and snacks with menu adapted to sportsmen, medical and mechanical assistance and specialistic laundry for sportswear.

The cycle tourist can daily create its own route or choose among those studied and collected into the free cycling-map. He can also choose among six various regional tours when he prefers a moving holiday. Italy, from the Alps to the Puglia, is improving its special offers…come and discover its beauties and news!