Experience with self guided tours in Europe?

[Mr. Pink]

Who is reliable? Do they save you in emergencies?

[dave thompson]

Where in Europe? We used one of the largest operators, Austria Radreisen, twice with good results. http://www.austria-radreisen.at/en/home.html I can't speak to any emergencies as we didn't experience any but they're pretty much everywhere and have been around for a long time.

[Mr. Pink]

Italy first, France second.

[endosch2]

Europe is so easy, just go you will figure it out. Use strava heatmaps and learn how to download rides to a gps.

[Mr. Pink]

Nothing wrong with hiring guides. It's a service I will pay for. Next time I go to a few of those churches, I'm hiring a guide for that, too.

[thunderworks]

Europe is so easy, just go you will figure it out. Use strava heatmaps and learn how to download rides to a gps.

I don't want to hijack this thread . . . but I'm new to Strava. What's a heatmap? Is it only a premium service?

TIA

[endosch2]

I don't want to hijack this thread . . . but I'm new to Strava. What's a heatmap? Is it only a premium service?

TIA

Google it. It shows all uploaded strava rides from all over the world so anywhere you go you can quickly look at a map and figure out popular bike routes. You can then take where you want to go and map it easily.

[bikinchris]

We used Tulip Cycling in Netherlands. First, you could have set your watch by the person who met us to drop off the bikes. The route was chosen by our interests. The GPS they let us use was great. The accommodations they booked for us were perfect.
If anyone wants to do a tour there, I suggest them.