Cycling Holidays - Where best to base for cycling day trips? France or Italy.

[LondonPapa]

Hey all,

I'm looking into cycling holidays we can do with a toddler - something different from the usual lie by the pool 24/7 or city breaks we've been doing. Ideally, I'd like it if we can be based in an area and then we can do day trips to various attractions. Everywhere I've looked up online seems to be cycling tours through France or Italy.

I quite fancy the idea of staying in a gîte with a pool and heading a different château, gardens, or fun attraction each day but no clue how to pick an area that is suitable. My partner prefers Italy but I'm unsure of the cycling infrastructure there but know France is generally quite good.

Has anyone any experience in holiday's like this?

We’ve had a lot of success in The Netherlands staying near the coast between The Hague and Amsterdam. Lots of lovely towns to visit, we cycled to a train station for Amsterdam, lovely cycle routes through the dunes to get to wide sandy beaches.

We’ve also had success in France (Brittany and Annecy). Only experience of cycling in Italy was Lake Garda. Found it very challenging. There wasn’t even a footpath along a lot of the roads and this was a busy area. I’d go for France out if France and Italy for cycling.

Majorca is also good for cycling!

We stayed at this campsite and did cycling day trips https://www.domainedelabreche.com/en/loire-by-bike/#:~:text=Le%20Domaine%20de%20la%20Brèche,region%20at%20your%20own%20pace.

Re France, if you rent somewhere to stay in or around Amboise there are lots of châteaux within striking distance including Chenonceau which is one of my favourite. Amboise itself is lovely and has its own chateau as well as Chateau du Clos Lucé which was Leonardo da Vinci's home, now a museum and has lovely parks and play areas for toddlers.

Or you could head west of Tours. Chinon is also a lovely place to stay and close to Chateau d'Ussé, inspiration for Sleeping Beauty.

Or further towards Orléans, you have Blois. Again, nice place to stay with own chateau of course. Near to Chambord which is heaving in summer.

Châteaux a plenty in all areas but depends how far you want to cycle with a toddler.