Holiday Cycling Adventures

In the summer of 2012 we cycled from Rome, Italy back to our home in the Netherlands. This awesome cycling trip took us through 7 countries; Italy, Vatican City, Switserland, Liechtenstein, Germany, France and the Netherlands.

"All roads lead to Rome" is the saying, so it no surprise that on one of our cycling trips we would also visit Rome. This year was the year we wanted to visit Rome. It's a favorite cycling trip to make for a lot of Dutch holiday cyclists; cycling all the way from the Netherlands to Rome in Italy. There are many routes to be found on the internet and there are even some books written about cycling from Holland to Rome. The most well known probably is the route from Hans Reitsma. Of course we planned our own route.


We started our cycling trip in Rome and cycled back home in the Netherlands. We started our trip by cycling through Rome and visiting the Colosseum and the Vatican City. After cycling through Rome we did not follow the coast, but we decided to cycle through the beautiful Toscane country of Italy. So we cycled following the lakes (Lago di Bracciano, Lago di Vico and Lago di Bolsena) into the Toscane country towards Pisa.


The Colosseum


Cycling through Rome


Vatican City


Through Italian villages


Toscane country

At Pisa we of course visited the famous leaning tower of Pisa and after this we went straight north across the Apennine Mountains. First we crossed the Foce di Terrarossa (1141 m) and then cross the Passo Della Forbici (1574 m). This last pass leads us accross gravel roads and walking paths which made a hard and difficult but very interresting ride.


The leaning tower of Pisa


Nice roads with small tunnels


Passo Della Forbici walking path

After the Apennine Mountains we have some easier cycling crossing the planes around the Po river. At Lake Iseo (Lago d' Iseo) we reach the Italian Alps. The Lake is beautiful, but there are some scary tunnels (one of them a 1800 m long unlit tunnel) to cycle through at the north east side of the lake. The pass we take in the Italian Alps is the Passo dell Aprica (1176 m). We cross the border into Switzerland at Tirano.


Climbing...

In Switzerland we can immediately start our climb accross the Bernina Pass (2328 m). The first few kilometers were ok, the last 17 km till the pass were pretty steep. after crossing this pass, the next pass we cross is the Albula Pass (2312 m). We cycle to Chur and then follow the national cycling route 2 (the Rhein route). This takes us away from the busy roads and leads us accross some very nice quiet roads and through some vineyards. Riding on top of the dike along the river Rhein we reach Liechtenstein. We cycle some kilometers through Liechtenstein along the river Rhein. We then follow the Bodensee cycle route which takes us along the southern edge of the Bodensee towards Germany. We cross the border into Germany at Kreuzlingen, Konstanz.


The Bernina Pass


Climbing the Albula Pass


The Albula Pass


The Rhein cycling route


The Liechtenstein/Switzerland border


The Liechtenstein/Switzerland border

In Germany we leave the river Rhein and the Bodensee and cycle into the Schwarzwald (black forest) region. There we have a nice climb to the Hegaublick (864 m) where we have a nice back towards the Bodensee. From Schiltach we follow the Kinzigtal cycling route to Rheinmünster where we reach the river Rhein again. We follow this river northwarts (for a part through France). At Speyer we leave the river Rhein and cycle a straight line towards Bingen where we pick up the Rhein cycling route again. Here this route takes us along the route through a beautiful Rhein valley. We follow the river Rhein till Wesseling. We cross the border into the Netherlands near Roermond.


View from Hegaublick


Leaving Schwarzwald


Timbered houses


Cycling along the river Rhein

After Roermand it's only two days cycling to Leiden. After taking some ferries to cross the many rivers in The Netherlands we reach our homes after cycling 27 days and 2099 km. This has been again a incredible and beautiful cycling trip!


The Netherlands

ROME WEATHER