By David May

Bicycling in Europe—What Budget?

Costs of Transporting your Bicycle to Your Bike Tour

A bicycle vacation in Europe can cost a fortune, or be very reasonable. At this writing inSeptember 2018, round-trip summer and early-fall restricted coach air fares from the USA to Europe range from $ 1,000 to $ 1,500, and are approximately $300 less in May. However these prices vary by the day, and two months ago the same flights would have cost $300 more.

Airline Charges for a Bicycle: If you are bringing your own bicycle with you (non-stop), at this writing the airlines would charge for carriage of a bicycle, round-trip, approximately $300, except for British Air and Lufthansa (charges only for extra bag). Charges for extra suitcases run between $80 and $200 round-trip.

A ferry trip from Britain to France and return, crossing between Dover to Calais, can cost less than £ 100 with a car (carrying bikes) and two passengers, or £ 80 for two persons with bikes and no car.

To this must be added the cost of getting from your home to the airport or ferry terminal, and the cost of getting from the arrival airport or ferry terminal to the beginning of your bike tour. These logistics are discussed on my page Transporting Your Bicycle. These costs may add about $200 per bicycle trip.

Costs of a European Bicycle Tour (very much cheaper if you self-organize)

The costs of the bicycle tour itself, vary widely, as the following table demonstrates. On this page, I discuss my take on the advantages and disadvantages of the three types of tours shown in the table: Commercial Guided Tours, Commercially Organized Self-Guided Tours, and Self-Organized Tours. I do not discuss bicycle club organized tours, whose styles and costs can vary widely. Note that there are many companies in the bicycle touring business, frequently unknown to me. The following lists are by way of examples, and are not recommendations.

For a listing with links of many-many bicycle touring companies—with their styles and typical prices, see the impressive site http://www.biketour-reviews.com. (However, pricing comparisons are not valid.)

The chart below lists budget estimates for the three types of tours at various levels of luxury. From the chart, it is evident that for moderately priced hotels and meals self-organized tours are about one-half the daily cost of commercial guided tours, and for luxury hotels and meals, only about one-third the cost of commercial guided tours.

The cost of commercially organized self-guided tours varies all over the lot, though they are always cheaper than a guided tour. If the organizer of the tour is a well know company, the savings from self-guiding may only be 20 or 30%. If it is a regional operator in Europe, the savings may be comparable or even better than a self-organized trip.

Cost is only one factor, however. For a full discussion please see the following section: Commercial Group Bicycle Tour or Self-Guided Bicycle Tour?

All prices in the following table are Per Person, Per Day assuming double occupancy.