Italy cycling holiday, Venice & Veneto

Planet and people

Accommodation & meals: We spend the eight nights on this cycling holiday in family-run hotels, including two agriturismos in Cortela, Galzignano Terme, Teolo and Villaganzarla. All the hotels are privately-owned by locals and at least 75% of the staff are local residents. Our customers provide income to an area that does already benefit from some tourism; however the hotels we use are all small properties (ranging between only 6 and 20 rooms). The holiday is on a Half-Board basis throughout and the food is generally homemade and sometimes rustic in style. Popular dishes include polenta, risottos and pastas such as ravioli and tortellini, and puddings such as tiramisu. The hotel chefs (or the wife in some cases) focus on using locally-sourced seasonal produce where possible, some of which is actually grown at the property itself so has zero food miles! Most of our hoteliers have also demonstrated commitment to sustainable practices in the following areas: waste management, saving water and saving energy.

Community: We have designed the trip, in collaboration with local agents who have the best inside knowledge. On this trip we encourage and enable our guests to try local cuisine and support local businesses, to chat with local people, visit local attractions such as the Palladian Villas, cafes and bars, purchase homemade produce from the agriturismos and other local specialities such as Prosecco and olive oils, gifts and crafts, and discover what life is really like in the Veneto region. We also offer a wine service in the region - any customers who want to purchase local wines can do so en route and any purchases are collected by our Local Representative and delivered to the final hotel on the route.

Group size: This is a self-guided holiday with departures every 2-3 days and low passenger numbers, helping to keep environmental impact to a minimum, and reduce over-tourism. Self-guided holidays in our regions with a Local Rep (including the Veneto region) are possible with a minimum of one person on any departure date; however we would always hope that more people would want to visit this amazing area of delicious cuisine and architectural delights!

Activity: Few holidays have as little detrimental impact on the environment and local residents as a cycling trip. It is a quiet, low impact activity requiring comparatively little resources to support. We encourage our customers to either walk or cycle between hotels therefore reducing the overall carbon footprint on the holiday.

UK office: In addition to the careful planning that goes into each and every one of our tours, we also have a policy of operating our office in a responsible manner - to reduce the impact on our local environment. We turn off all lights, printers, photocopiers and PCs at the end of each day: a PC monitor switched off overnight saves enough energy to microwave six meals; leaving a computer on 24/7 costs four times more than if you switch it off; a photocopier left on overnight uses enough energy to produce over 1,500 copies. We use energy-efficient light bulbs and make sure they're regularly cleaned - dirty bulbs can reduce the amount of effective light by over 25%. We've turned down every radiator by one degree in a bid to reduce energy consumption by as much as 10%. All our brochures are printed on paper from sustainable sources and sent in bio-degradable packaging. We strive to reduce paper consumption and, what we do use, we recycle. We recycle all our used laser printer and inkjet cartridges.