Pisa to Florence cycling holiday, Italy. Helping Dreamers Do

From

£760

8 Days excluding flights

More info:Single Supplement £GBP 190.

“8 days of self-guided cycling through Tuscany, through medieval cities, rolling hills, cycling from hotel to hotel, with luggage transferred for you. ”

Highlights

Description of Pisa to Florence cycling holiday, Italy

Cycling in Tuscany en-route from Pisa to Florence is just one of those idyllic experiences that captures every essential moment of what it feels like to be living and loving la dolce vita.

Rolling waves of sunflowers, crumbling hilltop villages and gnarled grape vines leading to alfresco dining tables as the sun sets over the Etruscan hills - the route between Pisa and Florence is what cycling Tuscany is all about.

Iconic structures such as Pisa’s leaning tower and Florence’s Ponte Vecchio provide a wonderful start and finish point for cycling in Tuscany with medieval cities, such as Lucca and Montecatini, offering overnight resting places alongside a wealth of cultural treasures and generous restaurateurs.

Other cities from the Renaissance mark your journey with Pescia, Pistoia and, eventually, Empoli inviting alternative perspectives to cycling Tuscany tours as you compare town squares and winding cobbled streets before getting back into the saddle and waving a cheery arrivederci!

Each day of this eight day self-guided cycle tour from Pisa to Florence gives you the chance to take either a leisurely route or a more challenging cycle with more than enough free time to soak up the sights, including an entire day in Florence to mark the end of your tour.

Hello. If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. Rosy & team.

01273 823 700 rosy@responsibletravel.com

Map

Check dates

2017: 26 Aug, 2 Sep, 9 Sep, 16 Sep, 23 Sep, 30 Sep, 7 Oct

Our top tip:

Consider travelling to Pisa by train, as it is very accessible. And learn some Italian. You are going off the tourist trail here.

Trip type:

Self-guided, hotel to hotel.

Activity level:

Moderate, with tougher options.

Accomm:

2-4* hotels.

Included:

Accommodation, all breakfasts, luggage transfer, bike hire, route notes and maps, local support. .

Meals:

Only breakfasts included, but trip notes have details of trattoria treats. But this is Tuscany, so you will be spoiled for choice.

Solos:

Sorry, min. group size 2 people.

Vouchers

Accepted

Responsible tourism

Responsible tourism: Pisa to Florence cycling holiday, Italy

Environment

A cycling holiday such as this is the ideal way to explore the natural and cultural highlights of a region, travel under your own steam and minimise the impact on the environment.

The natural landscapes we explore are some of the richest, often most challenging, yet at the same time some of the most fragile environments on earth. With education, experienced leadership and appropriate equipment and techniques, it is possible to travel responsibly through these regions. For us, it is critically important that such wilderness travel experiences do not diminish the natural values of the environment.

Our environmental sustainable principles: True sustainability is a guiding aspect in all aspects of our business planning and operations. Specifically our tour operations should be managed in a way where the natural and cultural values of the host region are undiminished in the long-term.

Where possible, we engage in partnerships with local environmental groups and/or land managers to actively campaign for conservation or promote environmental protection and/or rehabilitation.

Our Responsible Travel Guidebook: Our philosophy since 1975 has been to leave only footprints and take only photographs. To reiterate this, every customer who travels with us receives a copy of our award-winning Responsible Travel guidebook. This detailed book outlines our environmentally sustainable principles, and outlines how each customer can minimize their impact while travelling.

Global Warming and Carbon Balancing: The root cause of Global Warming is society's dependence on emission creating fossil fuel. Planting trees is not going to reverse this trend or cancel our carbon emissions very quickly or effectively. We believe the way to reduce these dependencies is to create clean energy production. Therefore, we support renewable energy projects like wind and solar power, and we are aligned with Climate Friendly, the gold standard setter in effective, meaningful action addressing climate change. So, while we believe that tree planting can play a small role in greenhouse gas abatement, we have gone the extra mile in promoting a longer term solution. Is this cheap? No. Is it responsible? Absolutely!

Community

After a thoroughly rewarding day’s cycling you will be warmly welcomed into a small, locally owned pension, hotel or B&B which has been chosen for it’s charm and local character.

A delicious and hearty evening meal is definitely the order of the day and you’ll be introduced to small, locally owned provincial restaurants. All meals provided use locally-grown produce from neighbouring farms and vineyards, such is the way of small businesses supporting other small businesses within the rural communities you’ll visit. Friendly local staff are ideally placed to give you a knowledgeable insight into the local terrain, flora and fauna and an authentic account of the history of the region.

Our responsible travel principles: Our company aims to maximise the positive benefits of tourism for host communities. This includes training and employment of local staff, using local suppliers and assisting in the development of sustainable local businesses.

We actively minimise the negative effects that tourism can have by ensuring that tourism does not divert resources away from local communities or drive up prices on local resources.

We provide opportunities for real cultural exchange, where locals and visitors alike can share and learn from each other in an environment of mutual respect.

We contribute to the welfare of the host community. This is epitomised in our Community Project Travel program where we organise for our travellers to spend time in disadvantaged villages upgrading basic facilities such as health, education and water access.

We strive to educate our travellers about the destination and its local cultures as well as providing guidelines on appropriate behaviour to minimise impact.

No local payments policy: Local cash payments are becoming increasingly popular with many operators in the adventure travel industry. This policy seems to benefit the tour operators more than the local economies or the travellers, as it avoids local taxes and transfers the costs and risks of cash handling onto the travellers. In accordance with our Responsible Travel practices, we have chosen a policy of not asking for such payments.

1 Reviews of Pisa to Florence cycling holiday, Italy

4 out of 5 stars

SHOW

Reviewed on 02 Jun 2008 by Manpreet Anand

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

The whole trip was memorable... Tuscany is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. I think the most exciting part of the trip was when we were biking to Pisa and got our first glimpse of the leaning tower. It was so surreal!

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

The Tuscany route offered is pretty challenging. When we booked this trip was described as light to moderate in difficulty however after finishing the tour and talking to the tour operator we were told it was one of the hardest if not the hardest tour offered. I feel like my husband and I would have actually trained instead of following our regular workout routine had we known.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

Yes... in the sense that we were biking instead of driving through Italy we reduced our carbon footprint. Also because our route was through smaller towns we patroned smaller businesses which was beneficial to local people.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

I would rate it a 8/10.