Backroads Top 5 European Tours 2026 & 2027: Tuscany, the Dolomites, Provence, Croatia & Scotland, A Certified Advisor’s Complete Guide.
- Danny Rodriguez-Stahl
- 3 days ago
- 11 min read
By Danny Stahl, Certified Backroads Advisor | Danny’s Adventures | www.dannysadventures.com
Backroads books 12 to 18 months in advance for prime European departures:
Tuscany in May and September, the Dolomites in July and August, and Provence in June and September are the fastest-filling European Backroads tours every year. Private Reserve Trips for groups of 10 are available on select departures, capacity-controlled and disappearing.
No sales pressure. No hidden agenda. Just expert guidance from someone who does this every day.
Hours: Monday–Friday 8am–6pm ET | Saturday 8am–11am ET
Backroads has been running active travel tours in Europe since 1988. Over nearly four decades they have refined the art of the European bike and hiking trip to a standard no competitor has matched: minimum three Trip Leaders per departure, 98.1% guest approval rating, multiple daily route options for every fitness level, and hotels that range from Chianti wine estate villas to Alpine rifugios to Croatian island boutique properties.
The question is not whether to do a Backroads European tour. The question is which one to do first. I am Danny Stahl, a certified Backroads advisor. These are my five best European picks for 2026 and 2027, chosen for the quality of the experience, the distinctiveness of the landscape, and the specific Backroads advantage that makes each one better than any self-guided or competing operator alternative.
The Top 5 at a Glance
Tour | Activity Level | Days | Price From | Best For |
#1: Tuscany Chianti Bike Tour | Level 2–3 (Moderate) | 6–7 days | From ~$4,799 pp | Wine lovers, first-time Backroads, hilltop town explorers |
#2: Dolomites Multi-Adventure | Level 3–4 (Active) | 6–7 days | From ~$5,299 pp | Mountain lovers, gondolas, biking + hiking combo |
#3: Provence Wine Country Bike | Level 2–3 (Moderate–Active) | 7 days | From ~$4,999 pp | Lavender fields, rosé wine, Mont Ventoux challenge |
#4: Croatia Dalmatian Coast | Level 2–3 (Moderate) | 7–8 days | From ~$5,199 pp | Kayaking, island-hopping, Dubrovnik, crystal water |
#5: Scotland Highlands | Level 2–3 (Moderate) | 6–7 days | From ~$4,999 pp | Ben Nevis, Skye, Glen Coe, whisky, wild landscape |
#1: Tuscany Chianti Bike Tour
Biking · Wine Country · Italy · Activity Level 2–3 (Moderate) · 6–7 days · From ~$4,799 pp
Why This Tour:
Tuscany is Backroads’ most-booked European destination for good reason. The roads are quiet, the villages are intact, the food and wine are without peer in Italian cooking, and the landscape genuinely looks like the background of a Botticelli. Every Chianti hilltop town has an enoteca where the local family’s Sangiovese is poured by the person who made it.
Route & Highlights:
• Siena to Florence: the classic Chianti route through the heartland of Italian wine country
• Pienza — the Renaissance ideal city built by Pope Pius II, tiny and perfect
• Montalcino — home of Brunello di Montalcino, one of the world’s great red wines
• Radda in Chianti — ridgetop medieval town, former capital of the ancient Chianti
• Optional Trip to Florence
League
• Castellina in Chianti — a walled hilltop village with enoteca-lined lanes
• San Gimignano — UNESCO World Heritage site, its 13 medieval towers creating one of the most photogenic skylines in Europe
• Crete Senesi — the lunar chalk landscape of southern Tuscany, shaped by erosion into the undulating golden hills of every Renaissance painting
• Optional: the full Chianti Classico route with serious climbs for avid cyclists; or the e-bike and easygoing flat valley option for those who want the scenery without the sweat
Backroads Hotels:
Backroads places guests in Premiere hotel tier properties on Tuscany that are genuinely exceptional: a castle converted to a Renaissance villa with infinity pool overlooking vineyards; a restored 1,000-year-old feudal settlement in the Chianti with pool; an award-winning agriturismo estate. These are not standard tourist hotels. They are properties that define why people return to Italy.
No sales pressure. No hidden agenda. Just expert guidance from someone who does this every day.
Hours: Monday–Friday 8am–6pm ET | Saturday 8am–11am ET
#2: Dolomites Biking & Hiking Multi-Adventure
Biking · Hiking · Gondolas · Northern Italy · Activity Level 3–4 (Active) · 6–7 days · From ~$5,299 pp
Why This Tour:
The Dolomites are unlike any other mountain landscape in Europe. The pale vertical limestone towers catch the light at sunrise and sunset in a phenomenon called the Enrosadira — the ‘rose blooming’ — when the rock walls glow orange, pink, and deep red. You cannot photograph it adequately. You have to be there. Backroads’ multi-adventure format means each day can be a hike, a bike ride, a gondola ascent, or a combination at whatever level matches your energy that morning.
Route & Highlights:
• Based in the Sud Tirol — the German-speaking Italian Alps where Austrian and Italian cultures meet in one of Europe’s most dramatically beautiful landscapes
• Gondola rides to Puez Odle Nature Park above the Alpe di Siusi (Seiser Alm) - home of World Cup skiing in winter, summer paradise of wildflower meadows in high Alpine air
• Hike and bike on UNESCO-protected Dolomite trails where the rose-gold rock faces catch alpenglow at dawn
• The Seiser Alm — the largest high-altitude Alpine meadow in Europe, ringed by the Sella, Sassolungo, and Schlern massifs
• Bolzano — the capital of South Tyrol, with its medieval arcaded streets, the Museo Otizie (home of Ötzi the Iceman), and the most beautiful wine bar culture in the Alps
• Optional: Pordoi Pass — one of the great Dolomite road cycling climbs. The Sella Ronda — the 4-pass circuit that defines Dolomite cycling ambition.
• Venice as gateway city — Backroads recommends flying into Venice Marco Polo Airport and taking the train to Bolzano to begin
Backroads Hotels:
South Tyrol hotels on this tour reflect the region’s unique position at the intersection of Italian elegance and Austrian precision: mountain wellness hotels with spa facilities, family-run Gasthöfe with exceptional regional cuisine, and boutique Alpine retreats that are the best accommodation in the Dolomites available to travelers.
#3: Provence Wine Country to Luberon Bike Tour
Biking · Wine · France · Activity Level 2–3 (Moderate–Active) · 7 days · From ~$4,999 pp
Why This Tour:
Provence is Backroads’ most popular French destination and consistently one of the company’s highest-rated European tours. The combination of dramatic landscape variety (limestone gorges, lavender plateaus, Mediterranean coastline, and hilltop village culture) with genuinely excellent food and wine makes every Provence day feel different. The Luberon’s hilltop villages are so photogenic and so intact that guests routinely describe the tour as ‘better than any photograph I’d seen.’
Route & Highlights:
• Luberon massif — the limestone ridge of hilltop villages immortalized in Peter Mayle’s ‘A Year in Provence’: Gordes, Lacoste, Bonnieux, Ménerbes, Oppede
• Lavender fields in full bloom — June and July for peak lavender. No other landscape in France is as immediately recognizable from photographs and as overwhelming in person.
• The Gorges de la Nesque — a dramatic canyon ride through 800-meter limestone cliffs with the gorge dropping away below the road
• Cassis — the small harbor town below the Calanques, with the turquoise Mediterranean calanque inlets accessible only by boat or on foot
• Wine tastings in the Luberon: Lacoste’s Cheval Blanc estate, local Luberon AOP cave cooperatives, and the rosé culture of Provence at its source
• Optional: Mont Ventoux — the legendary Tour de France ascent. 13 miles, 5,000 feet of climbing. The ‘Giant of Provence’. Backroads’ most ambitious optional challenge in France. E-bike version is a popular and genuinely enjoyable alternative.
• Daily easygoing route options through valley floors and village roads for guests who prefer the scenery without the elevation
Backroads Hotels:
Provence hotels on Backroads tours are boutique properties in or adjacent to the hilltop villages — mas farmhouses converted to small luxury hotels, and Luberon village properties that would be impossible to find independently. After a day of riding through lavender fields, a pool overlooking the village square and a provencal dinner featuring local lamb and truffle are the correct ending.
Backroads books 12 to 18 months in advance for prime European departures:
Tuscany in May and September, the Dolomites in July and August, and Provence in June and September are the fastest-filling European Backroads tours every year. Private Reserve Trips for groups of 10 are available on select departures, capacity-controlled and disappearing.
No sales pressure. No hidden agenda. Just expert guidance from someone who does this every day.
Hours: Monday–Friday 8am–6pm ET | Saturday 8am–11am ET
#4: Croatia Dalmatian Coast Biking & Kayaking Tour
Biking · Kayaking · Islands · Croatia · Activity Level 2–3 (Moderate) · 7–8 days · From ~$5,199 pp
Why This Tour:
Croatia is Backroads’ fastest-growing European destination. The Dalmatian Coast is a completely different travel experience from anything in Western Europe the islands are islands, not ferry-connected tourist circuits, and the combination of Roman history, Venetian architecture, and the Adriatic’s extraordinary clarity of water creates a setting that most travelers find more beautiful in person than in photographs. The sea kayaking is not optional.
Route & Highlights:
• Split — Diocletian’s Palace, the UNESCO-listed Roman emperor’s retirement complex that is now a living city: restaurants, bars, and apartments built into and around 3rd-century Roman walls
• Hvar — the most glamorous island in the Adriatic, with lavender fields above the town, stone fortresses on the hilltops, and the clearest water in the Mediterranean
• Korčula — the birthplace of Marco Polo, a fortified medieval town on a forested island that has barely changed since the Venetians built its walls
• Vis — the most remote and least touristed major Dalmatian island, only accessible to civilian boats since 1989 when the Yugoslav Navy left. The best fish restaurants in Croatia are here.
• Mljet National Park — the most forested island in the Adriatic, with two saltwater lakes connected to the sea and a 12th-century Benedictine monastery on an island in the middle of one
• Dubrovnik — the Old City walls, the limestone-paved Stradun, and the Adriatic below. One of the most perfectly preserved medieval walled cities in Europe.
• Sea kayaking in the Elaphiti Islands north of Dubrovnik — Backroads’ single most photographed activity in Croatia
Backroads Hotels:
Croatian hotels on Backroads tours are boutique island properties in converted stone townhouses, family-run boutique hotels in village squares, and seafront properties that would be impossible to book without the connections Backroads has built over years of operating in the country. Nothing chain, nothing generic.
#5: Scotland Highlands Biking & Hiking Tour
Biking · Hiking · Scotland · Activity Level 2–3 (Moderate) · 6–7 days · From ~$4,999 pp
Why This Tour:
Scotland is a revelation for travelers who have done France and Italy and want something categorically different. The landscape is ancient and vast and genuinely wild in a way that Provence and Tuscany, for all their beauty, are not. The midges in summer are real; the whisky is better in context; and the light at 9 PM in June is unlike anything in the Mediterranean world. Backroads’ Scottish Highlands tours are the company’s fastest-growing new European product.
Route & Highlights:
• Glen Coe — the most dramatic valley in Scotland, carved by glaciers through basalt and rhyolite, site of the 1692 Massacre of Glencoe. The light here at any hour of the day is painterly.
• Isle of Skye — the Cuillin Ridge (the most technically demanding mountain range in Britain), the Fairy Pools (waterfalls of supernatural clarity), the Old Man of Storr, and Eilean Donan Castle
• Ben Nevis — the highest mountain in the British Isles. Optional hike to the summit for those who want it.
• Loch Ness and the Great Glen — the fault line that splits the Scottish Highlands from southwest to northeast, following the Caledonian Canal
• Whisky distillery visits — Speyside or Highland single malt distillery tours paired with the landscapes that inform the character of the spirits
• Wildlife: red deer, golden eagles, red squirrels, and Highland cattle along the routes
• Backroads also operates a Private Reserve Trip for groups of 10 on the Scotland Highlands itinerary — one of the most consistently requested Private Reserve destinations
Backroads Hotels:
Scotland hotels on Backroads tours are Highland country house hotels and historic coaching inns properties that define the Scottish hospitality tradition without the chain hotel uniformity. After a day riding through Glen Coe, a log fire, a dram of local single malt, and a dinner of Scottish lamb and root vegetable soup in a Victorian dining room is exactly the right ending.
What’s Included on Every Backroads European Tour
• All accommodations — Premiere, Deluxe, or Casual tier hotels and properties depending on the tour and tier selected. All are hand-selected by Backroads and represent the best available in each destination.
• Breakfast every morning and most dinners — regional cuisine at restaurants with genuine local sourcing and relationships built over years of Backroads patronage
• Multiple route options every day — from easygoing flat options to the most challenging climbs available, with Trip Leaders guiding each option
• Minimum 3 Trip Leaders per departure — the highest leader-to-guest ratio in active travel
• Full bike support: Trek, Cannondale, and custom Backroads bikes in multiple frame sizes; e-bikes available on most European tours; all helmets and safety equipment; sag wagon following every route
• Luggage transportation between hotels — bags go ahead, you arrive at your hotel with luggage already there
• All activity gear and equipment for kayaking, hiking, gondola rides, and other included activities
• Snacks and refreshments on the road every day
Not included: International airfare. On-your-own lunches (most tours). Trip Leader gratuities. Personal expenses.
Why Book Your Backroads European Tour Through Danny’s Adventures
• I match you to the correct activity level before you book. The difference between Level 2 and Level 4 on a Backroads tour is significant. I ask the right questions to make sure you are on the correct tour for your fitness and riding or hiking experience.
• I know which Private Reserve Trips for groups of 10 are currently available on the Tuscany, Dolomites, Provence, Croatia, and Scotland tours — and which departure dates have private group discounts of 25% to 100% for groups of 12 or more
• Save up to $1,000 per person, best price guarantee!
The best European active vacation you will ever take is probably one of these five.
Email me at danny.stahl@avoyanetwork.com or fill out the form on my homepage www.dannysadventures.com and tell me your fitness level and top destination and I’ll confirm availability and the right tour format.
Certified Backroads advisor. Free. No obligation. Best price guaranteed.
Frequently Asked Questions: Backroads European Tours
What is included in a Backroads European bike tour?
Backroads European bike tours include all hotel accommodations, breakfast every morning, most dinners at local restaurants, multiple daily route options at different fitness levels, minimum 3 Trip Leaders per departure, Trek or Cannondale bikes in all sizes with e-bike options available, all bike safety equipment, a support vehicle following every route, luggage transport between hotels, and all snacks and refreshments on the road. Lunches are typically on your own at local restaurants and cafes. International airfare and Trip Leader gratuities are not included.
What activity level is the Backroads Tuscany bike tour?
The Backroads Tuscany Chianti bike tour is rated Activity Level 2–3 (Moderate). Each day offers multiple route options ranging from easygoing flat valley roads to longer climbs into the hilltop towns like Radda, Castellina, and San Gimignano. Most days involve rolling hills on quiet Tuscan back roads with little car traffic. The tour is suitable for recreational cyclists who ride occasionally the support vehicle follows every route and e-bikes are available. Avid cyclists can choose the more challenging options and longer distances each day.
What is the Backroads Dolomites tour?
The Backroads Dolomites Biking & Hiking Multi-Adventure tour is a 6 to 7-day Active-rated (Level 3–4) tour based in Italy’s Sud Tirol. It combines biking, hiking, and gondola rides in the UNESCO-protected Dolomite landscape. Highlights include gondola rides to the Puez Odle Nature Park and the Seiser Alm (the largest high-altitude Alpine meadow in Europe), hiking and biking on Dolomite trails amid the rose-gold limestone peaks, the Sella Ronda mountain circuit, and the culturally distinctive South Tyrolean capital of Bolzano. Venice is the recommended gateway city and Backroads recommends flying into Venice Marco Polo Airport.
What is the best Backroads European tour for first-timers?
The Backroads Tuscany Chianti Bike Tour is the most recommended first Backroads European tour. It is Activity Level 2–3 (suitable for recreational cyclists), the landscape is immediately beautiful and rewarding, the food and wine are extraordinary, the hotels are among Backroads’ best in Europe, and the combination of quiet Tuscan back roads and hilltop medieval towns delivers the exact experience that makes most guests book a second Backroads tour before they have finished their first. Provence is the second-best first-timer recommendation for travelers who prefer French rather than Italian cuisine.
Does Backroads offer e-bikes on European tours?
Yes. Backroads offers e-bikes (pedal-assist electric bikes) on most European tour itineraries including Tuscany, the Dolomites, Provence, Croatia, and Scotland. E-bikes allow guests to ride the same scenic routes as standard bikes while managing hills and longer distances more comfortably. They are particularly popular on Level 3–4 terrain like the Dolomites and on tours with challenging optional climbs like Mont Ventoux in Provence. E-bikes are available in limited numbers per departure and should be reserved at time of booking through a certified advisor.
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