FAQS

A RESOURCE FOR EVERYTHING CINGHIALE

Guides

  • Our on the bike guide to guest ratio is typically 1 to 6 or 7 guests. Tours with a non-cycling itinerary, like our Cooking & Cycling tour, will have a dedicated guide for non-cycling guests on the days there are scheduled cooking lessons and excursions.

  • Most days we will have a follow vehicle on our rides. Depending on the tour and terrain a follow vehicle may not be present at all times. The follow vehicle will be equipped with spare wheels, tools, food and water, and emergency first aid. Space will be provided for guests to bring a day pack with them as needed.

  • Gratuity for guides is always appreciated and completely at your discretion. The guides pool and share all tips equally among themselves. The industry standard is each guest contributing 3-6% of the tour cost to be split equally between the guides. We’ll pass an envelope around the table on our last night for the guides if you would like to contribute. Our guides are all Italy based and euros are the best currency to give.

Bikes

  • Yes, bike rentals are available for 265 -350 euros for the tour. We have a fleet of BMC Gran Fondo & Hampsten designed steel bikes equipped with compact cranks to feature a low gear of 34 x 32 cog, tires are road hugging 25 or 28 mm.

    Bikes are limited and assigned on a first come basis. Be sure to send a bike rental form as soon as we confirm you booking.

  • No, our tours are do not accommodate e-bikes.

  • We are committed to reducing plastic waste on our tours. We ask you to please bring 2 bike bottles from home that you can use on and off the bike during your tour.

  • Yes, there are not helmets available for rent so please bring your own. Helmets are required on our rides.

  • We like the saying the more the merrier! Compact gearing is great with a 34 x 27 cog, but lately we’ve enjoying 34 x 29/30/32/34. Do not skimp for our mountain tours. There are no heroes on our tours and we encourage you to have enough gears to make the terrain enjoyable.

  • No. We do not recommend shipping a bike to Italy due to complicated Italian customs rules. We’ve seen bikes tied up in customs, not arriving in time for a tour, or not arriving at all. Save yourself the worry and check your bike on your flight, or rent a bike.

  • Hampsten Cycles makes custom steel, titanium, and carbon bicycles. One of our favorites for travel is a S&S coupled titanium bike that fits in an airline regulation travel case. Find out more by contacting Steve Hampsten at www.hampsten.com

Payment & Cancellation Policy

  • If you decide not to come or cannot come for any reason the amount you have paid so far, less a $150 processing fee, is fully refundable up to 91 days before the trip. This means that if you cancel 90 days or less before your tour start date you will forfeit the full amount you have paid so far.

    We reserve the right to cancel your reservation if we have not received your balance payment within one week of your balance due date.

    Customs tours have a non-refundable deposit. This is because we can not look for a replacement within a private group. You can transfer you deposit to another person to fill your space.

    We do not overbook and strongly recommend TRAVEL INSURANCE. Please purchase travel insurance that covers an unforeseen trip cancellation or misadventure to you or your luggage while in Italy.

    Visit www.insuremytrip.com for an insurance quote and

    www.hthtravelinsurance.com for a travel health insurance quote.

  • You will be asked for a $1,000 deposit to confirm you booking. Six months out from your tour start date a second payment of $1,000 will be due. Balance payments are due 91 days before your tour start date.

Communication

  • We will send a confirmation email if there is space available for you on the tour. Once we confirm your booking we’ll instruct you to send a deposit.

  • We will send you deposit instructions in your booking confirmation email.

  • We use PayPal to invoice and process your payments. This allows you several options to pay for your tour.

  • Your balance will be due 91 days before your tour start date. We will email a payment reminder prior to the due date.

  • You will receive specific tour information one month prior to your tour. This will include meeting locations and transportation information, specific packing requirements, medical and release forms, and hotel and guide contact information. The really fun stuff, like our specific routes and sights, we will give to you when you arrive in Italy. We encourage our guests to call or email with any questions about the tour or travel at any time.

Fitness

  • Our tours are best enjoyed for those who have been regularly cycling in the months leading up to the tour. Each tour is rated on a one-to-five-pig scale. You should read through our fitness check to make sure you are selecting the correct tour for yourself. Don’t be shy— reach out to us with any questions about the right tour for you.

  • Our tours will have plenty of guides to accommodate various riding speeds. Typically, our rides will break up into smaller groups with a guide keeping an eye on each group. We are honest about how difficult the riding is and explain required fitness clearly in our Fitness Check. Our best advice is to train ahead of time to fully enjoy the experience of riding in Italy.

    If you are less fit and unable to keep pace with a larger group of guests we may require you to start or finish a ride in the follow vehicle when we feel it is necessary.

  • We often have select days that we can ride longer with a group of guests. Depending on our location you may feel comfortable going longer on your own.

    We like to ride as a group, not necessarily in one large group, but letting the ride break up into smaller groups with similar paces.

    Guests whose pace is beyond the majority of the group will be asked to ride the social pace of the group.

    We will not chase down riders who choose to ride ahead of our guides. You will be provided with maps at the start of the tour to help you navigate the route in the event that you choose to ride ahead of the group.

    We have been hosting tours for over two decades and know from experience that the group riding dynamic mostly works out brilliantly. We do our best to adjust routes as necessary to fit the groups needs.

Accommodations

  • If you are vegetarian or have other dietary limitations most likely you will be able to feast in Italy. We work hard to accommodate allergies and restrictions. Please note these on your booking form and we will correspond in more detail with you directly.

  • We stay in three- to four-star hotels, inns, or restored farm houses; typically family-run affairs. We have the habit of choosing hotels based on their kitchens… in general hotels in Italy are simple but graciously outfitted. Specific details to your accommodations will be listed on the tour page.

  • Wine is an important part of Italian culture and we enjoying sharing our knowledge to those interested. We like focusing on wines of the area in which your tour is based in. Each dinner and some lunches (unless we are cycling after lunch) will include wine. We treat wine as part of the meal and not as a means to hydration. We ask our guests to drink responsibly.

  • Wine and winemaking is an integral part of Italian culture and we do feature it on our tours. On most tours we’ll be tasting local wines with meals and touring farms that make wine. The process is very interesting and we find that everyone finds this time learning about winemaking and farming very enjoyable. Wine is treated like food and will be at the table but consumed responsibly.

Travel

  • Specific information of where your tour will start and finish will be on the tour page. Italy is blessed with a functioning train system and it is easy to use other airports and meet at the start point by train.

  • Yes, train travel in Italy is generally very good and we recommend it. It’s an amazing way to see the country between your destinations. See TrenItalia or, Italo for schedules

  • When buying a ticket online you need to purchase the ticket a minimum of one hour ahead to the scheduled departure. For fast trains—frecciarosa, frecciabianca—you need to purchase in advance since you’ll be issued a specific carriage and seating assignment.

    Electronically purchased tickets need to be validated by a check-in process linked on your issued ticket.

    Paper tickets or those purchased from a vending machine need to be validated prior to boarding. There are small white and green machines near ticketing machines and sometimes the tracks to stamp your ticket.

  • If you are traveling with a large bike case you will find little room for it on most trains. You must add a bicycle supplement to your ticket and place your bike case, or bike w/o case, in the appropriate carriage, usually the last carriage of the train. If there is not the option to add a bicycle supplement it means that there is no allowed space for a bike and you may not be allowed on the train.

    On fast trains bikes must be in a bag or box to be allowed on.

  • Our tours are casual and your clothing should be comfortable. A few nicer options for dinners is a good idea. We walk quite a bit on our tours and shoes should be comfortable. Often we are by the beach or staying at a hotel with a pool, so a swimsuit is a good idea too.

  • Four to five riding kits would be plenty. Not all accommodations will have laundry services or laundromat nearby so we recommend bringing your own detergent to wash in your sink when necessary.

  • Most hotels will have laundry facilities or service. Clothing is typically line dried. It is wise to travel with a small amount of preferred laundry detergent in the event that sink washing is necessary.

  • Road or mountain bike shoes will do. We like mountain bike shoes to make it easier to walk around on cobbled roads in the villages we stop at. If road shoes are your preference then we recommend a spare pair of sandals or slip-ons to put in the follow van each day.

  • Most accommodations will have little or no air conditioning. Slowly, as there is more need with the hotter seasons, we see more cooling options in hotels. We purposely schedule our tour on the front and end of the summer season to avoid the heat. If it is a deal breaker for you please reach out to us so we can confirm if A/C is available.

General

  • Our group size will typically be between 20 and 25 people. Our Cooking & Cycling tour accommodates up to 30 as not everyone will be cycling. Tours with only cyclists are typically up to 25.

  • Tours are priced per person for cyclists and non-cyclists alike. We do not offer discounts for non-cyclists or groups.

  • Each tour includes transportation from/to starting points, accommodation, all meals except one lunch and one dinner, wine with meals, guide supported rides, ride food, admission to excursions and tastings.

  • Gratuity is included in the cost of food and tips are not expected by Italian staff. Gratuity is always appreciated and to extend a hearty thanks to hotel and restaurant staff we pass an envelope around on the last night of our stay to contribute to. Gratuity should be given in euros.

  • Absolutely! Andy rides every mile and then some on every tour. Cycling is his passion and he loves showing people Italy. Don’t be nervous—he has had his fill of racing and enjoys riding with all of our guests throughout the week.

  • We recommend riding with 10-20 euros in your pocket every day. We will stop at cafes on most of our rides, some days we will offer the group a coffee and sometimes you’ll pay for yourself. Sourcing cash from an ATM in Italy is a good way to go. The rates are typically better than exchanging money in a bank.

    The general etiquette in Italy is to pay with cash for bills 20 euros an under. Some of the smaller establishments we frequent may not even accept credit cards, so cash is a good thing to have on hand.

Private Tours

  • You can write to us directly about your group, interests and needs. We will work alongside you to design a tour for your ideal Italian getaway.

  • We base the starting price of a private tour at $4,000. This base price assumes a single location with a group of 20 people or more. Prices will change based on the size of your group, locations and the desires of your group.

    We ask for a non-refundable deposit for private tours. This is usually half the cost of the tour. This allows your group to find suitable replacements in the event of a person(s) cancelling.

    Please contact us directly for further information.