Bike Tour Vacations LLC

07/28/2025

August is fast approaching, and September brings an end to the tour season. We’re about to finish 5 weeks of back to back tours in northern Michigan, full of bright sunshine and beautiful beaches.
We have two wonderful rail-trail tours in September with room for you!
Show Me the Katy Trail covers about 230 miles along the Missouri River, starting and ending in St. Charles the week of September 6.
For a Great Lakes adventure, we run the Ohio River to Cincinnati tour starting September 13 in Cleveland. This is our longest rail-trail tour, 320 miles with 80% paved and 80% rail trail. Seven ride days with full sag support along the way.
See tour options at biketourvacations(dot)com.

06/16/2025

Two big tours are complete! We started this season with two NEW tours, the Great Allegheny Passage from Pittsburgh to Cumberland MD, and followed that with a simple 320 mile ride from Cincinnati to Cleveland on the Ohio River to Lake Erie Trail (a marvelous collection of trails across Ohio). We’re going back in September!

06/05/2025

Thursday 11a.m. And we’re finished on the GAP Trail part of the tour, hurray! Guests have wandered off for coffee, staff to the bike store, and I’m sitting with the bikes. This afternoon we have an excursion on the C&O Towpath Trail down to the Paw Paw tunnel, with a lunch stop at Schoolhouse Cafe. All week, nothing but sun and blue skies.

06/03/2025

GAP Day 2, our first full day of riding, Pittsburgh to Belle Vista PA. A thousand bridges and old steel mills and great views of the river.

06/01/2025

This little boy, who grew up to be the Tour Chief, is off on some summer fun! We’re in Pittsburgh PA, right downtown on the river in the city with lots of wonderful looking bicycle infrastructure. Tomorrow, our guests and staff will start riding on the Great Allegheny Passage trail to Cumberland Maryland. This really is a lot of fun, and if you want to get in on some of it, we have other tours with space available for you!

05/15/2025

Time is running out! -

We have a lovely group of mostly repeat guests joining our June 7 departure on this tour, but there's room for more! A bunch of you have requested the itinerary for our Ohio River to Lake Erie (OTET) Tour, but have not yet registered. Today's a good day to register, either for the June or September....

04/24/2025

Peek behind the Curtain #3, Road Tours!

We’ve been sharing peeks at our rail trail and hybrid tours, and today here’s some thoughts on our road tours.

In 2011, our first year in business, tours were over 80% on paved roads, with most of the rest on some type of trail. The mix has changed over time and today we offer 2 tours which are almost 100% on paved roads only.

The Great Waters Tour is 300 miles over 7 days & 6 nights in the eastern Upper Peninsula. The Ride to Pictured Rocks covers 230 miles in the central Upper Peninsula over 7 days & 6 nights.

The Upper Peninsula is sparsely populated, and our routes are well tested on roads with a low traffic count as verified by MDOT.

The combination of low traffic and wonderful destinations on the Great Lakes make these tours an excellent way for you to spend a week on your bike!

See all the tours at biketourvacations.com

04/24/2025

Our guests on the Dirty Double-Crossing tour will enjoy a ride on the Lake Express Ferry this June!

The Lake Express Ferry is hosting a bike donation drive this Friday, April 25th from 8am -12pm.

https://www.lake-express.com/bikedrive2025/

Bikes collected are refurbished and given away in Bike Fed youth programs as well as through the Sixteenth Street Bike Day on June 14. 🚲 💛

Donate your previously loved bike so someone else can enjoy a sweet ride!

Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers

04/23/2025

Behind the curtain, #2- With all the improvements in infrastructure, many of our tours are hybrid events. For example, the Dirty Double-Crossing tour is about 50% on traffic-free rail trails, with most of the rest on quiet country roads. This exceptional tour also comes with two crossings of Lake Michigan, including on the ancient and venerable SS Badger ferry!

The River Towns on the Mississippi tour has almost 40% on rail trails, with half of this paved. Of the remainder, much is along the vetted Mississippi River Trail system on public roads.

The Iron Trail tour in MN is about 1/3 on rail trail & parkway!

Finally, the Beer Brats and Cheese tour at Madison, WI is about 40% rail trail.

04/22/2025

Peek behind the curtain, again! We’re serious about guest safety, and the first part of our safety plan is to design tours utilizing traffic-free rail trails when possible.

This year we have at least 4 week-long tours which are close to 100% rail trail! Start with the GAP Tour, 170 miles of crushed limestone between Pittsburgh PA and Cumberland MD.

Need a bigger experience? Come along for 8 days/7 nights and 320 miles of trail between Cincinnati and Cleveland on the OTET Trail Tour. June & September departures available. 80% paved and 80% traffic-free!

In Michigan we have the Northern Rail Trail Tour, 5 days of trail rides between Petoskey and Mackinaw City.

In September we head west to the famous Katy Trail, 230 miles across Missouri!

See all the tours at Biketourvacations.com

04/07/2025

The first tour of 2025 is complete! Detroit Heritage Tour, 33 miles on the River and downtown, looking at many famous and historic places! This tour repeats on Friday May 2. Come along!

03/06/2025

Here's a reminder, even though today is blustery, summer is coming soon! Beer Brats & Cheese Tour is a great example of one way to experience it. Special note: with only 3 hotels for 6-nights of lodging, every other day is a layover day!

Bike Tour Vacations hosts another edition of its famous Beer, Brats, and Cheese bike tour through the Madison, WI area. This year, 12 guests and 4 tour leade...