Traveling is always full of entertainment and adventure. It doesn’t matter if you’re flying over the Atlantic Ocean, bussing through a busy street in Rome, or driving across a peaceful stretch of rural France, there is always fun to be had as you move from one tourist hot spot to the next.
When it comes to Europe, in particular, though there’s one form of travel that should always be seriously considered: biking. Most areas of the world don’t lend themselves to biking as easily as Europe. Distances between locations in places like Asia or the United States are typically vast and local civilization often sprawls over huge areas.
However, in Europe, everything is close enough together to make a prolonged bike ride the perfect way to see the sights. Here are a few of the best reasons to consider biking through your next trip to Europe.
By planning your trip around a bicycle you can improve your health and even lose some weight, all while you’re on vacation — which, it should be noted, is stereotypically associated with the opposite effect. This makes biking on your European vacation an easy win-win scenario.
Biking Is Healthy
As far as your personal physical condition goes, there is no better way to stay in shape as you travel than by using a bike. Biking is understandably well-recognized as a healthy activity with myriad different benefits. This is true enough that even those who aren’t interested in traveling will regularly purchase stationary bikes just for the exercise benefits that they offer.
Biking has been shown to prolong and improve life. It has a tendency to reduce both mortality and morbidity rates and prevents tens of thousands of premature deaths every year in the EU alone.
By planning your trip around a bicycle you can improve your health and even lose some weight, all while you’re on vacation — which, it should be noted, is stereotypically associated with the opposite effect. This makes biking on your European vacation an easy win-win scenario.
Biking Is Predictable
When you travel by plane, train, or bus, you’re subject to third-party schedules and travel restrictions. In addition, if something goes wrong, you could run into delays and cancellations.
Not so with a bike. Sure, you could be held up by poor weather — though the same can be said for an airplane flight — but apart from that, you can ride your bike whenever you choose. You don’t have to worry about cancellation costsor rescheduling activities because events out of your control have left you stranded in Copenhagen or marooned in London. Riding a bike puts you in the driver’s seat.
As a quick additional note, if you’re attracted to the predictable nature of riding a bike, but you’re concerned about your endurance levels, consider looking into buying or renting an e-bike to make your pedaling pursuits more enjoyable.
Biking Is Affordable
It’s tempting to look at the low fuel prices caused by the pandemic and think your next vacation is going to have very few fuel-related costs. Don’t be fooled by those short-term prices, though. Once travel picks up again, there’s a good chance that the costs associated with it will as well. Fuel prices were already trending up in the years leading up to 2020, and there’s little chance that the long-term costs will go down any time soon.
With that said, biking continues to remain a wonderfully low-cost traveling option. When you combine the lack of fuel with the fact that you don’t have to rent a vehicle, a bike becomes an impressively affordable way to travel.
Biking Slows You Down — in a Good Way
By choosing to ride a bike as your primary form of transportation, you naturally slow down the pace of your travels. This can be an incredible blessing in disguise. While it’s fun to dash from one major city center to another, biking forces you to “slow down and smell the roses” as the saying goes — although if you’re in the Netherlands, it’s more likely the scent of tulips that you’ll be inhaling.
This slower speed can do wonders for your mental health. Biking is already a great way to preserve mental health and combat things like anxiety and depression. By slowly biking through even the emptiest parts of Europe you can imbue your travels with a sense of peace and patience.
These are distinct antitheses to the traditional emotions that accompany travel. It doesn’t matter if you’re cruising through a country lane in Tuscany or learning the rules of the road in a crowded street in Cluj-Napoca, taking them on with a bike will help to replace your anxious travel jitters with a profound sense of tranquility.
Biking Is Pandemic-Friendly
Finally, when you travel during a pandemic, you want to use low-volume forms of transportation whenever possible. Cramming into the back seat of a taxi or sharing a coach with forty other people can quickly become a health hazard.
There are few forms of transportation that are as social-distance-appropriate as a bicycle. With one person on each bike, it’s easy to keep your distance as you move from one place to the next.
Becoming a Two-Wheeled Tourist
From saving money to a pleasant change of pace and everything in between, there are a plethora of different benefits that come with biking through Europe. With so much upside and the prospect of a uniquely adventurous trip ahead of you, it’s certainly worth considering biking through Brussels and pedaling through Paris the next time you visit the EU.
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