Frequently Asked Questions

All tours on our website are grouped

• in self-guided or guided tours,
• by level of difficulty,
• and by destination.

What does that mean?

Self-guided tour:

You receive GPS data, biker friendly accommodations with breakfast and a local service number. Besides, you can find many Extras in each tour description, like luggage transfer, gravel bike rental, transportation and much more. With the help of the GPS data you navigate yourself, so you can ride in your own speed and stop wherever you want.

Guided tour:

You travel in a small group (max. 10 persons) and you are accompanied by an experienced guide who knows the route and who shows you small highlights on the road that many people pass without noticing. In case you want to ride on your own for a while, you receive your own GPS data. In addition, biker friendly accommodations with breakfast as same as luggage transfer and a support vehicle are always included. The guided tours are perfect for cycling travelers who want to meet like-minded people and want to explore beautiful regions in a group.

Level of difficulty:

We developed 5 levels of difficulty. They are framed by distance, elevation and nature of the ground. Thereby we make sure that you can chose the suitable tour for you depending on your experience and fitness.

Destination:

The cycling vacations of Gravel Bike Tours bring you to different countries and regions. The regions have to be suitable for sporty bike tours in easy terrain, and should offer unforgettable experiences because of beautiful landscapes and cultures. Besides, a good infrastructure is important.

We developed 5 levels of difficulty. They are framed by distance, elevation and nature of the ground.

1/5: Easy Peasy
2/5: Refreshing
3/5: Standard
4/5: Tough
5/5: Batshit Crazy

In order to decide which level is best for you, read more about the nature of the five categories.

The prices in the tour descriptions are minimum prices per person when sharing a double room. The price can increase for examples when you want to travel in the high season or if you book extras. Besides, there is a single supplement. If you chose a triple or quadruple room, the per person rate might be reduced.

Bookings for services provided by Gravel Bike Tours must be made via the booking form provided for this purpose on the website of Gravel Bike Tours. This booking request is binding for you. Upon receipt of a booking, Gravel Bike Tours will check availability and, if all requested services are available, will send you a booking confirmation and invoice via e-mail.

The exact payment details will be noted on your invoice. As a rule, a deposit of 20% is due immediately upon booking. The balance is to be paid no later than 4 weeks before the start of the tour, but can also be paid directly with the deposit. In case of last-minute booking, the total invoice price becomes due immediately.
Any bank charges incurred shall be borne by the travel participants. This should be noted in particular for payments from outside of Germany or the European Union.

Accepted as methods of payment are only bank transfers and PayPal.

Cancellation of a booked service is only possible in text form and is valid from the day the notification of cancellation is received by Gravel Bike Tours. In the event of a cancellation, the cancellation fees stated on the invoice shall apply. As a rule, the following cancellation fees apply:

• up to 42 days before the start of the tour: 10% of the booking price,
• 28-41 days before the start of the tour: 25% of the booking price,
• 8-27 days before the start of the tour: 40% of the booking price,
• 0-7 days before the start of the tour 90% of the booking price.

We recommend our customers to take out a travel cancellation insurance themselves.

Travelers who terminate or leave a tour early will not be entitled to a refund of the tour price.

Gravel Bike Tours by Culture Mondial recommends that you take out the following insurances:

• Health insurance or international health insurance
• Travel cancellation insurance
• Baggage insurance
• Traveler’s accident insurance
• Legal expenses insurance
• Personal liability insurance

Physical health and fitness are required. You know your body best, are you confident to be able to ride the tour? Decide on the basis of the distance and elevation of the stages.

All travelers are responsible for compliance with possible passport, visa, customs, foreign exchange and health regulations themselves. Any costs incurred in connection with that are your own responsibility. For this purpose, please check the website of your country’s Foreign Office regularly.

The arrival and departure are self-organized by the travelers and are not part of the booked services. For further information please check “Arrival and departure” in the respective tour description.

If you arrive by plane, we recommend to put your bike in a bicycle case or box which you can check in at the airport as excess baggage without difficulty.

We recommend to make our tours with gravel bikes, but the tours can also be made with every high-quality bike that is eligible for longer tours aside of paved streets (e.g. XC, marathon, touring MTB, crosser). Good all-round tires with approximately 40 mm width are recommended.

The passengers themselves are responsible for the road safety of the bicycles. Before starting the journey, you should always check your bike thoroughly.

In principle, all tours can be ridden with an e-bike, but you should be sure to specify this when booking (below “Other wishes and requests”) so that we can select hotels with charging stations for you. Not all partner hotels have e-bike charging stations, so your booking is subject to the availability of suitable hotels. If we are unable to find a hotel with a charging station at one of the overnight locations, we will inform you and you can cancel your booking free of charge.

We recommend gravel e-bikes, or other e-bikes with good all-round tires with approximately 40 mm width.

On most tours, yes. Please have a look at “Extras” in the respective tour description.

We try to find simple, authentic, smaller and calm accommodations with good food and regionally typical flair for all of our tours. Most important to us is that each lodging has secure cycle storages. As a characteristic of Gravel Bike Tours, we look for accommodations that have something special, like an amazing view, breakfast eggs from the guesthouse’s own hens, a pool for refreshment after a warm day’s stage, a pub on the ground floor of the bed’n’breakfast and much more. We prefer accommodations that are classified as bike-friendly by a local cyclist’s association.

For each included overnight stay, breakfast is included. Other meals are not included in the rate.

For most tours, a daily baggage transfer from hotel to hotel is included or can be booked as an extra service. Please see “Service” in the respective tour description.

Safety first – a helmet should be a matter of course. The travelers themselves are responsible for weather-resistant outfit or clothing. Therefore, read up on the local weather conditions of your destination before going there. In the mountains, but also on the coast, sudden change in the weather is possible. This is why you should make sure to bring warming clothes even in the Summer. Leg and arm warmers as same as a wind vest should also be brought. A rain jacket, rain pants and waterproofed overshoes can keep the good mood when a short shower reaches you.

The passengers themselves are responsible for the road safety of the bicycles. The regulations of your destination’s country apply. A lighting on your bike is strongly recommended.

To not being forced to terminate your tour prematurely, we strongly recommend to carry along a tool kit or multitool, pump, 1-2 tubes and a repair kit for tubes or tubeless setup.

Everyone should have with him/her a first aid kit.

Since our travelers come from different countries, please inform yourself about connector type, voltage and frequency of your destination before the start of your journey.

• Fully functional gravel bike (or alike)
• Bicycle helmet
• Bike wear
• Bidons
• Lights
• Cycling glasses
• Tool kit or multitool and tire repair kit
• Spare tubes (also with tubeless)
• Bike pump / CO2 cartridges and valve adapter
• Tire levers
• Bike GPS
• Arm / leg warmers
• Wind vest
• Rain gear
• First aid kit
• Passport
• International health insurance
• Credit card and cash in local currency
• Snacks
• Mobile phone with charger (powerbank)