Whether you’re seeking an adrenalin-pumping Alpine climb or a gentle spin along dramatic coastlines, this guide to the top 10 bike rides in the world will help you choose a two-wheel adventure and book the right hotel.A freewheeling classic, this leg of the Danube Cycle Path shadows the river for 195 miles from Passau to Vienna. As you pedal, you’ll take in bucolic villages and woodlands, Benedictine abbeys and the vine-strewn Wachau Valley.
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So remote the silence rings in your ears, the Camino Austral is an epic 1,250-mile Patagonian adventure from Chalten in Argentina to Puerto Montt in Chile. November to February is the best time to tackle this rolling dirt track, zipping past hanging glaciers, snow-capped mountains and rainforest.
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Bring ample water to ride the 100-mile White Rim Trail in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. You’ll climb switchbacks and descend trails past rock pinnacles and turrets rearing up from the desert floor. Avoid the searing heat of summer.
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Vineyards, golden plains and abandoned gold-digging towns unfold on the 95-mile Otago Central Rail Trail on New Zealand’s South Island. September to May is the best time to cycle this well-signposted, family-friendly route.
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Stretching over hills, misty valleys and headlands from Fishguard to Chepstow, the 220-mile Celtic Trail takes in southern Wales’s mystical scenery and prehistoric standing stones. Briny breezes accompany you to the medieval walled town of Tenby, Pembrokeshire’s long golden beaches and Milford Haven Waterway.
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The short and sweaty 20-mile pedal from Gletsch to Andermatt whizzes through some of Switzerland’s most glorious Alpine scenery. Looping around hairpin bends, the climb to the 2,436m Furka Pass tests your mettle. Cool off in the glittering Rhône Glacier ice grotto before an exhilarating descent to your hotel.
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Pedal past water buffalo grazing in rice paddies, white-sand beaches on the South China Sea and cool highlands on the 480 miles between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Allow time for a junk cruise around Halong Bay’s karst peaks.
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Criss-crossing Quebec, the 2,500-mile Route Verte is a seemingly never-ending expanse of thickly wooded mountains, shimmering lakes and coastal villages. Time your ride to spot whales in the St Lawrence River Estuary from May to October.
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Shimmying around Lake Constance’s shore with Alpine views without the uphill slog, this 170-mile trail slinks past medieval castles, orchards, beaches and villages. There’s the added novelty factor of being able to have breakfast in Germany, lunch in Austria and dinner in Switzerland.
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With its near-vertical drops and heart-pumping descents, the road from La Cumbre near La Paz to Coroico is a bone-shaking 3,300m descent. Don’t look down or brake too hard as you tear downhill at speeds of up to 45mph, with cloud forest, waterfalls and sheer cliffs flashing past.
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