Cycling in Italy is the best! This is my second trip in Italy by bicicletta. There are so many bike paths and lanes, cyclists, camping spots, water fountains, diverse scenery, history and art and many excellent routes from which to choose. I had 5 days before I would take a train to see a friend and start a longer cycling adventure so I used them wisely as a pre trip check and exploration from Milan to Venice.

For this trip I flew with my new gravel bike so day one was cycling near Milan just to make sure all was working properly after putting it back together. I choose the 25 mile Milan to Pavia route. Easiest route possible as you literally take a nearly uninterrupted path along the canal, Naviglio Grande all the way to Pavia. There are no hills and it is simple so you won’t get lost.

There are at times lots of cyclists, walkers and runners on this path but the day I went was late August when Milanos were still just coming back from vacation so the city was quite empty and the day was super hot. It was 94 degrees by mid day! People were still out early though and there was shade for a good chunk of the ride!

Pavia was nice for a visit to the main church and cute bridge but most go to see the beautiful monastery by Marco Solari (same guy who did the Duomo of Milan) 8 km before you reach the city. I of course forgot it wasn’t in town and was looking all around and never found the cool looking church I saw online…because obviously it was in Certosa di Pavia…ha I even thought that sounded familiar when I rode by…oh well. I stayed an hour in town, grabbing a snack, more water and exploring before heading back to Milano along the canal again.

The return was extra hot even with shade since I left late and was cycling at noon now. Water in bottles got warm way too fast, shade was less and that 1.5 hours back was definitely draining. I really wanted to jump in that canal but pretty sure it is way nastier than it looks! I was so relieved by any shade left on the return and the city was a joy to finally reach because the buildings provided shade and kept streets way cooler than the path plus I happened to roll through a park and quickly found a fountain with cold water (life saver!)

I later got my gears aligned better and bought some new handle bar tape with more cushion at La Stazione della Bicicletta as that seemed to be the only things needed for the ride to Venezia the next day!

These next few days were a pre ride for a larger cycling tour but I can’t recommend cycle touring in Italy enough. Pick somewhere and go! By the way this was my second tour in Italy (first tour blog here)!

Day 1

Milano to Lake Iseo (via Bergamo)

Leaving Milano was again via a canal path but this time Naviglio Martesana. This canal was beautiful! It ended in Cassano d’Adda which also seemed lovely. From there I crossed the river and headed to Bergamo where the stacciatella ice cream was created at La Marianna and you know I made sure to stop and try it but first I went to the bike shop (Bike Fellas) to cool down and ask about routes to Brescia where I planned to head for the night.

The bike shop showed me the map on the wall and recommended a completely different route to Brescia. Their recommendation was a longer less direct route that would take me to the top of Lake Iseo. Being hot out and now a bit longer I decided staying along the lake was attractive. After having done so I agree it was better!

Before heading North a bit toward Cene where I’d turn and go up over a small pass that would take me to a view overlooking yet another lake I cycled up the hill into the old town to explore Bergamo.

Bergamo is a cute town with it’s old town up on a hill, cycling there was nice, the entry gates offered cool views, the center has a very cool multi colored church facade and of course has great ice cream!

A good chunk of this route was along a river that I made sure to jump it to cool down, 95/40 degrees was a bit too hot so I took all the opportunities I could on the route for this! The only complaint was that downhill drop which was on this narrow curvy typical Italian town road. Not many cars but you always had to be prepared in case one showed up. Drivers in Italy though I must say sure knew what to do around cyclists and I felt very comfortable on the roads here…not to mention routes had plenty of signage…though you could still miss them as they were small signs and at times multiple route possibilities.

From Bergamo to Cene and finally to the top of Lake Iseo where I’d camp. I camped this whole trip because it was cheap enough (average 25€), plentiful, fully serviced (showers, restaurant, with a pool, wifi, ect.) and that seemed to be the way to do it! Therefore night one I spent camping in Pisogne :).

Day 2

Lake Iseo (Pisogne) to Lago di Garda (via Brescia)

Leaving Lake Iseo was amazing! There was this bike path along a chunk of the lake for bikes only with it’s own tunnels and gorgeous views, right along the lake! It was very popular for cyclists of all abilities. If ever in this area, do rent a bike, it is flat around the lake and absolutely enjoyable! All the Italians on holiday brought theirs and cycling was the best plan around this lake for all types of cycling adventures!!

Another hot day…I couldn’t wait until I arrived to the next lake to jump in! Before getting to the lake though I must tell you about lovely Brescia which was quite a charming little city with plenty of old and a bit more modern buildings to aimlessly wander around between the piazzas, fun fountains and all.

The next lake was Lago di Garda, a much bigger lake, and I strategically stayed on the far SE corner in Peschiera del Garda to make the next day easier. The campground Gasparina was super nice and offered a discount for cyclists!

The ride into Lago di Garda was beautiful, tree lined and then gorgeous water. As soon as I hit the first town I parked the bike off the boardwalk, climbed down the rocks, stripped to the unders and popped into the lake a few times. It was wonderful! Warm but not hot like outside. The perfect refresher to continue around and to the other side of the lake.

At some point I felt horrible like my blood sugar dropped. I thought I needed to eat so I looked for food. I learned in Italy if you don’t do lunch between 12-3 you are most likely out of luck unless it is a tourist area. Of course it was past 2 pm so I stopped at the next touristy town. Turns out the reason I was feeling this way was not just because I was hungry but more so that time of the month had arrived. I really need to get better at knowing the feeling of it on the bike because this is the second time now I haven’t figured it out while touring around by bicycle! Argh!

Anywho before leaving the town I somehow managed another 3km out to see a castle only because it looked cool on the map. I was so happy I mustered the energy over to it as it was the cool medieval castle of Simoneli. Right there on the water with a cute town inside it and all. You couldn’t cycle through it but it was worth the walk in and if you wanted, a dip at the beach next to it too!

The rest of the way to camp was ok. I was just ready to get there and be done. Energy never returned from the meal because clearly food wasn’t the biggest problem. The only energy I got was from the excitement of visiting this cool unexpected castle…yeah that is right you can only research so much about each stop that often there are plenty of great surprises each day along the route! You also miss plenty because again too much to research and sometimes going away from your path or up an extra hill has zero appeal on a tour…like I missed the Chiesa de Santa Maria della Neve in Pisogne and I was right there but it was up a hill…oops.

The campground was super nice and I was super pleased with the discount for cyclists as it was the first I’d seen offering this. It was 50% off of the going price for the season…which was 50€. I never reserved ahead just showed up at one I saw on the map, I’ve only had a problem once but I’d imagine at peak high season this could be an issue. Glad I found it since it was the second stop in town for a camp and way better than the first!

Again another day I didn’t plan to stay on a lake…I was heading to Verona but the best plan always seemed to be to stay by the water. See the towns but stay elsewhere is what I learned!

Day 3

Lago di Garda (Peschiera) to Padova area (via Verona)

On my way to Verona I passed many vineyards and some good little hills. Verona wasn’t far from where I stayed on the lake so I got a swim in before leaving. As I got closer to Verona groups of cyclists started to appear and soon we entered the outskirts and were greeted by the cool bridge (Ponte di Castelvecchio).

Verona was my original end spot of this trip because the connecting trains I needed all went through here but I had extra days before I could arrive to visit a friend in Vienna therefore I decided I’d continue to Venice then take a train back.

I was excited to visit Verona because you know Romeo and Juliet. In reality I was not a fan, the place was packed to the brim with tourists everywhere. I stepped into the courtyard of Juliet’s house (free), took the obligatory photo and then left to find lunch on the outskirts (best option). Verona had some nice streets, a cool colosseum and bridge but I wouldn’t ever go again in summer!

Glad I got a hearty lunch as the next segment I got lost and ended up with a slight heat rash from the exertion in this killer heat. While waiting for lunch I was chatting with the local men…ha ha who loved my quads and were super interested in my bike as they lifted their pant leg to show they too were cyclists with the tan line lol.

All was good until I hit the hills and made a wrong turn. No clue how but you just keep following roads then when you reach a dead end you realize it is time to check the map! Well I climbed and climbed and hit the end, went down a gravel path and realized I was not headed in correct direction any longer plus I thought the hill was ending soon. When I saw the map I was almost to top but totally in the wrong spot. I saw a trail that connected and thought that was way better then descending and climbing it all over again. I took the trail but it was steep and more for mountain bikes so I pushed the bike, panniers and all, quite a bit but never gave up trying to cycle it. Sweat was clogging every pore on my body, I was a frustrated mess but eventually made it out…only to get lost again for 5 minutes thankfully this time on the paved road and all was downhill I just had to turn around. Lesson learned…I need a cellphone holder to do this trip, pulling it out of the back pocket to navigate was not going to work!

I continued to get lost and it wasn’t until I finally left the hills that life continued. Thankfully I was now onto lovely gravel tracks between farmland until I basically reached the campground just outside of Padova. There were tons of sunflowers all drooping and I really understood how they felt, as I had the same sentiment, so tired! I did see a random castle just before reaching camp that made me chuckle because you would never see that elsewhere except Europe.

To avoid the hills I suggest just taking the longer route and going through Vicenza which has plenty to see and is worth a visit too.

Day 4

Padova area (Padua in English) to Venezia

The camp was descent, a farm to table type spot, where I woke up with a peacock squawking outside my tent in the morning :). It was not very cheap though, one of the pricer ones I stayed at. Italy’s camping was between 20-30€ if just a tent. You get charged for tent, number of people and pitch (whatever that means). This camping for example was 23€ for tent and 8€ for the pitch.

Plus I paid for their fresh homemade buffet breakfast because I really wanted some eggs…ugg 12€…but eggs sounded so good after days of mainly salami cheese and bread…and then I rolled out.

Padova was the first place I stopped and I absolutely fell in love with the place. I wish I had more time to explore it. Besides wandering around and discovering the really cool clock tower here I visited a famous Scrovengi Chapel for 15€ (museo included) and then continued. Usually touring I spend just a few hours cycling around exploring then head onward to the next stop. You see a lot on the bike rather quickly so it is usually enough time to get a good scope of most places.

Plan of the day was to cycle to Venice. There wasn’t much to see between there and Padova. Although if you have time to kill there is a cute town that was a bit of a mini Venice called Oriago that I enjoyed. I have been to Venice before but had an awful time in the rain so I said I had to give it another chance and I’d go again as long as it wasn’t raining. Oddly the rain was on it’s way later that night. Again this was an add on to the original plan to cycle Milano to Verona but you know traditional bike touring, things change often.

There is something really cool about arriving to Venice by bike. I was really excited to cycle into Venice and didn’t even recall from my prior visit how you even got to the island. Turns out there is a long bridge for pedestrians/bikes/cars/trains to cross over.

Once on the canals you can’t really take bikes but I cycled in and crossed the first bridge (which was luggage/wheelchair/bike friendly) and found a quiet corner near Hotel Papadopoli to leave it an hour or two so I could wander around before catching a train out. If staying longer you can also do the huge bike lockers in the bus/ferry building for a fee for 24 hours and it fit’s everything even pannier bags on the rack (More info here)

Sunny Venice was quite amazing. I loved the colors, the small streets and bridges and of course had to get a gelato while walking around. I didn’t wander too far but I saw parts I’d not seen before and made it out to the big canal to see the big white bridge, Ponti di Rialto, before having to turn back. I know I missed a ton but I did spend a rainy few days in the city way back in 2004.

Taking the train out of Venice with a bike is no easy feat. You must cross a bridge that is only somewhat bike friendly…imagine a long inclined ramp with bumps every 3 feet. I wasn’t sure how to get to the station at first so I wasted lots of time and missed the train I wanted. This successively lead to missing more trains because moving between platforms is no easy feat with a touring set up as I quickly learned and it eventually got me stuck elsewhere unplanned in the rain over night. I think the better plan would have been to leave the bike in Venice, visit my friend then return for it and continue on my way…a big reroute from my next planned bike touring trip but it would have worked out well and been easier. Unfortunately, I am pretty good at sticking to bigger plans that I have made so suffered instead.

Cycling in Italy was amazing, there were so many cyclists, decent signage, great routes (plenty of which was a cycling path or low traffic roads), wonderful stops, interesting surprises, wonderful food, tons of water fountains, plenty of campgrounds and cars seemed to know how to get around bikes with enough space most of the time.

I would definitely recommend cycling in Italy but maybe not in August…the over 90F around 40C days were a bit rough. I’m thankful my route had plenty of lakes and rivers!

Tips:

– If you take trains in Italy all will allow bikes and it is usually free. The exception is the Italo trains, high speed trains, they only allow foldable bikes! Taking TrainItalia is the best practice! Allow for at least 30 minutes if transferring because trains arrive late and moving on platforms with bikes requires more time! Prepare to use stairs with all your stuff and bike (some elevators but they are slow and confusing in a time crunch). If moving between countries research if bikes are allowed on trains there, some don’t let bikes on while others require reservations and are limited (like Austrian trains).

– Don’t ask for water in Italy, ask for the bathroom and fill up your bottle there. Tap water is fine but they will only sell you bottles if you ask for a fill. Also know there are plenty of fountains in all towns…look for a church, park or main square and you are sure to find excellent water! The tap and fountain water is clean and great!

– Download the app Komoot if you do not yet have it. You can use it free and offline. It is a great resource for route planning and navigation. I will say it isn’t perfect, sometimes you must reroute or decide a different path for your own sanity but mostly it works great!

Campsites:

Lake Iseo – Camping Eden – Pisogne

Lago di Garda – Campeggio Gasparina – Peschiera del Garda

Padova area – Agriturismo Biologico La Buona Terra

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