Dropping in on Local Festivals Easy to Schedule on Pure Adventures’ Self-Guided Bicycle Tours in Europe and the UK

Europe’s self-guided, active travel leader, Pure Adventures, that designs game plans for adventurous cycling vacations throughout Europe and the UK, suggests that one way to get into the heart of a country is to drop into a local festival. In the case of Italy, it might be a culinary feast, or, this summer in Ireland, a return to emerald roots at the summer-long event dubbed, The Gathering.

Italy’s Puglia is a relatively new region offered to Pure Adventures clients seeking self-guided tours of six nights. In addition to the trulli (white limestone dwellings that resemble pointed witches hats), this region bordering the Adriatic is one of Italy’s wilder sides, with ample urban-stress-relief cycling through agricultural vistas and national parks. Here, as elsewhere in Italy, there are year-round calendar of events for nearly every village. These events celebrate patron saints, the Virgin Mary and, of course, Carnivale. For possible tours see here.

This website offers a sampling of events in Puglia

Medieval festivals in towns around Florence begin cropping up in May, competing for attention with multitudes of food and wine happenings on four- and six-night self-guided tours.  See here.

Onion and tulip festivals mix with Medieval music and dance in Umbria, and if cycling guests plan accordingly, they can take in a happening on a six-night tour. See here.

Another part of Italy that Pure Adventures offers over six nights is Maremma in western Tuscany.  Here in May guests can stumble on a crossbow competition in a Middle Ages city and explore the secrets of the prized Prugnolo mushroom. See here.

Hopping over to Ireland, this country’s 2013 cause célèbre is The Gathering, billed as an island-wide festival of events meant to draw in people seeking to connect with their Irish roots. On seven- and four-night Ireland self-guided tours cyclists can plan to tuck in more than one musical event along with pub visits. The tours focus on Connemara and on Galway and the Aran Isles.

“Because you’re on your own wheels and your own time, you can linger – or not – as you wish at these events that draw on a region’s history and culture. The only consideration then becomes the seasonal time frame in which Pure Adventures offers programs to a region,” said Loren Siekman, founder.

Self-guided tours – and surprises – are offered in 2013 in over a dozen countries including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland.