DuVine Style: 10 Details that Make a Cycling Vacation Perfect

I’m a lover of roads. I feel like I’m constantly saying, “this would be a great road for our next tour,” everywhere I go. There’s nothing like finding that road that winds down with incredible views, really pavement, and very little traffic. When you’re going down that road and there’s no one in your way, it’s freedom. Whether I’m traveling to a new destination or a destination I’ve visited 100 times, there are always new roads to discover.

To me, the road is like the story. The trick is finding the roads that connect the dots from the hotel to the restaurant to the winery with sunflowers to your left, vineyards to your right, and the ocean in the distance. The road is the road that leads you to the eat/drink/sleep.

Bicycles are machines, and machines can break. We have a dedicated team who work hard on maintaining our bikes to keep them looking good and running properly. I take great pride in clean bikes that look good, and gear that’s slick and classic.

Your bike will be ready and clean in the morning. We understand that your time is worth more. Details matter, and those details take time. That’s why we only allow 14 people on our trips. When you have over 16 people on a tour, those details are often overlooked.

First, the food itself: we look for restaurants that have not only delicious food, but those that use fresh and local ingredients from their own gardens or local farmers. Then we think about the atmosphere. We take our guests to special places they typically wouldn’t be able to find on their own. Restaurants where we know the owners, where they feel welcomed like family, and where there is a warmth and authenticity that emanates from the building or the kitchen or the terrace where we all dine together. Bon appétit!

Another important thing that people don’t always notice is that our restaurants are always ready for us. When we arrive Mantua after a 23 mile ride, our guests are hungry. The water and the wine starts flowing immediately, and the food isn’t far behind. When you arrive with a group of eight to twelve people, it can take a while because they’re cooking everything fresh, but we take a lot of pride in organization and making sure our restaurants are ready for us. Timing is everything

We take the time to really get to know the chefs and servers and find the kind of people who will connect with our travelers. Many of our chefs will come out, greet the guests, share recipes, and make a connection. It’s an event. Every meal has a purpose, a meaning. It’s all part of what we like to call “culinary immersion.”

To me, winemakers are like artists. Everyone is painting with the same palette, but the great artists are those with the most passion and focus. That’s what it takes to produce the best wine. We want our guests to visit someone who is really connected to the local culture and whose families have been in the business for generations to give our guests a real taste of the place and the wine.

When you’re visiting wineries in Europe, it’s not Disneyland. These artists are working, especially in Bordeaux or Piedmont. But when they let you in, it’s as a friend. They’re very proud. They introduce you to their wines as if they are their children. They let you in and tell you their secrets. We’ve had people on tour who have learned so much about wine that they’ve opened their own winery, and it’s the same with cycling. Lots of guests go on tour and then return home and buy a bike. We want our passion to spill into your daily life.

The first thing I do when I walk into a hotel is go straight to the room and open the window. We want hotels with great locations and views that aren’t obstructed, whether that view is of the sea or the mountains. I don’t want our guests to be across from a loud restaurant or busy highway, but in quiet and secluded locations. It should be like a dream. I don’t want people to travel all this way and think they have a better view at home.

The view comes first—that’s sight. But a good hotel should engage all of your senses. How does it smell? Not many people are as tuned in with their senses as I am, and it can be good and bad. I think I might have been a dog in my past life. I smell and touch and listen everywhere I go. Do you want to hear cars, horns, alarms, and sirens? No. You want to hear the waves or the birds or the cowbells. When you can wake up and hear the waterwheels and the Mincio River outside your window at Il Borghetto in Verona, it’s magic.

And then there’s a sixth sense. Whether it’s a castle in Loire or seaside hotel in Mallorca or a villa in Tuscany—it should make you feel special and lucky. It’s a feeling you can’t describe, and it can only be discovered by visiting all of these places and experiencing it for yourself. That’s why we visit every on-tour hotel before we build our partnerships.

Service is key. Someone can wear a tuxedo, but if they don’t have a smile and a make a connection, it doesn’t mean much. I’m a picky one with that. We work hard to create friendships and connections with all the places we visit. From our hotels manager who reserves the rooms to the guides who check the guests in, the relationships we build spill over into the guest experience.

We want that welcoming feeling of visiting a friend in their home. Like our connection in Tuscany at La Chiusa with Umberto who meets our guests at the door and entertains our guests with his true Italian spirit. The owners like when we arrive. They’re ready for, and they take time to connect with our guests like a guide would. They make the experience richer for our guests by adding that local connection and the feeling of exclusivity.

Besides just the view, the rooms need to be perfect. From the beds, to the sheets, to the showerheads, it’s all about the details. Is there a real blow dryer or one against the wall? What are the lotions like? How soft are the towels? Are the windows placed correctly so you can lay in bed and look out at an amazing view? Whether the hotel offers a pillow menu like Hotel Regina Adelaide in Verona, or insert example, we look for hotels that, just like us, pay attention to the details.

That being said, you may find that a fourteenth-century villa that has hard beds but also has views of a medieval square where you can hear the church bells right. Occasionally you have to sacrifice incredible lotion for incredible locations, but our goal is to find a hotel that gets it as much as we get it: #DuVineStyle. There’s always a reason that we have carefully chosen that particular hotel. It’s our job, and we take it seriously.

It’s always the same show, but with different characters or different seasons. Every tour is different, so all the organization goes into it behind the scenes to make the guests feel confident. Before the show goes on, there’s a lot of rehearsal and preparation, from guide training to the organization and details prepared by the coordinators. Then people begin to arrive, the curtains open, and it’s show time.

We take pride in thinking of every detail to prepare behind the scenes so that the show give a standing ovation. For example, our guides prepare delicious picnics with fresh ingredients, and our guests enjoy those picnics with stunning views. But we don’t stop there. I don’t believe in paper cups. I think wine tastes better in a glass. We focus on little touches like a table cloth and a flower. It’s not every day you’re going to have that picnic on the side of the road, and we want to make it special.

There is so much that goes into the process of finding great guides. One of the most important things is finding guides who are flexible. We want selfless people who can get along with others, go with the flow, and improvise easily so they can uphold a spirit of spontaneity. We give our guides a lot of flexibility because travel should be spontaneous. Obviously there is a core process behind it, but everyone’s tastes are different. We don’t run standard tours because we believe our travelers are not standard, and we don’t want to treat them that way. If a group comes across someone on the side of the road cooking paella or making cheese, it’s not like you have to be at the museum at three. A good guide instinctively knows to stop, connect, interact and isn’t tied to a script like some bigger companies.

Guiding is a very hard job. Our guides are tested on wine, history, and food, and guide training is a bit like boot camp. They have to be able to carry a piece of luggage up a hill with a smile. But if you’re a good guide, the job is easy. It can be demanding, yes, but a talented guide does it all with a natural finesse.