Biking in Belgium?

[GaryInCO]

I want to plan a biking & beer-tasting trip to Belgium with my son, age 28. (I took his brother on a couple of diving trips to Mexico & Honduras but he's harder to find something to do together. But he lit up at the idea of a Belgian beer tour.)

Any suggestions? I'm not really looking to go with a group, but I could. Even by ourselves, it might be a lot easier to work with an organizer for route planning, lodging, bike rental, bike storage, etc. I've started trolling through the webz but I thought if someone had good/bad experiences ... Thanks!

 

[savory]

We have never biked in Belgium. But have biked in Europe on a N Sea route from Scotland to Copenhagen and another ride from Venice to Paris. Belgium has a good reputation as a biking country.

You can check out the Eurovelo maps. Look for planned bike tours to get a sense of their routes. Or, perhaps RidewGPS, Crazy GuyOn A Bike, and Google Maps. Tourist info might be helpful too. Hope this at least gives you some worthwhile suggestions.

 

[YB88]

My wife and I did a bike & barge trip through Belgium and the Netherlands a few years ago. It was a 'group' trip, of course, given the barge, and as such it did have us in a sort of "bubble of Americans" the whole time. And not the cheapest way to go, but OTOH it was a "soup to nuts" sort of experience where they provided the bikes and led two different bike trips each day ('shorter' and 'longer'). Small boat, got to know other kindred spirits on board and the food was just excellent.


I like biking trips both ways, and I would say that you could certainly map out your own trip in Belgium and have flexibility and more interaction with folks who are not fellow tourists that way. On a more recent biking trip in Bavaria we booked via a local company that allowed us to pick up rental bikes at our starting point and just leave them at the end point, vs. having to bring them back by train at the end. Maybe somewhere in Belgium has something similar.

 

[anethum]

I biked in Belgium a long time ago. At that time, the Flemish-speaking part of the country had lots of bike paths alongside roads as in the adjacent Netherlands. However, most of those paths in Flanders (unlike the Netherlands) were paved with bricks or cobblestone and were quite bumpy. I would hope that they've paved most of those paths since then. Flanders is flat like the Netherlands. The French speaking part of the country generally had rolling hills and few bike paths. The country is small so distances between breweries will be short. Be warned, however, that it often rains in Belgium.

More recently, I visited the Cantillon Brewery/Brussels Museum of the Gueuze which I found interesting. BTW, I liked gueuze, which tasted a bit like very dry cider to me. Some people can't stand it.

https://www.cantillon.be/visites?lang=en

Just over the border from Belgium is the French city of Lille. Besides being a lovely city, there are a couple of dozen craft brewers in Lille.

 

[COcheesehead]

The group tour companies will plan, make hotel reservations, provide maps, etc, for individuals as well. They call them self guided. So you get the benefit of their experience, but you can do the trip on your own. We used these guys for one such trip. There are likely many tour companies that do the same.
https://www.vbt.com/travel-styles/self-guided-biking-tours/

 

[fosterscik]

We've been eying a cycling tour in Europe and liked the look of this company. It has a beer cycling trip in Belgium!
https://www.thenaturaladventure.com/tours/belgium/cycling-the-flemish-beers-route/

8 Days Self-guided

Day 1: Arrival Genk
Day 2: Genk – Peer | 64km
Day 3: Peer – Turnhout | 74km
Day 4: Turnhout – Antwerp | 65km
Day 5: Antwerp – Leuven | 63km
Day 6: Leuven – Diest | 44km
Day 7: Diest – Genk | 58km
Day 8: Departure from Genk
Breakfast is included each day.
e-bikes are also available

 

[GaryInCO]

Thanks for the tips, folks! Several promising ideas, but so far I think the winner is @fosterscik’s suggestion — good route, great reviews, and (unless I missed something) remarkably modestly priced. I’ll look more at those, and if anybody else has other ideas, let’s hear ‘em!