The Specialists in California Bike Tours

Undiscovered
Wine Country

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	Itinerary
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Days 6 Nights 5 2008 Start Dates April 27 June 1 July 6–FULL Sept 7 Oct 19 Nov 9 Departure City Rohnert Park Nearest Airports San Francisco Santa Rosa Level Moderate-Avid Avg. Daily Distance 30-60 miles Price per Person $1494 Single Supplement $539

Northern California Bike Tour — Undiscovered Wine Country and Pacific Coast

Ride the quieter regions of the California Wine Country and Pacific Coast by bicycle

Inspired vistas, intimate wineries, sun-kissed hills—this is California’s celebrated Wine Country cycling landscape. The routes are ideal for biking no matter how hard or easy you want to go. Join us to explore valleys of world-famous vineyards, forests of soaring redwoods, perfect pastoral landscapes and the captivating Pacific Coast.

Not Your Typical California Wine Country Bike Tour

Although there are dozens of Wine Country bike tours to choose from, to us they all seem about the same. They ride the same routes, stay in the same hotels, and visit the same wineries. But at Undiscovered Country, that's not our style. We avoid the more famous and heavily traveled portions of the Wine Country and choose instead to visit the quieter and more intimate regions. The roads we ride are less traveled, the inns we choose are smaller and less well known. And while the standard Wine Country bike tour that have been offered for decades are long on wineries and short on cycling, our tours always emphasize the rides.

It's clear from the very start that ours is not your standard Wine Country tour. First of all, we avoid the Napa Valley completely—too well loved by visitors for our tastes—and restrict ourselves to the quieter parts of Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. We spend our first night in the unspoiled and unhurried town of Hopland. You won't find any fast food restaurants, factory outlet stores, or national hotel chains here—nor will you find any other bike tours. But you will find an inviting small town with tasting rooms to sample the best Mendocino County wines, a landscape of vineyards and rolling oak-studded hills, back roads that seem all but deserted, and surprisingly plush accomodations and fine dining.

After Hopland, we spend two nights in Healdsburg. This is a great little Wine Country town in the perfect location to ride the roads through the wine growing regions of Alexander Valley, Knights Valley, Russian River Valley, and Chalk Hill. Healdsburg is ideal for spending a couple of days, with dozens of tasting rooms, interesting shops to browse, and great restaurants showing off the ultimate California Wine Country cuisine. And although Healdsburg is no longer “undiscovered”, it still retains that small town charm.

After leaving Healdsburg, we do something completely different. We head to the wild Northern California Coast for our next stay: the Sea Ranch Lodge, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. There's nothing to see at the Sea Ranch Lodge, other than crashing waves and coastal cliffs. There's nothing to do at the Sea Ranch Lodge, other than hiking the ocean's edge or watching the sun set into the ocean from your dinner table. And that's precisely the idea.

Our final night is spent on the Russian River, in the bohemian enclave of Monte Rio. Here we stay on the river’s edge in a charming inn, surrounded by tall redwoods. That night, we savor some wines from the Russian River Valley specially chosen for our wine pairing dinner.

By design, this is not the typical Wine Country tour that's been around for decades. If you like world famous hotels and restaurants, waiting lines at bustling tasting rooms, and the well worn roads, our tour is not for you. But if you prefer the road less traveled, the community less developed, the landscape less touched by human hands, our Undiscovered Wine Country and Pacific Coast Tour may be just to your liking.

Extend yor vacation

If you would like to take a longer tour, we have scheduled the Sonoma Wine Country Weekend to follow Undiscovered Wine Country. Adding the Sonoma Wine Country Weekend turns the 6-day tour into an 8-day vacation. And since all the rides on the weekend are different than the rides on Undiscovered Wine Country, you will be experiencing new routes each day.

 

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