Cycling adventures along Europe’s Amber Trade Route

Toronto-based Tour d'Afrique, a small, socially responsible bike tour company with huge intentions, has announced that thanks to the input from cycling travelers and avid fans, it will launch a new six-week / nine country tour dubbed The Amber Route on July 11, 2010.

The tour that begins in St. Petersburg, follows the Ancient Amber Trade Route used by the Romans. The 1864-mile route winds its way through the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, then through Poland and Slovakia, continuing on to Hungary, cutting through Slovenia and ending in Venice. Riders may also opt to do one or more of the four shorter sections ranging from 330 to 600 miles each. The complete tour is priced at 5,800 Euros per person.

Prior to this tour the company is offering a newly revised Silk Route Tour, which travels from Istanbul, Turkey to Samarkand, Uzbekistan via the Caucasus republics of Georgia and Azerbaijan, as well as enigmatic Turkmenistan. The tour will run 44 days, departing Istanbul on May 22 and arriving in Samarkand on July 4. If booked on its own the tour is priced at 4,000 Euros per person.

However, Tour d’Afrique is offering a special package combining both tours with a rest week in-between for a price of 8,500 Euros per person for a savings of 1300 Euros. This also includes airfare from Samarkand at the end of the Silk Route to either Moscow or St Petersburg where riders may spend a few days sightseeing prior to the July 11 start of the Amber Route.

Tour d’Afrique founder Henry Gold, who has been staging international cycling tours and races since 2003 and now engages cyclists from over 15 different countries, said that the new Amber Route expedition is an example of his company’s DreamTour program that invites guests to imagine and plan their own perfect trip.

“This particular cycling tour was used as the beta test in developing the DreamTour concept but it was so popular with our community of riders that it is now a reality,” said Gold.

Gold explained that Tour d’Afrique’s DreamTours are always shorter trips than the up to four-month journeys that are the staple of his operations. The company provides the framework and support systems, including: tour staff, nutritious meals, campsites and other accommodations, daily routes and logistics, optional side trips, and the overland vehicles that transport the bulk of the baggage each day.

Other Dream Tours in the works include a North American Epic (Key West to Anchorage), an Indian Adventure (Kerala to Agra) and the Mediterranean Circuit (loops around the entire Mediterranean Sea).

For tour dates, prices and more information visit: tourdafrique.com