Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher
Discover 200 of the best places to ride a bike in this beautifully illustrated hardback. From family-friendly, sightseeing urban rides to epic adventures off the beaten track. Destinations range from France and Italy, for the world's great bike races, to the wilds of Mongolia and Patagonia. These journeys will inspire - whether you are an experienced cyclist or just getting started.
The book is organised by continent. In the Americas we join a family bikepacking trip in Ecuador; we pedal the Natchez Trace Parkway and stop at legendary music spots; we ride the Pacific Coast Highway in Oregon and California; go mountain biking in Moab and Canada; and explore the cities of Buenos Aires and New York by bicycle.
European rides include easy-going trips around Lake Constance, along the Danube and the Loire, and coast-to-coast routes; routes in Tuscany, Spain and Corsica; and professional journeys up Mt Ventoux and around the Tour of Flanders.
In Asia, we venture through Vietnam's valleys; complete the Mae Hong Son circuit in northern Thailand; cross the Indian Himalayas; and pedal through Bhutan. And in Australia and New Zealand we take in Tasmania and Queensland by mountain bike; cycle into Victoria's high country and around Adelaide on road bikes; and try some of New Zealand's celebrated cycle trails.
Each ride is illustrated with stunning photography and a map. A toolkit of practical details - where to start and finish, how to get there, where to stay and more - helps riders plan their own trips. There are also suggestions for three more similar rides around the world for each story. Each piece shows how cycling is a fantastic way to get to know a place, a people and their culture.
About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, gift and lifestyle books and stationery, as well as an award-winning website, magazines, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in.
TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 winner in Favorite Travel Guide category
'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times
'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)
Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.
Reviews (127)
For all the dedicated biking people you know
I bought this for my husband, who is a serious mountain bike rider. He looks into all the trails wherever we go, and makes sure to explore at least a few of them on our visits. So as we may have a bit more time on our hands as we move closer to retirement, I saw this book and thought we could make more trips around our beautiful country and check out more places. He was thrilled with the book, and looks forward to checking some of these places out! He liked it so much he had me get another one for his best friend, who is also an avid bike rider! He is enjoying it now, too. Do you know any avid bike riders? This is a great gift, or for yourself if you bike!
Nice pictures, little information
A beautiful book, and if you are looking for a very general overview of cycle touring around the world, but lacking in useful details. Very little about the routes or conditions, information that would help you decide if the ride is interesting or something you can handle. More like a travel blogger sending brief notes back home and some photos, with brief info about where to rent a bike or get a map. Just too general to be useful except for a casual read about cycling globally.
Poor construction - broken binding
Bought this book as a gift. Book was truly "Like New" as the pages were still stuck together like no one has ever opened it or flipped through the pages. The pictures are beautiful and my fiance is excited to get to sit down and enjoy it. The reason this gets a 3 star rating is due to the poor construction of the book. It was simply packaged in a bubble mailer and as the post man shoved it into the mail slot, the binding broke and is almost completely detached from the rest of the book. We are very disappointed and it looks like we weren't the first to experience this with the binding.
Great ideas for rides for those who cycle the world and those who merely dream about doing so
Inspiring with a group of ideas for rides I might not have thought of on my own. My wife and I travel all over the world, many by bicycle - 73 countries visited in total thus far. This book reminded me of some of our favorite past rides, confirmed some already on our existing list to try, suggested some we had not previously envisioned, and gave us reasons to rule out some others we might otherwise foolishly have tried.
The contents of the book are lovely, it's the ...
The contents of the book are lovely, it's the book itself that's the problem....the binding completely fell apart within a day of giving this to my husband for his birthday. It was so disappointing!! Pages are literally falling out of the book now. We've had it less than a week.
Great!
It has a lot of great destinations and the pictures are terrific.
Awesome Gift
Great gift for my daughter, who has bicycled allover the world.She has now found new places to go. It did slow down our gift opening on Christmas Eve, since she wouldn't put the book down and go on to open her next present. It was ok though, we all needed a break anyway. Great book.
Good gift for a cyclist
I bought this as a Christmas gift for my brother who has been into cycling and travel, so it seemed to be the perfect gift. I doubt he's sat down to read it much, but I know he liked the idea of it and rather go out on his bike instead.
makes you dream
book has rides that make you want to hop on a plane and go tomorrow
Great book and cute too
Fun book and it looks nice on the coffee table!
For all the dedicated biking people you know
I bought this for my husband, who is a serious mountain bike rider. He looks into all the trails wherever we go, and makes sure to explore at least a few of them on our visits. So as we may have a bit more time on our hands as we move closer to retirement, I saw this book and thought we could make more trips around our beautiful country and check out more places. He was thrilled with the book, and looks forward to checking some of these places out! He liked it so much he had me get another one for his best friend, who is also an avid bike rider! He is enjoying it now, too. Do you know any avid bike riders? This is a great gift, or for yourself if you bike!
Nice pictures, little information
A beautiful book, and if you are looking for a very general overview of cycle touring around the world, but lacking in useful details. Very little about the routes or conditions, information that would help you decide if the ride is interesting or something you can handle. More like a travel blogger sending brief notes back home and some photos, with brief info about where to rent a bike or get a map. Just too general to be useful except for a casual read about cycling globally.
Poor construction - broken binding
Bought this book as a gift. Book was truly "Like New" as the pages were still stuck together like no one has ever opened it or flipped through the pages. The pictures are beautiful and my fiance is excited to get to sit down and enjoy it. The reason this gets a 3 star rating is due to the poor construction of the book. It was simply packaged in a bubble mailer and as the post man shoved it into the mail slot, the binding broke and is almost completely detached from the rest of the book. We are very disappointed and it looks like we weren't the first to experience this with the binding.
Great ideas for rides for those who cycle the world and those who merely dream about doing so
Inspiring with a group of ideas for rides I might not have thought of on my own. My wife and I travel all over the world, many by bicycle - 73 countries visited in total thus far. This book reminded me of some of our favorite past rides, confirmed some already on our existing list to try, suggested some we had not previously envisioned, and gave us reasons to rule out some others we might otherwise foolishly have tried.
The contents of the book are lovely, it's the ...
The contents of the book are lovely, it's the book itself that's the problem....the binding completely fell apart within a day of giving this to my husband for his birthday. It was so disappointing!! Pages are literally falling out of the book now. We've had it less than a week.
Great!
It has a lot of great destinations and the pictures are terrific.
Awesome Gift
Great gift for my daughter, who has bicycled allover the world.She has now found new places to go. It did slow down our gift opening on Christmas Eve, since she wouldn't put the book down and go on to open her next present. It was ok though, we all needed a break anyway. Great book.
Good gift for a cyclist
I bought this as a Christmas gift for my brother who has been into cycling and travel, so it seemed to be the perfect gift. I doubt he's sat down to read it much, but I know he liked the idea of it and rather go out on his bike instead.
makes you dream
book has rides that make you want to hop on a plane and go tomorrow
Great book and cute too
Fun book and it looks nice on the coffee table!
Bike tour time
Got this as a birthday gift for my friend and she loved it. I want to do some of the trips myself.
Great buy
Great quality. Makes an excellent gift for a bikepacking enthusiast.
Incredible book!
Incredible book! Great gift
Fantastic Gift
We love looking throught this book and planning our next adventure!
It was a wonderful gift
It was a perfect gift for my husband who is a keen bike rider.
Great coffee table book !
Great book for bike enthusiasts! Pictures are so great !
Four Stars
Great pictures, informative text and varied destinations. Would have liked a little more detail on USA west coast.
Variety and great details
Great photos and details of a huge number of great bike trips!
Five Stars
Some wonderful trips we are looking forward to riding!
Quality
Very nice hardcover book..gift for my son he was impressed
Great gift for bike riding enthusiasts
Beautiful book
Great
Great book
Great book
I loved looking through this book. Rides for my bucket list!
Excellent
Great intro
Great gift for the bike rider in your life
Cousin loved the book
Makes me feel like going on a bike tour!
This is an exciting book to read, with great pics and trip ideas. Not sure if I'll make it on any of them, but I've enjoyed reading it and have been sharing it with our warmshowers.org guests.
Get your gear together!
Makes me eager to get going!
Five Stars
Perfect gift
I ordered "Epic Bike Rides" and received "America's National Parks" ...
I ordered "Epic Bike Rides" and received "America's National Parks".. a totally different book. Bummer because this was for a birthday present.. which will now be late.
ge great, as expected
ge great, as expected.
Five Stars
Making plans
Great way to dream
Great way to dream
Four Stars
It was a gift
For mountain bikes almost only
A disproportionate number of the rides are for mountain bikes only; road cycling is poorly represented. Also, too many rides are for very short distances. That may be OK in of itself but who invests in a trip to say, Ecuador or Norway for a ride of less than 100 miles? Most route descriptions are lacking in detail so as to be impossible to follow. Great photography and inspiring, however. I have ridden 15,000 miles all over the US, Canada and Europe and found this disappointing. Recommend 100 Great Cycling Trips to Take Before You Die instead.
A Coffee Table Book for the Bicycle Adventurer
I think you could easily subtitle this book "All the places you're never going to ride your bike in this world." I tend to enjoy the Lonely Planet books. They are often coffee table type books, as is true with this one, and they are often good or discovering new places to visit, new adventures, or simply to fantasize about living a life with enough money to travel to places the Lonely Planet writers seemingly go on a daily basis. "Epic Bike Rides of the World" is, indeed, to be taken literally. This is not your "mom and pop" bike trail book, but a serious look at some of the world's most epic bike rides from competitive journeys to collective adventures to isolated countries where you're not even allowed to tour alone. If you're looking for slow, meandering trails where you can safely travel you can fairly well set this book aside. While there are a handful of such trails in the book's 500+ pages, the vast majority of the book emphasizes true adventure. The good news is that "Epic Bikes of the World" is for the most part a well written travelogue, a series of writers sharing their actual experiences on these trails. At times, you can feel their experience in the writing and you can feel how meaningful that experience had been in their lives. Other times, "Epic Bike Rides of the World" is more matter-of-fact. Every adventure, though, offers a very helpful "toolkit" of what to expect, what to pack, where to stay, where to eat, and other valuable tidbits. While I figured out early on that this book would be of very little use to me, I found myself appreciating the personal and practical information included as a disabled activist who often travels by wheelchair and who often finds myself going off in search of just this type of information. That was, in fact, my original purpose for picking up the book as an Amazon Prime read. I wondered if I might get enough information and/or photographs of the trails to discern their wheelchair friendliness. I'm always looking for new places to go and new adventures to have, but such revelations were few and far between here. While there are photographs to be found here, they are for the most part rather general in nature and meant to support the "epic" nature of these rides. In other words, they aren't particularly helpful. Similarly, while I found the "toolkit" to be helpful in a general sense there was never really a differentiation regarding when these were actual "trails" and when these were simply rides along lonely highways that might not be as friendly to walkers, runners or, in my case, wheelers. There's nothing wrong with a book devoted to planting the seeds for fantastic travel adventures and essentially that's what you get with "Epic Bike Rides of the World." It's ultimately a fun to read book filled with bike rides and life adventures that a good majority of us will never experience but we'll enjoy picking up the coffee table book and sighing to ourselves "One day!"
Great overview of places to tour by bicycle
Great ideas for bike rides around the world. I am not a racer so I did not read some of the chapters but the others gave me good ideas and a bit of advice on where to stay and best times of years. I dont use tour companies, rather I just go myself. This book gave me some ideas.
Epic rides
This book was awesome, you see these places through another peddlers eyes. Places I probably will never see, so I was wowed. I absolutely loved reading this book. Good clean writing. You have to read it! I felt like I was there.
Big Hit
My son in law loved loved loved this book. He is the one who rides a bike and had the birthday gift!
Great ideas for your future
Found the pyrenees and looking at trips,maybe next year or not. i am a freee bird! Great Britain also looked like some great possibilities
Interesting book,
Great book for the bike enthusiasts. Unique trails in one of a kind locations. Add this to your bucket list.
Great book for a cycling enthusiast
Excellent book on finding treasure tracks to ride in.
Very Aspirational
I am not a bike rider but this book really makes me want to start training so I can do some of these rides.
Informative
Very interesting read
I want to ride my bike
The only bad thing about this book is you want to run away and bike the world. Gives distances and lodging recs on top of pictures and written commentary. Awesome
Great ideas.
Interesting.
Four Stars
This book makes a great gift. Beautiful images and very interesting.
Good for cycling enthusiasts
It looked very nice - I bought it as a gift and the recipient seemed pleased.
GREAT Christmas Gift...
For our own pro exploring type riders! They loved it.
Makes you want to leap on your bike!
So many amazing bike rides. So little time. Where do you start? The Spanish Picos Mountains? May Chau? Scotland's Coast to Coast? This a sumptuous book all the way through, from its beautiful retro cover to the amazing photographs and descriptions. Sadly only a paragraph on each destination, but enough to whet the imagination and get inspired. We got the book for my partner for Christmas. He read the first few pages and got his bike out to go down to the shop. Result!
Great write up and photography!
Bought this for my cyclist Husband who tells me its a great book - with fabulous photography - going to become the manual as he cycles the world!
A good read
The book has plenty of good bike rides spread around the world. The rides are probably for the more experienced bike rider rather than the occasional rider and for some I expect there needs to be an ability to be able to ride in differing terrains. However, on reading about the different routes, the description is clear and you should be able to decide if they are for you or not.
Fab book
Bought this for my travel mad ,cycling brother -he thought it was great
Great Book
This was far better than I thought it would be and it was a present for someone who is quite difficult to buy for but he thought it great.
and I know he has enjoyed reading it
This book was bought as a present for my son-in-law so I haven't really seen it but it was well received, and I know he has enjoyed reading it.
Interesting Book!
This book is beautiful and full of great information. I got this for someone as a Christmas present and they've been reading it a lot! There was a small mark on the cover but no damage besides that, probably just happened through delivery. Definitely would recommend for a bike lover.
Really nice book for the bike enthusiast
My son loved this book for a Christmas stocking filler as he's bike mad. Nice hardback book with great illustrations.
A lifetime of cycling delights
A Christmas gift for hubby, he loves it. So many routes and beautifully illustrated and detailed information.
Gift for a friend
Got this as a gift for a cyclist friend. Haven't heard any comments yet so not sure if they got impressed.
Beautiful book
I bought this as a gift for someone and it's such a lovely laid out informative book. Very happy with it
Good book
Really nice book.Bought it as a present for friend.He been very happy to receive it.
Great price
Great price from amazon as its full price in the shops. Bought as a gift, lovely book and much appreciated gift.
Inspiring
Good information to inspire traveling with a bike. Nice glossy photos.
Cycling Tours.
It was a gift for a friend. I haven’t read it.
Beautifully presented book
Beautifully laid out. Bought as a present for a cycling friend who seemed to like it.
Good read.
Bought as a gift for a keep cyclist. He loved it.
Would Recommend
Very happy boyfriend who is a Cyclist. Good Quality book 😊
Lovely book very well made
Love these books
good
arrived on time and was as expected.
Great
Bought as a present
Five Stars
No further comment
Not easy to write a headline when I haven’t read it!
Difficult to review as it was bought as a present. Recipient was looking forward to reading it.
Cycling rides
Lovely book if you enjoy cycling
Great book
Very nice book :) I love it xxx
Perfect gift
Gave as a xmas gift to a cycling enthusiast and she loved it. The book feels really god quality and gave her plenty of inspiration for her next trip away
A good looking book!
I bought this as a gift, I had a look through before I wrapped it and I thought it was well printed. It was also a well received gift!
Well received by cycling enthusiast
Cyclist enthusiast Dad loved this as part of his Christmas present.
Great
Product came REALLY quickly! Super impressed and great quality
Five Stars
Great book for cycle enthusiasts, and quick delivery, Thanks.
Inspiring
Lovely book full of great ideas
Five Stars
Lovely gift - very happy
Five Stars
Really good quality, lots of pictures and interesting info.
Five Stars
Great gift, my Dad loved it.
A wonderful book that will get your pulse rate going as ...
A wonderful book that will get your pulse rate going as you salivate over all the places you can cycle to.
Five Stars
Really nice book.
Good and informative, nicely illustrated
Bought for a Christmas gift. Thoroughly enjoyed and of interest for a bike enthusiast
Stylish
Fantastic book. Inspirational book. Stylish too.
Five Stars
Perfect gift
Four Stars
looks good
Great product
Great product - just as described, given as a gift and recipient was happy!
Great book! This was initially bought as a present ...
Great book! This was initially bought as a present for a friend, so impressed by it i got one for myself
Five Stars
Great quality book with pictures and routes
... for my partner for Christmas and he was really pleased. He's hardly put it down
Brought this for my partner for Christmas and he was really pleased. He's hardly put it down!!! Definitely recommend.
Five Stars
A Christmas gift but sure it will be well received
Five Stars
Great product. Quick delivery.
Five Stars
Loved this book whether it was for wishful thinking or holiday planning!
Brilliant
It was a gift for a friend
Five Stars
Beautiful book
A nice read
Really good
Five Stars
Inspirational cycle adventures.
Molto piacevole da sfogliare in cerca di idee
E' un bel libro pieno di itinerari descritti ed illustrati. Sfoglairlo è molto piacevole e può portare spunti interessanti. Non contiene informazioni complete per poter organizzare il viaggio, ma non credo che sia questo il suo scopo.
Muy chulo
LO compre para regalar a un ciclista y no decepciona, es un bonito libro para los amantes de las bicis
Libro muy visual, de referencia
El libro es grande y pesado entonces sirve una función como libro de consulta. Da ideas de viajes en todos los continentes y muestra también rutas similares a las explicadas. Tiene mucha imagen lo cual sirve para imaginar un poco más el tipo de recorrido que es y sobre todo para inspirar.
Inspirierend
Sehr gutes Buch für Reisende auf dem Rad. Es bietet viele Ideen.
Amazing book!
I got this book for a Christmas present. It is amazing and I would 100% recommend
Great informative read
Amazing book. The quality and detail of every ride is amazing. You will not be disappointed with this purchase.
I was hoping for better photos. The photos in there reminded me of ...
It was a gift. I was hoping for better photos. The photos in there reminded me of old National Geographic magazine.
Buena calidad
Buena calidad, fue para un regalo y acerté
great pics and accompanying narrative
my friend is a major cyclist. He loved this book which I gave him as a gift.
Entertaining
Greatest birthday present for my cyclist husband
Awesome
Very happy recipient!! Hasn’t put it down!
Muy buen libro
Muy buen libro
Nice
Good compilation
Great Book
Everything came as expected
A GREAT BIKE BOOK THAT NEEDS RIDE PROFILES
If you're a cyclist then you will enjoy this book and will find inspiration to cycle beyond the typical weekend warrior cycling activities to explore the planet on two wheels. If you are not currently a cyclist, this book might/will make you realise what you are missing out on. It all starts wonderfully with a well-designed cover that will make you want to leave it on the coffee table for when friends or guests come around. It's a conversation starter and an epic fat penguin of an ice breaker. It covers continents, so the scope is truly global, yet still remembers to drill down into what to expect along the way, such as pubs, cakes, views, and terrain. But this is where, from my perspective, I need to clip it one star; there are no ride profiles. I like every cyclist that I know, want to get my teeth into the profile and how many feet/metres of climbing is involved. Not really a word nor barely indication of gradients, (If they had just taken the time to show a flattened ride profile with height and distance). Not only that but there seems to be an over-emphasis on the off-road element, which in turn leads to some surprising omissions such as the Cape Town Cycle Tour - the largest timed cycle event in the world (in the entire book there are only two events for Africa, nothing for Russia, and only one ride for South America). So, Lonely Planet, you produced an epic coffee table bike book but you missed a big fat trick - the toolkit should tell the reader the gory detail of the climbs involved by omitting this you lose the total wow factor.
... to a keen bike rider and he seems very pleased!
Given as present to a keen bike rider and he seems very pleased!
Five Stars
Brought as a present
A breathtaking volume full of ideas!
This handsome large format hardback book has a wonderfully engaging cover print , contrasting inside cover colours and a huge range of amazing colour photos. The book commences with a cosmopolitan index; bicycle rides are listed by order of continent! Each ride comes complete with a toolkit - a table of start and end points, distances, when to ride, what to ride and any other information you may find relevant, e.g. bike hire. Photos include a pastrami and rye sandwich from Manhattan, a canal in Amsterdam, those famous recording studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, local oysters from the Ile de Re in France, a viaduct in County Durham, the Monetzuma Falls and Bignor Hill. Like the photography, the text is breathtaking, persuading you to take on even more exotic bike rides with great use of language in a very accessible fashion. This is an excellent new book from the Lonely Planet Stable and a great coffee table volume to stay there for ages whilst being consulted from time to time by the committed cyclist or the dreaming car driver before they start their engines and drive off into the sunset.. This will make a great gift to any interested cyclist, or just a talking point in your own home!
