Weather is dismal and the family talk/heated debate has turned to this summer’s holiday.
Daughter studies German and cycle holiday has been suggested.
Any first hand experiences on here?

Depends what you want.

If flat and easy, then Usedom in the North East was fun and novel.

It’s a traditional seaside resort area, so some nice towns, lots of sandy beaches, strandkorbs and interesting history.

Variety of accomodation from camping to hotels and everything in between.

Relatively cheap too.

Train accessible, and easy to take bikes on board, either to get you there or cover longer distances during the stay.

It’s old East Germany, and not a lot of the Queen’s is spoken by locals, so your daughter’s German (and yours) will likely improve a lot.

Peenemunde, home of the doodlebug V1s, is close by, and I had a great day out there. As did the kids – honestly!

Definitely a traditional (East) German holiday experience. Which may or may not be to your liking.

Garmisch / Munich it is not.

But I’d still recommended it!

Danube? I do bike tours alone the river in the Wachau region. Bike and wine.

Riva del Garda. Plenty of German spoken there

My point being they also speak German in Austria, Switzerland and the South Tyrol in Italy.

Good point. I spent a summer in the Dolomites speaking German as it’s one of three languages used. Big hills, but nice river paths in between.

I’ve toured quite a lot in Germany mostly with Madame and junior:

Bodensee Königsee radweg
Ostsee radweg (Baltic)
Rhine/Mossel radweg
Nordsee radweg
Paris – Berlin
Schwarzwald
the start of the danube
Some of the Elbe radweg
Rhurgebiet

Summers are warm and himid, don’t expect Med weather, July can be very wet. Mini-camping can be found along cycle routes, pleasant atmosphere. One of the best countries in Europe to ride a bike IMO.

They might speak German in Austria but if you’ve learned German in north Germany it’s a struggle. I find watching Bavarian films a pain. As for Schwäbisch, when my mates from Bad Wimpfen had a few beers and started speaking the dialect I couldn’t follow.

Harz Mountains are quite nice. Not sure if there are any signposted bike routes (but very likely there are some). Easy drive to get there from Hull-Rotterdam ferry. They also speak really clear textbook German in that area.

Austrian German could almost be a different language – we were on a guided mtb tour and some Germans on the ride were asking if we could understand the guides because they couldn’t.

Loads of long distance cycle paths in the Vaterland….

Bavaria for example…

Home

Königsee- Bodensee your example. Rode half of it myself when riding London to Munich.

Lots of stuff in the Black Forest,

ive toured in Southern Bavaria, Austria, South Tyrol and Switzerland and its always been a joyous experience. There’s loads of information on long distance routes on the web but the Bikeline range of books are fantastic. They’re in German but the big plus are the waterproof maps showing the easy to follow routes. The books link up with on-the-ground route markings so navigation is easy. I’ve bought them from Amazon.de but you can buy direct from the website here.

Two years ago my partner and son (aged ten) did a week cycling along the Drau radweg from Toblach to Slovenia. German was spoken throughout (mostly South Tyrol and Austria) – just rolled into town every night and looked for accommodation. It was never a problem.

Edukator’s suggestions are great. Another option is the Elbe Radweg which goes between Cuxhaven and Dresden via Hamburg, Magdeburg, Lutherstadt Wittenberg and Meißen. It actually goes further through Saxony Switzerland (Sächsische Schweiz) and ends in the Czech Republic. Or the other way around if you want to end at the coast.

Bodensee to Munich, some lumps, lakes to swim in and castles. Or Bodensee to Salzburg, more of the same plus added Third Reich for a bit of history.

Do you want to tour or base yourself somewhere and do day tours? MTB or mix of on/off road?
Bodensee is good, rural hilly to mountain passes all available or somewhere in the Algaeu, Pfronten/Fuessen are good bases.
I tend to look at Komoot if I am taking a trip away from Augsburg.

Thank you for suggestions. Lake Constance loop tour looks very popular and Mrs Wally needs a gentle route.

Take a detour to the Affenberg in Salem, and an overnight in Meersberg.
Spargel season will start in a few weeks, you won’t be disappointed with the food and wine culture around there.

Lake Constance loop tour looks very popular and Mrs Wally needs a gentle route.

Or choose a base (Constance, Lindau, Arbon, Friedrichshafen) and use the ferries to do day trips. If you choose Constance the Rheinfalls are just about a day trip away using the train.

EDIT Elbows comment about Spargel is worth noting.

I’ve cycled through Germany along the Danube with my wife. We both thought it was a great place to cycle in.
We found it to be well priced. Everything was done to a high standard. The infrastructure was great. Lots to see and do obviously. I’m keen to return for more.

We cycled along the Danube last year and loved it. Keen to go back this summer and explore more, thanks for the thread!

We = family of three, 9 year old child. Just ace!

Mmm, Spargel.

Out of interest, what age are your juniors who you take touring and what kind of mileage?

Junior did Paris – Berlin and down the Rhine at 7 on the back of a tandem with up to 130km/day. Then Paris-Copenhagen-Metz via England, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Germany, Metz on the back of a tandem at 9 with up to 160km a day. After that he was on a solo MTB and I don’t thnk we did more than 100km in a day. If he got fed up we found somewhere to camp or something intersting to do. In his early teens we went from touring to MTB holidays. Then he became a rebel and got into festivals and sustance (ab)use. 🙂 And walking, he walked 500km of Compostelle with us at 17.