When you book and Ensemble Cycling stay, you get much more than just a great place to sleep, shower and brush your teeth. We take care of the "what to do in the day time" portion of the vacation as well. 

First, we do all the organizing. Use our checklist Stay Planner to plan (and budget) everything from dinners to rental bikes, car rentals, best travel options, Ride Leaders and best cycling routes.  Whether you want to keep it simple and Self-Guided or full-on soup-to-nuts supported with van support and Ride Leaders each day, our Trip Planner allows us to accurately plan just the services your group wants and estimate the total cost.

Best of all, instead of the cookie-cutter, tired rehashed meals and events most bike companies propose, every Ensemble Cycling stay is 100% customized to your group's needs and interests. 

To help you decode the local delights, you'll receive our coveted Villa Handbook filled with the best the region has to offer off-the-bike. 

Our Ride Guide is our riding bible.  Each villa has  it's own set of a full week's worth of both Performance (60-100miles, hilly) and Recreational (25-50miles, flatter) routes. Each group gets our customized Ride Guides (cycling routes and maps), 

Off the bike, your personal Local Host local guide is ready to show you the best of his or her region. Meet their favorite wine makers, restaurateurs, market vendors, artisans....
Your Handbook (tm)
Twenty years ago, when we first got started, we were hanging around the Avignon tourist office in Provence. At the counter were a couple of young Americans, asking questions and scribbling notes. It turned out they were researchers from the popular three inch thick travel guide "Let's Go", there to update their Provence edition. "How long are you in the area then?" We asked. Their reply ("Oh, only today and tomorrow. Then we have to head off to another area.") made us realize how limited most travel guides are. They cover too broad an area, they only cover the highlights, and they are out-of-date as soon as they are printed.

So, we decided to publish our own very local travel guides, the Hosted Villas Handbooks. As they only cover a 100 mile radius they are different for each region, indeed for each villa. To prepare them we basically get our local teams to do a brain dump of everything good they do in their normal day-to-day lives in France, Italy and Spain. The result is a treasured compendium of our favorite restaurants, wine makers, markets, artisans, even sneaky places to park and the best picnic sites. And most of it is never covered in Let's Go or Fodors.

Here's a sample of the typically 100 page version.
The Ride Guide (tm) 
The Handbook covers everything you might want to do off the bike. The Ride Guide is like a Handbook for riding. Route suggestions, maps, directions, a biking glossary and tips on how to ride in Europe.
(Double click to see it in Full Screen mode.)
The Cycling Stay Planner
A Hosted Cycling stay is flexible and fully customizable. 
If you can change a flat and read a map, then just pick one of our great villas and some rental bikes and along with your Ride Guide full of routes, you have everything you need for an excellent Self-Guided cycling vacation. 

But maybe a Ride Leader would be a good idea for the first couple of days, just until you get your bearings? No problem, just fill in the number of days and you'll have an updated estimate. 

If you choose not to prepare your own breakfasts, we can have that done for you.
Would you like like one of our cooks to prepare dinner in-house? Just pick fancy or family-style.