|
Prices
Detailed price charts: $US, $C(anada) and €uro.
These charts, using Adobe Acrobat (download here if you are one of the 3 people who don’t have it), are formatted horizontally on the page but appear vertically on the screen, in order to be printable on normal letter paper. To view on screen: once you have your chart on the screen, select the “Rotate View Clockwise” icon (a square page with an arrow pointing to a shaded square page behind it).
On this page:
Trip prices are subject to change, and do, as currencies fluctuate.
Most notably, the US dollar has fallen sharply against the euro in the past year, more than 10% at this writing. Our trip price increases, an average of 4%, have not come close to keeping pace with this decline (or even with inflation), and further increases are inevitable unless the massive US budget deficits suddenly resolve themselves. Yeah, right. However, you can avoid increases by signing up now.... Read on!
Canadian dollar prices are actually as much as 10% below their ‘07 levels, as the loonie has attained sudden if not completely surprising parity with the US dollar, and even increased its strength agains the euro. So... if you are ready to register for a trip, don’t wait. Signing up now could save you several hundred dollars.
Locking in Your Trip Price
Making a deposit on a trip secures a space, but does not lock in the trip price. The price for your trip will be the one in effect when you make your final trip payment. See locking in prices for details. However, if you at least make a deposit, you are guaranteed that prices will increase by no more than 10% from those in effect at the time of your deposit.
Are you a graduate student (a currently enrolled, post 4-year university student, studying at a university located outside of the EEC) or an educator? See here for a discount for which you may qualify.
Portal to Price Charts — Prices for Optional Extras — Connecting Trip Prices — Other Discounts
How to Interpret Our Trip Prices
Dollar Prices: two components are included in our US or Canadian $ prices.
(1) The Trip
From the assembly point, where we start riding, to the disbanding point, where we stop.
Travel to and from the trip (from wherever you are) is not included, though we are happy to help arrange it..
(2) Bike Rental and Shipping
A vast majority of our guests use our bikes, which we ship to and from the trip.
If you are thinking of bringing your own bike, our treatise on the topic can be found here: “Pros & Cons Bringing Your Own Bike.” We offer a discount on $ trip prices if you do (bike rental and shipping is not included in € prices).
Euro Prices: our (lower) €uro prices do not include “Bike Rental and Shipping.”
We differentiate this way because it is easier for Europeans to bring their own bikes, and many do. Renting our bikes is, of course, possible at additional cost. The cost of doing so is shown on the € price chart.
|
|
|
|
|
Locking in Prices — Prices for Optional Extras — Connecting Trip Prices — Other Discounts
What Our Trips Cost — Portal to Our Price Charts
To see a chart of all of the prices of all of our trips*, click on your currency: $US, $C or €uro.
These charts, using Adobe Acrobat (download here if you are one of the 3 people who don’t have it), are formatted horizontally on the page but appear vertically on the screen, in order to be printable on normal letter paper. To view on screen: once you have your chart on the screen, select the “Rotate View Clockwise” icon (a square page with an arrow pointing to a shaded square page behind it).
*Trips Whose Prices Vary by Departure
The trip prices for each departure are on the trip-specific pages -- NOT on the chart, which shows only a range. Follow the links, below:
Two Weeks in France
France & Italy 2-week Combos
Tour de France
Locking in Prices — How to Interpret Our Prices — Connecting Trip Prices — Other Discounts
Optional Extras, Whose Prices are on the Charts
“Access Packages” help you travel to and from the trip from a major European airport city, or from London. Air service to places like Souillac is limited. Even ox cart service to Monforte de Lemos is limited. If you are flying from another continent, you are generally going to need to arrive via a real city, such as Paris. Our “Access Packages” help you travel between such cities and the cycle trips.
One note, mentioned here because it can influence your thinking regarding “Access Packages:” if you are pondering a railpass for further Euro-travel, we suggest that you book it through us. We can integrate your pass with “Access Package(s)” and / or with your cycle trip, and sometimes offer savings. At worst, you generally wind up with free or discount first class upgrades, fee-free reservations, or similar. And if things go wrong (strikes, fire, brimstone...), we can help you change your plans if we issued the pass....
Baggage Transfer Services help you move your luggage around Europe, and store it if necessary, while you bike.
Private Single Rooms are available for solo travellers who prefer their own rooms.
Bike Rental and Shipping. This is an optional extra only for riders paying the (otherwise lower) €uro-denominated prices. The bike, and its shipping charges, are included in $-denominated prices.
Locking in Prices — How to Interpret Our Prices — Portal to Our Price Charts — Other Discounts
Pricing of Connecting (Sequential) Trips
We give some thought to our trip creations, such that they make cultural and athletic sense. But vacation times and dreams do not always coincide. Moreover, you may have your own ideas on the topic.
To let you create your own ideal vacation, we allow you to sequentially connect any of our trips, and price the combination such that it represents value comparable to that of our own, longer trips. In addition, travel and lodging necessary to link the two trips are included in the connecting price, and arranged by us.
- To see whether two given trips are considered to connect or not, follow this link.
- For discount pricing of non-sequential trips, see below.
Call us for the exact prices of connecting trips. But to help in your planning, you can get within 10% of the total cost of your made-to-measure trip by using this formula:
- Look up the price for your 1st trip.
- Consider your connecting trip as a certain number of weeks. If a connecting trip is the 2nd or 3rd week of your overall trip, its base price will be about $1,450 US or C, including the bike (900 €, not including the bike), and including travel & lodging necessary to link the trips. The 4th & subsequent weeks will cost about $1,050 US or C (650€, but not including the bike). Travel in Tuscany, Denmark, the Dordogne Valley, the Cévennes, Alsace or the Basque Country is a bit more expensive. Travel in Portugal is less expensive, as are less-than-full-week trips such as Champagne, Galicia, or the two Burgundy trips.
- Private single rooms and baggage transfer services are the sum of the costs for the individual trips.
This calculation will give you the cost for your trip. To add “Access Packages”...
- Add the pre-trip “Access Package” for your first trip, and the post-trip “Access Package” for your last one. This will cover the cost of reaching and leaving your trip via the most convenient airport(s).
For example, to add one 2-week trip to another, you would pay the regular price for the first 2-week trip. The second 2-week trip corresponds to the 3rd and 4th weeks of your overall trip. Using the $ as currency, you would thus pay roughly $1,450 + $1,050, or $2,500, for this second 2-week trip. Invitational or grad student discounts (see below) would then apply to the total price of your four-week program. Private single rooms and baggage transfer services (if any) would be additional:
“Access Package” costs would depend on the trips you selected.
Locking in Prices — How to Interpret Our Prices — Portal to Our Price Charts — Optional Extras
Other Discounts
EEC funding allows us to offer an “educational discount” full-time graduate (post-4 year university) students, studying at institutions not located within the EEC, on trips or trip combinations of 19 days or more. We have expanded this disount on our own to cover educators, and some graduating 4-year university students... follow this link for details of our Grad Student Discounts and Educator Discounts.
We offer discounts to groups of 6 or more on off-peak trips (12 or more if the trip is a charter, or other guest-initiated trip). But try not to get excited: even if we give you back half of what we earn (the maximum), that is still only a 10% discount....
We have a program of invitational alumni discounts. These are notified by e.mail once or twice a year, and are typically substantial discounts, available for a limited time, on certain trips (until the budget given to the operation runs out). Obviously, if we don’t have a current e.mail address, or your spam filter doesn’t like us, you aren’t seeing these: you can check for them on our alumni “Secret Squirrel” web page. Now where did you leave that decoder ring?
Guests who bring their own bikes qualify for a discount on $ prices, though it can be eaten up by other costs (a discussion of those issues is here).
And finally, if you take more than one non-connecting trip in a single calendar year, the least expensive is charged at its regular price, and all others receive a 10% discount.
- Connecting trips are subject to special pricing, as above.
- In order to qualify for this discount, all trips must be paid in full before you start travelling on the first one. If this is not the case, then the first trip is charged at its regular price, and all subsequent trips receive the 10% discount, regardless of their respective prices.
These discounts are only available if you book directly through one of our offices. Travel agents, please enquire about “net” pricing of group trips.
Locking in Prices — How to Interpret Our Prices — Portal to Our Price Charts — Optional Extras
|
|
|
