The brief we set ourselves for Tuscany was simple and not at all modest: ride the best trails in the region, eat like people who live there, and never unpack a suitcase once all week.
Six days, a handful of campervans, e-bikes, and a region that turned out to have more singletrack than its postcards let on. Here is how the week actually went.
Sleeping in your own bed, waking up in a different valley
That is the whole idea behind Camp'n'Ride. Everyone comes with their own campervan or van, we take care of the pitches, the route and the logistics, and the camp moves with the group. You sleep in your own bed, your things stay where you put them, and in the morning the bike is already there and so is the coffee.
In practice it removes the part of a trip that nobody enjoys. No unpacking every evening, no hotel check-in at seven in the evening in riding kit, no wondering where the bikes are going to spend the night. And the people who do not ride, partners and children included, get villages, markets and beaches instead of a hotel lobby.
From the Apuan Alps to the island of Elba
We rode through the marble mountains behind Massa, then further south, and finished on Elba. The variety is what surprised the group: winding trails through the hills, steep climbs that open onto views you stop for whether you meant to or not, and long playful descents that are technical without ever being punishing.
E-bikes are what make a week like this work. The assistance swallows the link sections, so the day is spent on the good stuff rather than on the transfers between it, and a group with mixed legs stays together instead of splitting in half on the first climb.
Lunch mattered as much as the descents
We took the time to find small local restaurants, odd little mountain huts, or to build a picnic out of whatever the morning market had. Tuscany makes that easy: bistecca alla fiorentina, pappardelle al cinghiale, cantucci at the end, and local wines, in moderation given what was waiting in the afternoon.
It sounds like a detail. It is not. A week of riding where every lunch is an energy bar in a car park is a different week from this one.
The evenings, the fire, and the Valais charcuterie
After a full day we gathered around a fire or around the table of whichever van had the most room, and went back through the day. Belgian beers appeared. Valais charcuterie appeared. Toasting the trip became a fixture by about the second evening.
That is the part of a campervan trip you cannot book: the camp is shared ground, so nobody disappears into their room at nine in the evening.
What the format does to a group
What really marked the week was how quickly the group worked. People helped each other with bikes, with pitches, with cooking, without anyone organising it. Six days of moving camp together does something that six days of meeting in a hotel lobby does not, and everybody noticed it by the end.
The format, in practice
Camp'n'Ride runs over six days in a single region, e-bike, with a group of around five riders and a departure guaranteed from three. It is CHF 990 per riding participant, pitches included, along with the guiding, the route, the shuttles where they are needed, mechanical support on the road and the photos of the trip.
What is on you: your van and its fuel, your meals, the camping extras such as electricity, water and tourist tax, your insurance, and your e-bike if you do not rent one of ours. The deposit is 30 percent at registration.
No van is not automatically a deal breaker, so write to us before booking rather than ruling yourself out: rental is sometimes an option.
The Camp'n'Ride dates are online, and Tuscany runs in early March, which is the moment it is dry there and still winter here.
Chris
