Hi First name!

 

Every year around now, spring and summer planning kicks into high gear. Fall routines are settled, the holidays haven’t taken over yet, and it’s a good moment to lock in the best rooms, routes, and guides before they’re gone (each year it seems to happen faster).

 

Last spring in Sardinia, I checked into Cascioni (my favorite hotel on the island) and crossed paths with a group of shammy-clad cyclists, sun-flushed and laughing over cocktails on the terrace. 

 

They were traveling with Backroads, a small-group active travel company I’d known about but hadn’t experienced yet. We chatted for a bit about their trip: they’d spent days biking through coastal roads, mountain passes, and small villages, stopping for long lunches and ending at gorgeous hotels each night. It wasn’t about endurance; it was about feeling good, seeing things more slowly, enjoying one another, and earning that glass of wine in the evening. 

 

There are a lot of tour groups out there, but Backroads has mastered active travel for all levels and ages, while keeping it comfortable. You can join a group or make it private (like my new friends in Sardinia), ride/hike hard or coast easy, and still end each day somewhere beautiful, often a Small Luxury Hotel or Relais & Châteaux property.

 

Their ethos aligns with everything I love in travel: movement, design, connection, and a touch of spontaneity.

 

And you can easily build itineraries around them…here's a sample itinerary and how I might pad it for a little extra culture fusion on the front, plus some rest on the back end.

Start: Land in Milan and spend 2-3 nights on Lake Como. Ease into Italy at one of its most elegant lakeside stays:

 

Passalacqua – an 18th-century villa turned intimate and stylish retreat or
Grand Hotel Tremezzo – classic glamour, lakefront pools, and aperitivo hour with Bellagio a stone's throw away.

 

The Ride: 6 days/5 nights through the Dolomites. Alpine valleys, mountain passes, long lunches, lovely hotels including Castel Fragsburg, and local guides who make logistics like clockwork.

 

Finish: 2 nights to recover and unwind before heading home.
Adler Lodge Ritten – stay at altitude for forest-view saunas and suspended suites.
Lefay Resort & Spa – one of Italy’s best destination spas overlooking Lake Garda.

Spring and summer trips book fast, especially great group options. Routes fill, guides get claimed, and hotels like these are already seeing early demand. So if this kind of movement calls to you, now’s the time to start.

 

Let’s build something beautiful that gets you moving in all the right ways.

🌟 P.S. Have you already booked a trip like this but want to dress it up a little on the front and the back? Let me know and I'd be happy to put some extra love on it.