Euroviews. You should cycle — or walk — to your next European holiday destination

European tourism has lost its charm.

Take Venice, the city that floats. Once serene and impossibly romantic. Now, overrun by loud, phone-wielding tourists shuffling through Le Mercerie.

“Venice,” Woody Allen said, “is the most romantic place in the world but it’s even better when there is no one around.” In the era of post-pandemic travel fever, buoyed by the rise of ultra-low-cost airlines, there is never, ever, no one around.

The same is true of most big European cities nowadays.

Barcelona’s beaches are shoulder-to-shoulder crowded. In Brussels, Belgian fries with a modest squirt of mayonnaise run about €7.50 and 20 minutes in the queue. 

In Dublin’s Temple Bar, the price of a pint of Guinness borders on extortion. The Vatican is one never-ending assembly line that plods from the entrance to the Sistine Chapel. 

And, if you dare stop to admire the cobbled alleyways of Lisbon’s Alfama district, you will be subject to a symphony of solicitations for water, cold beer, hashish and cocaine.

Fortunately, there is a better way. You can, almost regardless of your age and fitness level, comfortably walk or cycle through much of Europe. 

Doing so will save you a fortune and deliver an authentic hit of culture, unsullied by crowds, souvenir shops and the dreaded “tourist menu”. Of course, travelling this way is also better for the environment and your health.

Last week, I cycled from London to Brussels. Three countries, with a stopover in France, in three days. No training was required for this adventure, and I got most of the gear needed on the cheap from Amazon.

Yes, you will get rained on. And, the wind is something fierce this time of year. But you’ll see Europe in an honest, authentic light. How many tourists can say that?

I met a