Welcome to The BackBeat. Looking for pro tips and a peek behind the scenes on trips around the world? Tips and tales from the road and trail? Inspiration for your next epic adventure? Find it all on The BackBeat.
Twenty years ago, I found myself in Slovenia for the first time. I had never heard of it; to me, it was just a rumor, a whisper of adventure, a place where few were aiming their sights. "You've gotta check it out, man. No one even knows it's there." So, with very little thought and absolutely no pla…
One of the reasons I joined Backroads as a Trip Leader a decade ago was because it was one of the only active travel companies that had trips in Norway. Growing up, my father always loved studying our family genealogy and especially our Norwegian roots. He and my mother had visited Norway in search…
This unique Rhine River Cruise bike tour combines the comforts of luxury cruising with the total immersion of active travel. And thanks to Backroads Regional Coordinator Michael Bernhard, who grew up exploring his native Germany on two wheels, it's a journey shaped by an insider's perspective: our f…
When I first visited Porto on a backpacking trip nearly 20 years ago, my primary interest was to explore the charming neighborhood bars of the Ribeira quarter, enjoy some fado music and savor Porto's namesake wine. Over the years, my returns to this captivating city have matured and each visit has a…
We know how to say eyjafjallajökull! This action-packed Iceland Multisport Adventure - which begins with a private charter flight to get you quickly to the trailhead - is backed by our deep local knowledge and the strong relationships we've built with the country's best hotels and restaurants. In th…
"Praha" is Czech for "threshold": a reference to medieval trade taxes, but in many ways still an apt name today. My favorite city in Europe sits on the threshold between East and West, past and future.
Ride, relax and savor every drop of this vintage Backroads experience, one of our most popular trips for decades. Our perfectly planned routes and legendary on-trip support free you to focus on enjoying your rides through stunning Tuscan landscapes, following cypress-lined roads as they wind among s…
The National Park Service was established to preserve these incredible scenes—and many others—in nature and history that otherwise would likely have had a finite existence in America. There are currently only 58 national parks but a total of 409 protected areas that cover more than 84 million acres…
Stockholm is not a city that speaks for itself. Like the Swedes, it exists with a quiet elegance and humility that is discovered by the foreigner with the patient peeling away of layer after layer. Its skyline is one of the most striking I’ve seen in Europe, with spires reaching towards the sky and…