Tour Questions
All lodging, most meals, van support, luggage transfer, supportive leaders, maps, GPS route files, gratuities for restaurants. Not included are alcoholic beverages, personal expenses, and travel arrangements to and from the tour, such as air fare.
WomanTours seeks out the most interesting lodgings in an area. We try to keep our tours affordable and at the same time offer you a unique experience. In the National Parks, we stay in the park lodges and cabins. In other areas, we look for small intimate inns and B&Bs or the best lodging available.
No, you only need to pay the single upgrade if you want your own room. Otherwise, we will match you with others who have come alone as a roommate. Each day that we change hotels, you will rotate roommates. Women usually enjoy this arrangement, as they get to know each other on the tour. You will always have your own bed.
We like to get an early start to avoid traffic, heat, and winds, typically between 8:00 and 9:30 a.m. The time will vary according to circumstances.
Our tours are self-paced. Each woman rides to her own rhythm. The support van or tour leader on the road are available until the last person comes home for the day.
We will be happy to discuss what tour would best suit your skill level. However, because our groups are small, we are able to offer van support to shorten the miles or flatten the hills on any tour.
Yes, the majority of our guests choose to have a roommate.
If you can ride 5 miles on your bicycle today, then you can do our tours marked as leisurely. If you can ride 10 miles on rolling terrain, then you can do our moderate tours. If you can ride at least 20 miles on rolling terrain, then you can train to be able to tackle our advanced tours. Remember that our support vehicle is always available to pick you up if you get tired. That’s what we’re there for.
If you're still concerned about being able to do it, then consider renting an e-bike. These electric-assist bicycles flatten out the hills and increase your speed. They make more challenging tours available to more cyclists.
Probably not! We’ve had women as young as 18 and as old as 86. The average age of our guests is 56 on our shorter tours and 60 on our cross-country tours.
You can Register / Sign-up for a Tour online. . You'll need a Visa, MasterCard, or Discover card or a check for the deposit. If you sign up within 30 days of the start of the tour, we require payment in full. Then, we’ll send you a tour confirmation packet with many more details about your trip, including travel arrangements, a packing list, and an optional training schedule. Most of our tours fill completely and have waiting lists, so don’t wait too long before deciding to join us!
When you sign up for one of our tours, we ask you if you have any dietary allergies, needs, or preferences. We send that information to the tour guides so they'll take everyone's needs into account when planning the tour's picnic lunches. We also keep that information in mind when we plan the breakfasts and dinners at restaurants, where everyone usually orders off the menu. We make sure there are ample choices for everyone.
We cook most of the dinners on our cross-country and epic tours. Our traveling chef accommodates guests with specific allergies and provides a non-meat protein source for vegetarians, but she cannot always adhere to everyone's likes and dislikes. If you require a vegan or gluten-free diet, there is an additional fee of about $50/week on our epic, cross-country, and barge tours.
Please be advised that while we strive to accommodate special dietary restrictions on our international trips, including vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, or celiac diets, it may not always be possible due to factors beyond our control. Please note that food availability and options may vary depending on the destination and local cuisine. We encourage individuals with dietary concerns to check with our office to discuss their specific needs further, allowing us to provide the best possible assistance. We appreciate your understanding and encourage proactive communication to ensure a smooth and enjoyable travel experience.
On our shorter domestic tours, we dine in restaurants. You are free to choose from the menu, but we ask that you eat what you order so no food is wasted. If our group is larger, we may have a limited menu to help speed up service. Lunches are usually picnics prepared by our guides.
On our epic and cross-country tours, our traveling chef cooks hearty and healthy dishes from our trailer kitchen served buffet-style.
No! We work hard to find the best economy lodging at our overnight locations, such as Comfort Inns, Hampton Inns, and Best Westerns. Sometimes, we treat ourselves to more upscale lodging, such as an oceanside condo or a historic B&B.
Sure! If we have space available, we’d love to have you. If the tour is within 30 days, you must pay in full when you sign up.
If we describe a day as being 25 miles, ±1340', the full ride is 25 miles long and has 1340 feet of elevation gain. This ride also has 1340 feet of elevation loss, so you start and end at the same point of altitude. It could have one long hill up and down, or many shorter rolling hills. We try to describe the type of terrain in words too in the tour description. If you have any questions about any of the rides, please just ask us!
No, WomanTours does not allow firearms on any tour or in our vehicles.
Our epic and cross-country tours are epic in scope. They’re often about completing the full length of a trail or crossing an entire country.
Therefore we run them a bit differently from our other tours. We often reserve more modest hotels for our epic tours. Our guides prepare a buffet dinner and everyone eats together outside. On our regular tours, we dine in restaurants in the evenings.
On our epic tours, while one guide takes the van to the next hotel to prepare dinner, we use a second vehicle to support the riders along the route. On our regular tours, one guide supports the riders in our one vehicle along the route while the other guide rides her bike last behind all the bicyclists.
On all of our tours, we do all we can to help you accomplish whatever you want to do. If you’re looking for a sense of achievement, join us on an epic tour. If you’re looking for an adventure, join us on any tour!
We average 14 women per tour. We can take a maximum of 13-25 women on a tour, depending upon the logistics of a specific tour.