Tour de France

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about planning a future vacation around the Tour de France? For example...if there is a central location for catching a lot of the action vs traveling to each stage? I don't know much about the Tour...this would be more for my fanatical boyfriend!

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[world trecker]

That's actually a great question...I've always meant to do just that but have never gotten around to it! One resource I've meant to look into further is this site. It looks like it hasn't been updated since the tour ended, but it combines biking and tour-watching for varying lengths of time (check their reservation page for a list of options). I'm not positive on the pricing, but I imagine it's pretty spendy. One of these days I would like to do something like this, especially since I've grown as a tour fan over the years. If your boyfriend's a fanatic and you've got deep pockets he might be interested.

And if you do it, let me know what it was like!

[world trecker]

Actually, I did find some prices!

Check this page for a description and price structure. I was right...looks spendy, but some might think it's folly to even put a price on this experience.

[joe]

Yeah, that could be a good link, though those prices are insane. But the tour traverses pretty much the perimeter of the entire country, right? So any Tour de France tour is probably going to empty the deepest pockets if you're going to see more than just a couple legs. I'd probably avoid the Paris finale leg cause it's probably a) the most expensive and b) the most crowded. The south of France is nothing short of amazing, and looks like it has a couple good legs. I'd say consult the boyfriend and come to a compromise on checking out just a couple legs and book WELL in advance.

Oh and bring lots of synthetic testosterone so you can maybe befriend a couple of the riders in the evening over a bottle of wine.