Passau to Vienna cycling holiday in Austria and Germany

Planet and people

UK Office:
We are well aware of the impact tourism has at home and abroad, and we make every effort to balance the environmental impact of travelling with the immense benefits sustainable tourism can bring to destinations and the people who live there. So we start in the office: we turn off all electrical equipment every night; we use energy-efficient bulbs; we measure print and paper consumption, and re-cycle wherever possible; we print our brochures on paper from sustainable sources, and send them out in bio-degradable packaging.

Leaders & local suppliers:
This holiday has been created for us by Czech-born, Tomas Leskovjan, who manages the trip on our behalf. Whilst growing up, Tomas had one dream: to run his own business, however this was prohibited when the Czech Republic was under the Communist regime (1948 - 1989). Soon after the fall of Communism in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, Tomas went on a two-month exchange trip to Utrecht in the Netherlands to learn about entrepreneurial skills, skills that were needed in a country in transition to a free market system. Using this experience he got into active holidays in 1992 by organizing skiing trips, then, in 1996, he set up his company. Over the next few years, he realised that the demand for cycling far out-stretched that of any other gentle activity, so switched his focus to creating hotel-to-hotel cycling trips, moving guests’ luggage between hotels. We are delighted to have supported Tomas (for 5 years now) both on this trip and also on trips in his homeland.

Group size:
Having no minimum number means that groups sizes can be small and therefore the trips have less impact on the environment.

Activity:
Walking has minimal impact on the environment as you provide most of the energy yourself and, when you’re strolling from village to village, you can enjoy a relationship with locals in a way motorists passing through never can. On foot, you get off the beaten track, and you’ll find that people treat you as a visitor rather than a tourist. Also, by walking independently, and not having to worry about keeping up with a group, you set the pace so you can soak up the sights, sounds and scents of your surrounds and really get under the skin of the place you’re visiting.

We proactively encourage walking clients to think about travelling responsibly too: packing light, saving water, buying locally and re-cycling all maps and route notes at the end of their trip.