The summer season in Gironde “looks very good with very high attendance on the coast” recalled Karine Desmoulin, president of Gironde Tourism and departmental councilor in charge of tourism. “It will therefore be relevant to use the bicycle if you want to move easily” she slips, while she intends to make the Gironde one of the first cycle tourism departments in France.
With three major routes in the top 10 for frequentation in France, including two eurovéloroutes (la Velodyssey1,450 kilometers from Roscoff to Hendaye, and the scandiberic, the 1,700 km French part of EuroVélo 3 which goes from Trondheim to Santiago de Compostela) and the Canal des Deux-Mers which connects the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean, the Gironde already has great potential for cycle tourists . An existing network has also made it possible to create the Gironde bike tour, a 430 km route from the vineyards to the ocean.
Finally, a hundred loops offer various walks, 14 of which allow you to discover the vineyard. But the department wants to go further, and aims to go from around 2,400 km of cycling facilities, including 600 km in its own site, to 3,400 km by 2026.
New offers
“New routes will be created in particular in southern Gironde, in Entre-Deux-Mers, but it is also important to make the existing ones more visible” notes the president of Gironde Tourisme. This is why the structure “will invest 200,000 euros over three years, so as to constitute a real digital toolbox for tourists who want to plan a cycling holiday, which will include in particular a new section on the website with an interactive map , tailor-made itineraries, as well as services and accommodation,” explains Karine Desmoulin.
Proof of the dynamism of this activity, 125 bike rental companies are now available in Gironde, including 17 near stations. “A great development since 2012, when only a dozen shared the market”, welcomes Gironde Tourisme. And new offers are developing, such as One Way, which allows you to pick up your bike at point A and return it to point B at the end of your stay. Finally, several services, such as bike repair terminals, are installed on the territory, in particular in the Médoc Regional Natural Park.
And, at a time when tourists from all over France are preparing to land in force on the Gironde coast, Karine Desmoulin recalls “that you can criss-cross the whole territory, where there are fabulous things to discover outside the coast, at times other than summer, where it will be even more comfortable. »