One of the first decisions you’ll have to make when planning a bike tour is your sleeping setup. Would you prefer to travel with a tent and sleeping bag to camp each night? Or would you rather spend your evenings at a hotel? Choosing where to sleep on a bike tour isn’t as complicated a decision as you might think.
While camping and hotels are not the only two sleeping options on a bike tour, they’re the most common, and you’ll find that your touring experience can differ drastically depending on which option you pick.
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of staying in hotels versus camping while bike touring.
Hotels
Wondering where to sleep on a bike tour? Hotels can make an excellent choice for comfort, security, and relaxation.
If you’re in the midst of planning a multi-month long bicycle tour, staying in hotels is probably not the best option. Even a cheap, $40 per night stay at a hotel can add up quickly over the course of several months.
If you’re planning a short tour (1-3 weeks), however, staying in hotels can have more advantages than disadvantages and may only set you back a few hundred dollars along the way.
Pros of hotels when bike touring
More comfort
If you prefer traveling in comfort, you’ll be grateful to end each touring day with a warm shower and a comfy bed. Hotels can provide much more comfort on a bicycle tour than camping,
Some hotels may even have breakfast included in the nightly fare, which can be the best way to start off any long day of riding.
Lighter load
Another benefit of staying in hotels on a bicycle tour is not having to pack camping items. Tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and cooking gear can easily weigh down your bike.
Related: Bicycle tour mistakes – the rookie mistakes I made on my first cycling trip
When staying in hotels, you only have to pack a few pairs of clothes, shoes, toiletries, extra bicycle parts, and electronics (phone chargers, etc.). There’s no need to worry about packing camping gear, and for those who would prefer to travel lightly, hotels may be the better option.
Putting your bike in a safe place
One thing I appreciated on my first bicycle tour was being able to safely place our bikes in our hotel room before heading out to explore in the evenings.
A huge part of why I bicycle tour is to explore off-the-beaten-path places and their cultures. It’s important to me to feel secure in knowing my belongings are safe when in town, especially because I’m always traveling with my passport, phone, camera, and other valuables. Not to mention keeping my bike safe, too!
If I were camping, I think I’d be a lot more cautious about how far I would stray from my bicycle at any given time. I certainly wouldn’t leave my bike at a campground and travel to a nearby town for dinner.
Cons of hotels when bike touring
Losing the ability to stop anywhere
One problem with staying in hotels versus camping on a bicycle tour is that it requires more planning. If you’re able to wild camp anywhere along the way, you can ride as far or as little as you want, knowing you can stop at any time.
When you plan a trip around hotels, on the other hand, you’re at the mercy of the hotel’s destination. Perhaps you reach the hotel at 1PM and would rather continue riding… or maybe you’re exhausted at 7PM but your hotel is still a two hour ride away.
Less flexibility around route planning
If your route must revolve around being able to reach a hotel by nightfall, you’re losing much of the flexibility possible when traveling by bicycle.
Some of the world’s most remote destinations are excellent for touring, from the empty landscapes of Patagonia to the mountains of Tajikistan. If you require a hotel every night of your bike tour, these destinations will more than likely be off limits.
Camping on a bike tour
Camping while bicycle touring is extremely common, whether you’re wild camping in the middle of Peru or staying at a serviced campground in Ohio. Knowing where to sleep on a bike tour when camping can be a little more challenging than booking a hotel, however, and it requires knowing the local laws and safe areas to camp.
The possibilities are endless when planning to camp on a bicycle tour, and there’s no need to worry about reserving hotels and budgeting hundreds of dollars extra for the tour.
Pros of camping when bike touring
It’s Cheaper
Camping is undoubtedly cheaper when choosing between the different options of where to sleep on a bike tour. This is especially true if you can wild camp and not spend a single penny on accommodation. Even if you stay in campgrounds for $5-10 per night, this will still be cheaper than paying for a hotel or hostel every night.
Plus, when you camp, you’re more likely to cook meals instead of dining at restaurants each night. This can be another money saver over the course of a tour, bringing down your total trip cost.
Stop whenever you want
A major perk of camping while bicycle touring, provided your destination permits it, is being able to wild camp wherever and whenever you wish.
A somewhat stressful part of bicycle touring is gauging how far you want to ride and if there are any hotels in the end destination. And if you show up and that hotel is fully booked? You’re out of luck.
Wild camping, on the other hand, offers much more flexibility. Too tired to continue riding but you’re in the middle of nowhere? Simply pitch your tent and catch some rest before continuing the next morning.
Of course, you’ll have to check applicable permits and laws in your bicycle touring destination. While some countries, like South Korea, permit wild camping, it is prohibited in other countries, such as Italy.
More off-the-beaten-path destinations
Camping while bike touring allows you to cycle without worrying about an “end point” destination. If you plan to tour through rural Montana or Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, you’ll find plenty of desolate, rural areas empty of hotels.
You can visit some of the world’s most remote destinations on a bike tour when camping, but the same cannot be said about planning a tour around available hotels and guesthouses.
Because of this, you’ll find many mountain bike and gravel tour routes are best suited for camping. As these routes often bring you much further out of civilization than a road cycling route, it’s best to pack a tent.
Cons of camping when bike touring
Showers (or lack thereof)
Let’s admit it: cycle tourists aren’t the cleanest tourists around. From wearing the same biking shorts for days on end to constantly sweating under the hot sun, we are never squeaky clean.
Having access to a shower is one of the most important considerations you’ll make when planning a bicycle tour, and you’re less likely to encounter frequent showers when camping.
If you stay in campgrounds you’ll typically find shower and restroom facilities, but if you’re wild camping you will not have access to such facilities.
One of the biggest perks of staying in hotels when bicycle touring is having guaranteed access to a shower every night. Not much feels nicer than a warm (or even cold) shower after a long day of riding. You’ll also be able to “wash” your bike clothes in the water, too, which can be a huge plus.
The middle ground in this scenario is to stay in a hotel every few days. Camping three days in a row and booking a hotel on the fourth night gives you time to catch up on laundry, take a shower, and get much-needed sleep in a comfortable bed.
Fighting the elements
Far from the comfort of an air-conditioned Airbnb is a tired cyclist struggling to pitch a tent in 25 mph winds and pouring rain. Camping during a bike tour means fighting the elements not only when cycling during the day, but at night as well.
Rain, hail, high winds, extreme heat… you name it, and it can happen to you when camping on a bike tour.
Camping laws and access
Every country (and region for that matter) has its own policies and legislation on camping. While you might dream of pitching a tent anywhere you please, you’ll be disappointed to hear that it’s not always so easy.
While you won’t have issues finding a campsite in rural Tajikistan, you’re at risk of breaking the law by wild camping in Portugal.
The bottom line: where to sleep on a bike tour
Staying in hotels provides a safe space to relax, unwind, and store your bike when you explore a new destination. Hotels also tend to be in more populated areas, which means you’ll have plenty of options for restaurants, bars, museums, and other attractions during your stay.
Camping, though, can offer much more flexibility depending on your destination. Cycling with a camping setup means you can camp in any place you find interesting, whether the floor of someone’s restaurant in rural Peru or a luxury campground in California.
You may also want to consider a homestay when bike touring. A homestay can be a fantastic way to discover local culture on a bike tour. WarmShowers, for example, is a hospitality exchange for touring cyclists where you can stay with local hosts all over the world.
So should you stay in hotels or camp on your next bike tour? Truthfully, no sleeping situation is “better” than another. What works for one route may be impossible for another, and one cyclist’s sleeping preference may be another’s worst nightmare.
However, it’s best to weigh the pros and cons of where to sleep on a bike tour to determine which works best for your cycle route, budget, and travel style.
