Road bike tours: 6 beautiful road bike destinations on the Mediterranean for autumn and winter

Corsica: Breathtaking

In ancient times, the Greeks referred to Corsica as "Kalliste", the "beautiful one". And anyone who has ever been to the French Mediterranean island is unlikely to disagree. It's only flat on the east coast, otherwise you'll gain plenty of metres in altitude on "Corse". More than 70 peaks rise over 2,000 metres into the sky, with Monte Cinto being the highest at 2,706 metres.

Travelling through the Corsican mountain landscape on a racing bike is a sweat-inducing experience. However, you may well get goose bumps while cycling through this breathtaking landscape: not because it gets chilly, but because it is so incredibly beautiful. The highlight tours on Corsica lead along the west coast of Cap Corse in the far north and over the Col de Bavella in the south of the island, a landscape that is also known as the "Corsican Dolomites" due to its bizarre rock formations. The tours through the deserted mountain landscape to the east of Corte, the "secret capital" of Corsica, are an insider tip.

>> TOUR tip: The GT (Grande Traversée) long-distance cycle route crosses Corsica from north (Cap Corse) to south (Bonifacio) or vice versa. Just under 600 kilometres, "only" around 10,000 metres in altitude.

• Journey: Flights from various airports in Germany to Bastia or Ajaccio. Ferries from Genoa, Livorno and Marseille
• Price level: high
• Rental bike: Cycles 20, 8 Rue Chanoine Bonerandi, Bastia, Tel: + 33 4 95 32 30 64
• Traffic: Not much traffic on the side roads, but many Corsican drivers are quite "stokers".

Cilento: Decelerated

Long stretches of white sandy beaches and hidden dream bays with turquoise waters, historic villages and small towns clinging picturesquely to the rocks: The Cilento is a decelerated microcosm in the otherwise often chaotic and sometimes littered south of Italy. To claim that the Cilento - or rather the Cilento coast - has been completely spared from tourism would be an outright lie. In summer, the - predominantly Italian - holidaymakers literally pile up on the beaches. But the little roads in the hinterland, often with fantastic views of the Mediterranean, are heavenly quiet, especially after "ferragosto" in mid-August, the peak of the holiday season and the turning point of summer in Italy.

While it can get brutally hot in midsummer, the temperatures in autumn are extremely pleasant for cycling. In the unspoilt landscape of the Parco Nazionale del Cilento e Vallo di Diano, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, you often won't meet a soul for kilometres on a road bike. Between endless olive groves and in the vast forests, otters and wolves say goodnight to each other, while the villages serve up down-to-earth and extremely healthy regional cuisine.

>> TOUR tip: The most beautiful villages in Cilento are Castellabate and Pisciotta, where you can make a wonderful stopover and savour the magnificent Cilento regional cuisine.

• Journey: by train from Munich to Salerno in approx. 12 hours. Direct flights to Naples from several German airports, from there approx. 150 km by hire car or regional train
• Price level: favourable to medium
• Rental bike: among others at www.antares91.com
• Traffic: There is little going on even on the coastal roads

Morocco: Original

If you think of endless deserts, camels, sweltering heat and lots of sand when you think of Morocco, you're absolutely right - and wrong at the same time. In fact, anyone who thinks that the north-west of Africa is all about driving on rough tracks is completely wrong. The roads in northern Morocco are surprisingly good and the mobile phone network is better than a few kilometres from Marienplatz in Munich, even in the most remote regions.

The region around the legendary Tangier, which once attracted spies, crooks and artists from all over the world almost magically, is hilly to mountainous, greener than you might think and has a varied landscape. Not far from the Mediterranean, you can still go for a short ride in autumn. While Western luxury products are on offer in the shopping malls in Tangier, many rural inhabitants live in abject poverty; anyone who owns a goat or a cow is considered rich. As a racing cyclist, you roll through a foreign and fascinating world, are marvelled at and usually also celebrated. Probably the most beautiful tour in the north of Morocco leads from Chefchaouen to the Mediterranean. Even if there are still plenty of metres of elevation gain on the way back, you should try the fish tajine cooked on an open fire on the beach promenade of Oued Laou.

>> TOUR tip: If you want to experience the pure, original Morocco, you should visit the medina of Tetouan.

• Journey: Direct flights from several German airports
• Price level: Very favourable
• Rental bike: as good as impossible
• Traffic: Extremely little inland

Andalusia: spoilt by the sun

Almost a hundred years ago, in 1928, the Austrian hotelier Rodolfo Lussnigg had an ingenious and, with 325 days of sunshine per calendar year, quite obvious marketing idea. He gave the section of the Andalusian coast to the west and east of Malaga the name Costa del Sol ("Sun Coast"). However, cycling along the coast, with its numerous bed castles and veritable architectural sins, only makes limited sense. But as soon as you have climbed a few kilometres inland from the Mediterranean, you feel like you are in a cyclist's paradise. You cycle past the famous "white villages" of Andalusia, characterised by the Moorish period in the region, through a lonely mountain landscape. And when the Mediterranean glistens like a disco ball in the sun in the distance, the cyclist's happiness is perfect.

>> TOUR tip: The cycle routes around Zuheros, one of the "white villages" in the hinterland, are breathtakingly beautiful. The village has been largely spared from tourism.

• Journey: Direct flights to Malaga from several German airports
• Price level: medium
• Rental bike: www.bike2malaga.com
• Traffic: As soon as you leave the greater Malaga area after a few kilometres, there is hardly any traffic on the side roads and almost all Spanish drivers follow the rule of keeping a distance of at least 1.5 metres.

Crete: Versatile

Crete is often referred to as the "mountains in the sea". You can definitely forget about flat cycling on Greece's largest island. With around 300 days of sunshine a year, you can confidently leave your thick cycling gear at home: From September to late November, the temperatures on the island, which is only around 300 kilometres from the African continent, are extremely pleasant for road cycling. It is only advisable to bring a gilet, arm warmers and leg warmers for tours at higher altitudes.

Apart from numerous dream beaches, Crete has the Lefká Óri ("White Mountains") in the central Ida Mountains and several two-thousand metre peaks in the Dikti Mountains to offer. Inland, away from the crowds of tourists, "Kriti" is pristine and incredibly varied: Crete is an unruly wilderness, Crete is a magnificent and colourful fruit and vegetable garden, Crete is a paradise for racing cyclists. However, we know that not everything was perfect in paradise either: the lonely little roads on Crete are sometimes quite bumpy, so switching to a gravel bike is not a bad idea.

>> TOUR tip: At Pano Vouves, not far from the harbour town of Chania, you can marvel at what is probably the oldest olive tree in the world, which is said to be more than 3,500 years old.

• Journey: Direct flights from several German airports
• Price level: favourable in the interior, medium in the tourist resorts on the coast
• Rental bike: https://cyclingcreta.gr, www.olympicbike.com
• Traffic: Beyond the coastal roads, apart from the bleating of the goats, there is heavenly peace and quiet

Dalmatia: Mediterranean

Football, tennis, basketball - basically anything that involves a ball fascinates Croatians, and they are damn good at it; they are unbeatable at picigin anyway. In this game, invented on the beaches of Split in shallow water, the players "ditch" a "shaved" tennis ball that must never touch the water. Racing bikes, on the other hand, are rather suspect to Croats, who somehow still seem to be stuck in the belief that only people who can't afford a car would ride a bike. However, the south and the Dalmatian islands in particular offer racing cyclists a dream area until late autumn. From Split, you can be on the islands of Brač or Hvar in no time at all by ferry. There you can cycle - and climb - on well-maintained, mostly low-traffic roads with breathtaking views through a picture-book Mediterranean landscape. Korčula, where Marco Polo is said to have been born, also offers fantastic tours. And if it gets too hot in the south of Croatia - the nearest dream beach is just a few pedal strokes away.

>> TOUR tip: The company Inselhüpfen offers combined boat and cycle holidays in Croatia

• Journey: Direct flights to Split or Dubrovnik from several German airports
• Price level: medium
• Rental bike: www.inselhuepfen.com
• Traffic: There is only a lot of traffic on the islands when a ferry is arriving. Where the motorway between Split and Dubrovnik has already been completed, traffic on the coastal road on the mainland is also limited.