AVE Bicycle Tours

Company overview and territory

AVE Bicycle Tours is the cycling arm of AVE travel s.r.o., a Prague travel agency that runs its own guided and self-guided bike tours and designs tailor-made trips. The about page says "AVE was the first privately-owned Czech travel agency to be established after the Velvet Revolution in 1989" and "the first Prague travel agency to organize bike trips and tours for foreigners." It adds that AVE "has been accommodating tourists in the Czech Republic since 1990," runs over fifteen 3*, 4* and 5* hotels in Prague, and organizes sports events such as the Eastern Football Cup and accommodation for the Prague Marathon. The page credits low-cost flights, the trend for active holidays and the Czech Republic joining the European Union in May 2004 for rising demand, with visitors keen to see the countryside and national parks as well as Prague. For more than fifteen years, the page says, AVE has been organizing active holidays, "especially guided and self-guided bike tours."

The destination menu lists the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Albania, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Romania. The about page explains that tours "start and finish mostly in Prague," but can be adapted for travelers flying to or from Brno, Vienna or Dresden. The company's registered office is at Pod Barvířkou 747/6 in Prague 5, it is registered with the Municipal Court in Prague, and it lists membership of CycleCities. Prices are in euros, and contact is by phone on +420 721 861 742 or at bike@avetravel.cz.

Tour types and prices

The Types of Bike Tours page sets out 3 formats. On a Guided Group Tour, "you will have the most comfort in terms of organization, guide service and assistance," with "bilingual tour leaders who cycle with the group and are backed up by a supporting vehicle at all times." On a Self-Guided Tour, couples or small groups ride on their own with an itinerary, a map and a GPS unit on the handlebars loaded with the route, and luggage is "transported to the next place of accommodation every day." Self-guided trips can start "on any day from the beginning of April until the end of October," and the minimum number of riders is given in each tour's General Information. Tailor-Made Tours can follow any plan, with luggage in panniers, delivered to the next hotel, or carried in a support vehicle with a guide.

The page says most tours are "one-week tours over eight days seven nights with six biking days," that there is also a two-week leisure tour, and that one-day trips from Prague are offered. The homepage recommends 3 multi-day routes, each "Guided or Self-guided":

• Prague to Dresden (Along the Elbe River): 6 days / 5 nights, from 550 €
• Cesky Krumlov to Prague along the Vltava river: 8 days / 7 nights, from 660 €
• Prague to Vienna Bike Tour (Greenways): 8 days / 7 nights, from 890 €

The tour list also names Bohemian UNESCO, Bohemian Rhapsody and a one-day trip to Karlstejn castle, and the Upcoming tours box shows an Albania Unesco Tour with departures on 24.09.2026, 26.09.2026, 30.09.2026, 05.10.2026, 15.10.2026 and 17.10.2026.

Difficulty, support and the day on the bike

Each tour description carries a grade: "Easy, Moderate, Strenuous or Demanding." The site adds a useful rule for guided trips: "even on a Strenuous Tour you can always change to an easier ride during a Guided Tour by shortening the daily programme and taking advantage of the support vehicle." The homepage filter also sorts routes as Easy, Medium or Hard.

The tailor-made page shows what AVE has arranged before. In 2005 it ran a trip for 42 people from Prague to Dresden with about 20 bicycles, three tour guides, a support bus with a bicycle trailer, accommodation, meals and visits to three castles. In 2004 it took "a group of eight Russian teachers" from Prague to Vienna, some of whom had not ridden since childhood, after a short cycling course with their tour leader. In 2018 it guided two families from Mexico from Prague to Vienna and Budapest, shortening some sections with the support vehicle, and in 2006 it built a program for a group of American Jews around sites of Jewish history in the Czech Republic. Other examples include a 2019 trip for 14 clients from Spain from Berlin via Dresden to Prague, a 2007 Prague to Dresden loop for 8 Americans with a guide but no support vehicle, and a Hamburg to Dresden ride along the Elbe.

For tailor-made trips, riders choose 3* or 4* hotels or a combination, and can bring their own touring, e-bike or road/gravel bike or ride AVE's bikes. The menu also has an Our Bikes page.

Booking and terms

Scheduled tours are booked from each tour page, and the footer links to the Booking conditions. For tailor-made trips, you email bookings@avetravel.cz or fill in the form with the number of people and rooms, hotel level, start date, number of days, difficulty (easy, medium, challenging, professional), route type (linear, circuit or central, where you return to the same base each day), bike needs, and whether you want a guide and an accompanying vehicle. AVE then provides a detailed itinerary, books the hotels, supplies bikes and a guide. The page states: "we will request a 100 Euro deposit to cover the cost of the itinerary preparation," refundable "only if the hotels are unavailable and the tour cannot be arranged."

What the site does not settle

The site's overview and tour-type pages do not give a group-size cap for guided departures, the languages of the "bilingual" tour leaders, or the cancellation windows for scheduled tours; the last sits in the separate Booking conditions. The homepage shows no price for the one-day trips, and it does not say what the "from" prices include or whether they are for a guided or a self-guided departure.

AVE suits riders who want a well-organized, hotel-based week between Prague and Vienna, Dresden or Cesky Krumlov, whether with a guide and van or on their own with GPS. Mixed-ability groups benefit from the option to shorten days in the support vehicle, and groups with a special theme or route in mind can have one designed from scratch.