Whether you fancy yourself as a Tour de France contender, or you just enjoy a relaxing pedal with the kids, cycling is a great, carbon-free way to see more of your holiday destination. Helen Raine looks at the pick of Europe’s routes.

Go for a Fat Tire Tour

This innovative company offers bike tours in Paris, London, Barcelona and Berlin. They’ve worked out routes to try to keep you off the road up to 95 per cent of the time while you visit the sights.

You’ll see more than on a walking tour and even if you haven’t ridden a bike for years, you can still beat the traffic without working up too much of a sweat as the tours are designed for all levels of fitness.

Take the opportunity to quiz your local guide about the destination and pick up some tips for other great bike routes.

The ‘Berlin Wall and Cold War’ tour is a typical one, costing around €22 for four-and-a-half hours, which includes bike and helmet hire, as well as insurance and kids’ seats. You’ll travel around 14 km and the tour runs three times a week in the morning.

Visit www.fattirebiketours.com.

Cycle the North Sea

If you’re feeling very ambitious, you could tackle all 6,000 km of this sign-posted route which meanders along the North Sea coastline. Most people just go for a section though.

The route is mainly on bike paths so it’s peaceful, especially if you have kids.

Despite the fact that it crosses through six countries, namely Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland and the UK, the route is easy to follow.

Visit www.northsea-cycle.com.

Join the pack in Italy

If you’ve ever had a car come within a whisker of killing you in Malta (which cyclist hasn’t?) and longed for a road filled only with bikes, then the Gran Fondo Sportful is your dream ride.

A pack of up to 2,500 cyclists take over the roads completely in the Italian Dolomites, traffic is stopped at junctions to allow everyone to pass, and volunteers feed the hungry hoards at rest stops as they cycle the 209 km route over four summits. Refreshments, food and mechanical support are included in your entry fee of €50.

Once you’ve finished, you can holiday in the spectacular mountain scenery of the Dolomites (although since walking and sitting down comfortably post-race might be challenging, you might consider checking into one of the local spas for the duration).

In 2012, the race is on June 17.

Bike in the buff

The World Naked Bike Ride protest movement aims to stop cyclists’ ‘indecent exposure to vehicle emissions’. Their method? A naked bike ride in pretty much every major city worldwide.

The organisers say, “We face automobile traffic with our naked bodies as the best way of... exposing the unique dangers faced by cyclists”.

Check out www.worldnakedbikeride .org to find the 2012 dates across Europe (usually around June time) and to pick up tips on how to minimise chafing, maximise body paint and make the most of your chosen destination. Funnily enough, in Malta, where motorists’ awareness of cyclists generally seems to zero, there’s no ride organised. Perhaps it’s time to start one?

Pedal the blue Danube

If you feel like something rather more sedate than whipping off your clothes with a bunch of other cycling enthusiasts, try the Danube Bike Path. It’s a paved trail that goes to Budapest via Germany and Austria.

The path is part of Euro Velo 6, one of 12 routes across Europe that link up major river routes to provide safe cyc-ling (www.eurovelo6.org). This stretch from Passau to Vienna is almost completely flat and easy to navigate.

You can do it yourself or book with a tour operator such as www.radreisen.at who can arrange your bikes, accommodation, luggage transfer and self-guide details, or can offer a fully guided service.

Go end to end in Britain

In 1886, George Mills completed the classic 1,450 km Land’s End to John O’ Groats route on a penny farthing in five days, so a modern cyclist could doubtless nail it in a similar time.

A more leisurely pace is considerably more fun though (Mills didn’t bother stopping to sleep).

Twelve days is seen as a pretty acceptable pace for a challenging ride which still allows you time to enjoy the scenery.

The website www.ctc.org.uk has some great resources to help you plan your route, such as maps and a list of hostels.

If you’re lucky, the British summer will offer up some perfect cycling conditions of sunny, breezy days.

More likely though, it will offer up the default British weather setting of relent-less rain, so plan for all eventualities.