The Real Deal: Four nights' accommodations, breakfast daily, luggage transfer, maps and location guides, and one sightseeing voucher for a city walk or castle tour, for $557 per person — including all taxes.
When: Departs daily May 15–Oct. 15, 2009.
The fine print: Includes all taxes and fees. Based on double occupancy; single supplement is $335. Note that the price doesn't include a bike; you can rent one through the tour operator for $26 per day. You should bring your own helmet. Read these guidelines before you book any Real Deal.
Book by: No deadline; based on availability.
Contact: Nordique Tours by Picasso Travel, 800/995-7997, nordiquetours.com.
Why it's a deal: The trip price breaks down to about $139 per person per night. The tour operator takes care of your accommodations — at quaint and often historic roadside hotels and inns — and luggage transfer, all in one booking. One perk is that the tour company will also customize an itinerary for you, based on how many miles you want to bike each day and where you want to use your included sightseeing voucher.
Itinerary highlights: You can customize your itinerary when you book, but the route will be based on Germany's Romantic Road, which spans 195 miles from Würzburg to Füssen in the region of Bavaria. The countryside is mostly even, with a few hills to get your heart pumping and plenty of scenery along the way: pastoral countryside, the Alps in the distance, medieval villages, and turreted castles. Some important stops include Rothenburg, Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen, Augsburg, and Landsberg. You'll also ride through Naturpark Frankenhöhe, a huge natural park.
Lodging: Where you'll stay depends on the itinerary you decide. Some examples of local inns are and in Würzburg, in Rothenburg, in Dinkelsbühl, in Nördlingen, and in Augsburg, and in Landsberg.
More: Add nights in any city from $139 per person.
Before you go: U.S. citizens will need a valid passport for travel; a visa is not required. For more ideas on what to do, visit Germany's official tourism site. Transfers to and from an airport are not included — Frankfurt is about 74 miles from Würzburg. You can take a train (about 40 minutes) starting at about $30 per person.
