Three-hour guided bicycle tours through Heidelberg, Germany, are offered Monday to Saturday, April through October, through Heidelberg Marketing (phone +49 6221 5840 223). Sites visited can include Old Town, Tiefburg Castle and the Old Bridge (customized routes on request).
In a group of up to 10 people, a tour costs €121 (near $135) per person with an English-speaking guide or €110, German-speaking. Bike and helmet rental, €18.
Visitors to Beijing, China, can hitch a ride on modern buses styled to look like Dangdang trolley cars, which ran in Beijing from 1924 to 1966. Passengers are taken on a 6-mile route with 15 stops, including the Palace Museum, Tiananmen Square and Qianmen (gate). An English-speaking guide is present on each bus to describe the sites along the tour.
The Republic of Moldova is a place I long wanted to visit, as it’s near my usual destination of Romania. On a solo trip, May 3-15, 2016, I began in Bucharest, Romania, where I had the pleasure of staying at the Grand Boutique Hotel (Negustori 1B, Bucharest 2, Romania; phone +40 31 425 62 30, http://grandboutique
hotel.ro), located behind the National Theatre Bucharest on a lovely residential street.
While traveling from Boston to Warsaw, May 23-24, 2016, I had a 7-hour 15-minute stopover in Oslo/Gardermoen, Norway, during which I visited Frogner Park to see the Vigeland sculptures.
Guests at Anantara Angkor Resort (National Road no. 6, Khum Svay Dangkom, Siem Reap, Cambodia; phone +855 63 966 788, angkor.anantara.com) can book a guided dawn tour of Angkor Wat Archaeological Park followed by breakfast at a secluded temple. Guests are then free to explore the complex, with its ninth- to 15th-century temples, the rest of the day.
Guided tours of Sydney are available on Gocycles, bicycles with lightweight electric motors to assist with uphill climbs. Take the 1½-hour, 8-mile “Bike the Bridge” tour for AUD59 (near $42) each or the 2½-hour, 12-mile “Sydney City Tour,” AUD99, or customize a tour.
Tours 9 a.m.-1 p.m. daily except Sunday. Group limit, six people. BlueBananas Electric Bike Tours (Arcade 2, 281 Clarence St., Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia; phone +61 [02] 9114 8488, http://bluebananas.com.au).
The most traditional pizzerias in Naples, Italy, are visited on a 3-hour walking tour with Select Italy (in the US, 800/877-1755, https://selectitaly.com).
Led by an art historian/pizza expert, travelers see a Roman-era pizza oven at the archaeological site at San Lorenzo Maggiore and sample pizza at the restaurants L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, Pizzeria Trianon, Di Matteo and others.
Travelers can experience the deepest and longest fjord in Norway by train and boat on the “Sognefjord in a Nutshell” day tour offered by Fjordtours (Møllendalsveien 1A, N5009 Bergen, Norway; phone +47 55 55 76 60, www.fjordtours.com/en).
A 2-hour train ride from Bergen to Myrdal is followed by a one-hour ride on the Flåm Railway from Myrdal to Flåm and then a 5½-hour fjord cruise back to Bergen. Travelers can also begin and end their journey in Oslo, requiring two 5-hour train trips to and from Bergen.
In Husavík, Iceland, visitors can go whale-watching aboard a traditional oak sailboat operated by North Sailing (Husavík; phone +354 464 7272, www.northsailing.is). Using only sails or electric motors, North Sailing’s boats do not alarm whales and are ecofriendly.
Operating multiple 3-hour expeditions daily, May 1-Sept. 30, from Husavík harbor (look for the yellow flags), a trip costs ISK10,500 (near $85) and includes cold-weather overalls, gloves, hat, rain gear and blanket.
Giving insights into the Aboriginal Koorie people’s history and way of life, a day tour in Melbourne, Australia, includes the Royal Botanic Gardens, to learn how flora was used by the Koorie; the restaurant Charcoal Lane, to learn about ingredients they used; Federation Square, a meeting place for the Kulin nation; the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at the Melbourne Museum, and the Koorie Heritage Trust.
The tour runs 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. each Wed. and Fri. (except Dec. 15-Jan. 15). Group limit, 12. AUD209 (near $160) adult or AUD109 child.