Our bike trip: Alice and Sean’s story

In October 2025, Alice and I arrived in Prague to begin a 90-day visit to Europe by bike and train. Both of us enjoy biking, and often bike to work in our hometown of Seattle, Washington; however, neither of us had ever taken such an extensive trip by bike before. Our general plan was to make our way southward from Prague and Vienna through Italy, starting in Bolzano, and traveling along the Adige bike path toward Verona.  

We found Gabanel through Booking.com and on Google Maps, where we noted that it had many of positive reviews. Gabanel was also in a perfect location along the Adige bike path and would allow us to visit several different places: Verona on a good bike trail, Lake Garda and Mantua— places we had our lists to visit. The fact that Gabanel was located in the countryside rather than the city made it even more appealing: quieter, with less stressful bike riding. In fact, this was a lesson that we learned throughout our journey: biking gives one the opportunity to stay outside of city, but commute into it, and at the same time being able to feel the countryside in a very different way than driving or hiking. The fact that Gabanel also had bike repair and maintenance tools was especially helpful, too!

We had initially planned to stay for only 4 nights, but after staying just one night, we realized it would be great for a longer stay and ended up extending our stay to 6 nights. Part of the reason to extend our stay was the number of interesting nearby places we’d discovered, but the other reason, perhaps even more important, was the positive feeling we’d had at Gabanel with the staff and the other visitors. Hostels can be quite crowded places sometimes and seem a little impersonal, but at Gabanel, we found a friendly staff and a big kitchen with a big wooden dining room table to sit around and visit with other travellers.

During our time there, we learned more about the history of Gabanel and about the community-focused ethos of the people who founded it and continue to operate it. A bike hostel that also served as a community center seems like a really great idea, and we enjoyed seeing a number of groups that used it—something that made us feel part of the community too. Even though our Italian skills are rather poor, we could understand that what was happening at Gabanel was a real effort to make a positive change in the community. In real life, Alice is a teacher and I’m a social worker, so helping to support, in a small way, that effort was really inspiring for us. After our visit, both of us wished there were more places like that, especially in our home country.

Some highlights of our visit included our bike rides into Verona, where we visited many of its interesting sites, and long bike rides to Mantua and Lake Garda, where we enjoyed lunch in the town of Garda. Another highlight was visiting the Fierecavalli, which was happening during our visit. A couple of vendors who were working there stayed at Gabanel also, which gave us a chance to learn more about the festival as well as more about the life of these travelling vendors.

If anyone reading this is considering a stay at Gabanel, we couldn’t recommend it highly enough as a place to park your self and your bike for a few nights to enjoy a community-focused hostel with great staff and a perfect location for exploring Lake Garda, Verona, and other really great bike rides!