There's a reason France hosts the world's most famous cycle tour - and it's got great rides for holiday-makers too. Here's what you need to know to start planning your French cycling holiday So you're hoping, or at least tempted, to do some cycling in France. Good plan. The back roads are quiet, the weather is fine and, at the end of the day's pedalling, French food and wine are on the table.So where should you start? Leaving mountain regions to confirmed sport cyclists, target a favourite corner of France - profonde, touristique or historique - for a meandering tour, sampling and savouring the treats of country life at a slow pace: farm visits, vineyard tastings, battlefields, châteaux and cathedrals. I've listed a few of my favourite regions for independent travellers.There are many ways to organise things. Cycle on a shoestring, loaded with camping gear, or stay in comfortable hotels for the luxury of a bed and reduced luggage load. Drive to your starting point and plan a circular tour. Use the train to make a trip from A to B work. Choose a single base and make excursions from there. Combine boat and bike on a canal or river cruise. Roll on to the ferry, roll off and roll away. Most crucial of all is getting the itinerary right.story_article_left1France is well served by existing routes and itineraries. For gentle pedalling, the Voies Vertes (greenways or VVV) are cycle tracks of rough or smooth surface, without motorised traffic or steep hills. Voies Vertes are good for safe family cycling and those that follow canal towpaths and disused railway lines offer an easy if monotonous way through hill country. A véloroute is an itinerary composed of a mixture of greenways and minor roads. For a map of these, see af3v.org.The network is a work in progress: remove all the "projected" routes, and it is not quite so impressive. EuroVélo routes are a great inspiration for cyclists in want of a target. There are 14 on the map, not so many on the ground (yet). EV routes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 run through France (eurovelo.org).If the VVV or EV routes don't serve your needs, you can plan your own itinerary online (viamichelin.fr) or on paper using the Michelin road atlas (1:200 000). For greater detail, and contours, the IGN 1:100 000 series is even better. Roads indicated in white or yellow on Michelin maps are generally the quietest. When it comes to finding your way, cyclists of the dinosaur tendency maintain that a paper map is simpler, more reliable, more versatile, easier to read and infinitely less irritating than any new technology. But dinosaurs died out.If you don't already know what sort of distance you can handle, 40-50km a day is a sensible allowance for a first holiday (12-15km/h is a typical average speed). Riding 40km a day through non-mountainous terrain is not unduly demanding but the fitter and lighter you are, the more you will enjoy it. Do plenty of cycling before the holiday to prepare the backside for the saddle.mini_story_image_hright1Cyclists obsess about hills, either seeking them out or making long diversions to avoid them. The alternative, straight roads through flat country, makes for dull riding. A headwind is much worse than any hill. Give this some thought at the route-planning stage, although obviously there are never any guarantees. While toiling uphill, console yourself with the prospect of freewheeling to come. Steep hills are usually short and the more slowly you are cycling, the less time you will lose by dismounting.The other key piece in the jigsaw is finding places to stay convenient to your route, or which will serve as a good base. Many regions do lists of bike-friendly accommodation, based on criteria such as a lockable bike shed, early breakfast and laundry/drying facilities. In my experience, bike-unfriendly hotels and chambres d'hôtes are rare. Logis Hotels (logishotels.com) has 440 bike-themed members that offer luggage transport, for a fee.sub_head_start The best regions for a French cycling holiday sub_head_end1. The NorthSet off from Calais or Lille on a First World War ride; from Dunkirk for its own memories in this, the 75th anniversary of the evacuation, and the fun of exploring French Flanders, a small region with great character and pride of place. See tourisme-nord.fr and somme-tourisme.com.2. Normandy and BrittanyThere is great scope for tours from Cherbourg, along the coast from Caen and Le Havre and in the delightful Normandy hinterland, home of Camembert, cidreries and Impressionism (normandie-tourisme.fr). In Brittany, touring the coast is complicated by all the inlets and estuaries but inland there is an extensive VVV network, including the 385km Nantes-Brest canal towpath, which is mostly on river banks. See brittanytourism.com.3. Loire ValleyAn obvious beginner's choice, with masses to see, friendly terrain, a cycle trail and a railway line. If you want to visit the famous châteaux, allow two hours per visit and scale down your cycling ambitions accordingly. Anjou has more hills and usually a stronger wind than Touraine. Ride upstream for the best chance of wind assistance. See cycling-loire.com and velo.enpaysdelaloire.com. Use Huber Verlag's Loire à Vélo maps and the Michelin green guide Châteaux of the Loire.mini_story_image_vleft24. Atlantic CoastBetween the Gulf of Morbihan and the Gironde is the best coastal cycling in France, with three islands linked to the mainland, and a bike-friendly shuttle bus over the St Nazaire bridge. See velodyssey.com; poitou-charentes-vacances.com.5. Dordogne, Lot, Tarn and AveyronSteer clear of the main roads and you can't go wrong along these favourite rivers, but the transition between valley and upland causse (limestone plateau) can be steep, increasingly so the further east you go. The road along the Tarn gorge from Florac to Millau is a fine ride, but uncomfortably busy in summer. See tourism-midi-pyrenees.co.uk, tourisme-aveyron.com and dordogne-perigord-tourisme.fr.6. Aquitaine/Midi-Pyrénées/LanguedocThe immense Landes pine forest is prime Voie Verte country: ideal for family expeditions from a beach-holiday base, but the landscape lacks variety for a long ride. Of the Bordeaux wine districts, St Émilion would be my choice for a cycling tour. The 430km Canal de Garonne/du Midi, linking the Atlantic and Mediterranean and connected to navigable stretches of the Lot, Tarn and Baïse rivers, is good for boat-and-bike holidays, and a springboard for exploring the southwest. The towpath surface is better on the Atlantic side of the watershed. See tourisme-aquitaine.fr.7. BurgundyCanals through a hilly region rich in interest - just right for a bike-and-boat holiday or a towpath tour, with excursions. See burgundy-by-bike.com.8. AlsaceThe prettiest wine road in France links scores of timbered villages tucked into the foothills of the Vosges over 165km. Add sightseeing in Strasbourg and Colmar, and strenuous mountain cycling to taste. See alsaceavelo.fr.For more inspiration, see francevelotourisme.com, cartovelo.com and freewheelingfrance.com.full_story_image_hleft3sub_head_start Getting around sub_head_endTrains: For comprehensive maps of the French railways, see ferrocarta.net. Low-cost, high-speed journeys through France are possible if you book up to three months in advance. The system tends to be bike-friendly but not all high-speed trains (TGVs) accept bikes. Find out more on the SNCF website (voyages-sncf.com), clicking the icon for suitable trains - a picture of a bicycle means the train takes bikes. TGV bike spaces cost à10, must be booked at the same time as the ticket and cannot be booked online.Planes: If you are flying to your destination, you will probably want to hire a bike on arrival. Most regional and departmental tourist office websites have listings. A rental bike costs from €10 to €20 a day; a battery-assisted e-bike €30 to €40. Most bikes offered for rent and used by holiday cyclists are hybrids (VTC) with straight handlebars, lots of gears and tyres for rough and smooth surfaces. E-bikes (VAE/vélo électrique) are useful levellers for mixed-pace groups. If you're tackling Voies Vertes, a mountain bike (VTT) may be best.- The Daily Telegraph nbsp;..