Multi-day bike trip: split your route into stages and find where to sleep
A 212 km route looks great on a map. It becomes a real bike trip when you know where you sleep on the first evening, how many kilometres are left the next day, and whether the third stage hides all the climbing. Since version 1.3.4 of the iPhone app, VéloCore splits a long route into days, suggests a place to stay at each finish and prepares the GPX and offline map of each stage. Here is how to plan a multi-day bike trip, with or without the app.
A multi-day bike trip starts with the daily distance
The first decision is not the route, it is how far you want to ride each day. That depends on your bike, your luggage and above all on the number of hours you accept to spend in the saddle. With panniers, you ride closer to 15 km/h than 25.
- 50 km a day: the discovery pace. Half days on the bike, time to visit, a rhythm that suits families or a first trip.
- 70 km a day: the classic pace of loaded touring. Four to five hours in the saddle and arrival before the end of the afternoon.
- 90 km a day: for riders used to long rides, with a light bike or flat terrain.
- 110 km a day: the sporty pace, for trained cyclists travelling light.
Think in hours of riding rather than kilometres, as for a first all-day ride: 110 km with 1,500 m of climbing has nothing in common with 70 km along a canal.
A bike route in stages: how VéloCore splits it
In the iPhone app, as soon as a route reaches 40 km, the route preview shows a "Multi-day trip" card. You tap a daily distance, 50, 70, 90 or 110 km, and the split happens at once. The rule is simple: VéloCore takes the smallest number of days that keeps every stage under the chosen distance plus 15 %, then cuts the route into equal stages, 14 days at most.
For a 212 km route at 70 km a day, that gives three days of about 71 km, not two big stages and a small one. If the route fits in a single day at the chosen distance, the app simply says so. For each stage, you read four things:
The smallest number of days that stays under your daily distance, and stages of the same length.
On request, a campsite, hotel, guest house, hostel, hut or cottage close to the end of each day.
Each day exports as a GPX file, to share or load onto a bike computer.
The corridor of each day downloads to the phone, to ride without a signal.
Where to sleep on a bike tour: a place suggested at each finish
With the "Find a place to stay at each finish" button, VéloCore queries the collaborative OpenStreetMap map around the end of each day, except the last, and keeps six kinds of places: campsite, hotel, guest house, youth hostel, hut and cottage.
The choice follows fixed rules. The place is searched within 3 km of the ideal finish. It is kept only if it lies at most 2 km from the route and shifts the finish by no more than 15 % of a stage's length. When several places fit, the best compromise wins: few kilometres shifted, and the shortest possible detour. The stage then adjusts to end at the door, and the app shows the name of the place, its type and its distance from the route, for example "Camping de la Semois · 0.8 km off the route".
Two limits to know. VéloCore suggests a place, it does not book it: contact the accommodation yourself before leaving. And when no place fits near a finish, each stage ends at its ideal kilometre. The search needs a connection; offline, the app says so and keeps the split.
Bike route in stages: the GPX and offline map of each day
Once the split is done, each stage stands on its own. The "Stage GPX" button opens the iPhone share sheet: you send the file to a riding companion, load it onto a GPS bike computer or keep it in your files. Our guide explains how to read and use a GPX file on a bike.
The "Offline" button downloads the stage map, a corridor along the day's route, so that guidance and the map stay available without a signal. The app tells you when the map is ready, and when a stage is too long for an offline map or the phone runs out of space.
Where to find the multi-day trip in VéloCore
- Plan a route of 40 km or more. In the iPhone app, or from a saved route. You can also prepare the route in the free web planner and export its GPX.
- Open the route preview. The "Multi-day trip" card appears below the route weather, with the total of kilometres and days.
- Choose the daily distance, then the accommodation. Tap 50, 70, 90 or 110 km, then "Find a place to stay at each finish". Finally export the GPX and offline map of each stage.
The multi-day trip is part of Premium, with a 14-day free trial when you create your account. It is available in the iPhone app since version 1.3.4. On the privacy side, only the finish points of each day are sent to OpenStreetMap to look for places to stay: neither your identity nor the rest of the route, and nothing goes through VéloCore's servers. The details of the free and Premium features are on the features page.
Our tips for a successful multi-day bike trip
- Compare two daily distances. Tap 70 then 90 km: the number of days changes, but so does the position of the finishes and therefore the places suggested.
- Look at the climbing of each stage. Days that are equal in kilometres are not equal in effort: plan fewer visits on the hilly one.
- Download the offline maps the evening before, on Wi-Fi. The corridor of each stage takes space on the phone.
Frequently asked questions about multi-day bike trips
How many kilometres a day for a bike trip?
Between 50 and 70 km a day for a loaded trip or a family discovery, 90 to 110 km for trained cyclists travelling light. VéloCore offers these four distances and splits the route into equal stages, adding a day as soon as a stage would exceed the chosen distance by more than 15 %.
Does VéloCore book the accommodation of each stage?
No. The app suggests a campsite, hotel, guest house, youth hostel, hut or cottage found on OpenStreetMap, at most 2 km from the route, and moves the finish of the stage to that place. Booking remains up to you, with the accommodation, before you leave.
Is the multi-day trip free in VéloCore?
It is part of Premium, with a 14-day free trial when you create your account. It is available in the iPhone app since version 1.3.4, for routes of 40 km and more. The web planner, GPX export, GPS cockpit, SOS and community stay free.
Your next big route, split into days
Plan a route of 40 km or more, choose your daily distance and let VéloCore suggest a place to stay at each finish. Premium, 14-day free trial, on iPhone.