Skate Tours

The industry of inline skating tours essentially started in 1997.  Before that time, a few travel companies had attempted to put together one or two tours but these weren’t successful as an ongoing effort.

In 1997, however, Zephyr Inline Skate Tours was founded entirely to create tours for inline skaters.  The Minneapolis company (now based in Montana) started with three small tours in one location: The Netherlands. After a successful first season, Zephyr added tour locations in the California Wine Country, the Pennsylvania Amish Country, and Minnesota and now has locations throughout Europe and North America.  The inline skating industry was born.  Since that time, a number of European companies have arrived on the scene, mostly serving skaters in their individual countries.

So why do an organized skate tour?  Skate tour operators generally take care of all the details: lodging, food, skating routes, support van, guides, etc.  You save time and stress by going with an operator.  In fact, in some locations it would be impossible to attempt a tour on your own. As well, many people take organized skate tours because they don’t have anyone with whom to travel and they enjoy meeting up with skaters from all over the world.

While tours are not for everyone, they are certainly a key component of the Skate Travel world.