Main land Europe bike bag/box storage at airports…

Equipment
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Good morning all,
This isn’t training related but rather asking. For previous experiences travelling in and from European airports.

Let me explain, over the last number of years I have jumped on the trend of bike packing/touring mostly around/through the alps.

Favouring point to point tours initially with a basic aluminium gravel bike eg: Geneva-Marseille,. Basically flying with your bike in a cardboard bike box then ditch it at recycling, then beg, borrow or steal a box, wrap or some means of engineering a basic bike bag when you arrive at the destination.

This strategy has reaped rewards, and heart ache. I’ve been lucky enough in bike shops to get boxes for free and also been turned away from decathlon stating they don’t do this type of service, even for money. Essentially I’ve had a few dodgy return flights with the bike being taped and cable tied in black bags……

I have upgraded my bike and have decided that alpine loops are as good as point to point excursions. The concept is now, fly in, bike safely packed in a heavy duty box or bag, store the bag/box in the airport and return to the safe luggage store upon your return. Pick the bike and off you go. Confident and content.

The question after all this is what airports are conducive to storing bike bags/boxes on site. I generally have 3 nights so really like the idea of landing late morning, building the bike and being on the road before lunch. Getting three buses or trains into a city centre doesn’t really appeal.

My experience is as follows:

Zurich is perfect for with a overnight luggage room (20 euro a day I think)

Geneva has large bike bag size lockers (approx 15 euro a day)

Can you assist with information on storage options at airports around the alps/pyrenees? Or any other mainland European options that you’d recommend.

In particular Verona airport, I am considering going here in May.

Thanks in advance

Sean

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First idea that came to mind was to call the nearest airport hotel and ask them how much it‘d cost to store a bag (give LxWxH) for x amount of days. Hotels near airports usually have the infrastructure to store luggage as this is certainly a daily occurence. Not sure if your bike bag folds down to put it in a locker at the an Airport, that might be another option.

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Thanks for the reply. That’s the idea, I’m trying to check what the situation is with storing chunky bike bags on site. I like the idea of the hotels which are very close too. Thank you. Cognitive diversity. Share a problem, solve the problem!

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I used this service at the Zurich airport a few years ago. Very easy and handy and the Alps are only a short train ride away.

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Absolutely, I plan to use this in august for a short trip to the furkapass.

If all airports had something like this it’d be perfect.

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I would make sure which airports you are flying to, and check with these airports. The Alps are shared by a lot of countries, and they may all have different regulations.
France for example is very strict for terrorism protection and have the plan Vigipirate. Depending on the level of alert, airports can be forbidden to store any luggage. With the Olympic games coming this summer, i would expect the level of alert to be high.

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Airport hotels tend to work great, some may do it free or small fee, there is an aggregator site: https://www.nannybag.com that you can use too.

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