Meet Steve!

I’m Steve, the Director of CycleCities.Tours and Co-Founder of Cycle.Vacations

I started Cycle Cities because I’m a passionate traveller.

At 19, I left my home town of Newcastle, Australia, and took off travelling. I fell in love with San Francisco, Vegas and LA. At 23 I moved to London for the first time, unbeknownst to me at the time that it would become my home for the longer term.

Access to Europe was a big thing for me. My first weekend break was Munich, and there I saw a large group taking a bike tour around the city centre. I put that idea on my list. Soon after I was cruising around on a bike, following a guide.

Citybreaks and Europe trips abounded on the following years. Amsterdam, Warsaw, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Zagreb, Sarajevo. You name it, if it’s a big city in Europe, I’ve been there.

In 2009 I got a job as a Tour Guide at the London Bicycle Tour Company. I learn't what it’s like to be a customer, and a guide. I moved into the business/sales side of London Bicycle Tour Company, and focussed on growing and managing the business as the second in charge below the owner, Rob Graham.

I started Cycle-cities.com with Rob a year later, as I had always been interested in territorial ‘travel’ alliances. Airlines have partner airlines in different destinations to help cross sell flights. Some tour operators had branches in different cities so that a happy traveller could go from city to city and continue to experience tours from the same company. I thought city bike tours could use this wider presence.

In 2015 I organised the first annual ‘Powwow’ or ‘Symposium’ for Cycle Cities partner companies to attend. These conferences connected us all as a stronger network and continue to be successful. At the time of writing we have hosted symposiums in Berlin, London, Nice, Budapest, Munich, Athens, Tallinn, Bruges and Bilbao, and we are looking forward to 2025 in a city to be announced soon!

2024 brings the start of a new Brand - Cycle Vacations. I've teamed up with Cycling Super Connector Monica Busby, to copy the Cycle Cities model to cycling holiday operators, as well as ancillary services like rentals and accommodation.

At Cycle Cities and Cycle Vacations, you'll find the world’s best bike tours - and we are proud to bring them to you!

Steve Kopandy