Bike Hire Marlborough rents bikes for self-guided wine tours of the Marlborough wine region, from Rapaura Road in Rapaura. The website says its base is The Vines Village on the Golden Mile, with more than a dozen wineries within 3 km and free parking. The bikes are standard bikes, e-bikes and tandems, and each comes with a helmet, basket and map. Local guides brief you on the route and recommend wineries before you set off, and bikes can be reserved online. Some customers were picked up from their accommodation and brought back. At The Vines Village there is a cellar door, café, whiskey bar and gin distillery, so you can finish the day there. The website says it is the only bike hire company on the original Golden Mile with an onsite winery cellar door.
Customers say the bikes are good and well chosen for different sizes, and the staff are friendly and flexible. Route planning and the recommendations for wineries come up often. One group rode 45 km, visited three vineyards and had lunch. Others found an e-bike easier to manage. A few had expected the wine-tour idea to be odd, but said it was a great day out. Our pick in Marlborough for a wine tour by bike that does not need a car.