Exploring the countryside, filling the air with laughter and banter while coasting along with friends on electric bikes seems like the perfect way to experience some of the fabulous gardens and art in this year's Garden and Art trail.

For the first time, the Bay of Plenty Garden & Art Festival has joined forces with DayTrippers, Tauranga's cycle trail specialists, who have created bike routes to explore the festival gardens.

You can hire cool electric bikes or bring your own, and grab a festival Cycle Shuttle Day Pass to hit the garden trails for a leisurely day's ride. You don't need to be a fitness fanatic to enjoy the relaxed outdoor cycle adventure.

'Cyclists will be given a bike trail marked festival map to guide the way and will be delivered to the beginning of the trail and collected when done – easy as!” says Bay of Plenty Garden & Art Festival director Marc Anderson.

'One E-Bike trail goes around Tauranga, and another from Te Puna to Omokoroa.”

Bike shuttle stops include Omokoroa Esplanade, Wairoa Bridge Reserve, Palmers Bethlehem, Takitimu Drive Reserve, Kulim Park, Atrium Café, Gordon Carmichael Reserve and Bloom in the Bay Hub at Tauranga Racecourse.

BayTrippers' latest giant electric bikes are available for hire and come complete with all safety gear. Cyclists will be given a bike trail marked festival map to guide the way and will be delivered to the beginning of the trail and collected when done.

'Marc has had a desire for a while to introduce the cycle trail element to the Garden and Art Festival,” says DayTrippers director Miles Johnson.

'During lockdown we mapped all the trails in Tauranga, the Mount, Papamoa and Omokoroa, and from that we looked at the festival garden placements on the trail, and came up with a city trail which encompasses ten gardens, and the Omokoroa cycle trail which encompasses eight gardens.”

Miles, who has ridden bikes all his life, says the city circuit is about ten kilometres, and the Omokoroa trail from Omokoroa to the Wairoa River bridge is about 24 kilometres.

'It's not difficult on an e-bike. People can come to the festival for three to four days, spend one day riding and one day driving. It's a cool idea and adds another element to the overall festival offering.”

The whole concept of the cycle trail was to provide hire bikes but Miles is assuming there will be a whole body of people with their own bikes as well.

'Our Trail Shuttle can get you and your bike to the local cycle trails so you can just ride. We can shuttle you to or from Omokoroa to ride the amazing new Coastal Cycle Trail. Let us pick you up and drop you off with ease.”

Miles says people who are less active or older can supplement their energy with electric power from the bikes.

'The e-bike revolution has brought a whole lot older people back out on bikes. You can get on and off with your e-bike at set location points on the map so if you don't want to ride the whole circuit our shuttle will be doing the circuit out to Omokoroa and back and pick you up.”