Austrian Alps Bike Tour Reviews (page 7)
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★★★★★ DougBa October 12, 2016Beautiful Bike Ride
· Salzburg Lakes Tour: Around the Lakes within the Foothills of the Alps
The overall experience of this bike tour around the lakes was terrific. If I had it to do over I would do two things differently. 1.) I would rent a lighter bike, not necessarily a road bike but one that was lighter that the 21 speed comfort bike I rented from the tour company. 2.) I would not prepay for my dinner. The meals each night were very similar, and all but one night was from a very limited menu, and not off the restaurants main menu. Also only about 14€ per person per meal was allocated, no where near what was actually paid for the meals. The individuals that we interfaced with from the tour company were excellent, from the young man that met us for our orientation to the van driver that moved our gear each day.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 11, 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- Several
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Creaky September 11, 2019
Glorious views
· Salzburg Lakes Tour: Around the Lakes within the Foothills of the Alps
A good tour through some great countryside with one rather dull stretch. Excellent organisation and accommodation; some bad weather the only downside.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 28/8/19-3/9/19
- How many tours have you completed?
- 13
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ TimHam September 23, 2019
Fantastic scenery
· Salzburg Lakes Tour: Around the Lakes within the Foothills of the Alps
This was our 4th bike tour and without a doubt was the most beautiful scenery of them all. EuroBike, the local operator did a great job with an excellent briefing, with good bikes, a great itinerary on well marked Austrian bike paths and quiet country roads. This was our first tour with e-bikes, which I'd recommend given the hills. Their GPS app was problematic for us, but with their printed instructions and Google maps for bikes, we did just fine. I'd have given a 5 star rating except for the hotels... maybe because we booked late but we were assigned more 3 stars than 4, and in some cases the rooms were quite tiny. I know European hotels are not as we expect in Western hotels, but one on the hotels (Bad Goisen) was difficult to even move around with 2 (not large) suitcases. Hotel Kendler in St. Gilgen was fantastic (even at 3 stars).
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 8, 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Timothy September 27, 2019
Fabulous trip through Austria
· Salzburg Lakes Tour: Around the Lakes within the Foothills of the Alps
Excellent experience overall. Challenges with routing. Would be nice to have standard size bottle cages. Replace Eurobike app with layer on tap of Google maps, or add city and village names to Eurobike maps. Would like to have had overall map showing area we were riding.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 6
- How many tours have you completed?
- One
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Earl Naue August 9, 2022
Lakes Tour
· Salzburg Lakes Tour: Around the Lakes within the Foothills of the Alps
The tour operator provided in person directions and instructions regarding the bike since our group used ebikes and they looked like new. In addition, the company provided a GPS app that kept us on course and we never go lost. The tour company was Eurobike and this is our second time with them and we will seek them out in the future. Lodging and food has always been great in Austria.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ gerald murphy June 23, 2023Tauren bike path
· Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
The ride through this part of Austria was great - the snow capped mountains, green countryside and friendly people made for a great cycling adventure - the only disappointing aspect was the poor detailing in the maps that were provided.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ DORIT AVIELI July 7, 2023
Beautiful area
· Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
We disappointed from the bikes, very heavy, not comfortable not properly handling .
Hotel das berau was a shame to your company!
All other details were taken care of perfectly- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ DORIT AVIELI July 7, 2023
Beautiful area
· Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
We disappointed from the bikes, very heavy, not comfortable not properly handling .
Hotel das berau was a shame to your company!
All other details were taken care of perfectly- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Stacey Davey 11 months ago
Beautiful countryside and charming hotels
· Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
I thoroughly enjoyed the villages and sights along our six day Tauren/Salzburg self-guided trip. The countryside was breathtaking, our hotels were charming and our hotel bookings and luggage transfers were seamless. The route also took great advantage of the amazing bike routes and on our 300 kM journey, I think only 10 or 15 kM was on a major highway. The trip was considered “moderate” and involved some climbs on the first few days of our trip—particularly if you wanted to visit some of the suggested sights along the way. The one detracting factor to our experience was the quality of the bikes. They were extremely heavy and cumbersome and did not help with navigating some of the hillier terrain. The bells and the odometers (essential for way finding) did not work properly on the two women’s bikes. The vast majority of the people we came across were on e-bikes and while the route was doable on what I would consider steel townies, it limited some of the sights we visited as after we climbed the almost 4 kM hill to visit the salt mine, we started considering elevation gains before deciding which sights to take in. However, I will say that the seats were comfortable! All in all, I enjoyed the trip and would definitely recommend it to others.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Pedals August 8, 2017Great and not so great
· Tauern Bike Path (Krimml-Passau)
Having just come off 2 weeks biking in France we had something to compare this trip with.
The first 3 days or so were magic - lovely views, fantastic track surface and finally cool weather. The accommodation was great,especially after we were upgraded twice, and can be recommended.The bike gear was top class but my bike however was not. Euro Velo bike hires have to realise that the standard puffy commuter seat they supply are not comfortable for guys used to proper bike seats - enough said. Also on the second day when I went to use the smallest front chain ring it turned out that 2 of the mounting bolts were missing and it got wrecked so one third of my gears were gone. Managed to get this repaired after a couple of days but wasn't really satisfactory. This should not happen!
The directions and maps hardly ever match up completely on these type of trips but we were certainly not happy to discover at the end of a long hot day that the instructions for the approach to Salzberg were in fact for someone coming from completely the opposite direction - a victim of cut and past to be sure, as was the odd paragraph still in Austrian, but this should have been edited properly. A shame as the general standard of the material presentation was of a high quality.
Be aware if you want to do this trip that the last few days are along the stop bank beside the river and are boring - very little in the way of scenery and culture. Next time we will detour inland.
Sorry but overall a 3 star effort.
Warning - in case you may be considering a taxi ride from Innsbruck to Krimml to start your trip make sure that the driver is legitimate. Ours was a temporary fill in, had not driven out of town for 4 years and was a thoroughly unsafe driver. Much too fast and I suspect maybe on something. He almost ran off the road a number of times and clipped the inside kerb a couple of times . Haven't been so scared in our lives as passengers apart from jeep trips in Nepal and Pakistan. This should not happen in a first world country and if it had been practical solution we would have got out and walked!!
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★★★★★ Marion Van Kirk May 15, 2023
Beautiful Austria and Germany
· Tauern Bike Path (Krimml-Passau)
Biking was more difficult than expected. Luckily the women had e-bikes. Most of the hotels were excellent and food was great. Trip started in Neukirchen am Grossvenediger instead of Krimml due to closed hotels. The hotel in vicinity of Burghausen was too far from the town to be able to enjoy the beautiful city and castle and this was a huge disappointment since there were 3 other hotels within the city.
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★★★★★ Bicycling in Philly August 26, 2017· Salzburg to Vienna, Lakes Option
- What was the date of your tour?
- Aug 13-19
- How many tours have you completed?
- Greater than 10
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Jackie10 June 14, 2019
Recommend with caution
· Salzburg to Vienna, Lakes Option
This bike tour is through the most beautiful Austrian countryside. The accommodations are great, luggage transfers flawless and great breakfasts included. The directions are horrible, especially the 1st and 3 rd days. Make sure you have a GPS with you. The poor directions added unnecessary frustration to the trip. The bikes are up right commuter bikes and uncomfortable for the mileage involved. If you are accustomed to a decent road bike you probably won't be happy. Most cyclists we saw were on e-bikes which makes the poor ergonomics more tolerable. This tour would be a 5 star with accurate directions and decent equipment. So bring a GPS and your own bike and have a blast!
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- Two
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Chloe June 15, 2019
Glad to hear many aspects of this tour were enjoyable! We will pass your feedback to the tour operator that the directions can be improved upon. We're sorry to hear this was a source of frustration for you. Thanks, additionally, for the notes about the bikes. This tour is offered on hybrid touring bikes and e-bikes, which, if you are accustomed to a road bike, could be uncomfortable.
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★★★★★ Larry Cady August 5, 2022Great route but TERRIBLE directions
· Innsbruck to Lake Garda Across the Southern Slopes of the Alps
The good things about the Euro Cycle tour were:
1. Very nice route through the Italian Tyrol
2. Generally very nice hotels.
3. Bike were adequate but so-so quality. On other tours I have had better quality bikes.The BAD thing - Directions were very poor. The main problem was there were no turn by turn directions to the hotels. This is standard on other tours. The printed directions routed you into the center of a town and then stopped. You were given the address of the hotel, but not directions on how to get there. Sometimes we were given a map of the town, but not always. We ended up using Google Maps on our phones to get the hotels. In one town (Maran), the hotel was well away from the town center and difficult to find. We spent a lot of time tracking it down.
I would not take a Euro Cycle tour again. Other tour companies you represent are fine and I intend to take more tours - but not with Euro Cycle.
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★★★★★ Cathy Hendrie 12 months ago
Innsbruck to Lake Garda
· Innsbruck to Lake Garda Across the Southern Slopes of the Alps
There should be a company representative present when the bikes are delivered
Our 10 person group was divided between 2 hotels …..this should never happen…we travel as a group for a reason….to enjoy our time together…also the notification sent was inadequate -
★★★★★ diane g September 18, 2016
Salzburg to Salzburg has fantastic scenery but directions provided are unbelievably poorly developed
· Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
Salzburg to Salzburg over 6 days is higher than a level 2. The terrain is hilly. I do not recommend this self guided tour because the german-speaking outfits they contract with provide totally inadequate self-guiding instructions. They do not know what a cue sheet is. They do not provide any directions as to north, south, east, west; they do not provide any street names. AND, the directions in English are very obviously translated very poorly from the German. In addition, there is no way to find your hotel once off the bike path. You have to depend upon good route finding skills for this hotel finding as well as the entire trip. We had this same experience with bike tours.com 7 years ago and thought they might have gotten better at directions. We gave bike tours feedback at that time, and our friends gave feedback on their german-speaking directions on their self-guided tour, and nothing changed. Hence I am writing this review without making a customer complaint becaue I do not believe bike tours will fix this problem. AND, THIS TOUR REQUIRES ONE TO CONSULT 3 SETS OF INSTRUCTIONS THROUGHOUT THE TRIP. 2 sets of friends had exactly the same experience. 2 stars are for getting our luggage to each hotel before we arrived; and the hotels were gracious and accommodating.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Kenneth Moffat 11 months ago
The scenery was great the bike company very poor
· Innsbruck to Lake Garda Across the Southern Slopes of the Alps
The bikes should be delivered to the hotel we are assigned to.
No one reviewed the tour nor did we get a bike fitting.
The group should all stay in the same hotel. We do not want separate hotels.
There was more than one occasion when the hotel did not have all of us booked in the hotel.
The bike tools were not adequate to fix some of the bike issues we had.
None of us would use this company again.
I should mention the liaison person Penelope was very nice.