Bike & Hotel Tour Reviews page 103
- Argentina
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★★★★★ Shannon McDougall
Great Trip
Cycling Paradise of Provence - to and from Avignon
This was a great trip with well organized logistics and routes. We downloaded a GPX file reader and found the daily routes were easy to follow. The files need to be updated for day 4 and day 6 as routes had a couple of deadends but we managed. Overall all a great trip, not too difficult!
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Sharonna
Nice tour for wine & cycling
Burgundy Wine Trails: Beaune to Macon on the “Voie Verte”
We had a lovely time visiting vineyards and cycling through Burgundy. The trip was suitable for people who were not in tip-top shape and the terrain was mostly flat (except for one day where we were staying in Chassey-le-camp at the top of a very large hill -- totally unnecessary given that the route then cycled back to the same place we went the day before). If you are visiting a winery, you should call ahead and let them know when you will arrive. Many places close around lunch time. There are lots of picnic benches to stop along the way, especially near Dracy-le-fort, so I would recommend stopping at a grocery store, bakery, etc. in the morning (not to mention a winery!) and creating your own picnic for lunch. You might want to bring your own plates, cutlery, and cups.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- 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?
- France
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★★★★★ Shayne palfreyman
Beautiful scenery - well organised
Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps
Cycling is an awesome way to see some beautiful scenery and experience the area. The tour itinerary is great - very achievable daily rides and the app showing the routes worked well though a couple of recent changes to the path need updating.
The luggage transfers and accommodations all were very well organised
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★★★★★ San2C
Wonderful Experience
Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps
The greatest surprise was that every day was a different experience. Hotels were comfortable, and the change in landscape was delightful. A few of the days would have been extremely challenging for us without E-Bikes and a GPS for guidance.
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★★★★★ Silvia
Very good overall experience
Camino de Santiago: From Porto to Santiago de Compostela
We enjoyed the bike rides. It was a great idea to upgrade to e-bikes! The terrain was challenging at times. Pedro the tour coordinator was very helpful, he was easy to reach and pleasant !
Overall the hotels were good, but the ones in Spain were much nicer and had better meals . We don't recommend to include the dinners in the package, we had some very poor dinners , particularly in Portugal.
The length of the biking trips were perfect, for most part good scenery although there was a day with too many roads through industrial areas.
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★★★★★ Silvia Guillemi
Great trip
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
This was a good bike trip . Perfect amount of time and length of bike days.
The hotels overall were good , although some of them were located outside of the towns /cities and made it harder to visit them .
There was very little or almost no instructions when we receive the bikes from the local supplier- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Suzanne Skinner
Good but bikes poor
Venice to Trieste and Istria
The hotels were great. The app worked intermittently which meant we got lost with some frequency. The bikes were heavy, with crazy bad seats, and in generally poor condition (worn chains). We were lucky we did not have break downs.
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★★★★★ Passenger2J
Vienna to Budapest Classic was a life changing experience
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
The Vienna to Budapest Classic was my Bike Tour. It will always remain as one of my best experiences in life. The Tour Operator was helpful and provided useful information in the travel documents. Majority of Tour stays on the EV6 route and allows you to see many beautiful things along the Danube. The best part of booking this tour is that you get to cross borders and cycle through 3 European Countries and Capitols. Highlights of tour include beautiful city of Vienna, Bratislava Castle and Budapest. I would definitely book with company again. Only change is some sections of the tour are challenging due to rough roads and crushed gravel for quite a few kilometers. Luckily my tires never gave way.
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★★★★★ Kathy D
MIghty Dolomity
Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps
Truly enjoyed the trip. Great bike paths for most of the route. Beautiful scenery and great overnight stays. A few hotels didn't have air conditioning but that is not unusual in this part of the world. Unfortunately, Europe is experiencing a very hot summer in 2022. We greatly enjoyed the route and all there was to see and do along the way. The bikes were not what we had expected. Very heavy, more like a beach bike w 21 gears. If you take this trip and are used to a better bike, as we are, upgrade the bike you use. Very difficult riding these very heavy bikes up some of the hills. We took a train on Day 3 for a break - mostly because of the bikes. Saving grace - the train system is fantastic and they all have capacity for bikes at a minimal cost. The app was very good once we figured out how to use it. Would have been helpful if FunActive Tour Company had given us some instruction on how to use it prior to us departing.
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★★★★★ Donald Allen
Improvisation on the river
Prague to Dresden Along the Vltava & Elbe Rivers
Due to the flooding of the Elbe river much of the bike pass was under water. The tour company rep, Lukas, did it wonderful job of working out a route for us each day. Unfortunately we had to bike some of our journey on busy highways, there just was no other way. Everything went smoothly, no small matter with the situation at hand, and we were again pleased with our trip. Looking forward to our next adventure with Bike Tours.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- 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?
- Czech Republic, Germany
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★★★★★ Damon Di Florio
Fun Way To See Europe
Three Lakes Tour: From Geneva to Annecy
Nice routes to get to each hotel, plenty of time to add in any extras, lots of pretty towns and villages along the way. Great breakfasts each morning at the hotels, very comfortable beds to sleep in and just enjoyable riding each day.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was my first self guided (solo) tour but have done 4 European group tours
- 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?
- France, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Dan1
With the Dolomites as your splendid background, ride through ancient towns until you reach the unique watery world of Venice.
Bolzano – Verona – Venice
Highly recommend getting to Bolzano early so you have time to spend a day visiting the Italian Alps. The Dolomite Highway is awe-inspiring.
The bike trails were great. Mostly paved, and when they weren't, the majority were well packed. The tour route goes through picturesque countryside. The daily destinations are beautiful and historical.
The tour includes a 5+ hour ferry ride on Lake Garda. It is a gorgeous ride with the ferry zigzagging down the 35 mile length of the lake. Feels like you are in a National Geographic special. A couple of other recommended "must do's" - visit the Scrovegni Chapel in Padova and take in an opera at the Roman Arena in Verona.
Girolibero was our tour company. They provide great tour book of entire area and towns on route. However, they give it to you (along with bikes) the morning that the tour starts which allows little or no time to really utilize the great information. It would be much better if they provided a month earlier so you have time to research in advance. Should also provide bikes the prior evening so you can get up and leave earlier in the morning.
Some of the directions along the route could have been marked better. We followed other tour companies' markers more often because Girolibero's were fewer and far between. The bikes were excellent. In great shape and mechanically solid with smooth shifting.
We paid for the upgraded hotels. However, a few of them were in sketchy areas; like near train stations.
I don't mean to sound negative. Overall, it was a great trip and very glad we did it. Only offering suggestions to make the tour even better for future riders.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 26-31
- How many tours have you completed?
- Two
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- 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?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Annej
Deep immersion in foothills of the Bavarian Alps
Romantic Road and Bavarian Lakes
Did this tour in the fall when it was too cool to swim. Lots of beautiful scenery of Bavarian farm life. Loved the charming local inns. Needed more guidance on what to see along the routes. The Eurobike arrows made it easy to trace the route. At times the route was very rough- gravel- but bikes had front suspension which helped.
Biggest suggestion is to inform us what days local markets are scheduled and when hotel restaurants as well as those recommended, are closed. one night we had to bike 30 minutes in the dark to find food. The hotel was too isolated.
In Augsburg it was extremely inconvenient to be at a hotel so far from train station. We did appreciate having our request to meet at our hotel honored.- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 20-28
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
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★★★★★ Dantzel Crane
Beautiful sights, okay directions
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
We absolutely loved our trip to Italy! It was such a treat to be able to be outside and spend significant time in the Italian countryside, seeing the beauty that is there. My only critique is that often times the directions were a bit difficult to follow. It might just be that I am unfamiliar with the Italian road system, but there were several times where we needed to check the map that was given to us by the tour company against Google maps to make sure that we were in the right place and hadn’t missed a significant turn. Otherwise, the hotels were fine but nothing special (we did not pay for upgraded hotels), the bikes were great, and we loved our time in Italy so much!
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ BadgerBiker
South France self-guided
South of France: UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Hotels and most meals were very good to excellent. Very good scenery and most roads were paved, in good or better condition and lightly travelled. Bikes were heavier than necessary for terrain, but sturdy (only needed hybrids on the Canal day). Detailed cue sheet, but hard to follow on-the-fly, especially through the towns. GPS was more helpful, but wrong route on Canal du Midi day. Accommodated 1 vegan traveller well, except 1 place where there was a communication snafu. Overall a very good tour, but could work on routing accuracy and tips on scenery/history along the way (and maybe lighter hybrid bikes!).
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Dave F
Enjoyable easy ride along the Danube
Danube Bike Path 7 Nights (Classic)
My wife and I are 71, so we appreciated the fact that this was a really flat trip along the river. The entire trip took place on a separate bike path, even if you were traveling along side a roadway, the bike path was physically separate from traffic. Along the way, there were many nice opportunities to stop for an afternoon coffee or a mid day meal. The hotels we stayed at were very nice. The bikes we used were e-bikes, and they were fantastic. The local bike support was super responsive - our only issue was in trying to contact one of the hotels, we could not understand how to make a call in Austria. We called the bike company service line, and they took care of us!
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★★★★★ David H
Enjoyable Cycle Trip Through Rural Sweden
Stockholm Round-Trip Across Swedish History
This trip was well designed to expose the rider to rural Sweden as well as some historical highlights. The length and hilliness of the individual segments allowed for five good days’ worth of cycling, yet left enough in the tank to enjoy the evenings. The accommodations were comfortable and accessible to a number of dinner options. Breakfasts were mostly quite good. There routing via online map was excellent but for one minor glitch described below..
There were a couple of areas which need some improvement.
1. On the routes of two of the days, there were short sections where the roads were paved with extremely coarse gravel, which made cycling very difficult, especially for less powerful riders.
2. On the first day, there were well-placed lunch options in Ekerö which would be useful if put in the description.
3. The condition of several of the front bags was poor.
4. The route outlined in the phone app directed riders over the main road as it entered Trosa; the bike route was visible on the electronic map as well as the paper map, but those following the highlighted route would follow it over a busy road..
5. Cyclists would be well warned that the elevators in the Tumba station are very tight for e-bikes.
Overall, we enjoyed the trip immensely, and would recommend it to anyone who asked.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2025
- How many tours have you completed?
- Four organized, a good many on our own
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Sweden
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★★★★★ David Klaeser
Danube River Tour
Vienna to Budapest 5-nights (Active)
Initial communications with BikeTours was challenging due to not knowing there was an 8 hour time zone difference. The hotel in Bratislava was located several km from the bike trail and it was difficult to navigate through town to get there plus staff were not friendly. Directions to this hotel in the app would have been helpful. The hotels in Gyor, Estergom and Budapest were easier to get to and had excellent service. The trip app was easy to use and provided lots of good information. The bikes were ok. A water bottle holder and phone holder on handlebars would make navigation safer and easier.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10
- 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, Hungary, Slovakia
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★★★★★ David19
A vigorous adventure
UNESCO Sites of Albania
This is an excellent tour for anyone who wants to do a lot of climbing far from the beaten tourist path with the leadership of an excellent, superbly organized cyclist.
On the other hand, it is not a great way to get to know a lot about Albanian culture or history. Even though we went to some sites of great historical and cultural significance, we didn't have much time there, and promises that we would have a guided tour were not always kept. I'd have liked to have had a rest day in Gjirokaster; it has a lot of history to explore.
This tour has lots of climbs, some of them quite steep. The bikes provided by the operator didn't have low enough gears, so most tour members walked some of the climbs. The tour operator has told me he has recognized this problem and has already ordered more suitable bikes for 2019.
The food was excellent in both quality and quantity, with very few exceptions. Most eating was family style. There were vegetarian options.
Our group was large--22 participants, six more than advertised--but so well organized that meals moved briskly.
All 22 of us regrouped several times each day on the road. This, plus the attentiveness of the guide and the sag driver, made it almost impossible to get lost, but it also meant the faster riders often waited for the laggards to arrive.
I liked the other riders. I think few whiners choose tours in the mountains of Albania.- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept. 13, 2018
- How many tours have you completed?
- More than ten.
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ DRC1
Great intro to Extremadura
Cycling Spain’s Land of the Conquistadors
An area with tons of sites and (relatively) little visited. Can you say Juradilla de la Vera? The Paradors are outstanding. Only down side of trip is that it involves a substantial amount of blacktop. Plus side of that is that it is usually lightly trafficked. We had ebikes and grateful we did because some of the days are long and with a difficulty greater than I would have otherwise enjoyed. The bikes were first rate, German built with Bosch drives. Can’t comment on support because we needed none.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept/Oct 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Spain
