Bike & Hotel Tour Reviews page 30
- Argentina
- Australia
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- Bosnia and H…
- Brazil
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- Czech Republic
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- Estonia
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- Jamaica
- Luxembourg
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- Mexico
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- New Zealand
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- United States
- Vietnam
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★★★★★ Cheryl Shanaghan
Sweden
Stockholm and Sörmland
Dieter and McKaela were fantastic. They ensured a flawless week. From bag service to roadside picnics to history lessons, they absolutely knocked it out of the park.
My only suggestion is we had fish and small potatoes 4 mights in a row. It was disappointing not being able to select our entree at dinner. Even 2-3 choices would've been acceptable and we could've provided this in advance.
We cannot say enough good things about the trip...absolutely fantastic!!- What was the date of your tour?
- July/August 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- 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?
- Sweden
-
★★★★★ Clair Robbins
A great trip through Germany!
Mosel Bike Path: Dreamy Mosel Valley from Trier to Koblenz
The tour was beautiful, great scenery and easily bike able! We used the luxury package and were very impressed with the accommodations. Four out of the five hotels exceeded our expectations. Overall we had a great time biking, trying wine, and visiting castles. We found the pacing to be good. A nice amount of biking each day with time to explore along the way. Only a few pieces were stress. It was difficult to navigate the final city due to ongoing construction. And our last day involved a boat trip and it was difficult to coordinate getting the tickets for the boat. That being said, it was an amazing trip and we would go again!
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was the first one
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- 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?
- Germany
-
★★★★★ CCandPC
Gorgeous scenery and perfect weather!
Tuscany and Umbria: Cycling in the Heart of Italy
My partner and I did this trip, self-guided, and it was great. BikeTours.com was very responsive to our questions, pre-trip, and the local tour company was great too. We rented carbon road bikes from them, and the bikes were excellent. We brought our own pedals, and I brought my saddle, and they helped swap them and ensured we were happy with the setup. As a level 3 tour, the mileage was mostly 50-75 km per day, which was perfect for us. A bit more hilly than expected, but that was fine too. I'd estimate it at a 3.5. The views were gorgeous, and each little town we passed through or stayed in was beautiful. The hotels were nice, with large buffet-style breakfasts, usually in hill-top old fortress towns. We went in late June and the weather was upper twenties celsius. One thing to watch out for is that Italian roads (secondary roads) are not always well-maintained, so while the scenery was stunning, the poorly maintained roads were a surprise and impacted our speed at times. Other than that, it was dreamy and I'd recommend it highly!!
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 14-22, 2018
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Clark Woodland
Exceeded expectations
Dordogne Valley: Between the Dordogne and Lot Rivers
Unlike most Chain Gang tours in the Dordogne, our tour was self guided with our luggage being transported to our next hotel. Someone else in our group was the main contact with Bike Tours and Chain Gang, I was just along for the ride, so to speak. I was very pleased with everything about the tour - the bikes (almost new Trek hybrids), the routes, the towns we visited, the hotels we stayed in, the restaurant recommendations and Chain Gang's willingness to respond to our requests for minor changes in our itinerary.
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Susan Cleary
Amazing!
UNESCO Sites of Albania
My friend and I did the UNESCO Albania tour (self guided)and it exceeded all our expectations.
The routes were breathtaking. Riding through the mountains, even in the rain,
I felt like we were in a virtual reality ride.Our tour guide, Aldo was fantastic.
Every morning he checked our bikes and made sure we had everything we needed. He would also be seen in the hotels mornings and evenings helping serve meals and drinks.The sag driver, Fitim, was wonderful too.
He would wash bikes after rainy days, make sure we had water and occasionally give a whistle if we happened to take a wrong turn and he was in the vicinity.The hotels were great with one exception, however, the others certainly made up for it especially the first and last night.
Thank you for such a wonderful experience!
Thank you Aldo and Fitim!- What was the date of your tour?
- April 19
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Kenneth Clements
Perfect Vacation Experience
Burgundy Wine Trails: Beaune to Macon on the “Voie Verte”
Fantastic experience. Wonderful hotels. The hosts were very gracious. The bags arrived flawlessly at our next stop everyday. Late September offered perfect weather.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Late September 2023
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
-
★★★★★ Albuquerque, M
A wonderful and nice surprise!
Burgundy Wine Trails: Beaune to Macon on the “Voie Verte”
Honestly... as we arrived in Beaune, after five days in the intense Paris, we got depressed and were about to give up on the tour. It was Sunday and almost everything was closed and there was almost nobody in the streets. As we went for a walk around this curious and medieval city, it started to look interesting. We decided to, at least, try the bike ride scheduled for the next day. And so it all began. The track, the field covered with vineyards, wheat, hay and sunflower, the small villages, the cozy pre-summer weather, enchanted us. Some winery were opened, so we could do some tasting and buy some peculiar wines, which gave additional brightness to the trip. Locals were very kind. The physical exercise itself... it all changed our minds completely. So, as to enjoy even more, we opted for electric bikes. Each day was a 5 to 6 hour ride full of discoveries and stop-overs, different kinds of tracks, many new old villages and delightful sceneries, sprinkled by wonderful chardonnay and pinot noir. Charming places to picnic, many photos, lots of tastes and smells. Resting in comfortable beds and dinning the Bourgogne gastronomy. It was not the trip of our dreams. It was a dream itself!
- What was the date of your tour?
- June, 2025
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was the first
- 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
-
★★★★★ Creaky
Lovely lakes
Salzburg Lakes Tour: Around the Lakes within the Foothills of the Alps
Beautiful scenery and pleasant hotels. Good organisation as usual. One forest section (in pouring rain) was pure misery and wouldn’t have been terrific even in good weather.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 28/7-3/8
- How many tours have you completed?
- 15
- 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
-
★★★★★ Clint
A great trip through the countryside of older towns starting and stopping at two great cities
Florence to Rome
Great trip through wonderful old hilltop towns I wouldn't normally have put on my list. So happy to do this tour and visit these towns. The riding was great with an excellent variety in landscapes. The route was marked the whole way and included turn by turn directions that were easy to follow.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 8/26/2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ clk14
Beautiful and relaxing trip!
Wine & Bike in Hungary’s Balaton Uplands
The Balaton is a beautiful area to bike in and to vacation where the Hungarians vacation. Hotel Olivia and the town of Veszprém were perfect places to start and end the trip and we had perfect timing with a weeklong jazz festival occurring on both our start and finish evenings in Veszprém. We liked the Anna Grand Hotel but loved the rest of the hotels and had many wonderful dinners. We chose to go unguided because this summer we needed/wanted to relax and go at our own pace. If you want lots of activities and wine tasting, then go for the guided tours--based on our experience with the tour company, we expect the guided tours would be wonderful.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2018
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- 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?
- Hungary
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★★★★★ love to bike europe
Loved our bike tour in Lake Garda, Italy!
Lake Garda (Based in One Hotel)
We had the best time on our bike trip! It is based out of one hotel (which is on the lake and we swam everyday after biking). We did 3 of the 5 tours due to a limited amount of time. The guy that brought our bikes was friendly, and on the first day one of the bikes broke so he brought another bike without any problem. The only problem was the first day and 1 1/2 we were lost all the time because we couldn't find the signs and the written instructions were bad (and the "app" is just a map, it doesn't give instructions). But once we started finding the signs, it was a blast. The scenery is gorgeous (vineyards, lake, towns, etc etc). Such a great trip!! We also were able to purchase helmets which we kept as a fun momento.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2018
- How many tours have you completed?
- two
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Ernie
Scenic Tour
Innsbruck to Salzburg: Through the Alps Along River Cycle Trails
The scenery was even better than the promotional pictures indicate. The arrangements were great, the hotels were wonderful, and I would recommend the half-board option. Food was super. Rained on us several days but it was still beautiful. Directions got a little vague in some cases through the cities. We were very happy with our experience.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2017
- 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?
- Austria
-
★★★★★ wilsom
Everyone should have a holiday like this
Romantic Road and Bavarian Lakes
It was such a good holiday. Even though there were challenging times with the weather, it was a great trip and the smile never faded from my face. I loved it so much I'm trying to go again this year.
10 out of 10, would do again, A++
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 18th, 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- 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?
- Germany
-
★★★★★ Bruce Mitchell
Beautiful Tour of the west coast.
Sweden’s West Coast: Helsingborg to Gothenburg
A wonderful way to explore the Swedish west coast. The bike trail is easy to follow, relatively flat, and was almost exclusively on a paved trail. The trail winds its way along the coastline, with distances between towns very manageable. We stayed in excellent accommodation with lots of time each day to explore. All in all a fantastic family bike trip.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2024
- 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?
- Sweden
-
★★★★★ Carol Peckham
Exceeds expectations
Swiss Lakes by E-bike: Lake Geneva to Lake Lucerne
Switzerland is beautiful and what a spectacular way to see it. We took an unguided tour with turn by turn directions that kept us off the beaten track. Our trip was very well planned with wonderful accommodations each night. The e-bikes we rented were excellent and with the ups and down of our route, also appreciated.
We have become real believers in bike tours as a relaxed way to see the world. This was our third trip through Bike Tours and we are already planning our next one.- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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?
- Switzerland
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★★★★★ Collette
Piedmont Pleasures!
Piedmont Region: The Italian Garden of Eden
After this bike tour, we can hardly imagine touring most of Italy, or Europe, any other way than by bicycle. Stopping in small towns for simple mid-day lunch, riding by a tiny gelato shop and making a quick U-turn, and having a cappuccino among other a few local residents in an ancient town square were just a few of the experiences that allowed us to be part of the Piedmont region, not just tour through it.
When we were on streets and road, off the bike trails, we found the drivers in the Piedmont region to be cautious and careful around us, giving us and our bikes as wide of berth as they could afford, including in the roundabouts and larger cities like Tourino and Asti.
We're in decent biking shape but grape vines love hillsides so we're glad we selected e-bikes for this particular tour route. We didn't have any problems with the bikes or battery charging (though if you're a larger person, some of the longer riding days required some riders to keep their e-assist on lower levels to facilitate battery strength throughout the day as the Bosch batteries are half strength of what is available here in the US.)
The map app with its corresponding daily route map made finding our way simple, and when we left the route for an interesting side-tour of our own (a wine stop!), it was easy to jump back on the route from where we were. You couldn't get lost using the map app.- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 14-21, 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- 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
-
★★★★★ Colleen Petters
Biking, Sea, Art, Wine!
Medieval Villages of Catalonia
This bike trip included so many of the things we love: touring on two wheels, ancient historic towns, wine, Spanish food and art of the region.
We self-guided using the excellent map and GPS provided which helped facilitate fun side trips and stops, then returning to the established routes. Navigation was easy for all, even the one among us who is directionally challenged!
The hotels each had great character, charm and comforts, and we enjoyed the two 2-night stay overs where day trips were planned.
The Spanish individuals we met were friendly and welcoming. Using our basic tourist level Spanish helped us be polite and friendly in return.
The countryside scenery, small towns and roads/trails were great! Food and wine throughout this Catalonia region were excellent and fair priced.- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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?
- Spain
-
★★★★★ Julie Griesert
Fabulous trip
Best of Catalonia Cycle Touring
This was our third self-guided bike trip and probably the most organized and well-planned. Daniel met us at the first hotel and was very thorough with instructions, giving us both a map with notes as well as a gps that worked great. He even made dinner reservations at one of the hotels (the restaurant is amazing and reservations must be made in advance). We loved the variety of areas the route took us through - country and coastal. The last 2 hotels were over the top, and the last one was our absolute favorite. Things to know when considering this trip: you have to want to bike most of the day, that's what these trips are about. We'd start our days with a great breakfast and then were on the road by 10 or 10:30, biking until the afternoon (anywhere from 2 - 4pm depending on the mileage). I had an e-bike but the other 2 of us had regular bikes. I was happy to have the assist so I could keep up. You will likely run into a few stretches that aren't pleasant; maybe next to a noisy road, or suddenly it gets super windy or rainy and bugs are flying into your eyes (I recommend eye wear of some kind) but then you are in blissful sections in the middle of a quiet forest on a rail-to-trail path, or rolling through sunny fields of wheat. The less pleasant bits were rare but do note that these trips are better for people who can handle a bit of rain or wind or whatever. Food tip: Meal times in Europe are skewed later and restaurants and stores may not be open when you want to eat. Try to plan ahead and either buy picnic food in town in the am so you can eat on the road later, or be prepared to eat a fixed price multi-course lunch in the later afternoon (unless you are in a bigger town that has more options). We managed to convince a couple places to do a lower fixed price lunch with fewer dishes but it's just not the norm. By the end of the trip we were so done with large meals. It was new for us to have the 2 night stays in 2 of the hotels but they were at our 2 favorite hotels and with the one on the coast, we ended up taking advantage of the 2 nights by not doing the second day's ride. It was cold, windy, and a bit rainy so we ended up taking a very slow morning until the rain subsided, then we walked the coastal footpath, which was gorgeous. It worked out well as a nice break. Also, I recommend not looking up the hotels in advance - one of the fun things about these trips is rolling up to the hotel in the afternoon and knowing nothing about it. On previous trips we've had some pretty odd mixes of places, including one semi-creepy place (not on this trip) that we still laugh about today and even kind of appreciate that we ended up there. All-in-all a great trip.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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?
- Spain
-
★★★★★ Cramaz
The Great Tour of Salzburg
Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
This ride took us through some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable. While there were a couple of difficult hills, the majority of the ride was quite manageable and structured so that there was plenty of time to sightsee on the way and at each destination. The towns we stayed in all had something a little different to offer and all had plenty of good places to eat and relax. As a self-guided tour, this would be hard to beat. The Tauern bike path is a great way to see this part of Austria.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 28th August to 5th September 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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
-
★★★★★ Tony
Tour for all ages
Dordogne Valley: Between the Dordogne and Lot Rivers
I really enjoyed the way we were all so well loked after along the trip. The accommodation was great, the meals delicious, the rides were well organised, and the tour leader Bernard, was perfect for the mixed group of riders that we had. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to take part in the tour.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 8/7/17 -15/7/17
- How many tours have you completed?
- about 10
- 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?
- France
