Bike & Hotel Tour Reviews page 50
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bosnia and H…
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- England
- Estonia
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Holland
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Mexico
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Scotland
- Serbia
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Thailand
- Turkey
- United States
- Vietnam
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★★★★★ DavidW
Amazing scenery day after day
Innsbruck to Salzburg: Through the Alps Along River Cycle Trails
We have cycled in most countries in Europe and picked this trip for two reasons. 1) Our adult daughter was traveling with us, and she loves mountains, and 2) I had major knee surgery this past winter and wanted a ride that was fun but not overly strenuous. This trip met both criteria and more! The scenery from day-to-day was unmatched. My wife and I had visited some of these locations in winter, but the summer was a different and wonderful experience. This trip would be great for novice riders because it would be very hard to get lost (mountains on both sides). Also, being able to ride on dedicated bike trails with very few stretches of road is a great benefit. Just enough gentle climbs to keep your heart pumping.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 20-26, 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 12
- 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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★★★★★ David C
Well supported trip
Florence to Rome
This is the best way to see a country. We experienced the pace of life in the countryside and found wonderful stops along the way. We used our own sense of time and always found our room and luggage waiting for us with no complications. The distances and destinations were well thought out and offered lots of variety for us. Breakfast was served every morning and it was a great way to fuel up and meet with other riders before the day begins. The trip was just as advertised. We rode along quiet country roads and lanes and we didn't get lost-the guide book and signage were very helpful and easy to spot.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 9-16, 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- this was the first
- 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?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Denise brown
Great trip. Enjoyed every minute
Venice to Trieste and Istria
We travelled - just my husband and myself. The app gave great directions for us to follow. The routes were lovely- very little time on busy roads. The hotels were great. Clean and friendly. Our favourite stop was Piran in Slovenia. We got to know the others on the same trip as us. It was great to share experiences at the end of the day. Only thing I would change for me is I would not go for an ebike next time. Found it very heavy and not suited to some of the terrain.
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★★★★★ Dave Carlstrom
On the road again... our third Biketours.com adventure
Lake Constance Classic (11-nights)
Thankfully I’m not unduly worse for wear after almost three weeks and hundreds of kilometers of European cycling… though I did take four tumbles. The most serious (and ignominious) was in an Austrian grocery store parking lot when my pants cuff caught on the pedal and over I went – hard, attracting the immediate attention of several shoppers (“Carnage on lane one”) who with some difficulty got me back on my feet. At first I was pretty sure I’d broken something important, but all limbs are yet attached and seemingly intact… albeit a bit looser.
I pedaled the balance of the day’s distance but at my compatriots’ urging skipped the following day’s segment in favor of bus/train passage to St. Gallen, Switzerland. The next day was a scheduled no biking day so I had two days to recover, sorta. The next day – our last of actual cycling – with some anxiety I got back on my trusty velocipede and, sure enough, one click later fell again… though this time comparatively softly albeit in front of a bus. I made it the remaining 45K to destination without further incident.
Our merry band included Seattleites Curt and Brenda Burnett, Gerry Champagne, and friends until recently from Fairbanks Ron and Jeanine Woolf. Fine folks all, we really did have a good time together.
Our odyssey began with six days at a rental house in Eguisheim, France, followed by an eleven day clockwise circumnavigation of Lake Constance that touched Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Here are a few day-by-day snippets of my adventure:
Sunday, April 30th. Aloft en route to Paris Delta served the worst dinner I’ve ever ingested on an international flight: the “beef” entre was the consistency of spam, reminiscent of the mystery meat of junior high cafeteria days, and dished out in a biodegradable cardboard clamshell.
Monday, May 1st. Having hobbled off the plane I was semi-involuntarily consigned to a wheelchair for the lengthy transfer to the airport train station. Manly hombre that I am, I dared not disclose to the friendly pusher that I had come to Europe for three weeks of cycling. Arrived Colmar, in Alsace, just before midnight via a 180 MPH TGV with a transfer in Strasbourg and, coincidentally, six minutes prior to the Woolfs’ arrival. Settled into our very nice rental house.
Tuesday, May 2nd - Thursday, May 4th. Daily e-bike excursions to nearby picture-perfect towns with eat-in dinners crafted by chefs Burnett and Woolf. Imbibed copious amouints of wine, certainly did our part for the local viticulture industry.
I developed a serious case of ABC – Asymmetrical Butt Chafing – which was ameliorated by liberal bi-daily nether regions applications of Bag Balm – my personal favorite posterior palliative, see https://bagbalm.com/. SHOW MORE
Friday, May 5th. Hung out at the house, pas mal.
Saturday, May 6th. Day trip with Burnetts to the tourist mecca of Colmar where, alas and alack, Curt was pickpocketed! Charge and debit card cancellations ensued, not good.
Sunday, May 7th. Auto trip to a German mountain hiking lodge, an intermediate stop on our way to Konstantz, the starting and ending point of our main event circumnavigation of the eponymous lake.
Monday, May 8th. Had to beat feet to get Burnetts’ rental car back by a 10:30 am deadline… made it with a full five minutes to spare. Checked in at the stunning four star Hotel Halm where the breakfast buffet includes champagne and cheesecake. Woolfs arrived by train, Gerry direct from Seattle via Zurich. Got our e-bikes.
Tuesday, May 9th. Pedaled forty some K to Gailingen, a bit of a shakedown cruise. Great scenery and picture postcard-worthy medieval villages. Adequate lodging, but not a Hotel Halm.
Wednesday, May 10th. Roundtrip to Rhine Falls, Europe’s largest. Second night in Gailingen, first of nearly nightly self-catered hotel room team happy hours.
On previous European bike tours we’ve grumbled about route instructions encrypted by by non-native English speakers. This time the tour operator-provided guidebook was completely devoid of route guidance… we were on our own, taking turns as Google Maps-assisted trail breaking pathfinders with plenty of navigational errors. But we always (eventually) got to where we were going.
Thursday, May 11th. Return to Konstanz for a Hotel Halm reprise. Got soaked during the last couple clicks of the day’s ride.
Friday, May 12th. To Radolfzell via Mainau Island, the latter a facsimile of sorts of Butchart Gardens.
Saturday, May 13th. A mere sixteen K to Ludwigshafen.
Sunday, May 14th. Forty K to Friedrichshafen, home of the Zeppelin Museum to which I made a solo afternoon excursion via city buses. Turns out the Hindenberg was 245 meters from stem to stern, almost three football fields.
Monday, May 15th. Day of my aforementioned parking lot tumble. Overnight in Bregnz, Austria. I was very sore, somewhat bruised, had marginal repose.
Tuesday, May 16th. Having shipped my bike with the luggage I patronized buses and trains to our next destination, St. Gallen, Switzerland. As it happened today was Jeanine’s turn to tumble, hard, while passing a path-blocking truck.
Wednesday, May 17th. Today was a scheduled non-cycling day so while others toured about (monastery, waterfalls chocolate factory, shopping) I rested my bruised corpus in the hope that I might be sufficiently healed for the morrow’s last lap back to Konstanz.
Thursday, May 18th. 14K of almost continuous downhill on the 46 K journey back to our starting point. Celebratory dinner, a bit melancholy to be soon parting ways.
Friday, May 19th. Train to Zurich for a twelve hour Swissair flight to San Francisco and a connection home to Seattle.
Great trip, a good time had by all (despite bumps and bruises).
D. Carlstrom. May, 2023
SHOW LESS- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Dana C.
Fabulous Scenery and Fabulous Tour Operator
Bergen to Sognefjord: Cycle Norway's Greatest Landscapes
Norway's Sognefjord is a unique scenic experience, with dozens of 5,000+ foot mountains rising next to the water and charming small towns dotting the coast. And the fjord has more waterfalls than we could count.
The tour's bike rides were mostly on coastal roads, without much traffic and with only modest hills. But what really made the trip special was the tour operator. Our guide Merete grew up in the area and has incredible local knowledge of the region and its history, as well as the friendliest and most helpful attitude. Highly recommended trip.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Norway
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★★★★★ DebM
Beautiful ride through Dutch countryside
Best of Holland North: Dutch Villages, Landscapes & the Keukenhof
The local tour company designed a beautiful and varied route through nature preserves, parks, farmland, and old and picturesque towns. Each inn was delightful in its own way. I rated this harder than expected only because we had extremely windy weather.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Late June
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2 on our own, 30+ years ago
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Debbie McLaughlin
An amazing, exhilarating and exciting trip
Andalusia: Southern Spain
My husband and I are so happy we chose to explore southern Spain by bike. This was a very different trip than we were used to but it was the best way to see this beautiful part of the country. Even our mis-adventures (truth be told, the way out of Seville in 90 plus weather was tough and some of the directions were a little off) left us laughing like kids (we are in our 60s)! We will definitely explore other bike tour options with this company. I will never forget the beautiful and endless landscape of sunflowers. Breathtaking! And the accommodations after a long, hot ride were simply outstanding. We would do it again in a heartbeat!
- Countries included in this tour?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Dan Mc.
Outstanding Bike Tour in Croatia
Split to Dubrovnik: The Islands and Coastline of Croatia
This was an outstanding bike trip to Croatia and its coastal islands. It was well-organized from the beginning to the end, and communication was friendly and thorough. The locations were as beautiful as the photos, and the GPS app was super helpful.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2025
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- 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?
- Croatia
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★★★★★ Murphycreek
Can't think of a better way to see Holland
Best of Holland South: Canals, Windmills & Historic Towns
We did this tour in late August, 2018. We are reasonably fit early 70 year olds from California. Neither of us had been on a bicycle in years. We loved it. Some observations:
-Probably the best, unique thing was the route. We were given a little GPS thing that told us where to go, turn by turn. It didn't just go from A to B. It took us through charming town centers, on farm roads through the polders, along rivers and canals, by windmills, through North Sea dunes, through tiny villages and suburbs. Even through an industrial park (think bulb and flower industries).
-The hotels ranged from very charming to just fine, and all were within a stroll of the heart of town.
-The bicycles were top notch, like new, lovingly maintained.
-The distances were just right. At the end of each day, we felt exercised but hardly exhausted, and deeply appreciated a cold beer.
-The weather was good. Pleasantly warm, some sun and some overcast. It started to rain just once, and around the next bend was an appealing hotel with a good lunch.
-We liked Peter-the-bike-guy very much. He has a stringy tour de France look, speaks excellent Euro-English, gave us clear, concise instruction on how to do things, and was amusing. Also, he was quite gracious when we told him about the bike falling into the canal.
-If we were doing the trip again (or knew beforehand what we know now), we would have made one change. We would have arranged to stay two nights in Gouda and Delft, and would have arrived a day earlier in Utrecht (we did stay an extra day in Leiden). This would have allowed us to spend time with the museums and other charms of these wonderful cities.
-Finally, we loved being immersed in Dutch bike culture. Everybody bikes, bikes are everywhere, isolated bike lanes go most places, cars respect bike rights, and oh-by-the-way people looked conspicuously leaner than in the rest of Europe, let alone in America.- What was the date of your tour?
- August 19
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- 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?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Dean Beveridge
Amazing experience
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
Loved exploring Dolomites to Venice by bike. History, scenery, food and wine. Loved every minute.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Deb Glazer
Great trip all around
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
Great itinerary. The hotels were mostly great. The local app was sluggish. Google maps
Would be better.
The food was good. More
Dairy free options please. Hard in Italy I know! More protein options.- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Traveldeb
A Family Ride on the Danube
Danube Family Tour 7 Nights
I was looking for a relatively easy ride for a group that included two grandchildren. This was perfect. The equipment (trailer and tag along) were just right, the easy paved course let everyone enjoy the scenery, and the accommodations were wonderful.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 21 - 29
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists, Families with young kids, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany
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★★★★★ Deborah Davis
Perfectly curated
UNESCO Sites of Albania
We were self guided and had changed the itinerary by adding a few rest days along the way. As we were not part of a group we were initially worried that me might get forgotten (and bags not forwarded etc) but every detail was taken care of and the support was completely reliable and comprehensive. This allowed us to just enjoy the trip. Albania was an absolute delight in every way; scenery, people, culture and the route was perfectly curated to show the best of all of this.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2025
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- 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?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Deb S
Great way to see the real Portugal
Castles and Wines of Portugal
This was a wonderful trip. We rented hybrid bikes and they were of great quality-only suggestion is it would have been nice to have a second water bottle holder for the hot days. There was a rear rack with pannier to hold a modest amount of stuff-pretty much what you need for the day (having your luggage transferred of course. The route was so picturesque. We averaged over 40km a day with 2 days close to 60km. Two days were hilly. You need to be in reasonable shape to do this tour-not expert but a regular exerciser. It was well planned out. The accommodations were very lovely-old convents, farm, small inn-really got the feel of Portugal. All of the breakfasts were very good and fueled us for the day ahead. I would highly recommend this tour.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- 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?
- Portugal
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★★★★★ DebbieFL
Debbie & Phyllis' Excellent Adventure
Algarve Coastal Route
This was our 7th trip with Biketours.com, and one of our favorite routes, by far. The route was spectacular, and unlike a few of our previous trips - the towns were we spent the night each offered a delightful mix of sightseeing & dining options to take advantage of. And we can't say enough about Fred and the rest of the group at Algarve Bike Holidays. From the materials they provided ahead of time to the extra TCL by helping us with a flat on Sunday afternoon, so we didn't lose time on Monday waiting for the local bike shop to open - they went above and beyond. The hotels were particularly nice - some of the best breakfast buffets we've experienced so far. This was the first time we took a trip that was guided via GPS - and it is definitely the way to go!
- What was the date of your tour?
- 9/2 - 9/8 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Portugal
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★★★★★ LINDA LYNCH
Surpassed all expectations
Lake Constance Bicycle Path
Though we "trained" for this trip, (this trip is rolling hills and a relatively level course), there are several long ride days. And in truth, we are more tourists than competitive bikers, so wanted to sightsee the villages, which are rich in history and architecture. So, we connected with Caroline and Natasha at the BikeTours bike partner and were very fortunate to switch to ebikes midway. Truly suggest this option to begin with, as it made the journey more pleasant and our time well spent learning about UNESCO sites, ancient Churches and the area surrounding Lake Constanze. Simply, all the hotels were superior, they provided peaceful settings, clean accommodations and tremendous breakfasts, though Alte Post front desk and breakfast staff and St. Leonard Park Hotel were true overachievers. The Hotel front desk staff in all were great and answered our many questions. At present, we are reading about and studying countries for our next trip with Bike Tours!
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- 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?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ LINDA LYNCH
Stunning Lake, country and villages
Lake Constance Bicycle Path
Our first bike tour introduced many picturesque villages, as well as kind hotel staff. The hotels were nicely spaced along Lake Constanze with great breakfasts each morning. First moment, I recognized the absolute quiet of our peaceful settings. The villages and country were not just charming, they were calming and quiet. Day 4 we switched to Ebikes, as they allowed us to visit more of the Historic and UNESCO sites along the route and facilitating the hills. Suggest better cell phone research, as our "just change to new sim card" did not go to plan. It is 3 different countries, so 3 sim cards by the number of phones... Alte Post in Constanze front desk manager was amazing in her ability to answer our many questions, as well as Nadia at the bike company.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- 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, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Pamela Jo
Wonderful experience
Wine & Bike in Hungary’s Balaton Uplands
We had a great time in Hungary. Gabor is a terrific host even for a self guided ride. great cycling and even better wine!
- What was the date of your tour?
- 6/8
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Hungary
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★★★★★ Dennis A
Innsbruck to Lake Garda
Innsbruck to Lake Garda Across the Southern Slopes of the Alps
Beautiful is the only way to describe scenery. Only thing difficult about this trip were the directions! Had problems almost every day getting out of cities. Particularly difficult in Merano. Circled city in dangerous conditions trying to get to trail.
