Bike & Hotel Tour Reviews page 78
- 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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★★★★★ Edouard Cornudet
Amazing
Cycling Paradise of Provence - to and from Avignon
France is perfect for cycling. And we follow all the instruction in the paper and arrive well everywhere. There were like 3 or 4 instructions in the whole book that weren't good but in general it was very well indicated. Organization was great and philip was also perfect as loos 3 tired in two days, every morning before the start he came with new tires to replace the old ones. Thanks!
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- 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?
- France
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★★★★★ Lucretia Germick
Balkans Coast & Mountains
Cycling the West Balkan Triangle
BEAUTIFUL scenery along coasts & mountains. Some challenging climbs mixed with coastal flats. Comfortable accommodations with character. Lunches were delicious & introduced us to some local foods. Alex & Igor provided excellent leadership & support while keeping us laughing with their antics! Always felt safe so could relax & enjoy the views. Would suggest stocking small, medium & large helmets and adding bells on bikes to alert pedestrians.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 10-17, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4 European tours & 20 US tours
- 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?
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro
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★★★★★ Jeffrey Smith
Outstanding trip enjoyed it a lot
Mosel Bike Path: Dreamy Mosel Valley from Trier to Koblenz
The hotels were wonderful and the directions were easy to follow. The luggage transfers were always on time
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
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★★★★★ Daniel Villegas
Great rides, not so great organization
Bicycle Paths of the Dolomites (based in one hotel)
The rides to beautiful valleys was amazing and very enjoyable. The company FunActive was not well organized in terms of transfers to start or end points. Bicycles required better maintenance and bicycles were misplaced by the company on the first day. In hindsight if I was to do this again, I would book my own hotel, rent the bikes for a week and do the routes independently.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- 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?
- Italy
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★★★★★ gerald murphy
Tauren 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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★★★★★ Marcia Orbelian
Lovely countryside tour
Amsterdam to Bruges: Cycling through South Holland and Zeeland
Was so enjoyable biking through the green landscapes and farmlands! The GPS bike routing worked great. We felt safe and comfortable on the paved bike trails. All hotels were just fine; we particularly enjoyed our houseboat accommodations. Three cheers for Tulip Tours excellently planned trip!
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 26 to June 3, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- four (4)
- 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?
- Belgium, Holland
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★★★★★ TF and DD NYC
Great destinations!
Venice to Trieste and Istria
A highlight of the trip was seeing all the different towns and cities along the way. The route varied from day to day – coastal paths, farmland and former border crossings. We stayed in modern seaside towns, ancient inland towns and cities. We even saw flamingos in the lagoon!
The biking was challenging at times, with strong headwinds the first couple of days. We rode on roads, bike paths, dirt farm roads and raised dike walls. The navigation, directions and app were easy to follow, but many of the arrow stickers should be replaced. Bikes were standard hybrids, but note: step through bikes do not have water bottle cages!
We opted for trains and boats when available. This allowed us to have more time to explore the towns, while still having plenty of biking. Each place we stayed was unique and a couple of the hotels were better than expected. It was nice visit the towns just before the summer season. There were many tourists, but not big crowds.
We would recommend this trip to those who are confident riders. Plan to stay a couple of extra days in Venice and/or Porec if you can, as there is plenty to see and do!
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★★★★★ Andrew Avramides
Discovery of Netherlands
Amsterdam to Bruges: Cycling through South Holland and Zeeland
Great way to experience Holland-beautiful countryside and easy cycling-.Beautiful location for our stays and lovely towns
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★★★★★ Josh Shupack
Great bike paths and views
Lake Constance Bicycle Path
My wife and our boys ages 7 and 11 went on this tour. Most of it is on fabulous bike paths. Occasionally you have to bike through a town on roads or places with a lot of pedestrians. We had to skip a day and a half via trains and boats because it was a little much for our boys, but we still managed 150 km. I would recommend a day off in the middle.
The views are great, lots of places to stop for a swim, museum, or just a walk through a neat town. We found that it took a lot of the day just to bike and we didn't have as much time as we had liked for playing and exploring.
The distances for each day depend on what cities you're staying in.
Overall a really good experience for the whole family.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens, Families with young kids
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ e
Danish delight
Royal Zealand and Copenhagen
Copenhagen and Zealand is a delight. We did the independent tour. Biketours did what it is supposed to do: it booked good hotels, it moved the suitcases every day. and it delivered good sturdy bikes. that is why I came back to this company for a third tour.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Denmark
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★★★★★ Liana Amy
Loved it
Lake Constance Bicycle Path
We lucked out with spectacular weather for this trip. It really is beautiful. At certain points we lost track of the "actual" path we were supposed to be following but eventually we would always find our way back on. The hotels were good. One improvement would be to have all hotels with A/C, as during the summer, the temps can be pretty high and a couple of the hotels were downright hot during the night. Some hotels offered a fan, but only two had A/C. The food at all of the hotels was great for breakfast and the staff at each one were helpful and friendly.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Rhonda Barton
Beautiful views!
Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps
The trip was beautiful! The views through the Dolomites and Julian Alps are constantly awe provoking. The hotels were also wonderful, our favorite being Alta Post in Feistritz an der Gail!
Bikes: We paid for the upgrade but it didnt feel as though we were upgraded. The bikes we received were not well maintained. We had a bike brake on the first day of our tour and the replacement bike had a loose peddle the rest of our tour. A few of our bikes were not tuned well and gears were either difficult to shift or couldn't be geared all the way up or down. In general, we would have appreciated better maintained bikes for a 230 mile tour, it would make the days much more enjoyable. We also had to swing by the rental place for a bike pump that had the correct valve for pumping up tires. The bikes were equipped with presta valves, but the pumps were schrader valves. We also recommend placing an allen key in the repair kit. We had several items that we had to adjust, angles of the header, tightness of the bells, etc. Having an allen key would have made these adjustments easier to make.
Bike Accessories: we think you should provide or tell the riders to bring a cell phone mount for the trip. The app was nice to have but we had to constantly get the phone out of our pockets to follow along. This can get quite dangerous on certain parts of the tour.
App: the phone app was a great perk to the trip although our main complaint is that every tour participant should have access to the app. It is challenging to have only one person with the app and it doesnt seem to make much sense to limit access. Give everyone who paid for the tour access please.
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★★★★★ Thomas Albrecht
Fantastic Trip!
Innsbruck to Lake Garda Across the Southern Slopes of the Alps
The route is wonderfully scenic, riding through endless apple orchards and vineyards, with many picturesque villages along the way. Plenty of opportunities to stop for a nice piece of strudel and coffee/tea. The hotels were very nice, in fact a bit nicer than the BikeTours trip we took last year (Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled), and the bicycles were good quality and in perfect repair. Navigation on this trip is a bit challenging (although we were always able to figure things out using the various resources available — phone ap, map, and route signs. Once you get into Italy, the route signs are less helpful, since there are often multiple routes to the destination, and following signs won’t keep you on the recommend route (which usually really is better than the alternatives). One part of the route that perhaps should be simplified is the section just south of Merano, which seems needlessly complicated (for example, the southern part of Merano, and the diversion to Lana). It would be nice if printed maps showed locations of hotels in each town; we had to find them ourselves using our phone maps.
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★★★★★ Charlene Cestroni
Do it! You won’t regret it!
Learning Italian from the Saddle: Language Classes & the Coast of Apulia
Loved, loved, loved it!! Giovanna, our guide and instructor was THE BEST!! She had varied teaching styles and lessons, addressed the different levels of proficiency well, and was a really fun person to share time with. She was very knowledgeable about the various cultural sites we visited and incorporated them into our lessons. Throughout the whole experience I felt like family. We literally spent time w different members of families of the tour operators and staff - you don’t see that everyday! The level of biking was easy. The excursions were excellent! I was even able to take a private yoga class at one location. The accommodations were very good. We were a small group so we were able to stay at a couple masserias - very charming. One had a couple small service issues due to lack of staffing but nothing significant. Masserias were Uber charming but the standout hotels for me were in SM de Leuca and Arco Vecchio in Lecce. I was always in a single room and they were all very nice, comfortable, and had showers bigger than a phone booth (important to me!) If you want to have fun, enjoy diverse experiences, do a little biking, and be immersed in the Italian culture and language (with support,) then this is the trip for you!! Thank you Giovanna and Salento Bici Tours for this incredibly fun experience. I can’t wait to hear about your next tour offering!
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- 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?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Rob Luken
Our first cycling vacation
Sweden’s West Coast: Helsingborg to Gothenburg
This was our first cycling vacation and the beautiful Sweden's West Coast from Helsingborg to Gothenburg trip over six days was fantastic. This is a very well organized trip, with lovely hotels along the way and good instructions with options on how to best enjoy this. The bicycles worked well, as well as the transfer of our luggage to the next hotel. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and even added an additional day at both ends of the trip to fully explore the cities and what it has to offer, which we can recommend.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 13 to June 20
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1, including this one
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- 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
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★★★★★ Robyn Larkin
A great week of biking & enjoying champagne!
Champagne Getaway: Charming Villages & Regional Wine Cellars
We have done several bike tours in Europe, with varying experiences. This was among our favourite trips, and we recommend this for anyone interested in cycling, chmpagne or visiting France!
First, the not so great part of the review: it is a challenging route! We did not use electric bikes, and that made it feel like every hill was a hard won accomplishment.
Also, having a specific map earlier in the planning process would have helped to make tasting reservations at wineries since many of them require advance bookings.
The things we loved about this:
- bags were always on time when we arrived
- accommodations where great with extremely helpful staff (although it helps at the Epernay chambre d’hotes if you speak French as the hosts do not speak English - but are super friendly)
- we did the dinner package & while we would have preferred choosing off the regular menu most nights, all but one place was a fabulous recommendation of where to dine each night (the Brasserie la Banque in Epernay was the place we didn’t enjoy at all)
- bike drop off in Reims was smooth - and the operator was there early to give us our initial briefingI guess my one idea for improvement was to offer additional bookings of champagne house tours/tastings/visits as it is not easy to research ahead of time. Early morning or late afternoon would allow for easier planning and there are options for both almost every day. I certainly would pay for that. At the very least, a list of some places that are friendly to tours/visits would be helpful if we need to plan our own.
But overall, it was a lovely, relaxing, and champagne filled experience - exactly what we wanted when booking this trip!
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- 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?
- France
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★★★★★ Daniel Serventi
An Exquisite Way To See Italy!
A Taste of Italy: Emilia-Romagna
To be honest we did not fully know what we were getting ourselves in to - but this trip checked every box and surprised us with how well thought out it was. Each hotel was beautiful in accommodations and city placement. Dinner and activity recommendations were on point. And most importantly, the bike support and GPS were perfect. I would recommend this tour to everyone and anyone! Would recommend that you purchase the additional cooking class- It was the highlight.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- This is our first!
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Monica Zack
Wonderful French Countryside
Dordogne Valley: Between the Dordogne and Lot Rivers
This trip was beyond my greatest expectations. Chain Gang is an exceptional company. They checked in on us several times to ensure we arrived on our self guided tour. The hotels were lovely and the staff friendly and helpful. The bikes we had were in fabulous shape and were equipped with panniers, a computer mount and high quality rain gear. The route was lovely. We rode through a variety of small villages with beautiful hillsides, rivers and quaint countryside. I cannot be happier. I highly recommend both Bernard and Sam and their fabulous company. We are looking at another tour with them in 2024.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 16, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much 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?
- France
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★★★★★ Kevin Pazaski
Outstanding Tour of Albania!
UNESCO Sites of Albania
Seven of us arranged a private "semi-supported" private tour. We had a wonderful Albanian guide, Nicu, assist us with shuttling our luggage, providing van support, giving us dining recommendations, and helping us navigate Albania's beautiful landscape. No significant issues along the route, zero mechanical problems, and well-designed routes.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 9-17, 2023
- 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?
- Albania
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★★★★★ 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
