Cycling the West Balkan Triangle Bike Tour Reviews (page 3)

★★★★★ (4/5) Teryl Schopfer October 11, 2023

Great trip

Great way to see Bosnia Hertzegovinia and the Ciro bike trail

Great guides

What was the date of your tour?: October
How many tours have you completed?: No other tours
Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?: Somewhat harder
Who is this tour suitable for?: Solo travelers

4/5 Value
5/5 Included meals
5/5 Bikes + equipment
5/5 Hotels or boat
5/5 Scenery
5/5 Ease of navigation
5/5 Tour documents
5/5 Local tour company services
4/5 Route selection
5/5 Guides (if applicable)

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★★★★★ (4/5) BYoung December 7, 2017

Fun Triangle Trip Through the Balkans

A wonderful guided trip along the sea and up into the hills of this beautiful part of the Balkans. Great scenery, idyllic vistas and deserted former rail lines converted to cycling routes; this trip has a little bit of everything. And if you are looking for multiple stamps in your passport while crossing borders on bicycle you will be able to fill a couple of pages on this trip.

What was the date of your tour?: September 2017
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

4/5 Value
4/5 Included meals
4/5 Bikes + equipment
4/5 Hotels or boat
5/5 Scenery
5/5 Ease of navigation
5/5 Local tour company services
5/5 Route selection
5/5 Guides (if applicable)

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★★★★★ (2/5) Andrew Lindsay May 6, 2024

Disappointing Tour - Did Not Meet Expectations

Positives:
1) The e-bikes were very good and well maintained; the routes were generally excellent if a little short for e-bikes (rides often finished early afternoon whereas on most other organised cycle trips I've been on they were spread out over most of the day).
The rides from Herceg Novi to Kotor; Ravno to Ston and Ston to Kun were particularly enjoyable - brilliant scenery and quiet roads.

2) Accomodation - Hotels were all very good apart from Marija 2. This hotel was a good 20 minute walk from Kotor; room was clean but rather dark and miserable (no view; no balcony but lots of signs instructing occupants what not to do). Fried eggs at breakfast were cold). By contrast the Hotel Stancia in Ravno was a delight.
3) Food - This was an enjoyable part of the tour. The 'included' lunches and evening meals were very good. The lunches at Ravno, Ston and Kun were especially enjoyable - offering liquor tasting; olive grove visit and locally produced food respectively. The local restaurants we chose for our evening meals were also excellent.

Areas To Improve: As a guided introduction to the West Balkans this trip has nothing to recommend it. The guide, while perfectly charming and an excellent cycle tour leader, had next to nothing to say about the countries we visited (their history; their customs and culture; their flora and fauna). I suspect his Company has never provided any training on how to be a tour guide.

This tour makes it very easy to miss exploring the old town of Herceg Novi; the walls of Kotor and Cavtat Old Town (indeed most of the group did) because they were never recommended or even mentioned; nor did we cycle to them). Dubrovnik is the jewel (albeit a very busy jewel) of the West Balkans and it would be very easy to book this tour and never see it (the old town is a 40 minute walk from the Hotel Adria).

I've cycled many times with Explore and Exodus on group guided tours and their delivered experience is vastly superior to that of BikeTours.com.

What was the date of your tour?: April 2024
How many tours have you completed?: I've been on well over 20 bike tours. The West Balkan tour is bottom quartile. Your guides need training. Happy to provide more feedback.
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?: No