Danube River Bike Tour Reviews (page 17)
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★★★★★ Nitronan September 4, 2019Good trip
· · Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals
Boat crew was fantastic, cruise director was a hoot. Very accomodating.
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★★★★★ Hugh Larkin August 4, 2022
2 Bucket list items completed
· · Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals
We have wanted to do a bike & boat tour as well as a bike tour along the Danube for many years (we previously did multi-week self-supported bike tours). In 2019, we thought we would be doing the latter for 2020, but a virus shut down everything. Even after the shutdown, BikeTours.com kept us informed and motivated about bike touring once a normalcy to life returned.
In late 2021, when we could see travel was resuming, we began to look at various tours offered and found the Passau-Budapest-Passau boat & bike tour that fit very nicely into our developing "2022 grand Europe tour".
BikeTours personnel quickly responded to all questions we had which made the booking extremely easy. And they and the tour operator provided us all the booking info before we departed for europe over a month before we were to experience this event.
Once in Passau, and aboard ship (we were able to board early), we were able to unpack and relax. Our rented e-bikes were like new and were pre-adjusted to our heights. Instructions regarding operation and charging were clearly given.
At all times, the crew was very courteous and helpful, which was extremely appreciated as we were the only "native-english" speakers onboard. The food was excellent and plentiful, and we appreciated the vegetarian options provided.
Every day's itinerary was clearly provided, including detailed maps. The bikes worked wonderfully and provided us an opportunity to try an e-bike. We enjoyed the extra guided excursions into Bratislava and Vienna.
Disembarking the Prinzessin Katherina was also painless. Before reaching Passau, the crew made taxi arrangements for us and many others. Hard to beat service like that!
Overall, we had a wonderful tour. Plus we ticked off 2 b-list items. We are now wondering what will be our next BikeTours.com tour!
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 12 (2 weeks to 4 months long)
- 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?
- Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia
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★★★★★ Brian Bronson August 4, 2022
Far exceeds expectations
· · Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals
What a deal. 8days 7 nights w attentive staff. Amazing biking. Great food. Fun times. Would love to do it again w other friends. Highly recommend for a wonderful time on the Danube.
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★★★★★ DENNIS UMANZIO May 13, 2024
Excellent bike and boat trip. Great Food.
· · Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals
Great bikes. Good batteries. Ship is very nice, great crew, great food for breakfast and dinner and guide on ship was friendly.
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★★★★★ Mary Arnold June 5, 2024
Cask and Castle 2024
· · Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals
Wonderful experience of the Danube! So beautiful along the river! I wish we could have biked more.
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★★★★★ Austin Bragg August 13, 2024
Lifetime Memories
· · Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals
Wow! - what a fantastic experience gliding down the stunning Danube. The itinerary was first class - our bikes were just great while the accommodation, meals & service on the 'Manon' were all excellent. It really was an experience of a lifetime riding adjacent to the Danube on high quality pathways a lot of the time while also exploring some stunning sights along the way including some gorgeous towns.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 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, Families with young kids
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia
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★★★★★ Jodi Welch September 5, 2024
Great way to see countryside!
· · Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals
Completed over 200 KM biking through 4 countries. Well maintained paved paths winding through quaint towns along the Danube River.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 0
- 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, Hungary, Slovakia
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★★★★★ Vamberto Foschini 4 months ago
Superou as expectativas!
· · Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals
Foi maravilhoso visitat quatro países que não conhecíamos. Fizemos uma viagem em família e a equipe do Princesa Katharina manteve o clima, nos alocando com outra família - extremamente simpática e com a qual tivemos excelentes momentos - para além das refeições, encontramo-nos em alguns dos passeios, de tanto que nos demos bem. Todos no navio foram receptivos, com destaque aos funcionários - sobretudo a guia Michaela, também brasileira e extremamente prestativa. Visitamos lugares para os quais jamais iríamos se não tivéssemos esse roteiro, paisagens maravilhosas no interior de países que, apesar de tão próximos, têm características bastante marcantes. Adoramos, também, conhecer algumas capitais: isso tornou a viagem mais animada. Sem dúvida, os pontos fortes desse tipo de passeio foram a facilidade de transporte: afinal, não precisávamos nos deslocar a todo momento com as bagagens, pois nosso “hotel” todo se deslocava. Isso evitava cansaço e desgaste, permitindo que a energia fosse poupada para passeios de bicicleta: vias muito bem sinalizadas, mapas bons, guias sempre dispostos e lindas perspectivas do Danúbio. Não posso deixar de comentar sobre os deliciosos pratos que comemos, além das opções diversas e frescas do café da manhã/almoço. Amamos os passeios a que fomos, além de alguns pratos típicos que o próprio navio ofertou (como o Snitzel. Obrigado por essas férias incríveis, Princesa Katharina!
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★★★★★ Mark G 2 months ago
Beautiful ride and relaxing boat
· · Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals
What a great way to see the Danube. So relaxing to ride around on a bike. The meals and sleeping quarters were great.
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★★★★★ Shelley 2 months ago
Bustling cities and quiet small towns
· · Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals
This trip is a perfect balance to visit thriving, iconic cities and then take in small towns on a peaceful ride along the Danube. Overall, the experience was excellent. The boat crew/staff were friendly, enthusiastic and efficient. The 3-course dinners were top notch and my cabin, which wasn't a bad size, was always spotless (lots of hot water - a bonus). All the bikes were ready to go when we needed them and loaded back on at the end of the day. The bike routes were well laid out and very easy without an ebike - very flat. We got stuck in a river lock on this trip and had to spend a full day on the boat - not the operator's fault, but there wasn't much to do on the boat except relax. The Prinzessin Katharina is more basic that some of the other boats we saw, but the value is certain there. I would recommend this trip.
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★★★★★ Joyce Winough September 27, 2023Best Holiday
· · Danube Bike and Boat: Passau-Budapest-Passau – MS SE-Manon
this tour really was fun, exciting and restful all together. I really enjoyed being on the boat as it made it's way down and up the Danau.
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★★★★★ Cynthia John October 5, 2023
Fascinating trip through beautiful countryside
· · Danube Bike and Boat: Passau-Budapest-Passau – MS SE-Manon
This was an amazing trip! From Passau to Bratislava, Budapest to Vienna and back to Passau. We had fantastic weather. The only challenging aspect was lack of clarity on the bike routes. The tour directors were challenged in explaining the routes; and the booklets were confusing because they did not shoe the entire routes.
The meals were great; our room service were very responsive, and the bar servers were great.
I do wish we had had more time at each of the ports.- What was the date of your tour?
- September 8, 2023
- 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?
- Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia
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★★★★★ William Wilson October 12, 2023
Adventure
· · Danube Bike and Boat: Passau-Budapest-Passau – MS SE-Manon
Overall, it was a great experience. Unfortunately, there was one large group of passengers that took over the lounge and dining room each night. Their behavior was loud and obnoxious. It would have been nice if someone if someone in authority could have spoken to them about the disruptions they created for others.
Our waiter, Emrah, was amazing. He was most attentive.
I was disappointed with the cost of the drink package. It was more expensive than I expected.
The entire crew worked very hard to ensure we all had a wonderful experience. -
★★★★★ vacationsmakemehappy May 16, 2019Nice LONG ride
· Danube Bike Path 5-nights (Active)
Disclaimer - I loved the vacation pedaling along in pretty much isolation, just my husband and I, and peaceful time in beautiful scenery. We loved the hotels we stayed at along the trail. For the average Joe though, the sport version isn't for you. That's why I wouldn't recommend this sporty trip to most people.
See below for more detailsThe sporty ride was just that. Long days in the saddle, which we expected since my husband wanted to do the short (meaning less days not miles) due to work obligations. The 45-50 mile days seemed fine, but the 57 mile day was long.
The sporty version left little time for sight seeing along the way. We had to strategically plan out where we were going to spend our 2-2.5 hours of sightseeing time each day, because there was no possible way to see everything. We were on the bikes riding each day by 7:45-8:15, typically had a picnic lunch somewhere along the way with food we either carried with us or picked up along the way at a grocery store. (One of our picnics was standing by a rock waiting for the taxi to pick us up at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp to take us back to the taxi station downtown - would highly recommend the taxi unless you are VERY sporty or have an e-bike-info said there was a longer more gentle route, but we were having difficulty following some of the directions included.)
If going early in the season or on days with poor weather, I highly recommend taking some food and WATER with you. Only on the first ride day and the last ride day were any of the 'trail magic' stops open for an unexpected cup of coffee, beer, or food. Most things were shut down tight. It was in the low 40s when we started out 3 mornings and also raining 2 of those. Make sure you have GOOD rain gear -not water resistant - and waterproof gloves. Wringing out your cycling gloves and then having to put them back on isn't really very comfortable. Luckily our rain gear (except gloves was superb) Make sure your rain coat has a hood to put up under your helmet or take a waterproof helmet cover.
There were many places where we had detours (even on the bike path) due to various construction projects which made parts of the trip seem a bit harder navigating than they would otherwise have been. This seemed to happen both long ride days which made those days even longer.
Take toilet paper with you and be prepared to take a squat ladies - and men. There were long stretches with nothing in sight at times, and when you have to go...! I kind of expected this, so we were prepared.
The bikes we had didn't have cages to hold water bottles, so we had to carry the water in the pouches included on the bike. But to get a drink you had to stop unhook snaps, drink, rehook or roll down waterproof bags, and start again. I can't imagine we would have been able to or wanted to carry that much water (heavy) for warmer weather. Without easy access to water, the trip was extended about 5 minutes for every drink stop. Not that long but over 50+ miles, it adds up and takes away from time you could be doing more interesting touring. SHOW MORE
The bikes in general were heavy. We didn't get the road bikes though, because we knew we would have to be carrying supplies and the road bikes didn't offer that.
We LOVED our hotel room in Feldkirchen an der Donau -- Faustschlössl Hotel-Restaurant. The food was FABULOUS! Salmon with pesto and asparagus
We also LOVED our hotel room in Gasthof „Zur Donaubrücke“ and eating in the dining room - NOT lounge. The only thing we didn't like about this hotel was that reception/lobby was in the bar which is smoking permitted. On the day we checked in, it was so smoking I waited in the hallway. I wasn't willing to duck under the smoke cloud to get checked in. I'm not a smoker and have asthma. It was NOT happening.
We'd been to Melk Abbey before so didn't do that. But we did go into town. There is a great little bakery coffee shop on the left side of the left fork (probably main shopping street) kind of across from the butcher store which would be in the center of that fork mentioned when you go into town from the bike path. Great espresso and desserts. And they had GLUTEN FREE CAKES which made this GF necessary girl extremely happy!!!
Make sure you take an extra day in the Wachau/Krems/Durnstein area. It is FABULOUS!!!!!
The luggage transfers went off without a hitch - thank goodness!!!
SHOW LESS
Be prepared to carry your luggage up to the top floor of every hotel. -
★★★★★ Goherd September 2, 2019
Flawless......
· Danube Bike Path 5-nights (Active)
Everything was excellent. Hotels exceeded our expectations. Bikes were great. Liz was very patient with our changes and special requests. We did the 4 day Danube. Very easy ride.
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★★★★★ Cathy September 23, 2022
I've wanted to do this for years!
· Danube Bike Path 5-nights (Active)
Way back in 2005 I took a river boat cruise down the Danube and saw people cycling along the bank. Finally, after retiring and after covid, my dream ride happened. We weren't sure about the distance from Passau to Vienna, so we chose to take the ferry from Passau to Linz and start from there. We rode ebikes. This was a difficult choice for us because we ride quite a bit weekly in the States, but we were glad to have the ebikes. The bikes are a little heavy so riding on the econo mode gave us the feel of a regular weight bike. That detail aside, the ride, the hotels, the meals, and of course the people, were all fantastic. We planned to dress in layers and that served us well; mornings would start cool and afternoons could warm to the low 70's in early September. The scenery was amazing. Each hotel was lovely and if not directly on the trail, quite easy to find in the town/city. Because we rode through small towns, we saw a part of Austria that you cannot see from a boat or bus tour. The route was mostly well marked and when we did get off the beaten path, there was always someone who could point us in the right direction even if we don't speak the native language. We ate in our hotels, in small pubs, and a grocery store on Marback where we had a freshly made sandwich eaten on the deck at the edge of the river. It was all delicious. The beautifully refurbished family home in Mitterkirchen was lovely as was Stephanie, the owner, who greeted us. We sampled local wines as we traveled through the towns and Wachau Valley and had a fabulous dinner at the Hotel Schloss in Durnstein, while overlooking the Danube. We met people young and older from vairous parts of Germany, the UK, Canada, and local Austrians. I was a little worried about getting to the hotel in Vienna as we had to go down a main road and around a rotary, but Austria is such a bike friendly country that designated bike routes took us from the bridge to our hotel. An added bonus, when we did have to leave, the hotel was about 300 yards from the train station that took us directly to the airport. We won't wait years for the next bike trip, we're already looking at Vienna to Budapest!
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 10, 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- First bike tour
- 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
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★★★★★ Francisco Castro July 28, 2023
Trip of my dreams, will never forget this extraordinary experience!!
· Danube Bike Path 5-nights (Active)
The best way to travel around Europe!! This tour is one of the most beautiful we have done, the places, towns, museums, are simply like getting into a dream like no one could ever imagine!!
The people are very friendly, the organization is excellent, we never had any problems and when we had to go to the organizers, they responded diligently. This tour is highly recommended, I recommend that if you have booked dinner, arrive early or ask if there is a maximum time for dinner, because on several occasions we had problems with the time we got to eat. Otherwise, highly recommended!!- What was the date of your tour?
- July 12, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany
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★★★★★ John Vasicek October 3, 2023
great trip aided by perfect weather
· Danube Bike Path 5-nights (Active)
It was a great trip, very well organized. Did not get lost once in a 250 mile journey. I went in late fall and the weather was perfect each day. I was on the bike an average of 4 to 4.5 hours a day, but was able to break that up by stopping for lunch, a beer or site seeing. I am 59 YO but an active runner. I used an eBike which helped with the headwinds, but I was still pretty tired / sore by the end of the trip. I saw lots of other 'mature' couples that were doing a similar trip as well. Even though the route is labeled as moderate, you are still doing 50 miles a day. I think you need to be in at least average to above average shape to enjoy the trip.
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★★★★★ Patrick Holland June 4, 2024
Excellent Active Holiday
· Danube Bike Path 5-nights (Active)
Lovely way to experience Austria, lovely hotels and fine electric bikes. Would go again.
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★★★★★ Thomas Murphy August 13, 2024
Danube bike trip
· Danube Bike Path 5-nights (Active)
Everything was brilliant. Our bikes were excellent. The hotels were lovely in great locations close to the danube river. We had no trouble finding them. I would recommend the trip to anyone
