Danube Transdanubia Bike Tour Reviews page 4
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★★★★★ Mattman
Easy cycle with plenty of time to enjoy
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
This was our third self guided bike tour. Very easy, casual ride along the Danube for the most part. However, even when riding along the Danube your view is often obscured by the trees that grow alongside the river. Accommodations were charming and never had a bad meal. We opted for a layover day in Gyor which was spent at the local spa, and urban hiking through the town. Well worth the visit. Our highlight during the ride was our side trip to the Danubiana Art Museum on the way out of Bratislava. DO NOT MISS OUT on this beautiful gem of contemporary art. Plan on spending at least a couple of hours including your picnic. We got there on a Monday when it was closed, but fortunately we met the curator locking up the door, and when he learned that we were from the states he graciously opened up the doors to us and we had the whole museum to ourselves. When we said our goodbyes and pedaled away, we thought how disappointed we would have been had we missed this! As good as any of the Museums we saw in Vienna or Budapest. Weather was delightful in mid September. We spent a few extra days in Budapest after the ride. The Gellert Spa is a good way to spend 3 hours after walking around and seeing the sights. If you plan on going to the Parliament would probably suggest buying tickets online in advance. Definitely put the New York Cafe (1894) on your list of places to visit for coffee and desert while in Budapest. Overall a wonderful trip. Our other rides have had a little more variety when it comes to scenery, but this ride was well off roads and traffic.
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★★★★★ Emmanuel
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
Excellent trip around the Danube, with plenty of sights and lovely lodging. Sadly tainted by really bad weather (4 days of storm and heavy rain) at the end of May.
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★★★★★ Hermann Vestri
Good trip, wish I had more time
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
- What was the date of your tour?
- Every day were good
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1 before
- 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, Hungary
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★★★★★ Middle Europe
Mighty Danube
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
We enjoyed the experience of cycling from Vienna to Budapest through 3 different countries. The people were lovely as was the ever changing scenery along the mighty Danube. All the hotels chosen were excellent. We appreciated that our luggage was always there when we arrived usually in the late afternoon. Distances were very manageable. Loading the electric bikes on the trains in Slovakia and Hungary was a challenging feat. Locating our hotel in beautiful Budapest was somewhat difficult due very busy traffic and not much cycling infrastructure. The reward of a lovely hotel with thoughtful staff soon eliminated any angst we may have had. Overall this is a trip I would happily endorse.
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★★★★★ Wesley
Beautiful cities and hidden gems of Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
I went on this tour as a BikeTours.com staff member. It is a popular option for our members who have already experienced the Passau to Vienna tour. The tour follows EuroVelo 6 along bike paths, quiet roads, and a few sections of gravel and dirt roads. The route starts and ends in two of the great cities of Europe; Vienna and Budapest. But I'll tell you a little secret, the hidden gems of this tour are the picturesque towns and cities that you visit along the way! My favorite cities were Bratislava and Gyor. In Bratislava, it is a must to take the short hike or bike up to Bratislava Castle. A beautiful view of the city and of the Danube river await you at the top. The castle itself is astonishing and it is easy to spend 2 or 3 hours just walking around admiring the garden, the castle, and the views. The old town of Bratislava is another area worth exploring on foot. Make sure you visit St Martin's Cathedral and Michael's Gate. If Wes Anderson was looking for a European city to film his next movie, it would be Gyor. This pastel wonderland of a city is not well known but it may have been my favorite city of the entire tour. Be sure to set aside a few hours to walk around the historic old town where there are many shops, restaurants, and bars to pop into. The dollar greatly outweighs Hungary's currency, the forint, so don't be afraid to take a tour of all the little pubs and restaurants. The local food and beers are great and incredibly inexpensive. The cycling for most of the route is flat and leisurely with a few shorter stretches of more moderate, slightly uphill cycling. Be prepared for a few sections of gravel roads as well as single lane dirt roads which can get a little rough at times. The distances vary from day to day with the longest day being 42 miles and the shortest being 25 miles. On day 6 you cycle to Visegrad from Komárom. If you are interested in getting some extra cycling miles in at this point, my recommendation is to skip the boat ride and cycle the entire route. The cycling is uphill at certain points and it makes for a very long day, about 53 miles, but the last 10-12 miles of the route as you cycle into the town of Nagyarmos are absolutely gorgeous (my favorite section of the entire route)! I highly recommend getting a drink and exploring Nagyarmos before you take the ferry across the river to your final destination, Visegrad. Another recommendation is to add a few extra nights throughout the tour. If you love big cities then think about adding extra nights before and after the tour in Vienna and Budapest. If you are like me and you love smaller cities that are very walkable and have a lot of character, Bratislava and Gyor would be my recommendations for extra nights. It is important to point out that while this route follows the Danube river, most of the time you cycle through the river valley, out of sight of the river. There is a lot of farmland and quaint villages and towns in this part of Europe so for large stretches of the route, this will be your surroundings. If you are interested in cycling along the Danube river, look into our “Danube Bike Path” tours. SHOW MORE
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★★★★★ Colleen Mcintyre
Ride is awesome! Assistance could use some assistance
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
The ride is one of the most amazing experiences I have had. Having the bags transferred is priceless and went very well. The hotels - both quality and location - also excellent. I got an e-bike and so happy I did because two days had a lot of dirt, gravel, and mud that bike helped power through.
The maps?!?! A book that has copied step by step from a bike app. This is great for walking, but if you never stop or detour, or in the city where there are multiple turns rapidly, it doesn’t function. The other book has pictures - excellent - except where there are multiple rapid turns or irregular intersections. They also don’t indicate the charge for necessary ferries on the map. They company needs to have someone who has never ridden it, use the book, and make indicators, or tips in it. Going between the books is nearly impossible. I reviewed both books, google maps, and a bike app (I don’t have a subscription) the night before. That with the signs that are not always available helped a lot.
Last, upon my early arrival in Budapest, my bags were not there yet. I checked in to shower and change into my spare outfit. When I returned, the bike was gone. No notification …I assumed the company. I would have assumed I had the bike, like the hotel room, through the end of the tour. -
★★★★★ Donna Reyes
Overall great trip
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
Bikes were phenomenal, hotels were great. Only complaint was all our paperwork was in German. So then we got online English versions which could not be printed to put in the map holder. AND the new printed materials did not match the route maps. It was very confusing!
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★★★★★ Al Carruthers
Directions too vague
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
The bikes, biking, hotels, food and weather were all good. The route descriptions were too vague. We were given German maps which were no help. We were told they were out of English maps and were not getting them reprinted. Directions were particularly vague when trying to find hotels and how to leave hotels correctly in the mornings.
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★★★★★ Gib Egge
Nice, albeit very different, sequel to the Passau-Vienna ride.
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
We did the Passau-Vienna ride a few years back and wanted to keep going! This ride is a bit different, but still well worth the trip. Days are not difficult. Even the first (longest day) was not a problem for any of us. Flying into Vienna, we had time to settle in before the meeting with the vendor to go over travel documents and receive our bikes. Note that tourist tax is still due at check in, we were notified by this so no surprise. Some had to share a double bed as they didn't have enough two single rooms at the hotel in Vienna even though we requested one. The remainder of the hotels all had our rooms with two beds. Upon receiving or travel documents and bikes, there were a number of issues (bikes too big, squishy front suspension forks, lack of locks, no cycling computer) with the bikes that were addressed and fixed either on-site or in the next 24 hours. Two bikes were a bit too big and the riders used them for the first leg and got their smaller bikes in Bratislava. Apart from that, all 12 of or bikes worked well for the duration of our ride. All hotels met or exceeded expectations. Breakfasts all surpassed the standard continental breakfasts here in the states. We purchased the dinner package as well and all meals were filling and complemented the destination. One of our riders was a vegan and most places were able to deliver him a suitable meal. Only real issue was upon arriving in Bratislava, we were told by our hotel that they didn't have rooms for us, and that the company booked us other rooms elsewhere. I it was a bit of a challenge getting there as it involved bringing bikes up flights of stairs, but the substitute hotel was nice, returned to the overbooked one for our dinner. With the exception of one day, our bags were at the hotel before us. The ride was a bit different each day. Though it doesn't follow the Danube entirely like the Passau-Vienna ride, you do get some time along the river. Most of the towns were what you would expect traveling through the European countryside. A nice church, or castle here or there. Bike trails part of the time, trails that paralleled roads and then roads. Most of the terrain is in good condition with the exception of a section of the bike path before Esztergom which took some time to get through. Few hills or changes in elevation. The busy roads were the chief complaint from the group. Not many during the beginning but the last two days of the ride were a bit stressful for some. If you are comfortable with road riding, you will be fine. Often times, away from the capitals, we encountered clerks, and wait staff that didn't speak any English so have a good translation app or patience to communicate. Most of us liked this we really felt like travelers and not tourists. Navigational materials were excellent. The app that the company provided was helpful with keeping us on trail the whole time, and the printed maps were additionally helpful. I would recommend this ride if you have already done there Passau-Vienna ride and are looking for more. Off to plan the next one! SHOW MORE
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★★★★★ Steve Chodat
A "watered-down" cycling trip
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
No fault of your operator, we arrived in Vienna in midst of Storm Boris, and historic Danube flooding. While the tour operator did great job trying to accomodate for ever changing conditions, we only managed to cycle 3 of 6 days... Flooding made sections impassable, including last couple days. What we did see while cycling was not particularly scenic. And I'd heard that the Vienna/Budapest ride was not the best of sections to ride along the Danube, but my experience was limited. Bratislava was definitely worth a stay over and Budapest is a city we enjoyed very much throughout our extended stay (5 nights).
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★★★★★ S. Chilton
A few issues
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
We have riden with BikeTours in the past, and loved it. This tour had some pros and cons. Pros: The hotels were great. The bikes were in good condition, and the in-country staff were responsive and easy to get in touch with.
Cons: We used Google maps on our last tour. It’s useless here except inside the major cities. The provided app is a battery killer. Make sure you have a portable charger or are with others who can use their phones when yours dies. The maps also stop at the city gates. Since they know your hotels when they make the map, they should include your hotel and all of the mentioned attractions. We wasted a ton of time trying to get to sites that weren’t on their app.
Avoid Mosonmagyaróvár. If you’re doing an independent tour, you could bike to it and then take the train to Györ. There is a lot more to do there.
Finally, we rode this a week or so after the record-setting flood. We were prepared for some issues, but were told “you
won’t even be able to tell there was a flood“. The bike paths are fine“. There was an area about 15 km outside of Vienna that was impassable were it not for a kind farmer with a tractor that made a path. People were sliding out in slick mud. Another area before Esztergom had trees for several km in the path that was listed, and a place where it told us to walk our bikes over a weir. There was actually a dry, paved and debris-free path just above it that wasn’t new. I was wondering why the in-country rental company didn’t know about these. It seems as though the map hadn’t been updated for some time. They also say that there are no places to get food between some of the towns. We saw restaurants or grocery stores every 6-10 km.All in all, we did have a great time, but I think it would be hard for first timers or slower cyclists. I would recommend additional days in Bratislava and Budapest.
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★★★★★ Frank S
A good trip
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
Overall a very good trip. We have bike along the Danube from Passau to Vienna and that trip was more scenic. This trip was very flat and went through a lot of farm land and nice towns. While we were very close to the Danube most of the time, we could see it less than half of the time. The hotels were excellent and the breakfasts were alway very good. We had a rough start in that pretrial communication was not optimal and we could not get the combination of the bike locks. Other that that things went smoothly. At one point, we were told to follow an embankment along the Danube River. The trail was not paved and there were two ruts about 6 inches wide and an inch deep and foot long grass. That is where the GPS told us to go. I had a fall, which also happened to another couple along the same trail. Other than that the trails and road were good. The riding instructions were more or less accurate but were off by 1 kilometer or more at times despite the instructions being to the nearest 0.1 Km. The GPS was critical. You need a good battery on your smart phone, because if it goes dead, you could be in trouble just following the instructions
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★★★★★ William (Gary) Barthold
Eastern Europe 2025
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
All in all an excellent trip. The bike tour team in Europe and the U. S. were very helpful and friendly. The navigation app on the whole was helpful, but at times didn’t work. The hotels varied from excellent to good. The directions to the Barokk Hotel (Gyor) were confusing. The bikes were excellent. We had no issues.
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★★★★★ Randall Nikolai
Nice Trip
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
The lodging was very nice. Provided Meals were good to very good. The provided bike was very good but developed shifting issues and tire rubbing issues as the trip went on. Since some group members got ebike upgrades, the operator worked on mine as he delivered the new bikes.
This trip needs to run in the opposite direction. The prevailing wind is just too strong at times. I was warned of that before the trip but took a chance on it. We really struggled at times. That also took away from the time we had for sightseeing. We wanted to explore sights along the way but didn't have the time as we tried to get to the next town at a reasonable time. If we had been going the opposite direction life would have been lots better. Also, we all paid for dinners, but two of us were told our dinners had not been paid for and we would have to pay for them. After much arguing we got our dinners but it was very awkward and uncomfortable. -
★★★★★ TJ8387
My favorite way to travel!
Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals
I loved this tour! The bikes and cycle routes were great. The food was very good but unfortunately the the dining room on the boat was SO HOT that we could not enjoy our dinners. Thank goodness each stateroom had its own air conditioner. Fellow cyclists were very friendly and always willing to help if needed. Our guide seemed angry when people asked questions and responded in an aggressive manner (which made people hesitant to ask questions). We were told that there was internet on the boat in Austria but it was non-existent ... so it would have been better to advertise that there is NO WiFi.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 21-28
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia
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★★★★★ Nitronan
Good 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
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
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
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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