Bike Tour Reviews Dolomites To Trieste Via Lake Bled At The Foot Of The Julian Alps
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Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps
COUNTRY: Italy, Slovenia, Austria
Self guided from EUR € 934
Self-guided:
Wednesday, Friday, and Saturdays: May 9 - Aug 8, 2025 and Aug 16 - Sep 27, 2025 (additional dates available for groups of 5 or more)
Description:
Your cycling journey to the Julian Alps begins in the northeastern Dolomites, where you follow the River Drau through the scenic Drau Valley on well-marked Austrian cycle paths. The route continues into the Gail Valley, surrounded by alpine peaks, before…
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★★★★★ Kim L. September 19, 2023Adventure of a lifetime!
My husband and I did the self-guided tour with the extra day in Lake Bled. The logistics went smoothly. The e-bikes worked great. The accommodations were good and the scenery was stunning! We downloaded the app and were glad we brought a handlebar mount for a phone. We wish the trip was longer!
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★★★★★ HM 12 months ago
Trip worth taking
My wife and I recently embarked on the Dolomites to Trieste bike tour, and it was an unforgettable adventure filled with both challenges and breathtaking moments. The journey took us through some of the most stunning landscapes, starting from the majestic Dolomites and winding our way to the Adriatic coast.
The routes were indeed challenging, but the sense of accomplishment we felt at the end of each day was worth every pedal stroke. We made several stops at various nature points, each offering a unique and serene beauty. One of the highlights was swimming in a water park, which provided a refreshing break from the rigorous cycling.
The bike company did an excellent job of supporting us throughout the journey. They provided detailed maps and exploration tips along the route, which were incredibly helpful. Additionally, they offered an app with even more information, making it easy to navigate and learn about the areas we were passing through.
The culinary experiences were another highlight of our trip. We savored a variety of foods unique to each country we visited. Slovenia, in particular, stood out with its delicious and diverse cuisine. From hearty stews to delicate pastries, every meal was a delightful discovery.
The views of the Dolomite mountain range were simply breathtaking. The towering peaks and lush valleys provided a stunning backdrop to our journey, making every moment on the bike a visual feast.
Overall, this bike tour was a wonderful blend of physical challenge, natural beauty, and cultural exploration. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an adventurous and rewarding experience. I would highly recommend to someone looking for adventure and different experiences.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2024
- 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
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★★★★★ Harpa Sigmarsdóttir June 14, 2024
Amazing landscape
For the first three days you cycle in the beautiful Dolomites and Julian alps. The views are stunning. We only stayed one night at lake Bled, we started early in the morning so we were there at around noon so we had the whole day to explore. The next morning we took the train to Most na Soci and the trail that day was so beautiful and a lot different from the previous days. The last part of the trip, last cycling day, was very stressful because of traffic. I would prefer that the trip would end outside of Trieste, like in the village the day before cause you are riding on main road in high traffic so I didn’t enjoy the surroundings. Accommodations were all nice, very different but all nice. Loved hotel Franz in Gradisca- superb and the staff are amazing! Overall I’m very pleased with this trip and love exploring this way. Would recommend.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Mark Lantz June 17, 2024
Beauty and culture all around
Amazing and beautiful trip. What a way to see the Dolomites. Loved our time in Bled. It was my 2nd trip and was every bit as good as the first.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June, 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Wendy Harris June 17, 2024
Stunning Scenery!
Almost the entire trip was on beautiful, well maintained bike trails. The scenery was spectacular during the entire ride and we loved riding from the Dolomite Mountains to the sea. The hotels were all very nice and the bikes were very comfortable. Everything was well organized and went smoothly. Great value too!
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 6, 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
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Scott Reuben June 16, 2024
Amazing scenery biking through 3 countries
I have always wanted to see the Dolomites and this was the perfect tour to do so. We actually took a day before the tour started to stay in Cortina and hike. This will not disappoint you as the scenery is spectacular. Then we took a 30 minute bus to Toblach where we picked up our bikes and started the tour. Travelled through Italy, Austria and Slovenia. The food and accommodations were fabulous. The last day was a little disappointing traveling to Trieste as the route led us through some rather busy streets and on top of that it was raining. I would have preferred to take the train option. Otherwise the bike paths were fabulous.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- Perfect
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Hedda Othilie Hagen June 26, 2024
Over all expectations
We had self guided trip and we had so fun experiancing the different countries. It was the perfect way for us to travel. Its the best way to see italy, slovenia and austria
- How many tours have you completed?
- 0
- 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
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★★★★★ Cati September 20, 2023
Stunning, best way to travel
This was my first bike tour and, wow, it did not disappoint. Scenery from the get go was absolutely stunning. You traverse incredible border towns between Italy, Austria, and Slovenia on this entire tour, staying at lovely Inns and eating incredible food along the way. My only gripe was that the written directions were confusing at times (have given feedback) but I wouldn’t let this deter you.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- 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
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★★★★★ Karey Schoenfeld September 20, 2023
Great bike paths and scenery
The trip was great - it was a beautiful area. It was the first time we had used e-bikes, and the bikes we had were top notch. There were a few more hills than we expected, but we didn't mind with the e-bikes! The app we had for our tour was also excellent. We took the high road into Trieste to avoid the traffic, and was glad we did.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 18, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 15
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Zinta Harrington September 20, 2023
Magnificent and varied
This was our first biketour and I chose it carefully for our family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers. The route comfortable with bike paths for a good part of the way. It was exciting with 3 countries, long declines, forests, fields, Roman ruins, historic towns, fairytale Bled, majestic Trieste. The accomodation was charming and the food enticing. The support was excellent as our luggage arrived each day and the transfers were well organised.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Gregory Lebo September 21, 2023
Awesome scenery!
This route is super scenic and the routing is easy enough to follow, especially in Northern Italy, Austria and Slovenia. The biking is easy although you may want an e-bike if you like to break away from the planned route to visit some castles along the way which are generally located at high points. The accomodations were all very nice and my luggage was reliably transported every day. It’s nice to let someone else plan the details while you concentrate on riding, taking photos, and enjoying the experience.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Aug 4-11 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
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★★★★★ Beatriz Battistella Nadas September 14, 2023
Great views, wonderful little cities
It was an excellent tour, the landscapes are stunning. The hotels are very good, with comfort and well-prepared breakfast.
The bicycles corresponded to the description, the transfers took place according to schedule.
Some stretches are a little long, on the second day's stretch for several kilometers there wasn't even a cafe or snack bar for a rest.
The day of departure from Bled has a very tight schedule, little time. The hotel has breakfast scheduled at 7:30 and we must be at the train station at 7:45, an impossible schedule to keep and, as breakfast is essential for the day's cycling, it was very bad.- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- this is the 5th
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Charles Anderson September 13, 2023
Great Trip!
Everything went off without a hitch. The e-bikes were the way to go and made the hills and mountain pass easy to handle. The directions and hotels were excellent. Definitely recommend the extra day in Bled, Slovenia as there was a lot to see and do. Thanks BikeTours for putting together a fun trip!
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★★★★★ Timothy Mulligan July 24, 2023
Amazingly good trip
This trip covers a lot of ground and a variety of spectacular scenery! My 4th bike trip and easily my favorite. We spent the extra day in Bled, which turned out to be a good decision and was a nice break after 3 days on the bikes.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Linda Barone 11 months ago
Excellent trip but GPS needs some updating
This was a wonderful trip. The bikes were excellent, most of the scenery was stunning, the hotels were good for the most part. The one challenge we had was many of the directions have not been updated to reflect bike path construction and restaurant closures. The other issue was the distances we actually traveled did not match the distances on the downloaded GPS. One day we rode ~100 km, when the GPS said we would ride ~ 65 to 70 km.
Still, we had an amazing, nicely challenging adventure and saw some of the most beautiful countryside that we wouldn’t have seen if we weren’t on bicycles. We would recommend this trip.- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 2024
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Jodi Ready 11 months ago
Great trip!
My friend and I did the tour on one of the upgraded regular non-electric bikes and I was very happy with the quality. You should be already quite comfortable with bicycles as they were handed over to us with no instruction. A phone mount was not included, and between the two of us, we only got one handlebar bag. There were no water bottle holders either.
The route was excellent and, as promised, was mostly on non-motorized, paved, well marked trails. You have the option of being driven over some of the bigger hills, but my friend and I opted to ride them ourselves. Of the paper forms provided, the written directions were much more useful than the maps, and I found the app useless and intrusive so I deleted it and used the downloads of the routes they provided ahead of time into my chosen app (Gaia for me and OnX for my friend) for the map. It worked much better, especially in combination with the written directions on the papers provided.
The accommodations and food in the hotels were excellent. our bags seem to always arrive before we did and there was a clean dry place to park our bikes.
I loved biking along the Drau river with beautiful views of the amazing dolomites.
The route brought us by interesting museums (we went to a chocolate museum, as well as history museums), pretty lakes, and we were informed of good food stops, and interesting viewpoints. I also enjoyed biking through some of the small hillside villages where you could see how some of these remote communities live.
I enjoyed the camaraderie of others doing the same program. We would see each other at breakfast, sometimes at dinner and occasionally on the route.
We chose to spend an extra day in Bled. We thought we would need a break from the cycling. We found that wasn’t the case, but enjoyed the lake and the castle so we’re glad we stopped. Because we took the extra day, they gave us an alternate route to the last hotel, but we decided to follow the one that the rest of the group took because it went through some beautiful places that we wanted to see. It really didn’t change our average daily distance to do that.
There was one area that required taking a train. We called to find out the logistics while we were on the tour because it wasn’t clear from the material, but I was impressed with how it worked. Someone from the tour group met us at the station, had tickets, and helped us and our bikes onto the train. Then someone was at the other end to pick us up and make sure we got to where we needed to start our ride again. They were easy to identify and very friendly and helpful.
I had a great time and would look to this company again for another tour.- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- 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
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★★★★★ Marissa 11 months ago
Really great first trip
Highlights:
- Handy navigation app that usually seemed to work well.
- Really neat variety of hotels with absolutely ridiculous breakfast spreads. Dinners at the hotels were also incredible.
- Staff were very helpful when they could be - this includes rental shop, phone contact, and transfer assistant staff.
- I'd estimate about 60-70% of the route was on dedicated bike trails that were wonderful to bike on, especially compared to terrible US bike infrastructure.
Lowlights:
- We did not use navigation features on the app, just used it as a reference map. As a compulsive mapper, an easy way to export GPX/route info from the provided app would have been appreciated. I was able to download GPXs several weeks in advance, but the routes on a couple of days ended up extremely incorrect and misleading.
- It would have been helpful to have general guidance or resources on alternatives in the event of bad weather. We got fairly lucky on the timing of some heavy rain, but it definitely caused some anxiety.
- Nova Gorica and Trieste were kind of awful and hectic to navigate, but I don't know how you'd avoid them.The route was gorgeous and mostly easy. I'd recommend taking the long and hilly routes to Bled and Trieste if you're physically up for it. As an enthusiastic cyclist, it was hard to adjust to the heavy and clunky rental bikes (obvious solution: bring your own bike) and I can't say we'd have tackled any mountain passes, but they were comfortable and well maintained. I felt like we definitely got value for what we paid and I'd recommend this trip to anyone who wanted an intro to easy touring!
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 0
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Susanne Graham June 7, 2023
Wonderful experience!
I can’t think of a better way to experience a trip through Italy, Austria, and Slovenia. The weather was perfect for our trip and the scenery was epic. We loved traveling by e-bike and seeing and feeling the small towns and beautiful and unspoiled territory. We met some wonderful fellow bikers along the way. We do not want to travel any other way.
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★★★★★ Susanne Graham June 7, 2023
Wonderful experience!
I can’t think of a better way to experience a trip through Italy, Austria, and Slovenia. The weather was perfect for our trip and the scenery was epic. We loved traveling by e-bike and seeing and feeling the small towns and beautiful and unspoiled territory. We met some wonderful fellow bikers along the way. We do not want to travel any other way.
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★★★★★ Dayna Stern November 9, 2022
My favorite bike tour
I love this trip! Gentle cycling, stunning scenery and nice accommodations. We requested half board which exposed us to south Tyrolean food. Highly recommended! Remember to dress warmly because you’ll be in a wooded valley part of the first few days.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2022
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
