Dolomites Bike Tour Reviews (page 5) (Italy)

★★★★★ (4/5) Don Thain September 23, 2022

Mostly fantastic

· Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track

This trip used rental bikes and was self-guided. The basics worked well with hotel bookings and luggage transfers. The bikes were fine for this but had minor deficiencies. The joining instructions were incorrect but were sorted out with a phone call. Routings were chosen to highlight scenery and views while avoiding traffic. The map sets were disappointing as directions were muddled. Other cyclists had the same complaint. But it was a great trip nonetheless.

What was the date of your tour?: September 2022
How many tours have you completed?: 3
Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?: As expected
Who is this tour suitable for?: Solo travelers, Families with teens
Do you recommend this tour?: Yes
Countries included in this tour?: Italy

4/5 Value
5/5 Included meals
4/5 Bikes + equipment
4/5 Hotels or boat
5/5 Scenery
2/5 Ease of navigation
3/5 Tour documents
4/5 Local tour company services
4/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (5/5) Jean Olson September 27, 2022

Beautiful Scenery

· Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps

The Dolomites were amazing. The bike paths were good and traveled through some beautiful areas. The hotels were all great. The drections from the maps and app were good, we only got a little off track a couple of times. We rode regular bikes and although the hills were tough, they were doable. I definitely want to go back to the area between Toblack and Bled and explore more.

The roads into Trieste were busy but there was a good shoulder most of the time. The views were worth the busy road. Castello Duino was cool.

What was the date of your tour?: September 2022
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?: Italy, Slovenia, Austria

5/5 Value
4/5 Included meals
3/5 Bikes + equipment
5/5 Hotels or boat
5/5 Scenery
4/5 Ease of navigation
4/5 Tour documents
5/5 Local tour company services
5/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (5/5) Nancy Nestler September 28, 2022

Even better than I imagined!!!

· Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps

We did the self-guided tour. The routes were well described. They were beautiful and varied, from bike paths in remote areas to bike lanes in busy cities. I always felt safe. The scenery was amazing from river valleys to mountain views. There were options to explore along the way. The length of each day's ride was a good amount, and it often offered a shorter or longer version so you could decide along the way what you wanted to do. The hotels were also a nice variety. I thoroughly enjoyed each day. I would highly recommend this tour. I went with a friend, but hope to do it again and take my husband.

What was the date of your tour?: September 2022
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?: Italy, Slovenia, Austria

5/5 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
5/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (5/5) Joseph Lutkenhaus October 2, 2022

Great scenery

· Dolomites to Lake Garda: Picturesque Cities and Stunning Scenery

This was a great trip mostly on bike paths and mostly downhill. The scenery was great and and we had gorgeous weather (end of Sept 2022). Two of the hotels were 4 star (in Brixen and Trento) and were fantastic. The other three were fine and all were bike friendly. The picture included above is typical of the scenery - apple orchards in a valley surrounded by mountains. We were surprised by the number of great looking apple orchards everywhere on the trip. The average distance was about 30 miles per day. On the first day we took the train only about half way which was maybe a mistake because they scenery on day 1 is the best in our opinion as it is higher up in the valley. We were surprised how little meals cost so that was great. Would like to do it again.

What was the date of your tour?: September 2022
How many tours have you completed?: 6
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?: Italy

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

★★★★★ (3/5) Sharon Aikens October 15, 2022

Spectacular scenery, great trails, mediocre hotels

· Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track

The route from Toblach to Venice was fantastic. We were surprised at how much of the route was on beautiful paved trails, along rivers, mountain ridges and through lovely small villages. The bikes provided were excellent. The FunActive app is very good but, the the bikes do not come equipped with a cell phone mount so every time you want to figure out directions, you have to stop and hassle with your phone. This added a lot of time to completing the route each day. We had rented a mounted GPS for this purpose, but were told when we got there that they no longer offer this because they have the app. The ride itself is at an intermediate level of difficulty because there were a few challenging spots, mostly when the trail was steep gravel, but also a couple quite long climbs. The big disappointment were some of the hotels or hotel rooms. Many hotels were nice but they seem to reserve the worst rooms for FunActive. When we realized this, we started asking for nicer rooms. One night when we were supposed to stay in the lovely town of Belluno, we were housed in a horrible hotel far from town after after riding 75 kilometers (Hotel Villa Capenada). It was like out the the movie "The Shining." Old and tired, deserted and creepy. We were too tired to go back into town and the food at the hotel was inedible and very expensive. We never got to see Belluno. A few other hotels were barely acceptable with dusty bedspread, curtains and dirty carpet. The hotel in Mestre put us in a room that smelled like cigarettes and sewer and the floor was linoleum. On our return stay there, we insisted on a nicer room and got a lovely room on a higher floor. The moral of the story: Don't accept an unacceptable room! But BikeTours.com and FunActive need to know that this is going on. We have been on many bike tours and never require fancy accommodations but some of these were pretty disappointing. All that said, the BikeTours.com and the FunActive staffs provided excellent service in setting up the tour for us.

What was the date of your tour?: September 2022
How many tours have you completed?: 6
Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?: Somewhat harder
Countries included in this tour?: Italy

3/5 Value
3/5 Included meals
5/5 Bikes + equipment
1/5 Hotels or boat
5/5 Scenery
3/5 Ease of navigation
5/5 Tour documents
5/5 Local tour company services
5/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (5/5) Aaron Schwartzbaum November 7, 2022

What a fun trip!

· Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps

My partner and I had a ton of fun on this trip, which was our honeymoon. The stops were nice, especially with the ability to upgrade accommodations. I'd highly recommend doing the extra day in Bled if you're looking to get some relaxation in, too. Some parts of the route, especially if you're not taking the train into Bled, are would be extremely strenuous without an electric bike, I'd highly recommend one in general. There are a couple of points where there's a bit of car traffic, but I felt safe enough in a high viz. But what a fun way to travel, we saw a lot of things we wouldn't have ordinarily and the route is SCENIC as can be!

What was the date of your tour?: August 2022
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?: Italy, Slovenia, Austria

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

★★★★★ (5/5) Russ Gibfried November 7, 2022

Great locations, trip pace and places to stay

· Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track

Perfect way to see Bavaria, Tyrol, the Dolomites and into Venice. Old train tracks have been converted to bike trails, so you see towns and places that you would miss in a car. The mobile app keeps you on track. I'm convinced this is the best way to see a country and all my future trips will include a one week bike tour (if possible)

Countries included in this tour?: Italy

★★★★★ (5/5) Dayna Stern November 8, 2022

My favorite bike tour

· Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps

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
Countries included in this tour?: Italy, Slovenia, Austria

5/5 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
5/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (5/5) Dayna Stern November 9, 2022

My favorite bike tour

· Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps

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
Countries included in this tour?: Italy, Slovenia, Austria

5/5 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
5/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (4/5) Dantzel Crane 11 months ago

Beautiful sights, okay directions

· Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track

We absolutely loved our trip to Italy! It was such a treat to be able to be outside and spend significant time in the Italian countryside, seeing the beauty that is there. My only critique is that often times the directions were a bit difficult to follow. It might just be that I am unfamiliar with the Italian road system, but there were several times where we needed to check the map that was given to us by the tour company against Google maps to make sure that we were in the right place and hadn’t missed a significant turn. Otherwise, the hotels were fine but nothing special (we did not pay for upgraded hotels), the bikes were great, and we loved our time in Italy so much!

Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?: As expected
Who is this tour suitable for?: First-time bike tourists
Do you recommend this tour?: Yes
Countries included in this tour?: Italy

5/5 Value
5/5 Included meals
5/5 Bikes + equipment
3/5 Hotels or boat
5/5 Scenery
3/5 Ease of navigation
3/5 Tour documents
3/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (5/5) Susanne Graham 11 months ago

Wonderful experience!

· Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps

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.

Countries included in this tour?: Italy, Slovenia, Austria

★★★★★ (5/5) Susanne Graham 11 months ago

Wonderful experience!

· Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps

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.

Countries included in this tour?: Italy, Slovenia, Austria

★★★★★ (4/5) Catherine Cram 11 months ago

Convenient Way to Explore!

· Bicycle Paths of the Dolomites (based in one hotel)

We enjoyed our self-guided bike trip in the Dolomites, with great support from BikeTours.com. We appreciated the detailed route information and app support. My only complaint is that I would liked to have had a better bike to ride instead of the heavy, upright positioned bike provided. The bike didn't make the hills easy and it would have been more enjoyable to be on a lighter, more responsive bike.

What was the date of your tour?: May 31st-June 6th, 2023.
How many tours have you completed?: One
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?: Italy

4/5 Value
5/5 Included meals
2/5 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
5/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (1/5) Melissa Barney 10 months ago

Biking in Italy in June

· Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps

I will not be recommending this trip or your company to anyone. The App was awful: only intermittently in English (otherwise in German) and when I gave 'feedback' I got no response; the App intermittently stopped working and I had to turn my phone off and on to re-boot; the App ATE UP my phone battery (a relativley new iPhone 13 with an otherwise long battery life); any highlights mentioned in the App along a particular day's travel was only a link to something that required internet or phone service (this is ridiculous; this link should have taken me to text within the App just as every other self-guided tour does within their App). The written paper description was poorly done - for some cities the description was how to 'get' into a city and other times the city/town mentioned was only a landmark of progress but this was very confusing. The pedometer on the bike did not work after the first three hours of the 7 day trip. The bikes were way too heavy; surely there is a way to make a durable bike that is at least 2 to 3 kilos lighter. Getting the bike and getting a safety helmet were in different cities!! I would ask for some of my money back if I thought this was possible as I was very disappointed in the trip.

Countries included in this tour?: Italy, Slovenia, Austria

★★★★★ (5/5) Daniel Villegas 10 months ago

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

3/5 Value
3/5 Included meals
3/5 Bikes + equipment
3/5 Hotels or boat
5/5 Scenery
4/5 Ease of navigation
3/5 Tour documents
2/5 Local tour company services
4/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (4/5) Rhonda Barton 10 months ago

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.

What was the date of your tour?: June 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
Do you recommend this tour?: Yes
Countries included in this tour?: Italy, Slovenia, Austria

5/5 Value
5/5 Included meals
3/5 Bikes + equipment
5/5 Hotels or boat
4/5 Scenery
4/5 Ease of navigation
3/5 Tour documents
4/5 Local tour company services
4/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (4/5) Emily Magnavita 10 months ago

Great trip

· Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps

Trip was great, however, there was lack of communication with the company as far as planning logistics. Directions were unclear and sometimes incorrect, got lost on the route multiple times due to lack of information and description in the directions.

Countries included in this tour?: Italy, Slovenia, Austria

★★★★★ (4/5) Diane Witters 10 months ago

Great first trip with BikeTours.com

· Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps

Overall, we really enjoyed the experience and were impressed with the scenery, lodging, quality of the bikes (one of us had an e-bike and the other a “top bike “), and the multiple layers of navigation provided by Fun Active Tours, the local outfitter. We also appreciated the detailed instructions for the luggage and train transfers. We especially enjoyed the first 3 legs of the journey through the Dolomites of northern Italy, into Austria, and then the entry into Slovenia with views of the Julian Alps and into Lake Bled. Trieste may have its merits but the city was quite chaotic and difficult to navigate and find our hotel by bike.

What was the date of your tour?: June 2023
How many tours have you completed?: this was our first 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?: Italy, Slovenia, Austria

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

★★★★★ (5/5) Rob Russell 10 months ago

Fantastic bike trip - downhill all the way!

· Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track

I did this trip with my daughter who had never been to Italy. The folks at ''Fun Active Tours" were exceptional. They let us have the bikes a day early, call our hotels to make sure we had two beds as some of the hotels thought 'double' ment one bed! They let my daughter ride with the luggage transfer guy in the middle of the tour as her U-?-What was sore ;). Hotels were great and the route was unbelievable. Frendly Italians and some of the best food we've ever had. Go for it!

What was the date of your tour?: June 2023
How many tours have you completed?: 15
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?: Italy