E-Bikes Available Tour Reviews page 2
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★★★★★ Leslie Wilson
Very disappointing
Lake Garda (Based in One Hotel)
The bikes,local tour provider & maps where not an acceptable standard or adequately explained to our bike group. We all goind this to be very disappointing.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- 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?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Debra Miller
A Bit Disappointing
Danube Bike Path 7 Nights (Classic)
Cycling along a paved path along the Danube was relaxing for our group of four. Day three was truly beautiful with cobblestone roads and colorful houses in the villages. Wish we had gone earlier in the year as many restaurants and shops were closed for the season.
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★★★★★ GregR
Too much highway biking
Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps
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★★★★★ Christopher Blair
Strasbourg - Mainz
Strasbourg to Mainz: Imperial Cities and Charming Landscapes Along the Rhine
It was okay.
First day, bags were not picked up. Had to call. Delivered after dinner time. Expected some explanation or perhaps an apology. Nothing.
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★★★★★ Sparky
Boring trip
Venice to Mantova by Bike and Boat (and reverse)
Although the barge itself was nice and the food delicious, the trip itself is very boring once you leave Venice. Hours and hours of passing soybean fields. Lots of riding in hot weather on unshaded roads....some quite busy. Very few days were on actual bike paths. When we did get to a town, most things were closed as it was between 1 - 4....siesta time in Italy. The cheese tour was nice. That's about it!
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 26, 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 0
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Michael Beiley
Mediocre bike trip
Nature, Villages & Castles of the Loire River Valley
This is our 6th bike trip in Europe as an older couple and our least favorite. The chateaux (chateaus) were the highlights with beautiful gardens and art work. The beginning town of Blois and last town of Ambroise were charming and the best part of the trip. The biking along the Loire the very first day and last day were the prettiest. Most of the biking was along dedicated bikepaths or very quiet roads. Otherwise, the bicycling though flat farmland, small towns with zero to very limited restaurants, and vineyards without opportunity to for tastings was very uninspiring. The tour operator booked us in a hotel for two nights when the restaurant was closed and the nearest town was 4km through a forest at night if we wanted to eat dinner. They also booked a canoe trip for 2:30 when we passed through it was 11:00 a.m and closed (we asked for a refund but they never replied.) The hotels other than the first and last day were very average. Overall, the 4 chateaux and the two 1/2 days biking along Loire river were the highlights, the rest was mediocre.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept-Oct 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ David Anderson
Pretty location, ok organization
Highlights of the Highlands: Donegal by E-bike
In general, it was a great experience. I'd never been on a bike tour, and this was a load of fun. My wife and I plan to do more bike tours. However, if I had to choose between bike tours, I wouldn't recommend this specific one.
Going over this bike tour's organization.
GPS / Directions.
A few things here to complain about.
1. The printed directions were inconsistent between people on the tour. Some printed directions said left at an intersection, others said right. They were simply out of date, and the tour didn't re-print everything. Old printouts = old directions.
2. The printed directions were inconsistent with the web directions. We were sent PDFs of directions. Those didn't match up with the printouts. Again, likely because they were older or newer (we couldn't figure out which). Different roads sometimes, different turns.
3. The printed and web directions were inconsistent with the GPS tracks. This was super annoying, because we were biking along listening to the GPS directions (on the unit provided), and the GPS would say "turn here!" and the printed directions indicated we should go another few blocks.
4. The printed / web / GPS directions were out of date for actual road conditions. In two different locations, the road was literally closed, and we had to detour around an area using Google maps. In one place, the GPS road literally had grass growing on it, and had obviously moved at least 5+ years before. These directions are *very* out of date at times.
These direction inconsistencies didn't mean we got lost, but it did mean *daily* stops to consult our map, Google maps, GPS directions, and try to figure out where the tour intended us to go, regardless of all the inconsistencies. I'd highly suggest having offline Google maps if you're going to take the tour.
Lodging.
Some places were outstanding and high quality. Other places were lower quality. One place in particular stank heavily of peat smoke, with smoke literally billowing in through our windows. I don't know how often the tour company inspects the places they're sending people.
Food.
The tour included breakfast. It was sometimes great, mostly fine, but sometimes a bit low quality. Again, perhaps a lack of inspection on exactly what they're paying for.
While the tour didn't provide dinner, we sometimes had trouble finding any place which was open. In one town, we got *lucky* that there was a food truck open, because otherwise every single restaurant in town was closed down. The locals all said that it made no sense that we hadn't planned on dinner, because their town didn't have restaurants open in this season. Many locations only had a single restaurant option. I think if you're going to operate a tour this late in the season, you need to scout out restaurants which will actually be open. SHOW MORE
Bikes.
The bikes on average worked fine. Few specific issues.
1. The batteries were inconsistent power. Both in size (different models) and in age we suspect (as the power ran down more quickly). We absolutely used full power rarely, and most often had it at 1 or 2 out of 4 power. Still, on the longer days, we ran quite low on power. We had a battery die once, which was annoying. Thankfully we had young people on our tour who were able to power their way the last distance without a battery. For the distances available, I think the bike batteries are inadequate for anyone who isn't in good shape. When the tour operator was asked about this before the tour started, he insisted that the batteries "never" run out. Can't be true, we heard from other people on the tour that they also ran out of batteries.
2. We had a bike which repeatedly had the chain fall off. Looking at the chain, it was *covered* in grease. Looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years / forever. Thankfully we could put the chain back on ourselves, but if we were older / less competent with a bike, this would have been an issue.
General interactions.
In general, the tour operator was nice, but didn't seem overly concerned with the feedback we provided him.
1. "The GPS tracks are out of date." - "Well yeah that happens."
2. "There were no restaurants available." - "Yeah, it's late in the season"
3. "The bike kept losing the chain." - "Yup, bikes do that sometimes."
In general, we didn't feel like our concerns were being heard.
Again, overall it was a fun place to go, and we liked bike touring in general. The operator just could have done better.
SHOW LESS- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Ireland
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★★★★★ shea214
too much is too much
Three Lakes Tour: From Geneva to Annecy
This tour is quite lovely, but not at the level we expected. This is our 8th tour so we feel we get them by now. We like the unguided aspect, but they completely outsourced the work of actual directions to a machine. It is not an adequate substitution. The machine added at least 15 miles on the first day and was most frustrating. Please, give us actual directions AND MAPS. A silly little device is certainly helpful but should not be a substitute. And the distance and hills were definitely not Medium. This was proven out the first night by the guy who biked to the hotel (he likes extreme and he thought it was tough).
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- France, Switzerland
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Lindsay Nash
Hi! Thanks for your review. We're glad to hear that the tour was lovely despite the tour level not meeting your expectations. We're taking your review to our products team and to the local tour operator to re-assess the tour level. Thank you for sharing your experience and helping us to better advise other travelers in the future.
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I wanted to follow up once more on your review after following up with the local tour operator. They've never received complaints about the GPS before, and they did provide maps, a profile, and a large marked map in the roadbook on your tour. Also, to clarify, the client you mentioned who said it was a tough route was doing the more challenging version of the tour, not the version you went on. I'm sorry if that was confusing.
Again, we apologize the tour level did not match your expectations, but we do state clearly in the Surface and Terrain details about the daily climbing.
Thank you again for sharing your experience.
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★★★★★ Bluenose
Alsace in September
Alsace Wine Country
Great time of year to do this trip as the vineyards are being harvested. The weather is perfect for cycling! Much of the trip is on dedicated cycle paths which reduces the amount of riding in traffic.
We took the dinner package which saved us the hassle of trying to find dinner each night. A couple of the meals were terrific but most were average.- What was the date of your tour?
- September 9, 2018
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Shirley Santucci
Disappointed
Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)
Total lack of communication in not informing us that our biking would end 2 days early, which meant missing out biking through the Wachau valley . When I contacted Bike Tours that my husband was ill and could not make the trip. I should have been informed then that there were changes to the scheduled tour. The welcome meeting & bike fitting was a joke. There was absolutely no value in that 15 minute meeting. I had to adjust the handle bars myself and struggle through removing the battery for charging at the 1st two hotels that did not offer charging in the bike storage area. The electric bike itself was very good quality and comfortable to ride. The printed trip itinerary was easy to follow but did not offer much in the way of "do not miss" highlights along the way. In my opinion, only three of the hotels were worth the upscale category. I would not recommend this bike tour for anyone that has experienced quality bike tours previously.
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★★★★★ Chris MacMillan
Spectacular scenery, poor bike maintenance
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
The scenery was spectacular and memorable. The hotels were good. However in the middle of the trip my bike handlebars came loose and the bike was very difficult to steer towards the hotel. Also I found the Funtastic navigation app to be unreliable.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Mungo
Nice not to have to pack every day
Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Princesse Royal
Flat terrain, mostly bike paths and not having to pack and unpack are great advantages of this trip. The food and accommodations were better than expected. However, it is not recommended as a self-guided tour as the directions are not complete. Also, as a group tour with 35 people in a large pack makes it too cumbersome.
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★★★★★ Ronald Schwarcz
Extremely disappointing.
Sail & Bike to Picturesque Villages and Nature Reserves
The ship was terrible. Our cabin was so small that it could not accommodate two people comfortably. Also, the ventilation was poor and it was always warm and muggy. There was inadequate seating on the deck. No comfortable chaises or stairs. The Captain did not communicate well or do anything help the travelers meet and mingle. It was especially frustrating as my friend and I were the only Americans and there were no native born English speaking traveling. Unlike all other trips we were on, nothing was done to provide us information about the villages we docked at. The captain or crew did not offer to take us into towns and show us around or even recommend bars or other places to visit. There were no daily information sheets, recommendation or even maps. We were completely on our own. The food was marginal at best. The dinner portions were small. Must dinner wasn’t an”event”, everyone was in and out in around 40 minutes. In general the amenities were totally lacking. We believe that the most Americans would not be satisfied with the Sail and Bike tours offered by Bike Boat Tours. On our ship, the crew were friendly and worked hard, but it seemed that they were understaffed. As it seems that they were working a very tight budget. We only had meat was the dinner entree one night and that was at the BBQ. Two nights we had vegetarian main course. We were never taught anything about sailing except helping pulling ropes to raise and lower sails. I could go on and on, but, I will end by saying that the ship was not comfortable and nothing was done to help the travelers fully enjoy the experience.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Ron S
Classic
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
Nice hotels. Great company rep. (Joseph ) Lousy route. Too many dirt trails including one which may have been a garbage dump.l Less than twenty five percent of the route was along the Danube. The signage was not good. I have run four trips thru Bike Tours but this one is not a winner. All the others were great. One participant who had a patellar injury rented an electric assist bike but the battery pack did not hold charge very long. We had additional niggling bike problems.
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★★★★★ Richard Rogers
Not as I had expected
Provence by Bike and Boat
Not expecting to ride as a group. The riding involved more road riding and realize that a leader was necessary. The riding in Southern France is not as developed as Central Europe.
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Jim Brewer
Mainz to Cologne
Rhine Bike Path: Mainz to Cologne
The Rhine Valley was beautiful. The hybird bikes were very good. Maps and directions for the tour were very poor at best. Extremely difficult to find Hotels and the key sights mentioned by the tour. We experienced extremely high temperatures but had A/C most nights. The night without A/C resulted in very little sleep and NO biking the next day. The night that they shut off the A/C in the middle of the night resulted into a lot of lost sleep. Bottom line even with average high temperatures you need A/C every night and all night long.
Others on the same tour with the same maps etc also had difficulties finding the Hotels each evening.- What was the date of your tour?
- 22 Jul 18--28 Jul 18
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
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★★★★★ Mark Abzug
meh
Florence to Rome
great cycling, but eurotours was terrible. no orientation, routed us on some busy roads, no customer service at all. I've done 5 of these, and this group was the worst support outfit by far
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Sequoia
Not quite the Danube River Trip we expected
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
Too much of the trip was off the river, and off trails. Going through corn fields was not our favorite. Dams should be called levees. The route through Budapest on sidewalks was difficult, too busy with trucks and traffic. It is not a bicycle friendly city. Hotel could have been closer to the river. We would recommend 2 nights in Bratislava, there is so much to see there. Add another day to sleep over in Hainburg. We loved the hotel in Vienna. We recommend the lower trail through the National Park on day one, to go swimming!!! The day one detour was difficult because of traffic, maybe there's a walk around the detour on bike path instead of so much road. We loved Gyur. Three days were totally off the river. We enjoyed the ferry rides very much. The last two days were on the river and were the best days.
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★★★★★ Carol Bly
Not what hoped for. Poor directions. Unsafe routes and not well marked.
Tauern Bike Path (Krimml-Passau)
Loved quiet rides in country and thru villages but dangerous conditions were not marked due to recent storms. We should have been notified and got onto dangerous routes.
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★★★★★ diane g
Salzburg to Salzburg has fantastic scenery but directions provided are unbelievably poorly developed
Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
Salzburg to Salzburg over 6 days is higher than a level 2. The terrain is hilly. I do not recommend this self guided tour because the german-speaking outfits they contract with provide totally inadequate self-guiding instructions. They do not know what a cue sheet is. They do not provide any directions as to north, south, east, west; they do not provide any street names. AND, the directions in English are very obviously translated very poorly from the German. In addition, there is no way to find your hotel once off the bike path. You have to depend upon good route finding skills for this hotel finding as well as the entire trip. We had this same experience with bike tours.com 7 years ago and thought they might have gotten better at directions. We gave bike tours feedback at that time, and our friends gave feedback on their german-speaking directions on their self-guided tour, and nothing changed. Hence I am writing this review without making a customer complaint becaue I do not believe bike tours will fix this problem. AND, THIS TOUR REQUIRES ONE TO CONSULT 3 SETS OF INSTRUCTIONS THROUGHOUT THE TRIP. 2 sets of friends had exactly the same experience. 2 stars are for getting our luggage to each hotel before we arrived; and the hotels were gracious and accommodating.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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