E-bikes Available Tour Reviews page 34
- Albania
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Cambodia
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- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- England
- Estonia
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Holland
- Hungary
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- Japan
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- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
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- Wales
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★★★★★ Julie November 4, 2015Cheese, cocoa, windmills, clogs, delft, tulips...
· · Holland by Bike and Boat, Southern Tour
So many things to see that represent the Netherland: cheese, tulips, windmills, cocoa, clogs and delft pottery. It was amazing to see the bike culture there and that bikes have the right of way over everything! The network of bike paths was amazing too! It was a fun combination of boat and bike. Most of our meals were provided too, which was nice after a full day of riding and exploring!
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Richard Robblee August 4, 2023Lovely rural trail and ancient towns; variable quality accommodations.
· Romantic Road from Würzburg to Donauwörth
The tour itself was fun and varied. We enjoyed every day, and every day was different from the one before. Some days were virtually all in rural settings; others followed lightly-traveled roads in flat farming country which allowed us a close-up view of life in the area. The route-finding at times was tricky, having to work with a German language map book, an English translation booklet, and Komoot. We usually just followed the small bike trail signs but on a couple of occasions got thrown off as the same sign is used for various other trails. We should have paid strict attention to the English translated booklet when approaching towns instead of relying on the signs. So there was some back-tracking but nothing too serious. As to the bikes, our two bikes did not come with a repair kit or pump, and none were delivered until the end of the third day of our six day trip (when we reached the tour company they offered to send help at their expense to us on the trail if needed but for whatever reason could not get us the repair kit/pump promptly). Our trip was delayed on the fifth day by a loose screw that secured the rear fender to the frame, which meant that the retaining clip rubbed against the rear tire. The bikes themselves were on the heavy/sturdy side but worked well. Baggage transfers were reliable. Accommodations were spotty: the GHotel in Würzberg was a characterless commercial hotel; surely there are local hotels in the old town that could have been selected. The Hotel Bronnbacher in Wertheim was among our favorites - the remarkably helpful proprietor, Kai, deserves special praise. The Ringhotel Bundschu in Bad Mergentheim, despite its luxurious room and common areas, was a disappointment; the proprietor was terse and came across to us as unwelcoming, and the room was impossible to ventilate. No fan was made available in this fanciest of all six hotels. The Hotel Gerberhaus in Rothenburg was wonderful in all ways. The Hotel Piazza in Dinkelsbühl was satisfactory but otherwise unremarkable. The only utterly unsatisfactory hotel was the Hotel Wengers Brettl in Nördlingen. The staff that greeted us spoke virtually no English; no fan was available; the smoke alarm was missing from its placement in the ceiling, and the breakfast service was comparatively scant with the only employee spending most of his time reading the newspaper at the counter. Finally, the Hotel Donau was one of our favorites; set up well for bicyclists and with helpful staff. All meals with the exception of the Hotel Wengers Brettl were excellent.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
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★★★★★ Joseph Braun August 5, 2023Scenic journey but you better know how to read a map
· Royal Zealand and Copenhagen
The bikes were excellent and the company representative was helpful, knowledgeable and more than willing make sure we had a good trip. The hotel in Copenhagen was an average room but noisy and poor ventilation. Other hotel rooms were mostly average. Breakfast was excellent at all the hotels. Directions were average but confusing. It would be helpful to include city maps with the information so tourists can find street names instead of following the directions. Also, be warned that several routes are on gravel paths, not paved.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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?
- Denmark
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★★★★★ Erik Coats August 14, 2023Great place to cycle
· Lake Constance Bicycle Path (Upscale Lodging)
Lake Constance is beautiful and the cycling is great. 80% of the trip is on paved hike/bike paths, with about 10% on unpaved paths and 10% on regular roads (shared with cars). You should pay for the GPS aps on your phone to navigate as the maps and written directions are often insufficient. Most of the hotels were in lovely cities, but the spacing out was inconsistent, leading to some very short days of cycling and some very long days. Most days were short enough to give you time to explore the cities you're passing through and staying in. We had a couple issue and were able to reach the tour company for support, which is appreciated.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2023
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Debra Lapre August 21, 20232nd Bike and Barge trip
· · Altmühl Valley and Danube River
The beginning was not as picturesque as one would have hoped. The small towns were quaint and the guide Ilsa was great. She was very knowledgeable about each town and stopped at points of interest along the way. We were vegetarians and the food was somewhat lacking. The room on the barge was nice and the bathroom a good size.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
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★★★★★ Linda MiolaFurrier August 22, 2023Great views - beautiful countryside
· Swiss Lakes by E-bike: Lake Geneva to Lake Lucerne
For the most part, this touring company did a good job. They dropped the ball a few times, but were quick & responsive to repairing the issues. Chosen navigation software did not work for us, thus we were forced to use our own - which was fine but not ideal. Definitely bring a backup phone battery on every ride. Hotels were adequate, clean, well positioned for our enjoyment of the area. We have done other bike trips, and this Swiss Lakes trip was the most scenic. We would do it again.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 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?
- Switzerland
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★★★★★ Peter Dworkin August 26, 2023Beautiful scenery; great bikes
· Rhine Bike Path: Mainz to Cologne
Relaxing and fun trip. Great bikes. Attractive hotels. Good itinerary. Negatives: Navigation app. Need to provide turn by turn instructions that integrate with Google maps. Would have preferred all hotels to be in cute small towns. Some were in modern less charming bigger towns.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1 other
- 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?
- Germany
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★★★★★ Phyllis Bressler August 31, 2023
Bike tour in Denmark
· Royal Zealand and Copenhagen
First, the positives - and there are many. The route took us through some beautiful historic towns and gorgeous countryside. We even took the ferry over to Sweden on the first night so that we could add another country to our list. The bikes were very good. Comfortable and sturdy on the somewhat bumpy gravel roads. The hotels we were booked at were all fantastic and in great locations to enable us to explore each town at night.
We do have some comments about things that might be improved:
- we arrived in Copenhagen on Thursday, 3 days ahead of the start of our bike trip, and were told our bikes would be delivered ~ 7pm on Sunday. They arrived on Thursday afternoon - with no advanced notice. It was fine, it just would have been nice to know to expect them.
- We received absolutely no orientation on the bikes, the route maps, etc. On prior trips we've had people quickly walk through the route, pointing out some recommendations, etc. Only when I asked were we given the opportunity to check the fit of the bikes before the delivery person left them. Fortunately, we've been on 6 or 7 other bike trips with biketours.com, so we were familiar w/ the operation of the bikes, and how to read the directions. We were lucky that we reviewed the daily routes before the start of our trip - otherwise we would not have known that on 3 of the 6 nights we were booked at hotels other than the ones listed in the daily directions.
- There were no 'addenda' to the bike routes to provide directions to the alternate hotels so we had to find them on our own.
- On a similar trip in Portugal we had the opportunity to use a GPS mapping system. Using that, we could immediately tell if we were, or were not on the proscribed route. On multiple occasions this trip the bike routes were overlapping. We went many kilometers without seeing the route number that was listed in the directions - never knowing for certain if we were on the correct path. On the last day, between Roskilde and Copenhagen, we somehow lost the trail just before the start of the C99 superhighway and spent ~ 2 hours trying to find that route again. Fortunately after asking several people we found an individual who knew exactly what we were looking for and put us back on the right track. Using the GPS system that one time enabled us to know in real time whether we were, or were not on track.- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7 self guided and 1 guided
- 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?
- Denmark
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★★★★★ Robert Derge September 3, 2023Biking the Danube
· Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)
This was self guided using paper maps. Maps were generally good but written directions were profoundly inadequate in the very busy city of Vienna.
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★★★★★ Karen Donnelly September 4, 2023Beautiful biking and barge
· · Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Magnifique IV (and reverse)
The biking was easy and rode most of it unassisted with 3-5 others. But the first day was with a guide, who was very helpful and knowledgeable about the area. The App we were provided was very good and gave us various lengths of the routes we could follow and places to stop along the way.
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★★★★★ Allen Terrell September 6, 2023Great sites, good value
· · Amsterdam – Gouda – Bruges by Bike and Boat
We had a wonderful trip. Many Thanks to your staff, Mariam and Taylor, in helping us..
For the price, the barge was fine, the food excellent and the barge crew terrific.
Caution you to except overly positive reviews from passengers who all filled out reviews on the last night while receiving free champagne. Aliso, while nice, the leader was not too helpful and not much of a mechanic [4 of the E bikes were not charged on our first ride].
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★★★★★ Tim Cooper September 8, 2023Trip of my dreams
· Dordogne Valley: Between the Dordogne and Lot Rivers
Need daily map detail of route and a GPS. The daily activity needed to have a specific start time, rest time, lunch time etc. and time to explore villages on our own. The guide was helpful to make sure we didn't get lost which was a likely possibility since there was not a detailed route map or GPS.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 26, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- 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?
- France
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★★★★★ Tim Cooper September 8, 2023Dream trip
· Nature, Villages & Castles of the Loire River Valley
The daily route map was good but it needed specific directions about where to turn and specific streets with noticeable landmarks. This is a critical factor especially when arriving in Ambois and. how to get to the designated hotel.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 19,02023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Guy Levy September 11, 2023Great trip with some annoying snags
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
We were a group of 8 members who did a self guided tour with e-bikes. the route of the tour exposed us to Albania's beautiful landscape, heritage and lovely and warm people. The route is quite challenging due to the mountainous terrain and we were glad that we chose to use e-bikes. All in all we really loved it. Yet, we encountered a few troublesome matters that with due attention can be solved.(i) we had numerous problems with the e-bikes, mostly related to chain falling w/o any reason, back cog-wheel that became loose etc., that ended with replacing two of our bikes and a number cases where on road assistance was required. We understood from comments made by the local agents that these had been common problems with the type of bikes we had been given, hence either bike maintenance needs improvement or a different bike brand should be used. (ii) A much greater portion of the tour then described in the website was on main roads with heavy traffic, which we felt made cycling not very safe and certainly not relaxing/enjoyable. (iii) The maps provided together with the e-files of the routes were not always consistent with actual conditions. A more frequent adaptation, of especially the e-routes, to actual roads conditions seems in order. (iv) the hotels provided could be somewhat upgraded. In many cases they were not up to a par with 3 star hotels in Europe (this had been our 9th cycling tour in Europe so we do have some experience).
- What was the date of your tour?
- August-September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 9
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Paul Crisafulli September 13, 2023Beautiful beaches, caves and countryside!
· Algarve Coastal Route
The perfect way to see all that Portugal offers! Great people, great food and beautiful sights. Tour guide company provided best hotels, great towns to explore and great service.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- 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?
- Portugal
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★★★★★ Michael Burkardt September 16, 2023Beautiful Countryside
· Tuscan Wine Classic: Pienza to Castellina via Siena
Our Bike Tour Company Cicloposse was exceptional, the best we ever had. There was not a single detail they missed, providing a booklet covering highlights for a given day of each town we'd pass through and as well as where to eat. We had a minor issue that was no fault of their own and the customer service was top notch. They're professional and knowledgeable. The only hiccup was a closed bridge that added a hour to our ride that day. Warning: unless you are a very strong rider get an E bike. Some climbs are miles long with a 14% grade.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ john saunders September 16, 2023Interesting and friendly country, beautiful countryside
· Best of Slovenia: Highlights Across the Country From Bled to Piran
This was a very good trip to explore and see various parts of the country. Overall, the trail markings were good. Good use of smaller roads with less traffic, but some roads were Busy with no shoulder and cars appearing to drive too fast. Accommodations were well-placed, except for Ljubljana Where the hotel was placed too far from the historic District where you would prefer to spend most of your time there. It was over 30 minute walk from the historic district. The bikes were durable, and we experienced no mechanical problems, but they were of a low quality, heavy, and not suited to some of the climbing that was required. We opted to purchase the route and map booklet for 30 euros which was poor quality and not useful or worth the money spent. Most of the important information was already provided in the materials. The Maps were useless in that you could not read road names, or city names because the font was too small and the poor print quality. On our last day in Piran, We had confirmed with bike tours, that we could schedule a late day transport back to Ljubljana so that we could spend a full day in Piran but apparently the local operator, Helia, only transports at 9 AM. Bike tours did a good job of arranging alternative late day transportation for us, but the Helia Representative was rude and unaccommodating And refused to discuss the matter.
Again, as to the bikes, which were basically “city bikes”, where the mileage each day is 25 to 35 miles, we believe most people would prefer better quality bikes, and we certainly saw other tour operators in the country that were utilizing higher quality bikes that were not electrically assisted. We would recommend that better quality bikes be offered or at least an upgrade to a higher quality bike that is not electric assisted.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 20
- 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?
- Slovenia
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★★★★★ Carol RALEY September 17, 2023Awesome trip
· Emerald Tour of Slovenia’s Gems
Slovenia is an absolutely beautiful place to visit especially by bike! We spent time in Bled before the trip so we felt like we saw a great deal of the country. Some difficulty withe Guibo and signage was hit and miss. Ebikes functioned well but had some issues with plastic parts falling off (chain guard and rear fender stabilizer ) Nothing critical but just annoying. End of summer tired bikes I suppose. Otherwise great trip!
- Countries included in this tour?
- Slovenia
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★★★★★ Timothy Ricks September 18, 2023
Spectacular beauty
· Swiss Lakes by E-bike: Lake Geneva to Lake Lucerne
Outstanding vistas! Spectacular beauty!
Pros: 1. Some really fine hotels, many with great views. 2. Reliable luggage transfers. 3. Reliable bikes. No mechanical problems with either e-bike or regular bike.
Cons: 1. Eurotrek’s maps and gps often do not match up with the routes you need to take to navigate each day. Result is that it is essential to bring your own Garmin device AND your smartphone in order to navigate when your hotel may not even be in the same town as the gps would take you. 2. Most Swiss hotels have no A/C, and with climate change, they are too hot. Open windows bring noise and insects, so not great sleep. 3. Eurotrek’s non-electric bikes are sturdy, reliable, heavy and slow. Be prepared for a good workout and slow riding.- Countries included in this tour?
- Switzerland
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★★★★★ DOROTHY STEIMKE September 19, 2023Lakes tour
· Munich & the Bavarian Lakes
Accommodations were good. GPS used way too much battery ran out of battery after 2 to 3 hours. Odometer on my bike was not set correctly. Wife’s E bike odometer correct. Scenery and lakes were stunning.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
