E-Bikes Available Tour Reviews page 9
- Albania
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bosnia and H…
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Cambodia
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- England
- Estonia
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Holland
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Mexico
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Scotland
- Serbia
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Thailand
- Turkey
- United States
- Vietnam
-
★★★★★ Dad and sons
Biking the Camino with my sons
Camino de Santiago: A Pilgrim’s Route From Astorga to Santiago
A real biking adventure. The biking camino was much more mountainous than we imagined. It was beautiful scenery, thrilling, strenuous, dangerous, rewarding and memorable. We hiked the first half and stayed in hostels. From Astorga we biked and stayed in hotels. Hiking and hostels were much more conducive to meeting incredible new friends. The price of the biking tour seemed a bit expensive for what you recieve.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- I've done many bike rides
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Spain
-
★★★★★ Anne Temple
Beautiful but given bike with defective wheel and inadequate spares/pump
Innsbruck to Salzburg: Through the Alps Along River Cycle Trails
The ride is beautiful, hotels very comfortable with pleasant employees and great breakfast. Our rating would be higher except for our experience with one bike and the repair kit provided by the operator in Innsbruck. Also, if you are not familiar with Garmin, be sure you have a good alternative.
We had two flats in the same place on the inner seam of the back tire. We understand that tire changes were our responsibility and were prepared to handle them. We were provided with only one spare, no co2 cartridge because the operator was out of the attachment needed to use them, and a small inefficient pump. The advice given to us if we were to get a flat was to change the tire, pump it up as best we could with the inefficient pump and then go to a service station where we could then fill the tire up to its required PSI. This is a rural route with few service stations and much time was wasted.
The morning after the first flat we spent a couple of hours locating a bike shop that was open (tried 3) that had the right size spares. In addition we purchased a better pump which we were very glad to have with the second flat. That second flat occurred on the ride to Lofer. A biker who helped us noted that we didn’t have enough tread (profile) on the tires and we were lucky we hadn’t had rain.
Helmut was unable to provide a different bike for the last leg into Salzburg. Rather than spending the time finding a new back tire to buy and thus getting a much later start that we were comfortable with, we elected to take transport to Salzburg.
A special thanks to Helmut for his responsiveness and assistance.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
-
★★★★★ TriaT
Hillier than described
Best of Slovenia: Highlights Across the Country From Bled to Piran
This was our third family trip booked through Bike Tours Direct. The previous two were in Austria (Danube and Salzburg loop). We have two daughters, age 11 and 13, who are physically fit and mentally strong. This trip, lovely as it was, was too challenging for them. There is some serious climbing required and it should be rated at least a 3. It doesn't necessarily look like much on the profile but with the scale it's very deceptive. After 6 days cycling we needed a rest day so gave in and the bike company helped order a taxi that could take us and the bikes to Lipica. Overall the route took us through some wonderful scenery, starting in the Alps, then the Karst hills, and finally to the Adriatic coast. But most of it was on roads rather than bike paths, often with busy traffic. We're experienced road riders but found the Slovenian drivers to be rather aggressive and none of the roads had shoulders.
We also were a little disappointed in the destinations each night. The trip started in a fantastic place, Lake Bled, and ended in a very different but equally picturesque town, Piran, but too many of the overnights in between were in nondescript towns with little to explore. The distances weren't huge each day so we took our time and ate lunch along the way. Typically we arrived at the hotel around 2pm so had plenty of time to explore the new location but in 3-4 of the locations there was nothing to see, which was a real shame as on a trip like this part of the excitement is getting to the new place each day.
The hotels were of mixed standards. Some were modern, some very old and tired. Air conditioning seemed to be a challenge in all of them, though sorely needed. Wifi was spotty at best. Bathrooms are universally tiny.
We did some but not all of the side trips. It was raining at Lake Ribcev so we didn't do the waterfall or swim in the lake, which was a shame. Indoor Aquapark at the Eco Hotel was a godsend, given the rain that afternoon. Predjama Castle is a must. Also the Postojna caves. The Lipica stud farm was lovely, though the show a little underwhelming.
The food in Slovenia was a pleasant surprise. It's heavily influenced by Italy so every other restaurant offers pizza and pasta, plenty of salads, grilled meat and fish. Local wines were good. And everyone we encountered along the way spoke excellent English.
If you're looking to explore a new country, this is a great way to sample Slovenia. But the infrastructure and culture geared towards cycling just isn't there yet in the same way that it is in countries like Austria, Germany.
There were a few times where the directions didn't match the odometer readings and we had to rely on Google maps for cross reference. If you don't have an international data plan on your phone I highly recommend it. Overall though the directions were pretty good. And Helia, the local bike company, was very appreciative of any suggestions for improvement. SHOW MORE- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Slovenia
-
BikeTours.com staff reply from Jim Johnson
Thanks so much for your detailed and thoughtful response! That's one of the many aspects of our clients that we truly treasure: You give feedback not to complain or simply be critical but to improve the experience for future clients. We know that Helia will also take your feedback to heart. For 2018, we will change the tour to a Level 3 and add more information to the "Surface and terrain" part of the tour page.
Again, thank you for being a part of the BikeTours.com "community!
-
★★★★★ David Turner
Beautiful Scenery, Too Many Busy Roads
Emerald Tour of Slovenia’s Gems
This was our sixth European cycle trip and the first one that we felt the description of was misleading. The information indicated that 80% of the route was on country roads. To us that means small quiet roads that go through villages with infrequent cars or farm equipment. We found that far too often we were cycling on secondary roads with fast moving cars, trucks and buses and no shoulder. There were several close calls with cars passing us on curves. We expect traffic entering and leaving cities, but this was stressful and unpleasant. The few designated bike lanes and small roads were fine and made for enjoyable cycling.
There was severe weather forecast for the first day of our ride. We, and some other cyclists expressed concern about the weather to the representative that we met prior to the start of the ride. He absolutely downplayed our concerns at our first meeting and also the morning we were to begin when the rain was torrential. Wisely we decided to take the train to a station close to our destination. We still got drenched getting to and from the station. The other four cyclists tried to ride and had to be rescued after 10 km. Luckily some very kind people helped them out.
The Guibo navigation system worked well, however on one cycle day, the route ended 15 km. from our hotel. We had to self navigate the rest of the route. We managed, but there was a bit of stress figuring out the best route with the least amount of traffic. A less experienced group could have found themselves in a difficult situation.
The scenery, the people and the food were all good, but we would not recommend this ride to others. We realize that weather is out of anyone’s control, but we felt our concerns were taken lightly and the advice given was poor.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Slovenia
-
★★★★★ u d i
Lovely landscape shame most of the cycling is on asphalt with fast cars ..
Ireland’s West Cork on Tranquil Lanes Following the Coast
We had great time riding at CORK area, the weather was on our side also. everything was green and blooming, we all had e-bikes which was a great descision to do since first 3 days we traveled more than 70KM each day.accomodation was very good and so was the food, especially fish and sea food, we also had one night stay at a lovely castle fron 16th century on the atlantic beach.since most on the track was dedicated to the West Atlantic Way and many parts of it on the N71 we changed it and went deep into the countryside which was eaven nicer, plenty of fields and woods as we went up and downhill.it is advisable to change parts of the route to offroad routs.
- What was the date of your tour?
- june 16 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- this is our 8th
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with young kids
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Ireland
-
★★★★★ Richard Sany
Nice Scenery
Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps
We have been on a previous biketours.com offered ride in Austria and had certain expectations. The scenery was great but the navigation maps (especially digital) were lacking. The app for navigation and it was not responsive enough for making correct turns. I downloaded the digital files and tried to load them onto a ride app, Ride With GPS, but the files were so disorganized I had to completely re-trace the route for the 3 of the days we rode. Unlike a previous reviewer, I think the last day route from Gradisca d'Isonzo to Treiste was not that treacherous, probably because we took the more hilly alternate route through the countryside. Not very many cars and the rest were respectful of bikes on the road. I was very glad I had a triple front chain ring though because I was in the lowest gear on many hills (my wife had an ebike and met me at the top of every hill :-) ).
-
★★★★★ Sagan
More challenging than leisurely
Sardinia: A Mine of Memories
Unfortunately not the experience we expected and we were a bit disappointed given how much we enjoyed our previous tours.
The very hot weather and humidity may have been a factor but the route was much more challenging than expected and there were a lack of places to stop off that did not involve adding on extra KMs to the route.
We noticed many other self guided opted for e-bikes probably with good reason.- What was the date of your tour?
- 14th sept 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ victoria
Great way to see region around Stockholm
Stockholm Round-Trip Across Swedish History
This tour was a great way to see the region around Stockholm. Very scenic routes to view the landscape and good opportunities to see palace and historical buildings along the way. We were very happy with the hotels. It was difficult to shift gears on the bike that I rode because the bike was not properly tuned and the seat was uncomfortable because it wobbled. We were a group of four who requested four GPS units and received only one that functioned--an older model that does not offer the amenities of newer models. The written instructions they provided were sometimes hard to follow, which sometimes made it difficult to be sure we were on the right path. However, this could be easily fixed if they included more detail about the different kinds of roads and paths we would be take. All in all, I had a fantastic time and have no regrets.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Aug 18, 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Sweden
-
★★★★★ WalkersAdventure
Beautiful villages - beware of hills and train strikes
Alsace Wine Country
The tour operator is unusually cooperative about modifying the standard itinerary. I requested many changes to suit our interests and abilities and they fulfilled them all. We requested and received GPX tracks to load onto our own Garmin devices. The GPX and the map and the tour materials had been revised to reflect the changes I'd requested, which I appreciated very much.
Colmar is an exceptionally good place to center the trip. I recommend staying there several days and taking day trips by bicycle, or train plus bicycle, to nearby villages.
All of the hotels booked for us were high quality, and thoughtfully positioned for convenient access.
Segments of the trip are quite hilly: two chevrons on the map. We evaded the hills by planning alternate routes in the flat part of the valley. These routes presented a different view, still valuable and entertaining.
We had trouble with the SNCF train strike. Of course, that situation was beyond the tour operator's control, but it detracted from the experience.
One of the e-bikes was delivered with a bad battery. They replaced it the next day. That was okay for us, as I had an extra day planned for local sightseeing, so our overall schedule was not affected.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June, 2018
- How many tours have you completed?
- 22
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
-
★★★★★ Mild Bill
Great ride but horrible bikes
Majorca: A Loop Tour of the Beautiful Balearic Island
We enjoyed generally the trip locations. Ride instructions were definitely a little fuzzy at times but generally good. The bikes were horrific. They had these heavy, equipment laden bikes that were meant for city riding and not going through the countryside. Not the type of bike meant for doing long hill climbs. Hotels were fine and had good locations, but again instructions to get to them were not great. We had to incur roaming charges to find one because the instructions they gave to find it would have put us the next town over.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 26th
- How many tours have you completed?
- 22
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Spain
-
★★★★★ Skipper
Nice trip- some days better than others.
Bolzano to Verona: Orchards, Mountains & Timeless Culture
The trip was nice. The first three days had pretty scenery and nice riding. The fourth day was mostly on roads and some areas not very exciting. The last day retraced some of the fourth day and seemed like it wasn’t really necessary. The signage at certain points was unclear (e.g., the bike path ended and it was unclear what to do next) and there was an actual mistake in directions arriving at the hotel in Verona. The GPS was not particularly helpful. The bike was a good quality, but one of the bikes didn’t have working lights.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- Two
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Mike G.
Very Difficult!
Camino de Santiago: From Porto to Santiago de Compostela
This is our third bike tour. Italy, Spain and now Portugal. The terrain was extremely difficult...hilly, cobblestone, dirt trails and in some cases stone trails. Many situations we were walking the bikes. E bikes is definitely recommended. Hotels were very good, directions utilizing the Live, Love Ride app was excellent. Never used the provided GPS unit. Trail was clearly marked for the pilgrimage. Hikers in most cases were very friendly and accommodating since you did have to share the trail. We did have the opportunity to stop in small, neighborhood cafes which was so much fun and Santiago was absolutely incredible! One unfortunate comment, money was missing from a compartment in my backpack (pretty well hidden) on the first hotel luggage transfer and also our luggage was delivered to the wrong hotel on another instance. Sergio fixed the luggage delivery quickly and did inquire regarding the missing cash to no avail.
-
★★★★★ Morgan Baumann
Excellent Trails on which to explore a lovely part of Europe
Venice to Trieste and Istria
Traveling by bike is a wonderful way to enjoy a new place. Our accommodations were Excellent. Our guide, Tony, (with us for the first days), was first rate!- so helpful. A couple of concerns: I would not rate this as a 2 for regular bikes - even with variants, it was a lot of biking and I was disappointed not to arrive in towns sooner. Everyone in our group was similarly disappointed including those on e-bikes. I would have liked a more leisurely pace and instead the days felt rushed. The directions however were my biggest problem. For the most part they were poor. We lost so much time just trying to figure out where to go! Our last stage, into Porec was by far the easiest and so even though the ride itself was more challenging, we arrived in Porec in good time to enjoy the town. This last stage was easier because the red arrows were frequent and well placed all along the route. You only needed to glance at the map and the written directions and then just keep following the arrows. In contrast, on many of the other stages, the arrows were few and far between and often were Not where we needed to make a turn! We spent far too much time studying the map and having to reverse direction to get back on the route. It would also help if the directions noted if we were generally following a set route that was already mapped out by those small brown signs. Those signs were well placed and easy to follow.
-
BikeTours.com staff reply from JV
Morgan,
Thank you for your detailed feedback. We're delighted you enjoyed your accommodations and the guidance from Tony, but we deeply regret the difficulties you faced with the directions and pace of the tour. Your suggestions are invaluable, and we'll ensure improvements are made in our tour planning and signage to create a more relaxing and user-friendly experience for future tours.
Regards,
Jan
-
-
★★★★★ Raff
Wonderful itinerary, average biking
Bolzano – Verona – Venice
Great towns, but not enough time to see them. The biking scenery was ok. Really poor cue sheets in English.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 9-16-17-8-22-17
- 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
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Marion Van Kirk
Beautiful Austria and Germany
Tauern Bike Path (Krimml-Passau)
Biking was more difficult than expected. Luckily the women had e-bikes. Most of the hotels were excellent and food was great. Trip started in Neukirchen am Grossvenediger instead of Krimml due to closed hotels. The hotel in vicinity of Burghausen was too far from the town to be able to enjoy the beautiful city and castle and this was a huge disappointment since there were 3 other hotels within the city.
-
★★★★★ Mychelle
Do Your Research
Lake Constance Bicycle Path (Upscale Lodging)
My husband and I did the Lake Constance Self Guided bike tour. When we arrived at our hotel we dropped off our bags and we took a taxi to the bike company to pick up our bikes (per our instructions). We were greeted by a man that spoke only German. The maps and instruction he gave us were not clear (some of them were in German as well). The monitor on the bike was not in English (he got a translator over the phone to help him change it). I had upload the suggested Bike app on my phone ahead of time with the trail map but it would not work once we arrived. The first 24 hours of our trip did not go smooth (prior to our ride). I ended up going to the Visitor's Center in town and found someone that spoke English to walk me through the route. I got a much better trail map from them as well. Once we got through the hump of what we felt was very poor planning on the part of this company everything else went well. The hotels were wonderful, the bike trail was breathtaking, the weather was mostly sunny (a little rain) and the trail is well marked. I emailed this company during our trip to let them know about our problems and they were little help.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists, Families with young kids, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
-
★★★★★ Mycycle50
Very beautiful but more difficult than advertised.
Prague-Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest
Our outfitter provided lots of info- maps, gps routes and suggested sites to visit. Some very rough roads, some steep hills.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 22 to June 15
- How many tours have you completed?
- 9
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia
-
★★★★★ Bob Sterndale
Beautiful trip but problems
Tauern Bike Path (Krimml-Passau)
The scenery was breathtaking, the bike paths mostly fine but with seriously difficult and dangerous exceptions, the hotels very pleasant and the e-bikes fine with one exception.
The trip started on the wrong foot at the first hotel: Hotel Krimml Fälle. We were assigned a room with no heat (as were others) on a cold day. After two hours of lame diversions and excuses, while we sat in the lobby to keep warm, we were given a heated room. In all other respects the hotel and restaurant were fine.
Getting to Krimml is a bit confusing. OBB will sell you a train ticket (from Salzburg for us) all the way to Krimml. The trip involves a narrow-gauge train from Sell am See to Mittersill hbf (end of line) and a bus trip from Mittersill to Krimml. There is a bus stop in the middle of Krimml village, steps from our hotel.
The first day of biking were delightful. The hotel in Sell am See was beyond our expectations.
The second day of biking started well but we encountered a long section of closed trail. We were in a narrow valley with little development. The only parallel path was a shoulder-less two-lane highway with plenty of high-speed traffic, not an acceptable bike route. Trees and brush had been trimmed along the nice paved bike path recently. All the slash had been left on the path, for 2 or 3 days from its appearance. We picked our way through the mess for maybe a couple kilometers. Then we came to a section with blown down trees obstructing the path, another ½ to 1 Km. Getting through this required some bushwhacking with the heavy e-bikes. Not fun.
Day three of biking was fine until we came to a flooded underpass on the outskirts of Salzburg. We needed to cross the A1 highway to get to Salzburg. A bad storm a few days before had caused numerous problems across Austria. We did find an alternate route but advance knowledge would have saved us a few Km of pedaling.
Day 4, however, brought us to highway biking. As we approached the village of St. Radegund we were directed onto a busy, shoulder-less two-lane road for a steep ascent of a kilometer or more. It was a strenuous ride even with the e-bikes. Your web sites offers this description of the tour:
“The tour route is mainly on dedicated bicycle paths (about 80% of the time). The remainder of the tour is on quiet roads and dirt or gravel roads. This tour is suitable for families with children.”
This stretch alone disqualifies the tour as a family-safe route. The experience continues:
A short distance beyond the scary hill climb is a 5.2 Km stretch of riding on the same road. The tour map shows this section as a bike path on the side of the road pavement. The “bike path” in this area is about 18” wide, separated from the high-speed traffic by a 4” wide white stripe. Narrative direction for this day’s route were not helpful, signage was poor, the “pink” house referred to is now yellow.
The unpleasant day was capped by a steep climb to the hotel in Burghausen. Pushing a heavy e-bike up a hill doesn’t work! You need to pedal it up so that it assists with its own heavy weight.
Day 5 brought us to Bad Fussing. This day was mostly uneventful. Directions to the hotel in Bad Fussing were vague, calling for riding 4 Km on a busy road with no shoulder. Instead, we found a bike path at the German side of the bridge that led right in to downtown Bad Fussing. The directions should include this route. Plan your day to allow an hour or two at one of the baths, you will be glad you did!
Day 6 was uneventful, mainly along the Inn River to Passau.
One e-bike problem: the rear disc brake on one of the 4 bikes was useless, apparently the brake pads were worn away (bikes had coaster brakes too). In all other respects bikes were fine. Battery capacity was generous. I think the lowest reserve at the end of any day for any of us was 50%.
An otherwise delightful trip was marred by surprise bike path closures and stretches of unsafe highway biking. This is not for children. The scenery was awe inspiring. Hotels were good to excellent. E-bikes were good except for one problem that didn’t spoil the trip.
We would have wished for more current information on bike path conditions from the local partner. We provided reports to them of closed paths as we encountered them.
Your tour description misrepresents the conditions of the route. We would not have booked the trip if had been accurately described. SHOW MORE -
★★★★★ Russ Deuell
Trip of a lifetime that the guide fell short on!
Holland’s Super Tulip Tour
Biking through Holland was an amazing adventure. Having an E-Bike made it much more relaxing since you could always turn on the power assist if needed, which we didn't need. THere were many great biking trails that were very relaxing to ride on and see the great scenery of Holland.
The boat, captain, chef and serving assistant made the trip very enjoyable.
The guide, well it seemed like it was the first time Annette did this trip. She easily got lost 3-4 times a day. She would ask for input on what we wanted and then ignore the input if it didn't match what she had planned for the day. Several times she ignored the bike crossing lights and almost got riders that were following hit. This made the rides very stressful. The group also asked to bike faster so we could spend more time at some of the sights. She insisted this was not possible but managed to do exactly that on the last day when weather was going to be an issue later in the afternoon. We also had a flat tire one day and she didn't have a replacement tube. She had to go find another group that had one and then had to have someone from the group change the tube because she couldn't do it herself She managed to make the daily rides very stressful. I would not recommend a trip with her.- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- 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?
- Holland
-
★★★★★ Steve Lilley
Challenge completed!
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
As a couple we enjoyed completing the challenge in extremely hot conditions.
We were disappointed in not sighting or swimming in the Danube more often: it’s a mighty impressive river!
Riding enabled greater appreciation of the country and people than by car: crops and farming in particular.
The final ferry ride for over an hour was a great finale!
Email
Mailing Address
Office Hours