E-Bikes Available Tour Reviews page 9
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★★★★★ 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
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★★★★★ 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
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★★★★★ 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
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Chloe
Thanks kindly for your feedback. We're so glad to hear that you were able to improve your experience by altering your route. And thank goodness for e-bikes; they truly are a game changer! Love that you had wonderful weather, food, and accommodations. Thanks again for the review (and the pictures).
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★★★★★ mb001
Fun trip with lots of biking.
Vienna to Budapest 5-nights (Active)
My friend and I did this trip in early Oct. The first hotel in Vienne is Hotel Arcortel and not near any restaurants or pubs but close to the start of the trip. I would suggest booking a few days before in the city center if you plan on seeing Vienna. We stayed next in Hotel Devin in Bratislava. The hotel here and city were great. Everything walking distance. Next was Hotel Barrokk in Gyor. This was a very nice hotel and city that you could walk to a variety of restaurants and shopping. Then day 3 we biked 124km to Esztergom. There is an option to take a train for half of this trip. We did the biking and found it a very long day, but doable. We had electric bikes and it was a good thing! This day of biking was the most difficult not only because of the distance, but the terrain. You are in remote Hungarian countryside with no one around for hours. The bike trail or paths are poorly marked in some areas you find yourself on dirt farm land. Unfortunately we were lost a lot! The hotel in Esztergom was the Hotel Bellevue. This hotel is set on a busy street with no options to walk to any other restaurants or shopping. We were not aware that dinner must be booked ahead of time. After talking our way into a reservation, we found the buffet was average. If possible stay in the city and not this hotel. On the last day we left and needed to catch the ferry across the river. We were lucky as the week we were there was the last week of the season for the ferry. We rode to Budapest and again found some of the trails or paths poorly marked. We ran into a guided tour along the way and the guide told us about an app called mapy.cz and it has the entire map of the bike path we used and saved us several times. It was great to finish in Budapest as it is a very large exciting city with so much to do! The NH Hotel was easy to get to and situated close to many sites.
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★★★★★ Michael Krivitsky
Vienna bike day tour
Classic Vienna Bike Tour
The tour covered many great sites in Vienna. The bikes were good. It was easy to get to the shop where the tour started. Unfortunately, the tour guide spoke so softly that I couldn’t hear a word she said unless I was standing right next to her. I have no idea if what she said was useful. If she is going to speak that softly, the tour needs a mic and headset system.
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★★★★★ Janine
Beautiful and Stressful
Algarve Coastal Route
We enjoyed seeing and exploring the towns of the Algarve. The beaches were beautiful, hotels were very nice, we had delicious meals. The least enjoyable was the biking. We rented Ebikes. A lot of time was spent on busy roads with traffic and cars and trucks whizzing by. On the no traffic parts, the trail was rocky, gravelly with potholes a good percentage of the time. The trails are unmaintained. We did bike through nature areas along the water which was lovely. We did this trip the third week in April. The weather was perfect- 70’s and sunny. This was our 7th bike trip. We enjoyed our trip to the Algarve and glad we did it, but the biking was not as enjoyable as our other trips and at times very stressful.
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2025
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Portugal
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★★★★★ Moira Quigley
Interesting part of Italy
A Taste of Italy: Emilia-Romagna
Well organised, GPS system worked well for us most of the time, person greeting us and setting us up was fantastic, bikes excellent. Loved the parmesan and balsamic vinegar factory tours - wonderful hosts. We did not enjoy the route as much as other tours we have done. There were more main roads and traffic than we were expecting and have experienced on previous bike tours. The agritourismo accommodation was so nice we did not want to leave.
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- Three
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ 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
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★★★★★ 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
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★★★★★ 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.
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★★★★★ 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.
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★★★★★ 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
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★★★★★ 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.
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★★★★★ 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
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Chloe
Thanks, Mychelle, for your review and for taking the time to chat with us directly. We appreciate your details about the communication, language, app, and instructions. We understand this made your first 24 hours less than ideal. We will work with the tour operator to improve the experience for future clients as well as consider how we may better prepare clients for their tour. Thanks again for your feedback, we're overjoyed to know the hotels were wonderful, the path was well-marked, and the trails were breathtaking.
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★★★★★ 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
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★★★★★ Ronb
Good value for money way to see the Baltic countries with great guide.
Baltic Capitals: Historic Cities of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn
Our guide Romas was excellent. Lots of stories about where we visited. Most hotels very good with useful location. Easy riding. Bus always available if somebody wanted to rest. Great way to see Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Riga hotel not up to the standard of the others though it had perfect location.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 27th Aug 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
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★★★★★ Ronald Rettig-Zucchi
Super tulip
Holland’s Super Tulip Tour
A bit like giligan’s island. It was staffed by excellent people but the boat was substandard. It seems the boat was rented by the outfitters on April 1 but not really checked out for fitness. They did a cruise on April 6 during which plumbing problems developed which they did not completely fix before starting pour cruise on April 15. The problem continued and we had to spend a night in a hotel. A very nice hotel provided by the outfitters. In all it was okay but still avoidable.
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 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?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
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★★★★★ 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
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★★★★★ 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
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★★★★★ 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!
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