Family Friendly Bike Tour Reviews (page 13)
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★★★★★ Steve and Marty October 6, 2023Salzburg Lakes Tour
· Salzburg Lakes Tour: Around the Lakes within the Foothills of the Alps
This was probably the most scenic tour we've taken. Lake Constance a close second. Hotels, E-bikes, orientation, the navigation app were all as advertised --- 5 star!! Of course we did have perfect weather for the entire trip except for our planned rest day in Bad Goisern. Hallstatt has become a tourist hotspot and I would suggest spending your time at the Dachstein Ice Caves instead of too much time in Hallstatt. The last day riding back into Salzburg was the best with lots of climbing but worth the effort for scenery and the downhill switchbacks. Ebikes are definitely recommended even if you are an avid and fit biker.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- 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?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Caroline Dewar October 5, 2023A perfect way to see and experience Germany and Austria.
· Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)
We loved our cycling trip along the Danube; it was a memorable experience in so many ways. The bike paths were well marked and made the ride so enjoyable. The scenery was beautiful, and we loved each day and the cities and towns we had a chance to visit. The accommodation was fabulous - each hotel/inn was beautiful and unique and we were welcomed with incredible European hospitality. Our luggage transfer was seamless, without a glitch the entire trip and made the arrival (and departure) so easy for us on both ends. I would highly recommend this tour and the company itself - we hope to plan another trip in the future. Thank you Bike Tours.com - it was a trip that we will never forget.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September/October 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was our second self-guided bike tour
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany
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★★★★★ MENGCHEN LEE October 5, 2023
Stunning Lake views & great cycling path!
· Lake Constance Bicycle Path
The perfect way to explore the beauty of Boydensee! Easy bike rides and lots of fun along the lake, we enjoyed this bike tour so much. One must do and excellent experiences^^
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens, Families with young kids
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Donna Parr October 4, 2023Fun way to see a beautiful area
· Prague to Dresden Along the Vltava & Elbe Rivers
Really enjoyed the trip. Beautiful route getting into rolling hills although not difficult to bike with great off-road bike paths almost the whole way. Hotels were great with plentiful breakfasts.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1st
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Countries included in this tour?
- Czech Republic, Germany
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★★★★★ Jane Fletcher October 4, 2023Great to have one hotel as a home base
· Lake Garda (based in one hotel)
Lake Garda was beautiful and we enjoyed staying in Desenzano. Our hotel in Desenzano was in the perfect location, right on the water and close enough to the old town to walk to dinner.
The day trips for biking out of Desenzano were variable in terms of how much we enjoyed them. We really liked Verona but the biking back from Verona was not very enjoyable because of the traffic and a lot of not very scenic areas. However, the day we rode to Brescia, another city, was a good biking day as the route we were on had pretty good cycling infrastructure that kept us separated from cars even though we were entering the city. There was, however, on that day a closed road that we had to navigate around. Luckily with both google maps and ride with gps we were able to find a good alternate route to get around the closure. We used rides with gps to navigate the routes provided by the tour company rather than their app as rides with gps allowed us to enter our individual hotel and ride directly there. It was also better with turn by turn directions. The tour literature said that their app would work on airplane mode if you downloaded the maps ahead of time, we didn’t find that to be the case. Also, their app tended to lose where we were while rides with gps did not lose us.
Our favorite riding day was the day we rode a loop route in the countryside without a city destination. Lots of nice scenic views without having to negotiate city traffic.
One day I had a problem with my e-bike, it wouldn’t change power levels, so I called the emergency number and they wanted me to call the guy who manages the bikes but since we were out on the tour I asked if she could call him for me. She said she would and that he would call me back. He never called back. The next day one of our group decided not to ride so I used her bike. However, there were several other bikes that had been delivered. I called the emergency number again later that day to say that I had not gotten a call back but that several bikes had been delivered and was one of them for me. She didn’t know but again told me to call the guy who manages the bikes. This time I did call him and he seemed to imply that the bike that said reserved was for me. We had a little bit of a language barrier. So, the next day I rode the reserved bike and all was good. All of that to say it would be great if the tour company could work on their communication with customers. The replacement bike for me was apparently there the morning after I called but I didn’t know that.
All in all it was a good trip and we saw some wonderful sites from Lake Garda to Verona to Brescia and in the countryside.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 20+
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Glen Kropp October 3, 2023
Amazing bike tour
· Salzburg Lakes Tour: Around the Lakes within the Foothills of the Alps
The trip was amazing, like riding in a postcard the whole time. Bike touring was the perfect way to experience Austria. Saw so many wonderful places, stayed in different hotels each night and got to experience all the different little towns. We had great fall weather for our trip and made for a perfect time!
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Janet Bychek October 3, 2023Wonderful well organized trip
· Bolzano to Verona: Orchards, Mountains & Timeless Culture
Stefano, our organizer was so helpful. When I forgot something he saved the day.. The routes were stunning. The bikes worked well. The hotels were really nice with great breakfasts
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 16 2023
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Robert and Kathy England October 1, 2023
Great trip for a group of five people with mixed biking abilities
· Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)
The sights on this trip were perfect and so enjoyable. Everyone felt that generally speaking the cycling was the right level and the scenery was everything we hoped for. There was a section of the bike path going into Linz that was on a narrow sidewalk next to a busy road that was not suitable for the less experienced members of our group. Also generally speaking our daily mileages as recorded by our GPS watches were several miles longer than the distances noted in the tour description on the website. On the whole, the hotels were charming and the service to move luggage was very effective. Luggage was often early and never past the promised time of 6 PM, although the last day cut it close! Trail directions were excellent, among the best we've had on several bike tours we have taken. Directions to specific hotels were mostly good, except for the directions to Landgasthof Winter in Ardagger Stift. Those directions were really terrible and caused us to get seriously lost. In addition, that hotel was very very charming, but not in a great location as it was a ways off the trail and up a steep hill. In the time before the trip BikeTours.com was slow in responding to questions and requests. Regardless of some of these points, on the whole we all absolutely loved this trip, would recommend it to others, and would look for one like it to do again.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 8, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7+ like this, 10+ do our own route, carry our own luggage in panniers
- 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?
- Austria, Germany
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BikeTours.com staff reply from jan October 2, 2023
Thanks for your business, the wonderful review, and updates to this tour! Also, apologies for the tardy reply pre-trip. September is by far the busiest month for everyone in our business so the entire team was buried with requests. Hope to see you again.
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★★★★★ Stacey Davey September 30, 2023Beautiful countryside and charming hotels
· Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
I thoroughly enjoyed the villages and sights along our six day Tauren/Salzburg self-guided trip. The countryside was breathtaking, our hotels were charming and our hotel bookings and luggage transfers were seamless. The route also took great advantage of the amazing bike routes and on our 300 kM journey, I think only 10 or 15 kM was on a major highway. The trip was considered “moderate” and involved some climbs on the first few days of our trip—particularly if you wanted to visit some of the suggested sights along the way. The one detracting factor to our experience was the quality of the bikes. They were extremely heavy and cumbersome and did not help with navigating some of the hillier terrain. The bells and the odometers (essential for way finding) did not work properly on the two women’s bikes. The vast majority of the people we came across were on e-bikes and while the route was doable on what I would consider steel townies, it limited some of the sights we visited as after we climbed the almost 4 kM hill to visit the salt mine, we started considering elevation gains before deciding which sights to take in. However, I will say that the seats were comfortable! All in all, I enjoyed the trip and would definitely recommend it to others.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Julane Anderson September 29, 2023
One of our favorite bike tours!
· Lake Constance Classic (11-nights)
We've been on many bike tours in Europe and this tour has it all: excellent, centrally located hotels; beautiful scenic routes; variety of activities and experiences included in the price (gondola cable car ride, three museums, cog railway trip, boat trip, bus tickets provided by the hotels); and reliable bikes--we used "acoustic" rather than electric bikes and only had to walk two short hills. The tour company has gone above and beyond to make this tour a memorable and interesting one.
A cyclist doing a self guided tour for the first time should be confident about riding with (rare) city traffic and navigation; we were glad that we had downloaded the GPX tracks before we left the States.- What was the date of your tour?
- mid-September, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 12+
- 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?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
-
★★★★★ Ellen Brown September 29, 2023
Poor route info
· Lake Garda (based in one hotel)
While the company rep was great, the app and route map only worked the middle 3 days. First day we had a transfer to Trento, a rather rushed fitting of bikes, then told to just follow the bike path to Riva de Garda, “ it’s easy, you won’t get lost”. Well, we were lost, and we experienced with self guided bike tours. There was no meeting to discuss the use of the app before we took off riding, but then there was no GPS either. Lucky we paid for an international phone plan, I used it to get us to the town. Others on this same tour ended up MILES away from where they should have been.
They gave us a booklet with written directions that were totally useless as there was no starting point. One direction said start over the bridge, there was no bridge anywhere near our hotel.
The riding was basically on bike path, so very easy. Lots of dirt and rocks and stones as well.
The bikes were “ok” but seemed older. I had to switch out my e-bike as the battery wouldn’t detach. The replacement bike I was given had a slow leak in the back tire, so we had to pump it up during the ride.
While the scenery is beautiful, and the riding enjoyable, I don’t recommend the tour company used in Italy- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Lisa Price September 28, 2023
Gorgeous vistas!
· Cycling Spain's Ebro River
I've been on several bike tours; this was by far my favorite. The routes were well-planned with views that took you from the origin of the Ebro through the mountains through gorges, along rich valleys & fields, ending in the celebrated Rioja Valley- with charming historical towns all along the way. Detailed GPS instructions made the routes easy to follow, allowing you to go at your own pace and stop to take advantage of the many interesting sights. My first time on an e-road bike and I'm a convert- the equipment was excellent. The local team was very helpful and supportive, making sure everything ran smoothly. I hope to do this tour again!
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- 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?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Debra Miller September 27, 2023A 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.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany
-
★★★★★ Lisa Schmitz September 27, 2023
Wonderful trip!
· Lake Constance Bicycle Path
This is not a terribly challenging ride, especially on e-bikes. The scenery is beautiful and all of the hotels were great. The breakfasts were enormous and plentiful, and luggage transfer was seamless. We did request to stay in Stein am Rhein instead of Gailingen, and we’re glad we did. The hotel in Arbon (Hotel Römerhof) was very nice, but if it’s possible to stay closer to the water, I’d recommend that. The e-bikes were excellent. One important note: bike pick up is open until 7pm, even though the shop is listed as closed after 5:00. They don’t answer the phone or return a message, but you can expect them to be ready for you up until 7pm. Enjoy his ride!
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
-
★★★★★ Meg Bates September 27, 2023
Riding Lake Garda
· Lake Garda (based in one hotel)
It was a great trip and the hotel and local setting were wonderful.
Our experience in getting assistance from the local partner, however, was not satisfactory. We had to contact them a couple times about bike needs and malfunctions. The "hotline" is merely place that tell you who else to call. Their communication to resolve issues was horrible.There should be more detail about some aspects for the ride. One thing is the availability of public toilet facilities. On at least one ride, there were none.
Also, the route info was often a problem. It was at time not accurate. You should sonderusing using Rides with GPS, which was a better option.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Thomas Bailey September 26, 2023Good trip
· Mosel Bike Path: Dreamy Mosel Valley from Trier to Koblenz
I will give you the positives and then areas I think you could improve upon. 1. The route along the Mosel is absolutely fantastic. And the boat ride down the Rhine was a very pleasant surprise. 2. We stayed in the upscaled lodging, and they were all very, very good. 3. The bikes were some of the best we have rented in Europe. They were very clean and I think almost new. Areas for improvement, 1. Your representative in Germany is, at best, average. Almost no discussion about the route or functionality of the bikes. He was very anxious to get the bikes in our hands...and leave. He also stated the route is so straightforward I did not need gps, and recommended I leave it a home. That might be true if I lived there and spoke the language. Regardless, I took my garmin and was very happy I did. The written directions were extremely imprecise - and since we had upgraded our lodging, our hotels had very bad directions to get to them. I even asked about this before we left and there was little effort to make them more clear. Not sure what your quality control is for your representatives, but we have been on several biketours.com and the quality of service when you get there is very, very inconsistent. Belgium was good, France not so much. 2. I would build in more time to see some of the beautiful small towns we visited along the way - at least give that as an option for people looking for a more relaxed schedule.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
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★★★★★ Ingrid September 26, 2023Competence paired with joy
· Bilbao Central E-Bike Tour
The bike tour was sensationally put together, no sightseeing of the usual tourist points, but insider information. Our local guide was not only funny and competent, but also imparted his knowledge with acting talent. Wonderful. Thank you very much for three great hours.
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★★★★★ Janice Render September 26, 2023
Mosel bike Path
· Mosel Bike Path: Dreamy Mosel Valley from Trier to Koblenz
We had no guide but 4 of us, we enjoyed doing it on our own with all hotel booked and ready for cyclists. The maps and instructions are a good idea but need to be updated we got lost and spent a lot of time trying to figure out where we were and how to stay off roads to get there. Hill in Cochem to hotel was not pleasant. Needed better instruction on getting there and to garage
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 11,2023
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
-
★★★★★ Christine Wilson September 25, 2023Stunning self guided trip through Connemara
· Connemara Lazy Days Cycling
Cycling was the perfect way to see Ireland. We loved everything about it..our accomodations, the locations, landscapes and the food! The first day was the most challenging of the cycling days with the hills & terrain. My only suggestion is to confirm your bike size is correct. Mine was a medium upgraded hybrid bike which should have been a small. The bike was to big & heavy making the first day's ride more challenging for me, but I wouldn't have traded my experience of riding that day for anything! I did receive the correct size bike for the remainder of the trip. We had three exceptionally beautiful clear days and two very rainy days, which we were prepared for since we brought rain gear suggested for the trip. We had a true experience of Ireland weather! I would definitely recommend this cycling trip for anyone who is looking for an amazing adventure!
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Ireland
