Family Friendly Bike Tour Reviews (page 3)
- Albania
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- Cambodia
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★★★★★ joe eberly July 1, 2024Nice Ride
· Lake Constance Bicycle Path
This is a very easy ride with mostly flat land around a beautiful lake. We had e-bikes which made it very easy. Hotels all very nice, but no AC for hot weather. June can be risky with the weather. We had two days of five with steady rain. This is our 3rd trip with Bikes.com and was my lest favorite. We never met our local tour operator, even when we picked up our bikes. There was substantial flooding due to heavy rains and some road construction that we didn't know about until we came to it. It was at that time we had to figure an alternate route. A little heads up would have save a lot confusion, especially during our rainy days. On previous trips, the tour operator spent time going over the route with areas we needed to pay attention to. The fact that none of us spoke German didn't help in trying to understand road signs. The route is well marked but makings change from country to country, so pay attention.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Mid-June 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- 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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★★★★★ Edward Baker August 11, 2023Could Have Been Amazing
· Royal Zealand and Copenhagen
The routes took us through some very interesting landscapes and towns. It would have been so much better if our daily information included more specifics about the areas where we traveled. Knowing more about the trails would also have been helpful. At one point, the directions were extremely confusing and led us onto an impassable trail. We understood that in some towns where we stayed the accommodations would be limited and might not have all of the amenities to which we are accustomed. With that we were fine. However, it was disappointing to see better accommodations that were available. Even worse was when the directions sent us to the better hotels only to be told that our reservation was not there and when we arrived at the hotel that was reserved, it was of a much lesser quality. This happened to us twice. At the very least, the route directions should list the correct destination hotel. We should not have to consult two different documents to find our hotel for the night. In our case, we had specifically explained that we would pay more, but wanted to have the best accommodations in each location. This did not happen, although we did pay a higher rate. Fortunately the staff at all of the hotels were exceptionally helpful, friendly, and professional. We were given very limited orientation before beginning the ride and felt that this company was unresponsive and left a lot for the rider to figure out alone. No helmets were provided which wasn't significant for us because we brought our own, but there was no communication indicating that helmets would not be provided. Having notes in the daily plan that noted restaurants along the way and at the destination each day would have been most helpful. In addition, it would have been nice to have known that in serveral locations, the only dining option would be at the hotel. We had a very enjoyable experience, but feel that it could have been far better with more information provided by the organization.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Denmark
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★★★★★ Kseed July 1, 2018Fun, but flawed
Best of Northern Zealand
We did the ‘Best of Northern Zealand’ trip. The locations were fun, and the the hotels decent enough. The bikes need to be upgraded. The most difficult part of the trip was the navigation. The GPS files don't have enough way points, so it rarely told us on what road we should be, instead pointing us across fields in a general direction. We wound up using Google Maps, which served us way better, but used a lot of battery on the phone. So make sure you have a smart phone and a good sized external battery for navigation. We did enjoy the trip quite a lot, but in general, with the exception of moving luggage around, we could have done just as well or better on our own.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 16th
- How many tours have you completed?
- Several
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Denmark
-
★★★★★ three bees July 14, 2017
great variety of scenery
Best of Northern Zealand
Lots to see whilst cycling - forests, seaside, lakes, country farmland, small towns etc. The organisation was somewhat disappointing e.g., miscommunications in regard to where our bikes should be delivered, wrong maps provided, battery charger not working (and some reluctance by the bike operator to replace it!) but overall the bikes were in good working condition, the maps were easy to follow, and accommodation was great.
As for the scenery - once you got out of Copenhagen, it was brilliant.- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- Four
- 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?
- Denmark
-
BikeTours.com staff reply from Jim Johnson July 15, 2017
Thank you so much for your feedback. We're very concerned with your comments about the local tour operator's disappointing organization, and we are pursuing those issues with them. We have a very low threshold for poor service, and we want to make sure this doesn't happen to future clients.
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★★★★★ Joseph Tevaarwerk May 13, 2024Nice trip, but some issues.
· Prague to Dresden Along the Vltava & Elbe Rivers
The trip overall was good. The hotels were from very nice to adequate, and the weather was good for biking. Luggage handling was perfect.
The issue we had was with the bikes. In our case the bikes we rented were delivered to our hotel. I had emailed specific instructions about my wife's bike set-up regarding saddle height and handle bar height. When the bikes arrived we noticed that the saddle could not be adjusted low enough for her comfort. We had to call the AVE rep and he had to bring a different saddle stem to fix that problem.
Another problem was with my bike. The frame size was too small for me, and the handle bars were too low for comfort. Since we had already lost time to get my wife's bike corrected, I decided that I could manage with the bike that was delivered. That was my mistake!
Half way into the trip the front telescopic forks collapsed and I had to ride nose down, which was very uncomfortable and outright dangerous. We managed to get it pumped up at a bike shop, but they lost pressure again while biking.Last year we had none of these problems. The big difference was that last year we had to collect our bikes at the rental shop the day before. This gave us the opportunity to have both bikes adjusted to the right settings, and to make sure that they were of the correct frame size.
I don't need to stress how important a reliable and well fitting bike is for these bike tours. I suggest that you make it essential that the bikes are collected at the rental site the day before the trips start. This will give the participants the opportunity to make essential corrections.
Myself, for our next trip I will insist that we will collect the bikes at the rental shop the day before the trip starts, and that they are reliable and well fitted bikes.
I think it is wise if you make this part of your overall policy as well.Joseph.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2024
- 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?
- Czech Republic, Germany
-
★★★★★ Janna R Poll August 21, 2022
Needs a bit more sophistication
· Prague to Dresden Along the Vltava & Elbe Rivers
1. There was no GPS. They insisted it was easy and we had maps, but they were in Czech and hard to read and the street were rarely marked.
2. I had two flats within the first mile ( two more to come). They need to put liners in their tires. Our pump was also so bad that after a lot of work it was still too low to ride. Usually other riders would stop and let us borrow their more superior pumps.
They delivered a new bike in Prague because my brakes were also broken. To get to their delivery car I had to go down a wet slope and across a divided highway. I fell on a wet grid and hurt my knee bad and ripped the entire butt out of my only pair of bike shorts for the whole trip ( remember the missing luggage). This. Detour meant we couldn’t ever seem to find the bike bath again and since we had a late start of 3:30, we rode hard for six straight hours. It was extremely dangerous after dark and we had no food out in the farmland. I was using my phone to try to find the towns with path.
I complained about the promise of a GPS and not having one. So they forwarded maps to use on a a special app on my phone, but that took a day to understand where we were on the map. I got a GPS the third day, but it didn’t have a charge and the charging unit didn’t go with the unit I had.
4. Not only did we have flats, but my kickstand didn’t work and more importantly, the fender supports in the front was missing some rubber tips. That meant when I put down my foot when stopping and the wheel was turned at all, the snipped off metal of the support would slash my inside knees badly. This happened a lot and was very painful and bloody.
5. Several of the hotels had some real problems with super warm rooms, (no A/C anywhere over there), loud streets, and no ice. Two at least had fans. the nice hotel in Bad Shandeau put us alone up on the 4th floor and said we were to leave the windows closed because of smoke from the fires, which was blowing the opposite direction. Our attic room was well over 90F w no ventilation. We opened the narrow attic windows anyhow
The best hotel was a little pensioner on the first night. That frog even gave us ice for our water bottles. It was a very hot week.6. The path ran right by a forest fire before Bad Schandau. Breathing was bad and stinky.
They guys were generally responsive, though the main guy was on vacation. We are fairly unde manding most of time, changed our own FOUR flat tires, tried to find our way, dealt w the bike faults, but feel they were tired of us the first day. In fact he said if we were ‘one of their clienta it would be different. If they took the money from you, we WERE their client!
Overall, it was a bit disappointing on the bike side, though the river is lovely and biking is still the best way to see a country! SHOW MORE
Janna Poll Olender
Pic of what the fender was doing. The bruise was from trying to get to their van w new bike in Prague.
SHOW LESS- What was the date of your tour?
- July2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- Five
- 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?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Czech Republic, Germany
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★★★★★ David Turner 10 months agoBeautiful 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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★★★★★ Skipper August 6, 2019Nice 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
-
BikeTours.com staff reply from Chloe August 7, 2019
We appreciate you letting us know that this wasn't your ideal trip. Based on other reviews and more tour details the last two days are overall more countryside riding when compared with the first few. We understand how this could seem less exciting. Thanks again for submitting a review; we hope we can book something better suited to your tastes next time!
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★★★★★ Raff September 29, 2017Wonderful 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
-
★★★★★ US cyclist July 31, 2019
Difficult to navigate
· Bolzano – Verona – Venice
I chose this tour because I was finishing up a week of hiking in the Dolomites in Balzano, and though that riding a bike back to Venice to catch my plane would be more interesting than taking the train. I saw that there were several reviewers who noted that they had difficulty navigating but thought, "I can just check Google Maps if I have a problem. How bad could it be?"
Well, it was bad. I found the step by step directions to be indecipherable. The maps made it look easy, but there was not enough detail to actually use them to follow the route. Google maps did not pick up the bike paths, so could not provide a cycling route. I spent a significant part of each day lost and frustrated, in addition to inadvertently ending up on roads with heavy traffic and adding extra miles to the trip. Towards the end of the week I discovered that there were several people from Belgium who were riding the same route I was, but had booked directly with the tour company rather than going through a third party. They were emailed the routes in digital format, and were able to download them to their Garmin. This was not offered to me.
The area is beautiful, bike paths nice, and local folks very friendly and helpful.- What was the date of your tour?
- Ended July 28, 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 20+
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Ellen Brown September 29, 2023Poor 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
-
★★★★★ Osmo S May 10, 2023
Beautiful Garda landscapes, but some discomforts
· Lake Garda (based in one hotel)
Having had many tours with daily changing hotels, I liked this time this one based on one hotel. The daily tours were mostly beautiful landscapes, and also some very attractive human creations, especially Verona. Some problems still: the quality of bike lanes varied from very well made and clearly marked to muddy dirt roads and at some places within hard traffic. On the first day there was a mess on returning from Riva del Garda, most of the group missing the boat because of problems with bike transportation.
The EuroBike app was really good and showed clearly the way and its quick turns.- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ John Mitchell 10 months ago
Good trip - great experience
· Emerald Tour of Slovenia’s Gems
Overall a wonderful trip through gorgeous scenery. The routing was excellent, giving us pretty rural scenery and avoiding car traffic. Hotels were generally excellent and continental breakfast buffets were a highlight of our day! We had a fabulous time and this trip has opened up the world of bike touring to us. And made us want to return to Slovenia to explore further.
The route did bring us to a couple of small towns with very little going on, and we would have enjoyed going a little bit further on some days. Maybe it could be better to tweak the route by lengthening a couple of days and building in an extra night and side-trip from Postojna, Muggia or Piran.
The hotels in Muggia and Piran were superb. The hotel in Vrhinka was not great (rooms were noisy from road traffic and bar immediately below; breakfast choice and quality was lowest of the trip).
Our touring bikes were basic, old and in average repair. Tires were under-inflated on receipt, mudguards rattled. All mechanicals worked just fine though. We saw some other Helia bikes on our travels which looked newer and lighter.
Navigation - the Guibo app was OK. The interface is definitely NOT Google Maps. We found it slow and clumsy but it did the job. The arrows on signposts were great in some areas, not in others. The printed material was useful to read to prepare for the day ahead, but the printed map details were too small to be of use.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- 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?
- Slovenia
-
★★★★★ Retired Teacher September 28, 2016Great Scenery, but... poor bikes
· Bicycle Paths of the Dolomites (based in one hotel)
The rental bikes were NOT up to standards. One bike had defective derailluer and and to be substituted. Pedals and seats were hard to replace with ours, mechanic had to return next day with WD430 and oversized wrenches to get pedals off.
The hotel was very cute and nice, but across plaza from 2 churches that ran LOUD bells. Hotel room had no AC and no screens on windows and we spend time killing flies! The breakfast was good, dinner was good except for one night...do not get venison (2 of 4 of us could not cut with serrated knife!) There was an alternate choice most nights had we know that is better choice.
This is NOT traditional Italian food. Villabassa and Toblach are in the German speaking section of Sud Tyrol. It is an interesting combination of Austrian and Italian 'fusion' food. White table cloths and waiters. Lots of local wines to choose from.
The bike routes were VERY Scenic and for the most part enjoyable. We got lucky and only had rain at night, but bring your rain gear just in case! There is some
gravel surface that gave some of the group tour we bumped into a little trouble, but we had no problems. Most of the rides do not take most of the day, so stop and take all the photos you want. The weather in Dolomites is about 10-15 degrees cooler than Lake Garda because it is about 4000 feet. We started with layers and soon got down to short sleeves on most days in late September.- What was the date of your tour?
- Mid-Late September
- How many tours have you completed?
- Lots
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Joseph Lutkenhaus 11 months ago
Lovely Slovenia
· Emerald Tour of Slovenia’s Gems
This was a great bike trip and a great way to see Slovenia (the part between Ljubiana and Piran). The ride is mostly (>90%) on roads with only the last part into Piran on a bike path. The first day was flat, the second day was hilly and partly on a gravel road) and the other days were hilly. The roads were generally not too busy but occasionally some of the roads were busy. We bike often at home but would have died if we did not have e-bikes because everyday after the first was hilly. The hotels were great and made charging the bikes easy. The breakfasts were amazing. The stay in the rural area with the wine tasting was great, although a bit expensive. We generally do bike trips in September but had to go in August this year. A dip in the Adriatic in Piran was fantastic.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Slovenia
-
★★★★★ Slick October 9, 2017
Wonderful scenery
· Bicycle Paths of the Dolomites (based in one hotel)
Some directions going through the towns were difficult to follow. Also some of the starting points of the bike route were difficult to find and our driver was vague.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 22 to Sept 29
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Wes Kenney 3 days ago
Beautiful week in Slovenia
· Emerald Tour of Slovenia’s Gems
We had a great time on the Emerald Tour. None of us had been to Slovenia before and were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the country and friendliness of the Slovenian people. We spent some extra time in Ljubljana and Lake Bled in advance of the tour. Definitely a must. Would highly recommend this trip to those who had not been to Slovenia and those who have and want a different perspective.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2025
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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?
- Slovenia
-
★★★★★ Catherine Cram June 11, 2023
Convenient Way to Explore!
· Bicycle Paths of the Dolomites (based in one hotel)
We enjoyed our self-guided bike trip in the Dolomites, with great support from BikeTours.com. We appreciated the detailed route information and app support. My only complaint is that I would liked to have had a better bike to ride instead of the heavy, upright positioned bike provided. The bike didn't make the hills easy and it would have been more enjoyable to be on a lighter, more responsive bike.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 31st-June 6th, 2023.
- How many tours have you completed?
- One
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ JDMM August 18, 2017· Dolomites to Lake Garda: Picturesque Cities and Stunning Scenery
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 20
- 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?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ AMY COOK May 3, 2024
A lovely tour
· Emerald Tour of Slovenia’s Gems
This tour was lovely, so much beautiful countryside and fascinating historical sites.
It was quite a bit more mountainous than the promotion description lead me to believe and on of the hotels was considerably less nice than the rest. But overall it was a great trip.- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Slovenia
