First Timers Bike Tour Reviews (page 10)
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★★★★★ Wendy Geiger May 22, 2024Lovely Tour of South Holland and Bruges
· Amsterdam to Bruges: Cycling through South Holland and Zeeland
This was my first supported bike travel vacation and it was lovely. Although the GPS stopped working on day 4, we were able to use the previously downloaded Maps on Ride with GPS. Luckily I brought my phone holder so it was convenient. There were some routes that were a bit more complex than necessary with the route going off on a tangent and then coming back to the original roadway- most likely to provide more scenic byways or to add mileage. We were often able to stop along the way at a cafe to have a drink or dessert or even lunch. I recommend using the ebikes for Holland due to the wind. We had great weather in early/mid- May but missed the blooming tulips. Next time we'll go in April to see the tulips (although the weather might offer more rain). We had beautiful weather with sun and 70 degree days (one into the 80s) with only 1-1/2 days with rain. Loved that someone took our bags on to the hotels for us and the charming B&Bs were luxury. Loved, loved, loved the last B&B (De Zomere) in Bruges. It was quite unique and my sister and her hubby were jealous of the accommodations as they were placed in the non-descript Martin's hotel along with half of Bruges' tourists! I would recommend for future bike tours that you list bringing along some anti-chafing "butter" for your derriere. The upright position of the bikes is a different sensation for those of us used to Road bikes and it made for a few uncomfortable days in the saddle. Overall, a wonderful way to spend part of a vacation.
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★★★★★ Frances Clemo May 21, 2024Wonderful trip
· · Danube Delights: Biking through Four Countries
What a wonderful way to experience sites of the Danube. The staff and cruise director (Leslie) of Vivienne were great and very helpful. Our tour guide (Barbara) did a great job and took care of us so well.
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★★★★★ R.M May 20, 2024Beautiful Bike Trip Along the Danube
· Danube Bike Path 7 Nights (Classic)
Lovely landscapes, with nice smooth mostly separate pathways. Plenty of signage for guidance.
Many small bakeries to pick up snacks.
Plenty of riverside places to have lunch and a beverage.
Good hotels nearby to restaurants.
Many small ferries or dam crossings to get across the Danue.
We also used Google maps to help us navigate within the various towns.
The bikes were almost brand new, and comfortable to ride.
We added an extra day in Krems to break up the trip. The Hotel & Spa was a treat.
We had a wonderful trip!
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★★★★★ Sarah D May 19, 2024Such a gorgeous and fun trip!
· Lake Constance Bicycle Path
I just completed a bike tour around Lake Constance in May 2024. I took my mom for her 70th birthday. We rode e-bikes which made for an easy and fun trip. We lucked out with weather and we so impressed with the beauty that you ride through. The people that book this do an amazing job of setting you up for success. I will say that you need to pay attention to the signs because it can get confusing at certain locations and we once went a few miles out of the way, which fortunately was no big deal since we were on e-bikes. You cannot rely on gps, you have to read the bike signs and use the map provided and don’t be afraid to ask for directions/help. The hotels they booked were great, except one, avoid the Hotel Mozart in Rorschach if you can. Overall, I’m super happy with this trip and will likely book more trips with BikeTours.com in the future.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- 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
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★★★★★ Ian Bailie May 18, 2024
A great ride along the Danube
· Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)
The bike tour was very well organised. The bike collection was easy and the information provided was comprehensive and easily followed. The app directing us on the route made for easy riding. The upscale hotels were mostly great. It was a great experience to ride the Danube to Vienna. Thoroughly recommended.
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★★★★★ Thomas Mitchell May 18, 2024
Well planned. No problems at all.
· Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)
The e-bikes are a game changer for older people. Ours were perfectly maintained. They might have been new. The upscale hotels were excellent; a couple of them were beyond excellent. The towns we visited were charming and friendly. We would have spent an extra day in most of them if we had the trip do over. We had perfect weather but we understand that is highly unusual in early May. Our bags were moved reliably.
I recommend a phone holder if you want to use the excellent app for directions. When it's in the provided waterproof handlebar pack, glare makes it very difficult to see, and accessing it is a hassle.
The directions don't guide you all the way to your hotel. We used Google Maps for the final directions.
Overall it was a great trip for us. -
★★★★★ Kenneth Gresham May 12, 2024Great time but tulips were gone.
· Best of Holland South: Canals, Windmills & Historic Towns
Love cycling a country. It is the best were to see the countryside and interact with the locals. Holland was wonderful, but missed the peak tulips by about 2-3 weeks. Museums in Amsterdam are a must.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Marion Van Kirk May 12, 2024
Beautiful Holland
· Best of Holland South: Canals, Windmills & Historic Towns
We enjoyed the trip. The weather was perfect and the towns very nice. The hotels were good, and the people were helpful. All breakfasts were good. Our tour administrator (Pieter) was very nice and accommodating. We were self guided. The only disappointment was Keukenhof Gardens which had peaked earlier than expected due to warmer April weather. The tulips were fading and the crowds excessive. Traveling by train from Amsterdam to Utrecht and Leiden to Amsterdam was very easy.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 12
- 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?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Kathy May 10, 2024Nice trip! We had a really good time.
· · Danube Discovery: Pedaling from Germany to Austria
We've done numerous bike trips around Europe but wanted to try a bike and boat this time. It's not a deluxe trip, but exceeded our expectations. The Prinzessin Katharina is older, but very well maintained, with traditional style decor. We had stayed in Passau the night prior and the taxi ride to the harbor was quick and easy. We had an upper level cabin, which was compact but had space to move around and decent storage. I peaked into the main deck cabins as well, which were laid out a little differently but seemed about the same size, with maybe a little less closet space. Don't excpect many outlets for charging your devices, as there are only a couple in the cabin. There is also a restaurant and a lounge with a bar on the upper deck. The sun deck is spacious, with lots of loungers, tables and chairs, and some covered space for shade.
There is assigned seating in the dining room for the whole trip. Most of the passengers were German speaking, but they made a good effort to put English speaking guests at the same table. Breakfast was a pretty standard buffet, with breads, pastries, fruits and juices, as well as a few warm dishes with eggs, sausage, bacon. They also let you pack a lunch from the buffet choices. The dinner menu had 3 or 4 entree choices each night, along with a couple of starters and a couple of desserts. The food, while not gourmet, was very good. No beverages were included, so you had to pay even to have water with your dinner. There is a good selection of wine and cocktails available from the bar. Coffee and tea were provided at breakfast.
The daily meetings to provide info on the next day's route were useful, with separate meetings provided for German and English. As expected, the bike routes kept mostly to dedicated bike paths or segregated bike lanes along roads. You rarely have to deal with much traffic, and the route is generally very easy to follow. The rental bikes provided were quite good, and comfortable.
We only did one of their optional tours, going up to Schloss Greinburg in Grein. On a day when the schloss is normally closed, the tour company was able to arrange this tour, and we enjoyed it.
What really made the trip so good was the crew and all of their efforts. The dining room and bar servers, housekeeping, the front desk staff, and the deck crew responsible for loading and unloading all the bikes were all outstanding, friendly and helpful. Our cruise director Monica did a great job keeping eveything running smoothly.
We enjoyed our trip despite some unseasonably cold, rainy and windy weather part of the time. We're looking forward to planning another bike and boat trip.- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- 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?
- Austria, Germany
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★★★★★ Ian Bailie May 6, 2024
Danube biking adventure
· Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)
Riding along the Danube river through Austria to Vienna was a wonderful experience. Everything was very well organised, from bike collection, through route guidance, accommodation and support. The riding is easy, though on our ride we did encounter some strong head winds. There is spectacular scenery and interesting villages to keep interest up. We thoroughly recommend the bike tour.
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★★★★★ Max Peterson May 3, 2024
Great, Balanced Bike Trip in the Spring Season
· Danube Bike Path 7 Nights (Classic)
My wife and I had a great time on this bike trip, our first of this kind. The first 2 days took some adjusting - we ran into some unexpected detours the first day due to some unreliable info (seemed to be incorrect info from the trail authority/agency, not the tour company at fault), but it was easy enough to sort out on the fly. The 2nd day was full of rain and difficult biking conditions, but we knew the chance we were taking when we chose mid-April for our trip. Almost everything's else on our trip was great after that! The sites, towns, and views along the way were enjoyable and often beautiful. Some of our stops were suggested in our itinerary, and others we found on our own. The suggestions overall were good, but alternative options were always easy to find as well. The hotels were all nice and seemed well-placed along our route, for the most part. The Steigenberger Hotel & Spa in Krems was the one outlier for us on that front - to get there, we had to go up a road with fairly high traffic on a very steep hill that didn't have a bike lane, which we did not find mentioned in our documents. It was a small issue that probably would not matter much with an e-bike, but for an itinerary rated as 1-Easy, we feel it should have at least been noted in our documents. This hotel also seemed the least-oriented toward bicycle traffic/guests, but again these are small things we hope might help people taking this tour in the future, not major problems or complaints. All of the hotels had good bike storage, breakfasts, and friendly, helpful service. The rooms varied in size and quality of view from place to place, but all were clean, well maintained, and never lacked anything you'd expect in a hotel room. We didn't have dinner at every hotel (and not all had their own restaurant), but we did at Faustschlössl Hotel in Aschach and Hotel Rose in Maria Taferl, both of which were excellent. The bikes, bags, and other equipment all worked well, and pickup/dropoff was fairly easy at the first and last hotels. Overall, this was a great experience and everything from the tour company met our expectations. We would definitely recommend this trip to others, and look forward to doing more like it in the future!
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★★★★★ TIMOTHY BOUWKAMP April 28, 2024Awesome
· · Holland by Bike and Boat, Northern Tour
Weather was cold, rainy, and windy. Service on the boat was great.
The wifi on the boat was terrible.- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Amanda M April 24, 2024
Biking with a View!
· Lake Constance Bicycle Path
We had a range of weather--from sun to hail to rain to snow--and still every day was great on this trip! The path around the lake was well marked and easy enough to navigate. The hotels were lovely with a great breakfast spread every morning. Our luggage was always waiting for us when we arrived at the next location. Overall, we really enjoyed our little adventure!
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Darren G. March 16, 2024this is not Kansas anymore!
· Santa Monica & Venice Beach Bike Tour
This is a bicycle tour perfect for families, friends or solo travelers. The coast is stunning. The ride is pretty flat so unless you want to splurge don't get an ebike.
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★★★★★ Thomas Schulte December 14, 2023
A Family Aventure
· Lake Constance Bicycle Path
This is our 9th European Ride and was truly a pleasure. Accommodations were 1st class in great hotels. Tour operator couldn't have been nicer or hospitable
in setting us up with our bikes and getting us on our way. They were an easy walk from our first night accommodation.- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 9
- 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?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Diane Griffin November 21, 2023
Disappointing - don't go during shoulder season
· Danube Bike Path 7 Nights (Classic)
I've done four self-guided trips and this trip was my least favorite. The marketing material pitches "storybook villages" but most days are spent riding through corn fields. The hotels were outside of towns and hard to walk to restaurants. Because it was shoulder season, there were very few restaurants open.
First day's hotel was outside of town and front desk advised that we go to the mall for lunch. Fortunately we found a fun restuarant down on the river. The initial meeting with the bike company was disorganized and very brief. He barely talked about the tour, he didn't have tools to swap out pedals, there were too many of us attending the meeting and he said he didn't have time to answer questions - only 60 minutes alotted. We asked for spare tubes for the two road bikes but never got them. Skinny tires get flats!!
The "castle" we stayed in one night was not nice. It was clearly getting renovated - the rooms were nice but there were only five rooms. The property was overgrown and rundown, and with only five rooms it felt very creepy and unoccupied.
Breakfast at the castle - no protein - no eggs, no yogurt. We're on a bike tour and need energy! No fruit, no granola. Breakfast was just six slices of cucumbers, 10 cherry tomatoes, hard rolls, deli meat/cheese. Bar wasn't open for post-ride beer/wine.
Donauhotel Letternof - 11k from Enns, very remote, had to walk to a campground for food. Closest restaurant is cash only, need reservations. Front desk tried to make res but couldn't get through. The ONLY local taxi was working in Linz, not available for us. It was due to rain very hard. Hotel loaned us umbrellas and we went back to the campground for dinner.Day 3 - arrived at Cafe Braun (the meeting point) at 4:30 and called for shuttle (runs 3-6pm) told to go to a camping store(?) and get the bus as they don't have anyone to pick us up. One guy in our party was willing to make the 3k very steep climb to get us a ride. This hotel was nice but since it was past high season everything in this cute village was closed. Only one restaurant was open.
Last day - Vienna - hotel was so far from center city and far from anything interesting. Very long and confusing ride through busy city. Very limited restaurants. Shortest riding day and yet our bags didn't arrive until 5pm. -
★★★★★ Robert Taylor October 20, 2023Best family trip ever
· Danube Family Tour 7 Nights
There were 13 of us in total from three generations ranging form 77 years to 6 years of age. Reception at trip start was great, accommodating swapping bike sizes for one of the children and a great send off. Some difficulty finding one of the accommodations. We were in several sub-groups and each of us got lost in Krems in our own way BUT no one was stressed because of the enjoyment we had from cycling such beautiful paths.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 203
- How many tours have you completed?
- Six
- 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
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany
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★★★★★ Marie DeBell October 16, 2023
Holland by bike was a delight!
· · Holland by Bike and Boat, Northern Tour
The perfect way to see northern Holland! The boat was small enough to socialize but big enough to have all the amenities for comfort.
Our guides were Dutch and really knowledgeable about the routes , the history and the sights. The boat staff were friendly and helpful. Solid bikes. Next time I’ll choose Anne-bike because the wind is equal to hills!- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Anita Bhinge October 16, 2023
Best Cycling paths
· Lake Constance Bicycle Path
This was our fourth cycling tour with biketours and each experience has been only better !
The cycle paths are excellent, mostly dedicated , along the lake and at places through towns with marginal traffic. The views were breathtaking. The hotels were fantastic, and were right in the main town at most places (Stein am Rheine, Lindau and Konstanz) All the hotels had good garages and charging points.
The ground handlers and the biketours company people were extremely helpful when we made a special request to them on a day that I was unwell and couldn't bike.
This time, we rented e-bikes, which made cycling a breeze . The bikes were sturdy and did not give us any problem.
The road signs were good except at a couple of places in Austria. Downloading the Bikers App should be a good idea and would ease navigation.
The stage 3 was a bit long and should be broken up into two segments. It would be a good idea to complete the 260 kms tour in 6 or 7 days instead of the 5 days as per the itinerary. That way, one would get more time to explore each place at leisure. We missed seeing the Rhine falls and some castles because we were short of time.
I would highly recommend extending your stay at Konstanz ( as we did on our return) to explore the beautiful city. We enjoyed this trip so much that we plan to repeat it again next year, with more friends joining in.- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- Four
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Cathy Patterson October 15, 2023
Danube Bike Path 8 nights (Upscale Lodging)
· Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)
We had a fantastic bike ride along the Danube in September this year, taking the upscale lodging option. Very pleased with all our accommodation. The rooms were spacious and very comfortable. As we aren't regular bike riders we chose the E-bikes and had no problems at all. The weather was perfect the whole way - average 25 degree days.
Would recommend this ride as very scenic and lots to do on the way.
Would also recommend Google maps.
