First Timers Bike Tour Reviews (page 24)
-
★★★★★ Nonickname59 June 14, 2019Two wheeled wonder
· Rhine Bike Path: Mainz to Cologne
Best way to see the sites on the Rhine. Great accommodations along the way.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 30, 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 0
- 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?
- Germany
-
★★★★★ Jeffrey Kuhl September 12, 2022
second tour
· Rhine Bike Path: Mainz to Cologne
Day 1 - 3 were fantastic.
Day 4 was too long partly because of route, a few mistakes and a long detour to local bike repair shop. Broken seat was replaced quickly, but caused 3 or 4 stops to attempt to tighten seat with tools that didn't fix the problem. I could only ride a short distance before stopping to flatten seat. The issue was a broken ratchet that had to be replaced. Local tour company worked to find repair and notify them I would be there. I arrived right before closing.
Day 5 I just wanted it to be over.- What was the date of your tour?
- September 3
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
-
★★★★★ Peter Dworkin 8 months ago
Beautiful scenery; great bikes
· Rhine Bike Path: Mainz to Cologne
Relaxing and fun trip. Great bikes. Attractive hotels. Good itinerary. Negatives: Navigation app. Need to provide turn by turn instructions that integrate with Google maps. Would have preferred all hotels to be in cute small towns. Some were in modern less charming bigger towns.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1 other
- 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?
- Germany
-
★★★★★ Mauriciom September 21, 2017MY FIRST BIKE TOUR IN EUROPE
· Romantic Road and Bavarian Lakes
Our trip was an enjoyable one due to both fantastic scenes and excellent organization. Bike network routes in south Germany are beautiful, with all the indications and directions perfectly well posted. All hotels were rather good, ones better than others especially regarding bathrooms. Hotel service was always excellent. One thing that helped us a lot was your having emailed all the rides for the app Ride with GPS. Highly recommendable. Also all recommended restaurants we tried were very good.
Your local agent was very helpful and flexible.
On the room-to-improve side I suggest that you be more specific on the definitions of Difficulty levels of the tours. We took Level 3 with normal bikes. It was some time quite challenging to us. I am 62 and in fantastic shape. Nevertheless the road specially the 3rd and 4rd days showed quite demanding.- What was the date of your tour?
- September 10-17 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
-
★★★★★ ol_lo October 22, 2017
Romantic Road - Bavarian Loop
· Romantic Road and Bavarian Lakes
My family and I chose this trip for our annual biking trip due to its location and timing. We were able to catch Oktoberfest at the beginning of the trip prior to starting our ride. The paths, roads, and trails were great! Absolutely beautiful countryside and scenery. In previous years we chose level two trips. These were more rolling hills with lots of flats. This particular trip was noted as a level 3. We found it to be challenging on some days and a little more of a work-out then we were hoping for. But we literally pushed and pedal through the steep parts and had an overal amazing trip! We will continue to use BikeTours for our yearly European Bike trips!
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 1, 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
-
★★★★★ Annej October 7, 2019
Deep immersion in foothills of the Bavarian Alps
· Romantic Road and Bavarian Lakes
Did this tour in the fall when it was too cool to swim. Lots of beautiful scenery of Bavarian farm life. Loved the charming local inns. Needed more guidance on what to see along the routes. The Eurobike arrows made it easy to trace the route. At times the route was very rough- gravel- but bikes had front suspension which helped.
Biggest suggestion is to inform us what days local markets are scheduled and when hotel restaurants as well as those recommended, are closed. one night we had to bike 30 minutes in the dark to find food. The hotel was too isolated.
In Augsburg it was extremely inconvenient to be at a hotel so far from train station. We did appreciate having our request to meet at our hotel honored.- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 20-28
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
-
★★★★★ Robyn Larkin October 2, 2022
More challenging trip than we thought thanks to rainy, windy, cold weather
· Romantic Road and Bavarian Lakes
We knew this would be a challenging cycle, but we weren’t prepared for the terrain + lousy weather for the entire trip. The first few days were a good workout - and very pretty. Not many places to really stop, though, during the day (so plan to bring picnic lunches & snacks!). Definitely check on when places you hope to stop for a meal are open as we found many places closed on random days.
There is an app that you can download to get the route, details, and info for the trip that we didn’t know about until we met the guide on the first day. If you use this on your phone to help ensure you stay on course, be sure to bring extra battery packs for your phone!
Also, we didn’t know we needed to get tickets for the castle in advance and this were not able to visit. As this was the one thing we wanted to see, we were rather disappointed to have to miss it as all morning tours were sold out.
While we enjoyed it and came through the deluge of cold, rain & wind during our week in Bavaria with our marriage intact, you definitely need to be ready for a challenging ride. If you aren’t in excellent shape, consider getting the electric bike as some of the hills are extremely intense.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
-
★★★★★ 2pedallers July 7, 2018A windy but enjoyable ride!
· · Holland by Bike and Boat, Northern Tour
A good introduction to the history and culture and geography of Northern Holland. Good biking routes, but time constraints and weather impacted our ability to fully enjoy some of the possible outings/stops along the way.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 16-23, 2018
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat 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?
- Holland
-
★★★★★ Julie November 4, 2015Cheese, cocoa, windmills, clogs, delft, tulips...
· · Holland by Bike and Boat, Southern Tour
So many things to see that represent the Netherland: cheese, tulips, windmills, cocoa, clogs and delft pottery. It was amazing to see the bike culture there and that bikes have the right of way over everything! The network of bike paths was amazing too! It was a fun combination of boat and bike. Most of our meals were provided too, which was nice after a full day of riding and exploring!
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
-
★★★★★ Zaco June 30, 2018
Great tour.
· · Holland by Bike and Boat, Southern Tour
Excellent Setup, great way to see Holland.
Weather always a risk in Holland. It was cloudy, cold-ish, sometimes wet, and quite windy (but the following week, after our tour ended, was perfect with not a cloud in the sky.) The tour is well planned and you see different parts of Holland. We knew of course about the water ways, windmills and such, but we did not realise Holland is basically a swamp...
Bikes are very good and crew on the boat and tour guides were very friendly and helpful.
The soccer world cup was a bonus (being soccer mad), and provided excellent entertainment from our perspective. But I would suggest planning your social activities on/off the boat in advance as there is no entertainment - it's not a Caribbean cruise :) There are a few cruise legs in the evening so you can't really get off the boat.
Food is good, the bar is good - buy an open bar ticket if you like a drop, it is cheaper that way.
One surprising commission is a laundry facility on the boat, or at least dryers, and no information on an alternative off the boat. In any case, who'd want to spend 2 hours in a laundromat off the boat? They ought to have a facility because naturally you go through a lot more clothes in a week of cycling, especially if the weather is not kind to you.
Most people were "senior citizens" on our tour, myself included (but I was an outlier in my family group). So bear this in mind if you look for younger company. Choose a harder tour if you have keen athletes in your family. I was with three in their 20s, all fit and eager (I'm 60+). They formed a breakaway group a few times. I decided to stay with the peloton and give chase later. I soon discovered it does not work with a peloton of one rider.- What was the date of your tour?
- 16 June
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- 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
-
★★★★★ 2pedallers July 7, 2018
An enjoyable trip!
· · Holland by Bike and Boat, Southern Tour
A good way to see some of the sights in southern Holland. Not enough time to see everything, but enough variety in the routes to get a sense of the culture, history and geography of southern Holland.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 23 - 30, 2018
- 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
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
-
★★★★★ Terrell May 17, 2019
The Best Way I can Think Of to See Holland!
· · Holland by Bike and Boat, Southern Tour
This tour lived up to my expectations. Holland was beautiful. The boat accommodations and staff were great! The bike tour guides were knowledgeable, friendly, and very personable. The miles per day on the bike was not for the faint of heart. Do your research and get a e-bike (electric bike) for anyone who is not used to biking. If you are an American, bring your GPS.
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 27 to May 4, 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- one, including this one
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
-
★★★★★ Casual Cruisers October 27, 2016Pedaling in the Polders
· Best of Holland South: Canals, Windmills & Historic Towns
Peter of Tulip Cycling met us on the morning of our first cycling day. He was on time, the bikes were well prepared and Peter, a very personable host, was very patient and thorough in explaining everything to us.
Cycling was as described: flat, mostly trails or roads that see very little if any vehicle traffic.
Hotels were mostly fine. The Mastrichter Dom in Gouda was a disappointment: the room was clean and the attendant friendly enough but the room was small, awkward and noisy. Peter explained later that there have not been any appealing in-town hotels in Gouda but that the situation was being remedied with the opening of a new hotel presently.
The Hotel de Plataan in Delft was charmingly decorated and nicely equipped but the elevator didn’t go to the top floor (You’ve heard if such things?) and our rooms were on the top floor. Emergency egress wasn’t up to US standards but we otherwise enjoyed the stay.
The use of GPS for route tracking was nearly a winner. Peter has carefully prepared the GPS routes with many waypoints so that it’s generally very easy to know where to go. A couple practical limitations with the GPS displays caused some consternation: the displays are small and not bright enough for the brightest daylight conditions. We often had trouble discriminating between the colored line for the travelled route and those for streets in general. This necessitated frequent stops to peer at the display while shading it or stooping to get close to it.
As a route tracking strategy I think it is a great innovation (I have done half a dozen trips following the map and narrative system). With a better display this would be an obvious choice.
The cycling is not strenuous. The paths, roads and terrain were friendly. By the fourth day we had seen enough of the polders! They are charming and scenic enough but a bit repetitive after a while! The towns and cities were very interesting. We wished we had had more time to spend exploring those.
Our last day did not go according to plan as Tulip Cycling required the return of the bikes at 4:00 PM. We asked for an extension but it was not allowed. We could not complete the route in the available time so we hopped on a train for the last several miles. This was not a major disappointment for us but it certainly might be for some travelers. This detail should be clear at booking time.- What was the date of your tour?
- late Sept. 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
-
★★★★★ Megan15 July 4, 2019
Fantastic Experience
· Best of Holland South: Canals, Windmills & Historic Towns
We wanted to experience The Netherlands without the hustle and bustle of big cities, transport hassles, and finding hotels. For the four days of riding we followed our GPS map and rode through farming areas, alongside canals, and into beautiful historic towns where the courier had already delivered our bags to lovely small hotels. We did find some days a bit hard riding due to the 'Dutch headwind' and if we were to do another tour we would look for less kilometres per day to give us time to explore the towns along the way, and at the destination town and find coffee spots!. E-Bikes might have made this easier.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 17-21 July 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- None
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
-
★★★★★ Elizabeth Levine 7 months ago
Seeing the Netherlands on 2 wheels
· Best of Holland South: Canals, Windmills & Historic Towns
The Netherlands are a cyclist’s dream- bike lanes and biking infrastructure everywhere- in villages as well as cities. This was amazing to experience- and to hop on 2 wheels and join in! The bicycles provided by Tulip cycling were top notch Dutch bicycles with automatic lights that turn on while pedaling. It was great to have our luggage shuttled to each hotel every day, so our bags were waiting for us when we arrived at each hotel ready for a hot shower and a change of clothes. Most of the hotels were 4- star and all had great breakfasts and all were walkable to the historic city centers with the market square, restaurants, cafes etc.
Unfortunately the weather was poor during our cycling trip- very high winds and frequent heavy rain almost every day of our mid- September journey- this made the cycling much more difficult than we anticipated with the need to frequently stop to pull on rain gear- and the GPS device did not work well during storms so the navigation was also more difficult than expected. Several of the locals told us that frequent high winds and rain are typical in autumn and that the best months for cycling are May, June and July.
Despite the bad weather we enjoyed the countryside, the lovely hotels, the friendly locals , the delicious food and the pace of life on the bicycle tour.- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
-
★★★★★ ArmannI August 8, 2017Nice tour in beautiful country
· Wine & Bike in Hungary’s Balaton Uplands
Perfect way to experience wine tasting and beautiful country (north side of the lake Balaton )
- What was the date of your tour?
- 1/7 to 8/7
- 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?
- Hungary
-
★★★★★ 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
-
★★★★★ 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
-
★★★★★ Catherine Cram 11 months ago
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
-
★★★★★ Pedals August 8, 2017Great and not so great
· Tauern Bike Path (Krimml-Passau)
Having just come off 2 weeks biking in France we had something to compare this trip with.
The first 3 days or so were magic - lovely views, fantastic track surface and finally cool weather. The accommodation was great,especially after we were upgraded twice, and can be recommended.The bike gear was top class but my bike however was not. Euro Velo bike hires have to realise that the standard puffy commuter seat they supply are not comfortable for guys used to proper bike seats - enough said. Also on the second day when I went to use the smallest front chain ring it turned out that 2 of the mounting bolts were missing and it got wrecked so one third of my gears were gone. Managed to get this repaired after a couple of days but wasn't really satisfactory. This should not happen!
The directions and maps hardly ever match up completely on these type of trips but we were certainly not happy to discover at the end of a long hot day that the instructions for the approach to Salzberg were in fact for someone coming from completely the opposite direction - a victim of cut and past to be sure, as was the odd paragraph still in Austrian, but this should have been edited properly. A shame as the general standard of the material presentation was of a high quality.
Be aware if you want to do this trip that the last few days are along the stop bank beside the river and are boring - very little in the way of scenery and culture. Next time we will detour inland.
Sorry but overall a 3 star effort.
Warning - in case you may be considering a taxi ride from Innsbruck to Krimml to start your trip make sure that the driver is legitimate. Ours was a temporary fill in, had not driven out of town for 4 years and was a thoroughly unsafe driver. Much too fast and I suspect maybe on something. He almost ran off the road a number of times and clipped the inside kerb a couple of times . Haven't been so scared in our lives as passengers apart from jeep trips in Nepal and Pakistan. This should not happen in a first world country and if it had been practical solution we would have got out and walked!!
