First-Timers Bike Tour Reviews (page 34)
- Albania
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★★★★★ Nancy Nestler 1 month agoBeautiful Scenery and Quaint Marina Towns
· Lake Constance Bicycle Path
We loved the scenery and riding by so many little marina towns. I wanted to have coffee in all of them!!
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2025
- 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?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ gerald murphy June 23, 2023Tauren bike path
· Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
The ride through this part of Austria was great - the snow capped mountains, green countryside and friendly people made for a great cycling adventure - the only disappointing aspect was the poor detailing in the maps that were provided.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ DORIT AVIELI July 7, 2023
Beautiful area
· Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
We disappointed from the bikes, very heavy, not comfortable not properly handling .
Hotel das berau was a shame to your company!
All other details were taken care of perfectly- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ DORIT AVIELI July 7, 2023
Beautiful area
· Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
We disappointed from the bikes, very heavy, not comfortable not properly handling .
Hotel das berau was a shame to your company!
All other details were taken care of perfectly- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Stacey Davey September 30, 2023
Beautiful 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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★★★★★ Stew August 29, 2017Perfect way to see Holland
· · Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Fluvius (and reverse)
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★★★★★ Kokapelli May 12, 2019
Great bycycling trip by boat
· · Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Fluvius (and reverse)
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★★★★★ Tom Hawkins September 19, 2023
Trip postponed
· · Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Fluvius (and reverse)
We were unable to do this fantastic trip due to an injury. We are how every very excited about doing it next year. It sounds like a fantastic experience!
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★★★★★ J Matthew Schley October 13, 2024
Beautiful fun
· · Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Fluvius (and reverse)
Really good deal ship was very nice ,great group of people. Saw many beautiful sites. Some tough weather in October.
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★★★★★ John chesarek 6 months ago
One day of rain. Great food . Very friendly guides.
· · Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Fluvius (and reverse)
What better way to travel! Unpack once, great food and guides that really know the area.
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★★★★★ Jeffrey 2 months ago
Boat bike 3
· · Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Fluvius (and reverse)
Enjoyed city walking tours and biking during the day. Boat was comfortable and food was good. Staying on the boat is much easier than packing each morning and finding the hotel for the next night. Local beer selection was nice. I was unaware of cash only policy on board. This caused concern, but final bill was manageable with the cash I had.
I have met with friends to tell them how good a boat and bike tour is to travel. They are planning for next year. -
★★★★★ Bob Civiak 2 months ago
Wonderful
· · Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Fluvius (and reverse)
I love the bike/boat mode of travel. The biking and the App were great. The food was excellant. My one complaint was that it was billed as an English language tour, but more than half the group was German speaking. There was a head guide and an assistant and the head was much better, but spent the majority of his time with the German speakers.
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★★★★★ Wignh September 15, 2018Met my expectations
· · Provence by Bike and Boat
Excellent barge, with welcoming A/C in southern France in mid-summer. Dinners were varied and tasty - but desserts were magnifique! Make-your-own lunch to go on the bike - which is standard bike/barge arrangement - becomes boring after a few days. But what I will remember is this once-in-a-lifetime highlight: watching France win World Cup at a jammed packed outside bar in a small town!
- What was the date of your tour?
- mid-july
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Alanran July 29, 2019
Beautiful Provence by Bike and Barge
· · Provence by Bike and Boat
The boat was really nice and the crew was great -- from captain to chef to on-board host. They did an exceptional job making our time on the boat pleasant.
The biking was also nice in spite of the 98 degree temperatures, full on sun and mistral winds in our face -- even had to peddle going down hill sometimes. That said, we saw beautiful villages, olive orchards, vineyards, sun flower fields and lavender fields -- beautiful terrain -- even some of the areas covered in the Tour de France -- Pont du Gard. The visit to Le Beaux de Provence was special going into the cave with Van Gogh paintings put to motion and sound.
All in all it was a fun tour with a great group of riders.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 13-20
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- 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?
- France
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★★★★★ Charlotte Dewar October 11, 2022
A beautiful journey
· · Provence by Bike and Boat
We loved this trip. It was wonderful you hired a professional guide in Arles to spend 1.5 hours with us talking about the history, the Roman architecture and Van Gough. Provence is so beautiful and we are very blessed with the good weather and a wonderful group of travelers who cared for each other and enjoyed the company of each other on this trip.
As a professional travel planner for 30 years, I wish to share my honest feedback so you may improve your tours for future clients.
1. The chef Irene made the most delicious dinners for us every evening. We were always looking forward to her food at the end of long and exciting journey.
2. Our Captain was excellent and so was the assistant Phillipo. 3 crew members worked together beautifully and treated us like royalty.
3. Our guide Hens is not as professional. He never counted the number of guests. We had people falling off the bike everyday, no major injuries. Hens was out at the front riding quite fast. He rarely looked back and kept an eye on the group. Every time we had an accident, we had to send someone from behind to catch up with him and asked him to stop and wait for the folks falling behind.
4. The internet on the boat is very choppy. I had important business to communicate with my travelers going to Asia. Most of the time I couldn't receive or send emails. My PayPal app, my airb&b app and my VRBO app all stopped working. I had free roaming data on my phone and that had issue working on your boat either. it's very important you have a functional internet on the boat so people like myself could still carry on business while we are on your trip.We love the concept of bike and boat! We will come back for more of your tours. I am considering introducing your product to my high-end Chinese clients.
I am raving about this trip to all my friends in California. Thank you for putting together a fantastic journey for us.
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Brian Deutscher September 26, 2024
South of France Tour
· · Provence by Bike and Boat
A great way to review, cities and the countryside in the south of France. Our group of six enjoyed each day. E bikes allowed as to cover significant distance and enjoy the sites without having to exhaust our selves. Winds were particularly high the first couple of days.
Unless your a person who regularly bikes 50 kms, I would recommend the ebikes.- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Ginny50 June 8, 2016
A Challenging and Rainy Ride
· Lake Constance Bicycle Path
This was a good tour and we enjoyed the adventure, but I can honestly say I would not recommend it to a beginner. Many of the reviews said this was a good ride for beginners. My husband and I started riding 2 years ago so we are slow but steady riders. We rode the Danube path (Passau to Vienna) last year with no problems so this one sounded like a good tour for us.
We booked this ride based on the level 2 status and the few reviews we saw. In my opinion it is more of a level 3-4. The gently rolling hills were very steep on the first 2 days. It would have been easier with an e-bike but for beginners it was almost impossible with a regular bike. Most of the time the paths were paved but several sections were packed “gravel.” These paths were well maintained and easy, but often a bumpy ride. The biggest problem was these paths were not much more than 2 feet wide so if you are a slow rider you tend to collect 30 faster bikers behind you with no way to pass.
The Lake Constance cycle route is one of the most popular bicycle routes in Europe.
This just about sums it up - the most popular path in Europe. It was over-crowed almost to the point of being dangerous in many sections. We wondered about the high level of bike traffic during the month of May, until we were enlightened that we were enjoying “Pentecost Holidays” with the throngs of locals.
The bikes provided by the company were wonderful. I highly recommend this tour company/bike shop and crew. My husband was not happy with his first bike and they quickly swapped it out with no question.
When we received our tour documents we noticed one day stated that the ride was 35miles/55km. Most of those miles were on a shared road with cars - Not a dedicated bike path. Cars whizzing past you on a busy road is not fun for us. That day our bikes took a train ride! FYI - When I asked one of the tour guides if many people ditched this ride mid-way he did say that quite a few riders just gave up. I can see why!
Each hotel was fabulous. The rooms were lovely and the food excellent.
We really did enjoy this trip and we pushed ourselves more than we ever thought we could. We had 2 good days of seeing the lake and views, but missed seeing the beautiful scenery because of the incessant rain and many detours. Better rain gear will be on our wish list before we ride again. It was a challenge that we were proud to complete.- What was the date of your tour?
- May, 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Horned Frog June 4, 2019
Fun time... but
· Lake Constance Bicycle Path
I enjoyed the tour a great deal, but the route instructions were sketchy at best, and the bike weighed only slightly less than a Sherman tank.... which would not have been much of a problem except that the route had more hills than expected. The hotels selected were all very nice.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 21 May
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- 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?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ joe eberly July 1, 2024
Nice 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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★★★★★ Bean October 14, 2019
Beautiful Area - Terrible Bikes
· · Provence by Bike and Boat
Great way to see Provence, but the bikes were really really heavy and the guide was not very good.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 28-Oct 5
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10+
- 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?
- France