Hungary Bike Tour Reviews (page 10)

★★★★★ (3/5) William Edsell 10 months ago

bike tour with friends

· · Danube Discovery: Bike and Boat through Enchanting Capitals

the bike and boat tour is a good way to sample some of the countries on the Danube. Unfortunately the boat was very old and had many problems. The main issues for me were the rooms were very musty and caused problems with my sinus and no way to let fresh air into the cabin. Also there seemed to be limited or no internet on the boat and because we traveled through remote areas it was not possible to use mobile phone connection. You would think a starlink antenna would solve that problem. The staff were great, very friendly and helpful with everything. The bar had limited options. Food options were Ok but seemed inconsistent. Overall I enjoyed the experience with my friends but disappointed in the boat. On our last day the boat broke down and we have to wait several hours to get on the boat and then take a bus to Passeau to catch our train.

Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia

★★★★★ (3/5) Elizabeth Gray September 19, 2023

Beautiful trip on the Danube

· · Danube Bike and Boat: Passau-Budapest-Passau – MS SE-Manon

This scenic trip is beyond description!!! Boating on this beautiful river, in and out of small towns, bustling cities and incredible mountain and grapevine views was fabulous!
The boat was nice, clean ( very cold pool) and plenty of service, however; instructions were poor at best.
There were a couple that provided directions on the routes and many other events upon the boat, SE Mannon, however one spoke no English and the other struggled with describing in English the sometimes complicated routes. 85% of the travelers were non English speakers and were well informed by the German speaking gentleman. Many English speakers became lost in Bratislava and some in Vienna. The routes were beautiful and not too challenging to ride if you paid close attention during the briefings and asked a lot of clarifying questions. When you are t quite sure, ask again until you do. We found not understanding the German and Austrian speakers frustrated them a great deal but don’t get offended. You need the correctly translated information. As simple as “up stream or down stream” can be miscommunicated.
We had one bike that needed to be changed out, however, the people checking the bike said it was ok and we suffered 2 days with a bike that was not shifting properly. Day 3, new bike, no more problems.
Do not waste your money on ANy of the drink packages! It is only honored after 4 pm, even soda or coffee is charged outside the 4 pm- 11 pm hours. Dinner drinks are included in restaurant. Breakfast includes coffee but not soda as many drink in AM. Bring snacks back on board if you want anything to eat outside breakfast or dinner.
Now for the food: we had “guess that dish” every night Everything was covered in some kind of gravy. Pork for dinner the first 3 nights! Desserts were the most disappointing. Very bland puddings, and some had breakfast cereals mixed in. After day 2, we started eating dinner out when possible. One night we had spaghetti which wasn’t too bad however we couldn’t get any Parmesan cheese or extra bread to fill up. Breakfasts offered many options, however, the omelettes were not always cooked through. Stick with the waffles, they were good. Plenty of meats and bread to make sandwiches for your lunch ride. We generally stopped at a pub or beer garden for goulash or French fries and beer! Lots of little places to choose from although good places could be recommended in the route book! No one on board would suggest any restaurants in the towns. That was disappointing. We found a great restaurant on top of a hotel in Vienna with a fabulous view of the city and river.
In our info from Biketours. Com, we were told not to book travel from the boat before 12. The boat wanted us out of our cabins by 8:30. We waited up on top of the boat until our taxi arrived at 11:00. We were the last party to leave. None of the Americans got off the boat until 10-10:30. Lack of communication again.
It was nice unpacking only once for our bike tour, however we will probably stick with the bike/hotel version in the future! Croatia here we come in 2024!!! Still had a blast with our party of 6! Thanks Biketours! SHOW MORE

Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia

★★★★★ (3/5) Ricardo Hein November 7, 2022

Nice biking vacation

· Danube Cycle Path Passau – Budapest

The Danube is beautiful and the Austrian portion is beautiful. After Vienna it turns flat and less developed. The opportunity to share with people is limited by the places to stay, I didn't like to stay away from the towns in isolated guest houses, when guest homes were available in small towns.

What was the date of your tour?: September 2022
How many tours have you completed?: 1
Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?: Somewhat easier
Who is this tour suitable for?: First-time bike tourists
Do you recommend this tour?: No
Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia

2/5 Value
4/5 Included meals
5/5 Bikes + equipment
2/5 Hotels or boat
5/5 Scenery
4/5 Ease of navigation
5/5 Tour documents
2/5 Local tour company services

★★★★★ (3/5) Scott Jacobson 11 months ago

Swiss crown bike tour

· · Danube Experience Bike and Boat Passau-Vienna-Budapest-Belgrade-Iron Gates-Passau

Due to captain error, and running the boat onto a sandbar, we weren’t able to see the Iron Gates. Very upsetting since that was the main purpose of paying for this trip. Due to captain error, didn’t dock in Passau, long bus ride to train station. Amwater ways went to Iron Gates same day we were supposed to. Next time, I will go with that boat tour.

Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia

★★★★★ (3/5) James Hutcherson 11 months ago

Flood of decades

· · Danube Delights: Biking through Four Countries

Can’t change the weather. Boat crew and food was excellent. Everyone tried their best to make the trip as good as they could. Kudos to all involved. Bikes were excellent and well maintained.

Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia

★★★★★ (3/5) PAULINE MOENCH 11 months ago

TRIP OF DREAMS THAT FELL FAR SHORT

· · Danube Delights: Biking through Four Countries

Not much to say here since our boat never left the dock. Our host, Lesley, was a peach and completely competent. If not for him, we would have left on day two. My biggest disappointment was only having bus tours to Budapest and Bratislava. I would have appreciated a little creativity added in to take us to a couple more places. The tour people were awful with their communication, telling us for three days in a row that we might leave when we knew we were going nowhere. The crew was great, the food was not the greatest, but no complaints. I have a special diet that they were over the top accommodating of. You drastically need to improve your beverage packages—not enough provided for the $$$ we paid up front. 498 euros for the two of us when we wound up spending most of our day off the boat was out of line. If we had been cycling every day, I would not have purchased a package, considering you did not include what are everyday cocktails in the USA, like Manhattans.

For the rooms, rather than having that dopey pull-out at the end of the bed, leave that area under the bed open for luggage storage. Also, get rid of the carpet. Beds were very comfortable. We would have liked to have left our sliding door open a bit. Some kind of stop at the base so they can be open six or eight inches would have been appreciated. I’m sure the daily bike routes would have been great if we had been able to utilize them.

What was the date of your tour?: SEPT 2024
How many tours have you completed?: 0
Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?: Somewhat easier
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, Hungary, Slovakia

3/5 Value
4/5 Included meals
4/5 Bikes + equipment
5/5 Hotels or boat
1/5 Scenery
1/5 Ease of navigation
3/5 Tour documents
4/5 Local tour company services
1/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (3/5) Mary Schmidt 11 months ago

Unable to review as the Vivienne never left port in Vienna - Please contact me. I would have loved to have been able to review.

· · Danube Delights: Biking through Four Countries

Dear Team at BikeTours.com,

I hope you all are doing well. I am writing regarding my recent river cruise, Danube Delights aboard the Vivienne on September 15, which unfortunately was impacted by flooding, causing the cancellation of several key ports of call and remained docked in Vienna for 7 nights. While I understand that weather conditions are beyond anyone’s control, missing out on many destinations left me disappointed, as I had been looking forward to the full experience. My husband and I had been planning this for over a year and celebrating our 40th Wedding Anniversary.

Our cruise director did his best to keep the passengers entertained and informed but was getting very mixed messages from someone. It started the first day in Passau with the hired transportation did not have a concrete deportation location. It was 2:30pm before we were even contacted to tell us to go to the bus station and we would be transported to Vienna. After boarding the Vivienne we were told that we would be docked in Vienna for a couple of days and for those interested we could take the bus to Budapest and Bratislava on the next two days. It was a very long bus ride but a nice trip to both.

Starting on Wednesday, day 3, we were then told we MAY leave every evening, so we needed to be back on boat at 5 or maybe a different time and were not able to take any extended excursions due to the possibility of debarking. Thursday we were led to believe we may leave later in the night. Then Friday, we were instructed to be back on the boat at 11:00 am because we might leave. It was determined after we came back that we were not going to be able to leave. We would have loved to have taken the train to visit another location Wednesday - Friday. The last day, Saturday, was the worst, we had to sit on the boat because there would be announcements at 9:00 am, then stay on because we might leave at 11:00am, then wait again until after 1:00pm and then there was a decision to let us off. It was obvious the boat wasn’t going anywhere due to the 24 hours it would have taken to cruise back to Passau and there was another cruise scheduled. Also, we were extremely far back in the line of boats that would have moved before us.

Given these unforeseen circumstances, I am inquiring about a future cruise credit (FCC) toward another cruise or a refund. We were so excited to do our first River cruise as a way to travel and have the ability to bicycle and I would love the opportunity to schedule another boat/bike cruise and fully experience the journey.

I appreciate your understanding and consideration of this request, and I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Mary Schmidt

What was the date of your tour?: September 15, 2024
How many tours have you completed?: This would have been our first but can't count due to not leaving port.
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, Hungary, Slovakia

5/5 Value
4/5 Included meals
5/5 Bikes + equipment
5/5 Hotels or boat
4/5 Tour documents
5/5 Local tour company services
5/5 Route selection
5/5 Guides (if applicable)

★★★★★ (3/5) Joann Schmidt 11 months ago

Not what I was expecting

· · Danube Delights: Biking through Four Countries

Our river/bike cruise turned into a floating hotel in Vienna. Our boat never left the dock all week because of historical flooding on the Danube. The boat and cruise personnel were all fine but just wish we could of actually seen something of the countries we were hoping to see on the river. Not sure if I would ever sign up for one of these again.

What was the date of your tour?: September 2024
How many tours have you completed?: just this one
Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia

2/5 Value
4/5 Included meals
4/5 Bikes + equipment
4/5 Hotels or boat
3/5 Scenery

★★★★★ (3/5) Linda Cooper 11 months ago

Made the most of being stuck at the dock.

· · Danube Delights: Biking through Four Countries

An act of nature meant that the boat never left the dock. The company made a point to provide activities and bike routes for 7 days in Vienna. Bike Tours was non existent when it came to communicating the changing conditions before the tour started.

What was the date of your tour?: Sept. 2024
How many tours have you completed?: 1
Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?: Somewhat easier
Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia

3/5 Value
2/5 Included meals
3/5 Bikes + equipment
4/5 Hotels or boat
3/5 Scenery
1/5 Ease of navigation
4/5 Local tour company services

★★★★★ (3/5) Mycycle50 July 1, 2019

Very beautiful but more difficult than advertised.

· Prague-Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest

Our outfitter provided lots of info- maps, gps routes and suggested sites to visit. Some very rough roads, some steep hills.

What was the date of your tour?: May 22 to June 15
How many tours have you completed?: 9
Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?: Somewhat harder
Do you recommend this tour?: Yes
Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia

5/5 Value
5/5 Included meals
4/5 Bikes + equipment
4/5 Hotels or boat
5/5 Scenery
3/5 Ease of navigation
5/5 Tour documents
4/5 Local tour company services
4/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (3/5) Mario Ceccanese 11 months ago

Cycling adventure

· Prague-Vienna-Bratislava-Budapest

Navigation tools given(Garmin + maps) were very unreliable, especially entering and leaving cities - have had tours where line by line navigation instructions were provided as well as appropriate scale maps. Our group of 6 had 3 Garmins which were rarely in agreement - we then tried to follow whatever route on which 2 Garmins agreed. Czech Republic off road trails were very rough for the bikes provided - mountain bikes would have been more appropriate or better routes. We realize that due to unforeseen circumstances due to flooding on the Danube that route changes were necessary, but new routes were poorly described, and Garmins were now of no use- we resorted to Google Maps for navigation which occasionally placed us on roads which were too busy. Safety should be a prime concern, but navigation issues made this trip much more difficult and risky than originally described.

What was the date of your tour?: Sept 2024
How many tours have you completed?: 10
Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?: Somewhat harder
Do you recommend this tour?: No
Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia

3/5 Value
4/5 Included meals
3/5 Bikes + equipment
4/5 Hotels or boat
4/5 Scenery
1/5 Ease of navigation
2/5 Tour documents
3/5 Local tour company services
2/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (3/5) mb001 October 28, 2019

Fun trip with lots of biking.

· Vienna to Budapest 5-nights (Active)

My friend and I did this trip in early Oct. The first hotel in Vienne is Hotel Arcortel and not near any restaurants or pubs but close to the start of the trip. I would suggest booking a few days before in the city center if you plan on seeing Vienna. We stayed next in Hotel Devin in Bratislava. The hotel here and city were great. Everything walking distance. Next was Hotel Barrokk in Gyor. This was a very nice hotel and city that you could walk to a variety of restaurants and shopping. Then day 3 we biked 124km to Esztergom. There is an option to take a train for half of this trip. We did the biking and found it a very long day, but doable. We had electric bikes and it was a good thing! This day of biking was the most difficult not only because of the distance, but the terrain. You are in remote Hungarian countryside with no one around for hours. The bike trail or paths are poorly marked in some areas you find yourself on dirt farm land. Unfortunately we were lost a lot! The hotel in Esztergom was the Hotel Bellevue. This hotel is set on a busy street with no options to walk to any other restaurants or shopping. We were not aware that dinner must be booked ahead of time. After talking our way into a reservation, we found the buffet was average. If possible stay in the city and not this hotel. On the last day we left and needed to catch the ferry across the river. We were lucky as the week we were there was the last week of the season for the ferry. We rode to Budapest and again found some of the trails or paths poorly marked. We ran into a guided tour along the way and the guide told us about an app called mapy.cz and it has the entire map of the bike path we used and saved us several times. It was great to finish in Budapest as it is a very large exciting city with so much to do! The NH Hotel was easy to get to and situated close to many sites.

What was the date of your tour?: 10/6-10/10/19
How many tours have you completed?: 4
Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?: As expected
Do you recommend this tour?: No
Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Hungary, Slovakia

4/5 Value
3/5 Included meals
5/5 Bikes + equipment
3/5 Hotels or boat
4/5 Scenery
3/5 Ease of navigation
3/5 Tour documents
4/5 Local tour company services
3/5 Route selection

★★★★★ (3/5) Josée May 3, 2024

Not our dream trip

· Vienna to Budapest 5-nights (Active)

We booked the active tour because we did not have time to do the classic. 80-100 km per day were too much, specially when 1 day/4 was 100% rain. We cannot control temperature on a cycling trip, but to cycle 50-60 km in the rain would have been much better than 100km that day. On top of that, our hotel was booked at 130km instead of 100 by mistake. The hotel was nice enough to send a van and a trailer to pick us up. We were soaked!!! Out of 5 hotels, I would consider that 3 nights were more 3.5 stars than 4 and the 2 other nights were 4 to 5 stars. In some small towns, where nobody speak English, it would have nice have more guidance to know where to go to buy the ferry tickets and to know that not all countries use Euros and where to change money for cash only situation. Also, the ferry schedule was not clear, and found out that they take breaks in the morning and can cause a delay.
We were 3 (1 road bike + 2 e-bikes). The roads were rough in some areas with deep puddles of water during the rain. Of course, a flat happened and we struggled to find a pump for the road bike. The pumps that were given to us were for the e-bikes and did not fit. In a small town with no English speaking around, we managed to resolve the situation. Also, the first morning we started the trip, we had to go to a bike store to ask for extra tires in case of a flat. There were not given to us at the beginning. Thank god we went! Having done 2 cycling trips (Portugal and Croatia) in the past year, we found that the Vienna to Budapest was a bit boring. The landscape was not very different from start to beginning and the distances were long in between the little cities we visited.
Minimum information were given to us and it would have been nice to have suggestions for restaurants and more details, etc, etc. We received that info with the other companies we used for the other trips.
A water bottle or a shirt from your company would have been also a nice surprise.
The trip was OK, but can be improved in many ways for the price we paid.
We were happy for the quick response when we had the issue with the hotel at 130km instead of 100
The NH Danube or NH Budapest (We had to change room at 11h00 pm because there was a heating problem that made the room like a sauna and the window handle was broken, so we could not open it….) are more 3 stars hotels. The loft in Bratislava was VERY VERY Nice and the Barok in Gyor was great also. We expected more at the to pass on Esztergom, because we could not come back the next day to visit. I heard that the 30km we missed were worth the views and cycling.
I would recommend the trip to people that did not cycle in Portugal, Croatia and want a flat route.
4 days were a lot concerning the distances, but 6 days would have make it long for the lack of change of scenery. This is my opinion!

Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Hungary, Slovakia

★★★★★ (3/5) Kitty Brodie July 31, 2024

Not quite what we expected

· Vienna to Budapest 5-nights (Active)

We booked a self-guided 5-day tour from Vienna to Budapest.
There were a few things that did not sit well with us on the organizational front.
The tour itself was great once we got started and the cities/hotels en route were great.
The bike service was great... we had a mechanical issue on Day 1 of riding, and the bike was replaced the next morning.

Organizationally:
Confirmation of tour was delayed until the 1 day before the original day of departure.
When I tried to cancel because we wanted to book something that was confirmed, I was told this was not possible.
That seemed unfair, when the tour operator has the right to cancel, but not the client.

The initial orientation meeting on "Day 1" in Vienna did not happen until "Day 2".
Nothing at all was arranged for "Day 1" other than the hotel in Vienna.

The 5 day tour turned out to be 5 nights, with the 1st night in Vienna, where we already were staying.
So not 5 nights on the road, but 5 nights in hotels. Starting on the morning of "Day 2" makes the tour really only a 4 day tour in my opinion.

The bikes that were brought to us on the morning of "Day 2" were not the right bikes that we had ordered.

Pick up time for our bags from the hotel was not mentioned in the orientation meeting.
Consequently, we missed the pickup time on the first hotel and had to pay for a taxi to bring the bags to the next hotel.
This again seemed unfair.

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, Families with young kids
Do you recommend this tour?: No
Countries included in this tour?: Austria, Hungary, Slovakia

1/5 Value
5/5 Bikes + equipment
5/5 Hotels or boat
5/5 Scenery
5/5 Ease of navigation
5/5 Tour documents

★★★★★ (3/5) JG2017 August 9, 2017