Italy Bike Tour Reviews page 20
- Albania
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bosnia and H…
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Cambodia
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- England
- Estonia
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Holland
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Mexico
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Scotland
- Serbia
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Thailand
- Turkey
- United States
- Vietnam
-
★★★★★ Don Thain
Mostly fantastic
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
This trip used rental bikes and was self-guided. The basics worked well with hotel bookings and luggage transfers. The bikes were fine for this but had minor deficiencies. The joining instructions were incorrect but were sorted out with a phone call. Routings were chosen to highlight scenery and views while avoiding traffic. The map sets were disappointing as directions were muddled. Other cyclists had the same complaint. But it was a great trip nonetheless.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Dantzel Crane
Beautiful sights, okay directions
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
We absolutely loved our trip to Italy! It was such a treat to be able to be outside and spend significant time in the Italian countryside, seeing the beauty that is there. My only critique is that often times the directions were a bit difficult to follow. It might just be that I am unfamiliar with the Italian road system, but there were several times where we needed to check the map that was given to us by the tour company against Google maps to make sure that we were in the right place and hadn’t missed a significant turn. Otherwise, the hotels were fine but nothing special (we did not pay for upgraded hotels), the bikes were great, and we loved our time in Italy so much!
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Mickey Shnaiderman
An almost perfect tour
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
A very unusual and exciting way to explore to Dolomites. Riding the bicycle through the those magnificent views was truly astounding.
The routes were picked correctly both in terms of distance and terrain.
Also, the provided booklet with the brief information about the routes and food recommendation was great!
All the hotels were great with excellent service, breakfasts were good and had us full until arrival.
The bicycles were good too, although we would expect to have some help adjusting them to our sizes. My girlfriend is very short and we had to find a multi-tool to adjust her saddle horizontal position. If we had all the tools supplied, it would be much easier.
We also had one miscommunication: one of the hotels was changed, so we got the updated list of hotels before the beginning of the tour. Upon arrival, we got all the maps and another list of hotels. This printed list stated that all previous lists were invalid, so we took it for granted. At the second day of riding, which was the longest and the hardest, we arrived exhausted to the wrong hotel, only to realize we have 3 more kilometres to ride to a hotel outside the city. That, in turn, meant that we were left with only one dinner option - in the hotel itself. It was great, though, but quite expensive.
The navigation was a bit tricky too. The app is a bit primitive, sometimes got stuck, drained a lot of battery when navigating with the screen on (compared to Google Maps that takes much less battery). In one occasion it also got my phone so hot it had to shut down. In some several places the app tried to take us on to non existent roads or onto incoming traffic. It was also unaware of road constructions. Other than that, when getting the hang of this app, it wasn't that bad. We managed to find our way without too much of a hustle.
A tip to give to other riders next time: Venice has a secured parking spot for bicycles for a 10€ per bicycles. It is essentially a huge locker for the bike. Also, a big shout-out for Anthony, who called us to help finding the return place of the bikes. He also gave us the tip of riding to Venice and then leaving them in the hotel inserted of in the garage.- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Sam Roozendaal
Beatiful Views
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
Great way to see the Dolomites and Northern Italy. Majority of the ride was on paths, so low stress. There is more climbing than indicated in the description so be prepared. The rental bikes are 21 speed vintage 1990's so heavy and not geared well for the climbs.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Mary-lou Huculak
Amazing scenery.
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
The fresh air and mountain peaks are spectacular. I would recommend upgrading the bike rental as the basic trekking bike were not efficient for the terrain of this route.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May, 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Deb Glazer
Great trip!
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
This is my 4th trip with Biketours.com & I'm already looking forward to scheduling another. The scenery on this one couldn't have been better - it was simply stunning. The route was easy to follow & the biking was pretty easy. Some of the hotels were lovely, and while we're not picky, a few fell short. At the last one there were no blankets in the room & when we asked, they said they didn't have enough for all the rooms. That was a head scratcher for us and made it difficult to sleep.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept. 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Silvia Guillemi
Great trip
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
This was a good bike trip . Perfect amount of time and length of bike days.
The hotels overall were good , although some of them were located outside of the towns /cities and made it harder to visit them .
There was very little or almost no instructions when we receive the bikes from the local supplier- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Charlie
Beautiful Ride.
Florence to Rome: Bike through the Heart of Italy
Our ride was a wonderful way to see the Italian countryside from Florence to Rome. The riders were similar in skills (7 of 8 retired) and the routing matched our skill set. The guides (furnished by Rotalis) were knowledgeable and accommodated requests from our team quickly and to everyone’s satisfaction. There were a few very short instances where the ride was on busy roadways when we transitioned from one backroad to another. The guides did not rush the transition and were focused on safety during those transitions.
At each stop things were in place and there was no confusion. Meals and lodging provided by the tour were greatly appreciated.
If you want to see Italy at a human scale (not at 60 mph), this is a wonderful way to do it. We will go back!
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2018
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was #2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Poetry64
Guide made the trip superior.
Florence to Rome: Bike through the Heart of Italy
The elderly people on my tour kicked my butt with their level of skill in bike riding.
The guide was fluent in English and very experienced leading groups, she was fantastic.
The driver had no problem negotiating small turns with a trailer full of bicycles. He also prepared picnic lunches. The food was superior.
I feel lucky that the weather was somewhat hot, but no rain.- What was the date of your tour?
- June 8
- How many tours have you completed?
- First time
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Christine Comi
Lovely look at rural Italy
Florence to Rome: Bike through the Heart of Italy
Of the tour group of 15 people, only 3 of us spoke English. We didn't know this tour was actually being executed by Rotalis, a German touring company. It was still a wonderful experience but not what we were expecting. Also, most of the group was using e-bikes. This meant that the cruising pace was much faster than I think it would have been if everyone was riding on their own power. I was one of 3 people riding on my own power and found it a real work out every day.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 20-27, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- none
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Kiwisabroad
Bike trip recommended
Florence to Rome
The scenery was great - how could rural Italy be otherwise! The maps and instructions - and especially the 'E' stickers posted along the route, were excellent. The bikes were fine - no suspension but certainly good seats.
We only saw our contact person briefly at the beginning and end of the ride and didn't feel especially well supported although I'm sure if we had had a major problem, someone would have stepped up. (I'm comparing with a Czech Bike Tours 5 day trip we did last summer.)
We sought a gradient map of the route before booking it and only got a fairly hard to read and un-useful GPX one. Again, last year in the Czech Rep we found good gradient maps for each day on the website. It's quite nice to know when there's a big hill coming up! That said, the maps which were provided in the briefing the night before we set out had arrows in 2 colours showing steep uphill and steep downhill.
We are 4 relatively fit 60-year-olds. The biking was tough at times but we certainly managed it. We WOULD recommend it. (As an indication, with a coffee mid-morning and a picnic lunch and photos taken along the way, we were on the road from about 8.30am-4pm, perhaps a little less.)
The hotels were great, more charming than they looked on the website, although not always easy to find! (There are no more E stickers to follow). And - as we'd expected - accommodation was invariably in a town on a good sized hill! Hotel staff were great.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ pizza
Italy tour
Florence to Rome
We have done two other Eurobike tours and this was very similar. The roads in Italy are a bit less tended than in other parts of Europe and we were often on traffic roads but the scenery and the route was lovely! The weather was fantastic. I would suggest that you be sure to book your sightseeing in Florence and Rome ahead of time because they are both very busy and exciting cities. There were also some long difficult hills but well worth the climbs.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 20-27, 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Patrick
Beautiful and challenging
Florence to Rome
A great way to experience Tuscany and Unbria regions of Italy. At first we thought the bikes were somewhat heavy and cumbersome, but after a week we realized they were the right bikes for the road conditions. the road routes were carefully selected to get away from as much traffic as possible. The secondary roads were often not in the best condition, so we appreciated the stability of the bikes. Be prepared for hills. Intermediate rating was definitely on the upper side of intermediate, so prepare for the trip. Eurobike route stickers were very useful. We wish the bikes had water bottle cages.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 27 - June 3 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 12
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Steven
Fun trip
Florence to Rome
Great way to see Medeval towns not jammed with tourists. Nice hotels, excellent local cuisine and sights. I wish the roads were better maintained with less car traffic and the bikes were lighter.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 22-29
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ carlosferreira
Florence to Rome
- What was the date of your tour?
- october 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- 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
-
★★★★★ 0341MM
Pretty Scenery and Wonderful People
Florence to Rome
This is my third European bicycle trip but the first one in which I did not follow a river. The navigation was more difficult than I imagined.
I would strongly recommend three things: 1. Study your maps and instructions so you know what landmarks to expect on each day's ride. 2. Download the EuroBike app and be sure to load the gps coordinates into BEFORE your trip. (You may need a computer to do it.) You can find a helpful pdf document on how to do it via an internet search. 3. Watch for the cycling directional stickers at intersections. You hardly notice them when you first start the trip but rarely miss them once you get a hang of things. These stickers are very helpful and will keep you from making wrong turns.
Once I integrated these three things into my daily ride navigation was easy and I could just the beautiful Italian countryside and the wonderful villages.- What was the date of your tour?
- May 18 - 24
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Paul Clark
Cycling a Disappointment but Good travel Itinerary
Florence to Rome
My partner had a biking accident and, after completing the first day’s 60 km ride nonetheless, we decided to take the train and just enjoy this lovely part of Italy. There was just too much traffic and too few shoulders on the roads for us to feel safe and relax. The hotels were comfortable and clean and typically in the historic centre of these charming little towns. There were many sites to see and the daily hiking up and down the local hills while site seeing provided more than adequate exercise. Overall, a wonderful experience-despite the biking misadventure-which we will remember forever.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Kaitlin N
Beautiful, unique
Florence to Rome
This tour was a great distance, deal, and experience. We loved visiting the small towns and exploring the unique parts of the countryside. The app was helpful for navigation and the accommodations were nice, although they varied a lot in their offerings and quality in each place. I wish we had more information about food and town stops along the way - many restaurants were closed as we moved through the towns, and in 105 degree F heat, the lack of access to rest stops and water was very challenging!
- What was the date of your tour?
- June-July 2026
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ Gudrun58
Group of friends
Lake Garda (Based in One Hotel)
Hotel was very good and the staff also. Italy is so beautiful and charming.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 14.09-19.09.2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
-
★★★★★ TriaT
Lake Garda (Based in One Hotel)
This was our fourth family European cycling holiday with Bike Tours and our first in Italy. We loved being based in the same hotel so could settle in for the week. The location on the shore of Lake Garda was beautiful and it was so pleasant in the evening to be able to stroll into Desenzano for dinner, with lots of restaurants 5-10 mins walk away.
The cycling itself wasn't as scenic as we'd experienced in Austria and Slovenia, and we missed the stunning views of the mountains we'd had in those countries (while still on relatively flat routes). The day cycling from Trento to the north of Lake Garda was the exception. That day was the best, though take a book for the very long ferry ride back to Desenzano. And make sure you know where the ferry departs from in Riva before you settle in for lunch. It's a long way from where you first reach the lake.
We found the printed directions frequently inadequate and relied heavily on our phones for accurate navigation so make sure you have a data plan that covers Europe.
If you want to have time to explore Verona properly then build an extra day into the itinerary, leave the bikes behind and take the train round trip.
We sacrificed the ride to Brescia, opting instead to have a full day cycling to and exploring Sirmione, which was definitely worth it. The castle has great views. The small town is swarming with tourists but few venture beyond the vicinity of the castle. There are amazing Roman ruins and swimming areas on the north tip of the peninsula so take a towel.- What was the date of your tour?
- July 1st 2018
- How many tours have you completed?
- four
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- 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
Email
Mailing Address
Office Hours