Bike Tour Reviews Lake Constance Bicycle Path (page 2)
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★★★★★ Liana Amy June 27, 2023Loved it
We lucked out with spectacular weather for this trip. It really is beautiful. At certain points we lost track of the "actual" path we were supposed to be following but eventually we would always find our way back on. The hotels were good. One improvement would be to have all hotels with A/C, as during the summer, the temps can be pretty high and a couple of the hotels were downright hot during the night. Some hotels offered a fan, but only two had A/C. The food at all of the hotels was great for breakfast and the staff at each one were helpful and friendly.
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★★★★★ Josh Shupack June 27, 2023
Great bike paths and views
My wife and our boys ages 7 and 11 went on this tour. Most of it is on fabulous bike paths. Occasionally you have to bike through a town on roads or places with a lot of pedestrians. We had to skip a day and a half via trains and boats because it was a little much for our boys, but we still managed 150 km. I would recommend a day off in the middle.
The views are great, lots of places to stop for a swim, museum, or just a walk through a neat town. We found that it took a lot of the day just to bike and we didn't have as much time as we had liked for playing and exploring.
The distances for each day depend on what cities you're staying in.
Overall a really good experience for the whole family.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- 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
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★★★★★ Joseph Tevaarwerk May 15, 2023
Very nice trip and well organized. We have planned another one as well
We had a great time on this bike trip. The routes were clearly planned and the hotels were great with very good beds and excellent breakfast. The bike rental place was very well organized with very pleasant technicians to help getting the correct adjustments. Our bikes were both nearly new (2022 and 2023). We had no snafus at all.
One suggestion: allow for at least two extra days after the ride to visit some of the sites that take more time. For example we did have one day left to visit the Pfahlenbauten Museum. We went by ferry across Lake Constance and spend nearly 4 hours at the museum, a very pleasant day. I would have liked a similar day to visit the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen and then visit Insel Mainau, but we were out of time. A lesson for next time.
We visited some beautiful places but the one that capped it all was from the top of a castle in Ueberlingen. It was just gorgeous.- What was the date of your tour?
- April 23-29
- 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
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Bridget Harron May 14, 2023
My first bike trip -definitely not my last!
What a blast!! Great way to spend time with family. Such a friendly vacation spot. We had a little trouble losing the bike trail through the towns along the way -but clearly our lack of map-reading skills.
- What was the date of your tour?
- may 4, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 0
- 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
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★★★★★ Stephanie St Cyr May 9, 2023
Spectacular! We would do it all over again tomorrow
The perfect way to experience the plethora of quaint villages and perfect towns surrounding the lake. We would have done it all over again if we could have. The accommodations were perfect, luggage transport was seamless, breakfasts were delicious and bike paths were plentiful along the way. We will be doing another trek next year and another the year after.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- None
- 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
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★★★★★ Bruce May 8, 2023
Early Season Trip
This bike route is in a gorgeous area of Europe and VERY POPULAR, even during Season B. During high season, the paths around Lake Constance must be like L.A. during rush hour traffic! The pathways are a mixture and dedicated for bicyclists, shared with pedestrians, shared with slow moving traffic and through busy towns and quiet villages. It's mostly paved and the scenery is generally good to great. You pass through some limited commercial/industrial areas. Be alert for packs of fast paced road bikers and keep to the right, thus allowing them to retain high speeds as they are training for imaginary slots in the Tour de France. Some e-bikers are in fast mode as well.
If traveling by train in Germany to/from Konstanz, the DB Navigator smartphone application is good. The initial/last accommodation, Hotel Halm, is located perfectly across the street from the bahnhof in Konstanz. You are given a local transit pass (that you've paid for indirectly), which allows you to hop on bus #6 at the bahnhof and puts you within about two blocks of the bike shop, where you will gather your rigs. Staff are great at the bike shop. Riding from the shop back to the hotel is easy and mostly on a bike path. Taking a taxi to the bike shop is spendy despite the short distance.
The bikes are heavy, entirely suitable and well maintained. They have a much higher center of gravity than typical bikes and are like a supertanker as to maneuvering in tight quarters. Adjust your riding style, mounting/dismounting techniques accordingly.
The mapping is inadequate. Refresh your vocabulary in advance. We loaded an inexpensive Airalo e-sim good for the region, is inexpensive (3 GB data, $13) and valuable. There were some cell phone dead zones, however. Almost all locals were more than helpful in redirecting us to the proper pathways. Adopt the concept of when first lost, immediately ask for help. Of note: departing Konstanz and staying on the bike route was a PITA. The same for transiting Radolzell.
The hotels were fine and served good to excellent breakfasts. Also provided is secure storage for bikes each night. How all bikes are stored during high season must require significant imagination by hotel staff. Two hotels were less than ideal as to locations, including Parkhotel St. Leonhard, which is on the edge of town and high on a bluff. The other is Hotel Restaurant Seegarten in Arbon, and located well away from the town and restaurants.
Staff at Bike Tours are superior...thanks for helping book this trip! Tip: membership in Adventure Cycling gains you a discount.
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2023.
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- 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
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★★★★★ Layne Perry November 4, 2022
Lake trip of your dreams!
A wonderful and unique way to experience Lake Constance, with wonderful food, beautiful water, and relatively flat bike path! A place to stop and eat lunch or take a swim practically anywhere! Opportunities to stand up paddle board or play volleyball!
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- First!
- 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
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★★★★★ John Thell October 19, 2022
Great adventure
Wonderful experience. Using ebikes made the trip very doable. The hotels were great - locations,food, service, and comfortable. Not having to worry about luggage was a great relief. The only thing that was frustrating was poor maps in a couple of the larger towns - finding the hotels can be a challenge. Usually the locals were very helpful in giving directions. Would recommend a gps system for our next trip. We were very pleased overall and biking around Lake Constance was more than we imagined.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- One
- 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
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★★★★★ Karen and christy October 21, 2019
Fantastic!
My friend and I did a self guided tour around Lake Constance-gorgeous! And such fun. The bike people were fabulous and fitted us and gave us crucial directions. Had a blast and will definitely be doing this again :)
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 4-9,2019
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ gt00000 October 14, 2019
Bodensee ride
Fun, very scenic ride, fairly easy. You can see why this route is so popular.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 28/09/19 to 4/10/19
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists, Families with young kids, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ KfromPhiladelphia October 12, 2019
Very enjoyable bike ride around Lake Constance
This was our first bike trip, but won't be our last - what a great experience! We loved exploring the towns the towns around Lake Constance via our ebikes! (This was our first time on ebikes and I'd highly recommend those as well)
The hotels were all excellent - we couldn't have chosen better for ourselves. Our luggage was always waiting for us upon arrival each day. The information on what to see was very helpful.
We made a couple changes to our itinerary which were handled effortlessly by BikeTours. We appreciated all the assistance in initially planning our trip and thank everyone who helped me put this together. We had a great trip.
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was our first!
- 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
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★★★★★ colrip7 October 11, 2019
Great area for a bike tour
6 of us made this tour. None of us were "experienced" riders, but we all had fun. A couple of things I would change if it were up to me - the ParkHotel St Leonard in Uberlingen is a little over 2km, all uphill from the main town. The hotel is very nice, but we didn't like the uphill ride and all of us wanted to go into town, but none of us wanted to redo the uphill ride. The other thing is the third day ride from Uberlingen to Lindau was too far for us to do in one day while trying to see all the sights along the way. We cheated and took the ferry from Friedrichshafen to Lindau.
All of the hotels were very nice, clean and very accommodating. Our luggage was always at the hotel before we were.
The bikes were in fine shape and we had no trouble with the bikes. We had a mixture of regular bikes and ebikes.
All in all we had a great time and would recommend this trip, but I would look for a slightly different itinerary.
Liv at BikeTours was extremely helpful and we are grateful to her for her help.- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 17, 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- 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
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★★★★★ ireneski October 5, 2019
Great trip except for first destination.
This is the second time I've taken this tour with my friends. We liked it so much 6 years ago that we were interested in returning. All the destinations and accommodations were better than previously except for the first destination. Instead of stopping in Stein am Rhein, a beautiful medieval town, they booked us into Gailingen, a town that took us another hour to get to, and was not the charming experience we had to forgo. The trail up the steep hill was more suitable for a mountain bike, not the hybrids that we had. As we came down the steep hill the next morning one of our group had a nasty fall and had to rent an ebike to complete the trip. The hotel staff was also not friendly. They refused to serve us tap water and would only offer bottled water at 6 euros/bottle. This was a terrible way to start our trip. If you go around this beautiful lake, insist on staying in Stein am Rhein.
Also, we stayed an extra night in Uberlingen. Definitely worth an extra day to spend time at the thermal baths.- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept. 12, 2019
- 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, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Laird September 29, 2019
Beautiful scenery and fabulous destinations!
Great time exploring southern Germany around Lake Constance. The bike path was well signed for easy navigation. Our group stopped often for photos as we passed through lovely villages and beautiful scenic lake views. We had the opportunity to go up on a gondola for a view of the Austrian mountains, visited the Thermal Spa in Uberlingen and saw sculptures the public gardens at the Wurth Building. All in all a lovely trip!
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- 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
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★★★★★ Simona September 7, 2019
Amazing bike holiday
Our bike holiday this summer was a perfect way to discover and enjoy the wonderful landscapes and sights of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, riding along Lake Constance in five days, between August 21 and August 25. The weather was excellent: no rain and not very hot, just perfect.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 21-August 25
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Susana August 29, 2019
Great option for families with small childrwn!
The scenary is great, the path is easy and the signals are very clear, the villages are beautiful and with a lot of options for fun (playgrounds, pools, baths on the lake...) . People are very helpful. We decided to spend two days in Uberlingen and it is a very beautiful village with fantastic therms and gardens. It is very easy to shorten the initial route taking a train or a boat (we did it one day that it rained a lot!). I recommend this route for families with small children (7-14 years)
- What was the date of your tour?
- August
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists, Families with young kids, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ nunn July 28, 2019
Wunderbar
The tour was as described. The ferry came in handy one of the days. Directions were a problem. Once we got our of Konstanz and figured out what we were to follow it went better. Thanks to all the people who helped us along the way. Very helpful and friendly. The lake was delightful to swim in and cycle along. The scenery was delightful. We had ebikes and that's the way to go.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 6/30/19
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10+
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ eliza July 22, 2019
Fun for the whole family
We all loved it!!! Beautifully organized, great accomadations and food, the scenery was beautiful and plenty of gelato and swimmming along the way
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 4th, 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists, Families with young kids, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ PeterP June 30, 2019
A Ride to remember
I did the tour on my own. Weather was great except for one day of showers The first day was the most difficult because there were a number of towns and the directions were not detailed Highly recommend using GPS in the towns Which of the route is bicycle paths which are very easy to navigate. The hotels were excellent particularly Uberlingen and Lindau. The Zepplin museum is a must Highlight destinations were Stein am Rhein and LIndau.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 5 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- None
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
