Bike Tour Reviews Lake Constance Classic (11-nights) (page 2)
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★★★★★ Bughollow July 26, 2016Exceeded All Expectations!
This was our first tour and definitely not our last. We were nervous about the distance and how our 13 year old would handle the daily routine. My worst fear was that we would be counting down the days or taking the train to avoid meltdowns, by mother and/or daughter. This was never the case, even in the rain. We were so sad when it was over, we would have happily continued for another week. Cycling, swimming, and picnicking our way around the route made for a stress free and amazing holiday.
We cycle frequently, but didn't purchase any special clothing. My secret weapon for fhe saddle was a custom knit seat cover by a close friend.- What was the date of your tour?
- July 11 - 22
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was the first of many.
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- 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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★★★★★ Jeanine JeffersWoolf 11 months ago
Great
Love the route planned and the suggested sites to see. Beautiful area. Responsive organization. Some of the directions were tricky
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- 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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★★★★★ Tush June 22, 2016
Excellent!
Overall an excellent tour. One thing which would have improved it would have been a little more precise directions - possibly in the form of a printed addendum - giving the INITIAL directions from each hotel to the start point e.g. bike path for each day's ride. Sometimes this was tricky and the scale of the map wasn't helpful. A classic example was the hike day at Rorschach. Most of us missed the hike trail because it was unclear where it started in relation to the Heiden train station.
Having said all that, I would highly recommend this tour to anyone!- What was the date of your tour?
- 677/2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- 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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★★★★★ Tom on a Bike August 26, 2019
A beautiful ride!
Cycling around Lake Constance (Bodensee) was a lovely experience. Every day brought more beautiful views and villages. I chose this 11-day self-guided tour with lower kilometers to allow me to experience the villages and people more intimately. The tour did just that. You could very well choose another tour with more daily distance and get nice experience. This area presents many opportunities for the cycling tourist. I was never bored on my cycling days.
The tour was relatively flat. The only challenge was on the day cycling to St. Gallen. There was a considerable climb. It was walkable when needed. The tours mostly followed the Lake Constance cycle path. When roads where used, they ware almost always quiet roads with low traffic.
Some things that could be improved: Radweg Reisen did not give an orientation at the start of the ride. I was fitted for a bike that was nicely outfitted although it was heavy as a tank. On this vacation, I did some Swiss touring on a self-guided tour from another provider. That tour provider gave me a nice orientation on signage, routes, the bike, and Swiss cycling. I was also given a tour support person’s mobile phone number to use when I needed help. Radweg could improve on their orientation process.
The Radweg Reisen books were very nicely done in a size that fit in the handlebar bag map holder. What was lacking were detailed instructions on navigating to ticketed attractions and hotels. I would suggest a small insert map on these pages. I was able to use Google Maps and the map the Radweg Resiaen gave me to get to my destination.
In conclusion, I was very satisfied with the tour. I felt the hotels were nice. The tickets to the attractions were very nice. The only suggestion is for Radweg Resien to work on their customer focus and interaction.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 15
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Dave Carlstrom 11 months ago
On the road again... our third Biketours.com adventure
Thankfully I’m not unduly worse for wear after almost three weeks and hundreds of kilometers of European cycling… though I did take four tumbles. The most serious (and ignominious) was in an Austrian grocery store parking lot when my pants cuff caught on the pedal and over I went – hard, attracting the immediate attention of several shoppers (“Carnage on lane one”) who with some difficulty got me back on my feet. At first I was pretty sure I’d broken something important, but all limbs are yet attached and seemingly intact… albeit a bit looser.
I pedaled the balance of the day’s distance but at my compatriots’ urging skipped the following day’s segment in favor of bus/train passage to St. Gallen, Switzerland. The next day was a scheduled no biking day so I had two days to recover, sorta. The next day – our last of actual cycling – with some anxiety I got back on my trusty velocipede and, sure enough, one click later fell again… though this time comparatively softly albeit in front of a bus. I made it the remaining 45K to destination without further incident.
Our merry band included Seattleites Curt and Brenda Burnett, Gerry Champagne, and friends until recently from Fairbanks Ron and Jeanine Woolf. Fine folks all, we really did have a good time together.
Our odyssey began with six days at a rental house in Eguisheim, France, followed by an eleven day clockwise circumnavigation of Lake Constance that touched Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Here are a few day-by-day snippets of my adventure:
Sunday, April 30th. Aloft en route to Paris Delta served the worst dinner I’ve ever ingested on an international flight: the “beef” entre was the consistency of spam, reminiscent of the mystery meat of junior high cafeteria days, and dished out in a biodegradable cardboard clamshell.
Monday, May 1st. Having hobbled off the plane I was semi-involuntarily consigned to a wheelchair for the lengthy transfer to the airport train station. Manly hombre that I am, I dared not disclose to the friendly pusher that I had come to Europe for three weeks of cycling. Arrived Colmar, in Alsace, just before midnight via a 180 MPH TGV with a transfer in Strasbourg and, coincidentally, six minutes prior to the Woolfs’ arrival. Settled into our very nice rental house.
Tuesday, May 2nd - Thursday, May 4th. Daily e-bike excursions to nearby picture-perfect towns with eat-in dinners crafted by chefs Burnett and Woolf. Imbibed copious amouints of wine, certainly did our part for the local viticulture industry.
I developed a serious case of ABC – Asymmetrical Butt Chafing – which was ameliorated by liberal bi-daily nether regions applications of Bag Balm – my personal favorite posterior palliative, see https://bagbalm.com/. SHOW MORE
Friday, May 5th. Hung out at the house, pas mal.
Saturday, May 6th. Day trip with Burnetts to the tourist mecca of Colmar where, alas and alack, Curt was pickpocketed! Charge and debit card cancellations ensued, not good.
Sunday, May 7th. Auto trip to a German mountain hiking lodge, an intermediate stop on our way to Konstantz, the starting and ending point of our main event circumnavigation of the eponymous lake.
Monday, May 8th. Had to beat feet to get Burnetts’ rental car back by a 10:30 am deadline… made it with a full five minutes to spare. Checked in at the stunning four star Hotel Halm where the breakfast buffet includes champagne and cheesecake. Woolfs arrived by train, Gerry direct from Seattle via Zurich. Got our e-bikes.
Tuesday, May 9th. Pedaled forty some K to Gailingen, a bit of a shakedown cruise. Great scenery and picture postcard-worthy medieval villages. Adequate lodging, but not a Hotel Halm.
Wednesday, May 10th. Roundtrip to Rhine Falls, Europe’s largest. Second night in Gailingen, first of nearly nightly self-catered hotel room team happy hours.
On previous European bike tours we’ve grumbled about route instructions encrypted by by non-native English speakers. This time the tour operator-provided guidebook was completely devoid of route guidance… we were on our own, taking turns as Google Maps-assisted trail breaking pathfinders with plenty of navigational errors. But we always (eventually) got to where we were going.
Thursday, May 11th. Return to Konstanz for a Hotel Halm reprise. Got soaked during the last couple clicks of the day’s ride.
Friday, May 12th. To Radolfzell via Mainau Island, the latter a facsimile of sorts of Butchart Gardens.
Saturday, May 13th. A mere sixteen K to Ludwigshafen.
Sunday, May 14th. Forty K to Friedrichshafen, home of the Zeppelin Museum to which I made a solo afternoon excursion via city buses. Turns out the Hindenberg was 245 meters from stem to stern, almost three football fields.
Monday, May 15th. Day of my aforementioned parking lot tumble. Overnight in Bregnz, Austria. I was very sore, somewhat bruised, had marginal repose.
Tuesday, May 16th. Having shipped my bike with the luggage I patronized buses and trains to our next destination, St. Gallen, Switzerland. As it happened today was Jeanine’s turn to tumble, hard, while passing a path-blocking truck.
Wednesday, May 17th. Today was a scheduled non-cycling day so while others toured about (monastery, waterfalls chocolate factory, shopping) I rested my bruised corpus in the hope that I might be sufficiently healed for the morrow’s last lap back to Konstanz.
Thursday, May 18th. 14K of almost continuous downhill on the 46 K journey back to our starting point. Celebratory dinner, a bit melancholy to be soon parting ways.
Friday, May 19th. Train to Zurich for a twelve hour Swissair flight to San Francisco and a connection home to Seattle.
Great trip, a good time had by all (despite bumps and bruises).
D. Carlstrom. May, 2023
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★★★★★ Pierre June 23, 2017
Best trip ever
Best way to see as much as possible in a day is on a bicycle. We choose the A grade hotels which was not necessary as the standard of hotels in general is very good, The A grade hotels were top class but we spent so little time at each hotel that the facilities offered could not always be full utilized. Half pension (diner included) was very good and relaxing after a day cycling. We found the 6 night tour ample time to complete the 300km round lake Constance. Tour operations went without a hitch and cycle worked perfectly. We have travelled alot and can confirm that this holiday was the best
- What was the date of your tour?
- 20 May to 26 May 2017
- 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
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ MarcieB May 19, 2016
Alles Gute zum Bodensee! Fabulous trip around Lake Constance!
One of our best self-guided bike tours, ever! Signage was prominently displayed, directions and highlights "worth a stop," equipment top notch and best of all, the regional food, friendly people and amazing sights made this trip highly memorable. I might add we are 70-somethings and found the designated bike paths a wonderful way to experience the many faces (German, Swiss and Austrian) of the Bodensee. The museum pass was truly a wonderful "bonus" experience . . . so many beautiful gardens (Reichenau, Mainau), museums (Hermann Hesse, Otto Dix, Zeppelin, Prehistoric stilt houses, etc), monasteries, churches and castles! We would do this trip again, just to experience more adventures through vineyards, apple orchards and varied cultures.
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was Biketours.com tour #6!
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens, Solo travelers, Families with young kids, First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
