Scandinavia Bike Tour Reviews page 5
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★★★★★ David H
Enjoyable Cycle Trip Through Rural Sweden
Stockholm Round-Trip Across Swedish History
This trip was well designed to expose the rider to rural Sweden as well as some historical highlights. The length and hilliness of the individual segments allowed for five good days’ worth of cycling, yet left enough in the tank to enjoy the evenings. The accommodations were comfortable and accessible to a number of dinner options. Breakfasts were mostly quite good. There routing via online map was excellent but for one minor glitch described below..
There were a couple of areas which need some improvement.
1. On the routes of two of the days, there were short sections where the roads were paved with extremely coarse gravel, which made cycling very difficult, especially for less powerful riders.
2. On the first day, there were well-placed lunch options in Ekerö which would be useful if put in the description.
3. The condition of several of the front bags was poor.
4. The route outlined in the phone app directed riders over the main road as it entered Trosa; the bike route was visible on the electronic map as well as the paper map, but those following the highlighted route would follow it over a busy road..
5. Cyclists would be well warned that the elevators in the Tumba station are very tight for e-bikes.
Overall, we enjoyed the trip immensely, and would recommend it to anyone who asked.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2025
- How many tours have you completed?
- Four organized, a good many on our own
- 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?
- Sweden
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★★★★★ Alex Beresniewicz
Nothing Special
Berlin – Copenhagen
Mostly flat riding through the countryside without much opportunity to see anything historic or even scenic outside of the cities where you start and finish. The bikes provided were excellent and the hotels were for the most part good, (sometimes daily distance seems to have forced the choice of where to stop for the night, and that means hotel choices are few...). I didn't choose this tour, my partner did, and it's not one I would consider repeating or recommending.
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★★★★★ Jules B
Nice Scenery and Trails but Terrible Bikes
Berlin – Copenhagen
I have mixed feelings about this ride. I was very psyched about the ride route but in retrospect, I think the ride is much more suited to recreational riders, than experienced ones.
The scenery and trails were very nice. When my derailleur hanger broke off, the company was responsive and I got a new one within a couple of hours. People on the road and at hotels were very friendly and helpful. And if you like pastry, you’ll be in heaven!
If you’re an experienced rider, you aren’t likely to be happy with the bikes. They’re very heavy and clumsy. Also, only some men’s bikes had a water bottle cage. The company provided a front bike bag which a water bottle fit into, but cages are the international standard. Most people I know travel with 2 water bottles, so the bike bag was only a partial solution. I wanted to avoid this by bringing my own bike but the company was very difficult to deal with on this issue and by the time they agreed to transport our bike boxes, it was too late.
At the ride start every room received a big packet containing paper guides and maps which I thought were a waste of paper. Everyone in my group of about 15 used Ride With GPS (RWGPS) files exclusively. But some riders may want paper guides so they should just be available on request. Further, the written directions were confusing as they combined different lodging towns so not all info was relevant to all riders. Finally, the RWGPS files routed us to the town, not actual lodging. I didn’t care for having to pull up lodging directions when we arrived in a town.
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★★★★★ JessieV
More Challenges Than Expected
Berlin – Copenhagen
The scenery was lovely and the bike route was easy to follow, and also mostly on dedicated paths, which we very much enjoyed. The daily mileage, however, was more than anticipated - approx. 40+ miles per day. This would have perhaps felt like a minor increase, but the bikes they gave us compounded it exponentially. These were the worst bikes I've had on a tour (I've done four others). The bikes included seat and fork suspension, which I imagine the tour operator thought would be useful for the few segments of the route that end up on cobblestone or gravel, but they made the bikes SO HEAVY! Even gentle inclines became difficult - and we're from Seattle, so we're accustomed to riding up hills! We'd stand and pedal in hopes of getting more leverage and our bikes would basically turn into pogo sticks. We dubbed this maneuver "go sticking". The other thing that was challenging, was the lack of amenities along the way. We did a bike trip in Italy in 2017 and every 10 km there would be somewhere to get water or an espresso or a sandwich, but in the Germany section especially these things were few and far between. My overall recommendations would be to 1. reserve the electric bike 2. pack a picnic lunch each day
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★★★★★ three bees
great variety of scenery
Best of Northern Zealand
Lots to see whilst cycling - forests, seaside, lakes, country farmland, small towns etc. The organisation was somewhat disappointing e.g., miscommunications in regard to where our bikes should be delivered, wrong maps provided, battery charger not working (and some reluctance by the bike operator to replace it!) but overall the bikes were in good working condition, the maps were easy to follow, and accommodation was great.
As for the scenery - once you got out of Copenhagen, it was brilliant.- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- Four
- 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?
- Denmark
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★★★★★ Edward Baker
Could Have Been Amazing
Royal Zealand and Copenhagen
The routes took us through some very interesting landscapes and towns. It would have been so much better if our daily information included more specifics about the areas where we traveled. Knowing more about the trails would also have been helpful. At one point, the directions were extremely confusing and led us onto an impassable trail. We understood that in some towns where we stayed the accommodations would be limited and might not have all of the amenities to which we are accustomed. With that we were fine. However, it was disappointing to see better accommodations that were available. Even worse was when the directions sent us to the better hotels only to be told that our reservation was not there and when we arrived at the hotel that was reserved, it was of a much lesser quality. This happened to us twice. At the very least, the route directions should list the correct destination hotel. We should not have to consult two different documents to find our hotel for the night. In our case, we had specifically explained that we would pay more, but wanted to have the best accommodations in each location. This did not happen, although we did pay a higher rate. Fortunately the staff at all of the hotels were exceptionally helpful, friendly, and professional. We were given very limited orientation before beginning the ride and felt that this company was unresponsive and left a lot for the rider to figure out alone. No helmets were provided which wasn't significant for us because we brought our own, but there was no communication indicating that helmets would not be provided. Having notes in the daily plan that noted restaurants along the way and at the destination each day would have been most helpful. In addition, it would have been nice to have known that in serveral locations, the only dining option would be at the hotel. We had a very enjoyable experience, but feel that it could have been far better with more information provided by the organization.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Denmark
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★★★★★ victoria
Great way to see region around Stockholm
Stockholm Round-Trip Across Swedish History
This tour was a great way to see the region around Stockholm. Very scenic routes to view the landscape and good opportunities to see palace and historical buildings along the way. We were very happy with the hotels. It was difficult to shift gears on the bike that I rode because the bike was not properly tuned and the seat was uncomfortable because it wobbled. We were a group of four who requested four GPS units and received only one that functioned--an older model that does not offer the amenities of newer models. The written instructions they provided were sometimes hard to follow, which sometimes made it difficult to be sure we were on the right path. However, this could be easily fixed if they included more detail about the different kinds of roads and paths we would be take. All in all, I had a fantastic time and have no regrets.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Aug 18, 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Sweden
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Chloe
Victoria - thanks for the review. We'll be sure to pass your details onto the tour operator regarding the bikes, GPS, and written instructions. It sounds like a few simple adjustments could take this tour up a notch. We're delighted to hear you had a fantastic time and liked the hotels, sights, and route!
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★★★★★ Kseed
Fun, but flawed
Best of Northern Zealand
We did the ‘Best of Northern Zealand’ trip. The locations were fun, and the the hotels decent enough. The bikes need to be upgraded. The most difficult part of the trip was the navigation. The GPS files don't have enough way points, so it rarely told us on what road we should be, instead pointing us across fields in a general direction. We wound up using Google Maps, which served us way better, but used a lot of battery on the phone. So make sure you have a smart phone and a good sized external battery for navigation. We did enjoy the trip quite a lot, but in general, with the exception of moving luggage around, we could have done just as well or better on our own.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 16th
- How many tours have you completed?
- Several
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Denmark
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★★★★★ Sam Fleischacker
Denmark is great; BikeTours is not
Royal Zealand and Copenhagen
Are you looking for a tour company that will send you bike directions to the wrong hotels, follow that up with a condescending note when you complain rather than apologizing and correcting their mistake, book you in charmless corporate hotels way outside of the towns you're headed for, and delete your GPS tracks before your trip is finished? If so, this is the trip for you! If not, look elsewhere. My wife and I had some wonderful biking on this trip - but that's because of Denmark, which has beautiful and very well-marked bike trails everywhere (running through forests often), not because of BikeTours: indeed, we sometimes needed to correct the GPS tracks we were sent by the Danish markers, or by asking locals for help. Our previous experience on a self-guided bike tour, in France, was magical: with lovely, varied hotels in beautiful places at the end of each day, a well-crafted route accurately represented on the GPS tracks, and good help available by phone if we needed it (to be fair the Copenhagen representative of this local bike company, Sofia, was very friendly and helpful). This was a great disappointment after that. If you're looking for a tour that is geared towards your enjoyment, rather than the bottom line of the tour operator, I'd avoid BikeTours.com.
- What was the date of your tour?
- July 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Denmark
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