Bike Tour Reviews page 139
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★★★★★ PeteN September 30, 2016Algarve Coastal Route
· Algarve Coastal Route
Very enjoyable scenic route. Great seafood, excellent weather (September). Good logistics. Challenging in parts however, due to traffic on roads and more hills than expected. We were glad to have ebikes. Tires supplied were not up to the trails and we suffered several punctures. I recommend checking equipment carefully before setting out.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 12, 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was the third
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Portugal
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★★★★★ Peter and Joyce November 3, 2019Birthday treat
· Mosel Bike Path: Dreamy Mosel Valley from Trier to Koblenz
The hotels booked were excellent and the luggage transfer was seamless. Bicycles were a little heavy but the range of adjustment allowed an ideal touring position.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 9th Oct 2019
- 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?
- Germany
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★★★★★ Peter Keithly November 8, 2022Well Organized Bicycle Tour of Dalmatia Coast
· · Bike and Boat Croatia’s Dalmatia Coast
Very well organized and comprehensive adventure. Probably best for those who want to use E-Bikes. Guides were energetic and fun to be around. Waiter was wonderful and very entertaining. Food was well prepared and plentiful. Our room was comfortable and kept cool for sleeping with A/C. Top deck could have been a bit more user friendly as there was no shade provided.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Croatia
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★★★★★ Retired Teacher September 28, 2016Great Scenery, but... poor bikes
· Bicycle Paths of the Dolomites (based in one hotel)
The rental bikes were NOT up to standards. One bike had defective derailluer and and to be substituted. Pedals and seats were hard to replace with ours, mechanic had to return next day with WD430 and oversized wrenches to get pedals off.
The hotel was very cute and nice, but across plaza from 2 churches that ran LOUD bells. Hotel room had no AC and no screens on windows and we spend time killing flies! The breakfast was good, dinner was good except for one night...do not get venison (2 of 4 of us could not cut with serrated knife!) There was an alternate choice most nights had we know that is better choice.
This is NOT traditional Italian food. Villabassa and Toblach are in the German speaking section of Sud Tyrol. It is an interesting combination of Austrian and Italian 'fusion' food. White table cloths and waiters. Lots of local wines to choose from.
The bike routes were VERY Scenic and for the most part enjoyable. We got lucky and only had rain at night, but bring your rain gear just in case! There is some
gravel surface that gave some of the group tour we bumped into a little trouble, but we had no problems. Most of the rides do not take most of the day, so stop and take all the photos you want. The weather in Dolomites is about 10-15 degrees cooler than Lake Garda because it is about 4000 feet. We started with layers and soon got down to short sleeves on most days in late September.- What was the date of your tour?
- Mid-Late September
- How many tours have you completed?
- Lots
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Poetry64 June 22, 2019Guide 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
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★★★★★ Alexthegr8 October 2, 2019A Bumpy Ride at Times, but Worth It.
· Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
The scenery ranges from pleasant (Asolo to Treviso) to spectacular (Cortina to Belluno), and the hotels (all of which were nice) were conveniently located with the exception of those in Belluno and Treviso, which are located too far from the center to walk. Bikes were OK, although the pump provided did not fit the tube stem, and the extra inner tube was too large. We saw very little signage on the first day, although the frequency of signage increased over the length of the trip. The GPS, for which we paid extra, did not work, and is unnecessary in any case. All that said, we enjoyed the riding very much, and would definitely recommend it to others, most particularly if they have some prior experience (there are a few detours along the way) .
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- 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
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★★★★★ PD November 11, 2023A good fun tour
West Coast of Malta E-Bike Tour
Saw some great sights, including mdina, great cliffs and bays. Paul was a humorous guide
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★★★★★ Patty October 10, 2017Awesome experience!
· · National Parks of Dalmatia by Bike/E-bike and Boat
I was very impressed with the Princessa Diana, she was a beautiful vessel and commanded a lot of attention when we came into port. The guides were phenomenal. Very informative, friendly and helpful. The itinerary was awesome and presented some challenging rides, but the views made it all worth while.
Food onboard was good and plentiful.
Would like to see the option of included wine and coffee/tea with dinner and coffee/tea for lunch. (Or offered as an optional add on to the base package price).- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept. 30, 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, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Croatia
-
★★★★★ Paula Zoccano September 24, 2023Beautiful trail
· Innsbruck to Lake Garda Across the Southern Slopes of the Alps
Pros:The hotels were very good. Wonderful cycle routes. Lovely towns.
Cons: In Riva I would have preferred to be in the old town beside the water. We had 2 hotels who did not have all our group booked. Unfortunately one couple had to stay by the airport a taxi ride to join us in Innsbruck (still trying to get reimbursed for hotel and cabs) and in Riva another couple were not booked but the hotel was able to give them a room. We also learned in one town we were not booked in the same hotel, our group of 5 couples were split up. I found that strange.
The meet and greet at the beginning was not at the hotel the company booked us to stay. We were expected to go to another location to get our briefing and bikes. I’ve never had that when booking with other cycle companies. We missed that in our notes and not until 7:00pm when the hotel gave us our booklets did we realize we should have been somewhere else. As a result we never had a meet and greet and bikes fitted to us. My husbands bike had a brake dragging and he needed a torque head screw driver to make adjustments and no torque head screw driver was supplied. He had to find one. The bikes should have been tested,
No water bottle cages on the bikes. -
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★★★★★ Patricia ONeill September 24, 2023Albania September 2023
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
Good guides and routes. Somewhat unsatisfactory accommodations because on Day 5 and Day 9, there were not enough reserved hotel rooms, so 2 x I and another solo traveler had to share a room [and bathroom] because the hotel had given 1 of our rooms away. One night was tolerable, but not really acceptable 2 x. It was a large group with the majority of people on e-bikes but we spent a lot of time [sometimes almost an hour] waiting for the non-e bikers [no fault of theirs]. This put pressure on the non-e bikers, guide, and meant that we arrived at the hotels later than expected, with less downtime to enjoy the destination. Our guide was very good, but our group would have enjoyed more cultural and historical conversations since this was billed as the UNESCO tour.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- 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?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Catherine Cram June 11, 2023
Convenient Way to Explore!
· Bicycle Paths of the Dolomites (based in one hotel)
We enjoyed our self-guided bike trip in the Dolomites, with great support from BikeTours.com. We appreciated the detailed route information and app support. My only complaint is that I would liked to have had a better bike to ride instead of the heavy, upright positioned bike provided. The bike didn't make the hills easy and it would have been more enjoyable to be on a lighter, more responsive bike.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 31st-June 6th, 2023.
- How many tours have you completed?
- One
- 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
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Pierre C. September 30, 2024nice trip but some advance planning is required
· Lake Constance Classic (11-nights)
Hotels and views were excellent for the most part. A couple of things to note: 1. Bikes are heavy duty and therefore very heavy, we upgraded to e-bikes 3 days into the trip, that was a big help. 2. Trails are not well marked, we met a few different groups during our tour of the lake and everyone was complaining about the written directions and even the gps tracking. Be prepared to have to stop, take an assessment and even back track a few times a day.
Crucial items if you want to use GPS tracking; buy a phone holder that can attach your phone to the bike before leaving on the trip, otherwise you will have major issues setting up your phone so you can see it properly (I tucked mine into the front basket which had a protective transparent cover, however with the glare, it was hard to read). Also, make sure that you bring a backup battery pack as 2 -3 hours of tracking and your phone will be dead.
Be prepared to bike some busy roads and gravel roads. One hotel (Bergenz) was located in a residential neighbourhood, there was ooe other restaurants within 600 meters, the rest were in town, 1.5 km away. Although the hotel restaurant was very nice, we spent more on dinner than we anticipated. Note that in St. Gallen almost all businesses and restaurants are closed on Sunday and many are also closed on Monday. Choices for meals and things to do become scarce if you are there during that time.
Finally, be prepared to spend lots of money in Switzerland $50CAD hamburgers in a sit down restaurant seems to be the norm, not for the faint of heart. If you want to save some money I suggest flying into Germany before and after, accommodations and meals will be a lot cheaper (we spent 3 days inSwitzerland before and three days after, we figure that those 6 days cost us at least an extra $1K compared to what Germany prices would have been).
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 2024
- 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?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Neil Gordon August 4, 2022
A mixture of old and new
· Algarve Coastal Route
A very nice mixture of quaint fishing villages and modern tourist towns. The cycling is mostly a mixture of unpaved trails and back roads, but there is some heavily traveled roads to navigate. Hotels are all 4 and 5 star. Bikes are heavy, buy designed for terrain. Excellent support.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 7
- 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?
- Portugal
-
★★★★★ William Gibson September 18, 2024Dolomites to the sea in Trieste
· Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps
This was a fun trip overall. The route begins with beautiful scenery thru mountain valleys with it's conclusion into the wine country north of Trieste. Numerous historical sites along the way with castles, churches and town centers to see. The lake in Bled is stunning.
Accommodations were mostly fantastic with excellent food for dinner and breakfast.
We had a few problems at the start with missing bike accessories for the e-bikes. Luckily this was easy to sort out at the bike shop in Dobbacio the evening before our ride.- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- Some self guided gravel biking in Colorado
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- 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, Slovenia, Austria
-
★★★★★ PegS October 26, 2022
Wonderful Guides, Lovely Tour
· · National Parks of Dalmatia by Bike/E-bike and Boat
Great way to experience Croatia. Our wonderful local guides, Dora and Mario, were cheerful, infinitely patient, organized, and full of helpful and interesting information. Improvements could be made on the boat with the WiFi, which was spotty, and the food, which was bland with lots of white sauce. We were surprised that the rides were so short, typically finished by noon. This was our first bike tour on an ebike, and that was fun. Some days we rode with it completely off to get a better workout.
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 12
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- 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?
- Croatia
-
★★★★★ Puiyee Tse November 7, 2022Too short of the bike ride
· · UNESCO Highlights of Dalmatia by E-bike and Boat
The bike ride was too short. I would like to have double the bike ride time instead of staying on the boat. The island are great but not enough time to explore each place. The boat food was terrible.
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 0
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Croatia
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★★★★★ DrFerro October 20, 2019Magical Umbria
· Umbria’s Green Valleys From the Pilgrimage Town of Assisi
The first couple days in the Umbria region were almost magical. Riding through the olive groves and vineyards, passing by the fig trees that were offering their ripe luscious fruits brought special significance to this region of great spirituality. (These fruits are all mentioned in the Bible.) Experiencing the places where Francis of Assisi had his illumination, along with countless others who are nameless, reminds the visitor that all these churches, chapels, and basilicas are there because of the Italian people's expressions.
This was our sixth European bike tour. It was our first tour in Italy, and also the first tour we had done that was almost completely on roads (as opposed to dedicated bike trails). That said, we felt somewhat vulnerable, especially in heavily populated areas. Italian drivers are not overly aggressive or careless, but they do like to drive fast. Pavement conditions on several roads were pretty bad, especially near the edges where one would ride. Distances on the daily rides were about right given the riding conditions, there were interesting things to see and the written directions were excellent. The accommodations on this tour were outstanding, the food remarkable, and the hospitality of the Italian people warmed our hearts. Of the six tours we have taken, this is the first one where we gained weight after five days of riding!- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept. 18, 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- 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
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★★★★★ Reigh Walling November 8, 2022A rich historical past and a vibrant and diverse present. That's Portugal.
· Castles and Wines of Portugal
If you told most people that you were going to cycle Portugal, they would only think of Lisbon. Well, that is a beautiful city, but an hour's train ride took us from coastal topography to a totally different landscape of rolling hills topped with cork trees and vineyards. The tour was a nice mix of ancient walled cities and rural rolling roads. Cows graze amid the monoliths. Sheep browse for grass under the olive trees, each wearing a tiny tinkle bell around its neck -- their movement producing a melodious windchime symphony. Accommodations ranged from a rustic farmhouse to an actual palace, and the route and attributes of the tour also bridged history and modern culture. But it's Portugal's people who are the real stars of the tour. And of course, the food.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Portugal
-
★★★★★ Denise Walling October 14, 2024Showcase for the Diversity of Catalonia
· Medieval Villages of Catalonia
From the mountains to the sea - the first day's ride was spectacular! Dining options along the coast were wonderful. Inland, especially in the village of Monells, the options for dining were very limited. Accommodations were wonderful - welcoming and comfortable. The daily rides after the first day included challenging climbs, especially without an ebike, and some of the urban portions were in aggressive traffic, but overall, we found solitude and peace in this beautiful country, flying down the backsides of the hills we had conquered. The routes were easy to follow, and scenic and historical/cultural attractions were enjoyable too.
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 9
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Spain
