Bike Tour Reviews page 170
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★★★★★ PAULINE MOENCH
TRIP OF DREAMS THAT FELL FAR SHORT
Danube Delights: Biking through Four Countries
Not much to say here since our boat never left the dock. Our host, Lesley, was a peach and completely competent. If not for him, we would have left on day two. My biggest disappointment was only having bus tours to Budapest and Bratislava. I would have appreciated a little creativity added in to take us to a couple more places. The tour people were awful with their communication, telling us for three days in a row that we might leave when we knew we were going nowhere. The crew was great, the food was not the greatest, but no complaints. I have a special diet that they were over the top accommodating of. You drastically need to improve your beverage packages—not enough provided for the $$$ we paid up front. 498 euros for the two of us when we wound up spending most of our day off the boat was out of line. If we had been cycling every day, I would not have purchased a package, considering you did not include what are everyday cocktails in the USA, like Manhattans.
For the rooms, rather than having that dopey pull-out at the end of the bed, leave that area under the bed open for luggage storage. Also, get rid of the carpet. Beds were very comfortable. We would have liked to have left our sliding door open a bit. Some kind of stop at the base so they can be open six or eight inches would have been appreciated. I’m sure the daily bike routes would have been great if we had been able to utilize them.
- What was the date of your tour?
- SEPT 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 0
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia
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BikeTours.com staff reply from jan
The epic storm that hit during your trip effected 100s of our guests. The people on the ground were left in a very very difficult situation and we apologize for any inconvenience this caused. Unfortunately we cannot control the weather. Thanks for your business and we hope you travel with us again.
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★★★★★ Hutch
Not what was expected.
Aare Cycle Route: Along the Jura, Aare, and Rhine Rivers
This was our 9th bike trip in Europe, previous ratings and reviews of trips had been pretty acurate. But this trip was not what we expected. We might have a different view if we were in our 20s or 30s so any review submitted should be evaluated with that in mind. The trip was very intensive even with ebikes (our first use of ebikes) and only serious cyclists should forego those. There were many large hills and rough surfaces (30-40% gravel). Sporadic beautiful scenery, but not even close to what we have experienced before. Hotels were all clean and about half were really nice, but several were positioned away from main points of interest and the bike route and since the stopover sites were larger cities they were hard to find (maps to hotels were not detailed, thankfully we had google maps). On the positive side, the bike route is signed very well and we had no trouble finding our way between cities. Finding good stops along the route for lunch/coffee/etc was not as easy as we had experienced on previous trips. In short, we would not classify this route as recreational or recommend it as a family trip.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Aug 2019
- How many tours have you completed?
- 11
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Switzerland
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Chloe
Hi Hutch, and thanks for the review. We appreciate your feedback that this tour was tougher and the scenery was different than what you had expected. We hope these details may help inform future clients to make the best decision possible. It seems this tour has intermittently beautiful scenery; we certainly do get spoiled on many tours where it's constantly scenic. We're glad you enjoyed the well-signed bike route and were able to navigate with the assistance of google maps. We're hoping the next one suits you better. Thanks again!
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★★★★★ James Hutcherson
Could have been better
Loire a Velo: Orleans to the Atlantic
This tour was our 12th bicycle tour, but the first in France. Distances were good, weather cooperated, Hotels were excellent. Route was very well sign posted. We found the route much more difficult than we expected. Many hills. The previous reviews and description did not even mention that aspect. These would have not caused much of a problem if we had opted for ebikes, and the vast majority of riders that we encountered did have ebikes. I would disagree that this tour would be labeled as family friendly, unless the family has no kids. One difficulty we had was that there were no intermediate stops for coffee, snacks, lunch, water, etc. I would recommend packing those items from the departure town each day. While the route does generally follow the river, most of the route is not next to the river and it is not visable most of the time. I hope this review does not deter anyone from this tour, since the castles, hotels, food should be enjoyed. Just a little heads-up advice.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 12
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ James Hutcherson
Flood of decades
Danube Delights: Biking through Four Countries
Can’t change the weather. Boat crew and food was excellent. Everyone tried their best to make the trip as good as they could. Kudos to all involved. Bikes were excellent and well maintained.
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★★★★★ The dozer
Challenging to peddle to fairy tale cities.
Prague to Vienna via Cesky Krumlov
The route was challenging, navigation difficults, but beautiful UNESCO sites each night. We were just dropped off with the wrong bikes, a Garmin we could not use, and one sheet of paper with directions and overview of route. If it had not been for 5 Irish ladies on the same route we would have really struggled. They had a Garmin that worked and with intense map study did not get lost as often as we did. VERY few people spoke English. Our pick up person was very rude to the Irish ladies.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2015
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Czech Republic
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Lindsay Nash
Hi! Thanks so much for sharing your experience. We're glad to hear you had a good trip overall. Aren't the UNESCO sites just fascinating?
We're sorry to hear of your trouble with the bikes and Garmin along the route. We'll share this feedback with the local operator and work to improve this service!
Thank you again for sharing your experience and helping us to spread the joy of bicycle tourism.
Kind regards,
Lindsay
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★★★★★ Cycle2017
Our Venice to Porec Challenge
Venice to Trieste and Istria
This tour proved to be more challenging than anticipated, partly due to torrential rains on 2 days and windy conditions most of the week. Concerns included long riding distances with limited facilities between some of the planned stops -e.g. -few restaurants or stores to purchase snacks and more water. The signage didn't always match the tour directions, creating confusion and likely longer rides than planned. The final day -70 km, with 50% uphill is a challenge for casual riders. Casual recreational riders will find some of the days long and some of the terrain challenging. The local provider provided excellent support when we were flooded out of a hotel and unable to ride due to area flooding, and also assisted with transportation for the final transfer when a member of the group was ill, and weather conditions were miserable. Despite this, our group, 3 recreational riders and 1 experienced rider, enjoyed visiting the beautiful cities along the route -when the weather cooperated.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 10-16
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Croatia, Italy, Slovenia
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Jim Johnson, founder and president
Janet, thank you for your valuable feedback, which we will pass along to the local tour company. We'll also take your comments into consideration when advising future clients.
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★★★★★ Jonathan M
Great trails, not well organized
Cycling the Altmühl Valley - Round trip from Regensburg
This trip follows well marked German bike trails which are very easy to navigate and quite scenic. The hotels are fabulous. However, we did not have a good experience with the German bike company (Radweg Reisen) that operates the trip on the ground. We were self-guided, and our information package was not available the day we arrived, so we didn't have maps and guiding information in advance. When the packet arrived the next morning, we discovered that it contained very little about sights near the tour route. We were able to Google plenty of side trips but wondered: isn't that the job of the tour company? Also, our bikes were delivered late on the day we were supposed to start, so we lost a morning of biking (and actually the bikes were eventually delivered not by the tour company but by an English family to whom the bikes had been misdelivered). We called Radweg Reisen but their corporate office was located hundreds of km away. We have been on lots of trips with biketours.com and find that the smaller shops are much more attentive and give better service. Radweg Reisen is too big to care about 2 self-guided bikers.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 8/25-8/30
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10
- 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?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
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★★★★★ John Matthew Schley
Both really great and just OK
Algarve Coastal Route
The weather in February was perfection. We saw many beautiful sights. Each days biking was varied. We stayed in very large hotels/spas. They were objectively good hotels. We hated them. Really felt separated from environment. Felt I could have been anywhere. Restaurants we visited along the way were all excellent. My wife had a problem with her bike. The team handled it wonderfully. Every person who we interacted with on their team were gracious and helpful. While there are many examples of natural beauty in the Algarve , the amount of development, both miles of very expensive holiday homes, and strips of pizza joints and t-shirt stores made the trip not completely what we hoped for.
- What was the date of your tour?
- February 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- 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?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Portugal
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BikeTours.com staff reply from bozena_kusovac
Hi John, thank you for providing your feedback! While we were surprised by the 3-star rating, we genuinely appreciate your detailed description of your experience. We're delighted to hear that you enjoyed the scenic views and diverse biking routes. We look forward to helping you organize another trip again in the future.
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★★★★★ Janet Fraser
How a tour guide can ruin what could have been a great experience
Provence by Bike and Boat
While the cycling was good, scenery lovely, other passengers and crew delightful, the irritatingly arrogant sexist and intrusive behaviours by our tour guide (Heim) who claimed to have built the company, put a huge damper on the trip for many of us. Although we enjoyed the bikes, the meal times were chaos due to too many passengers in too small a space. Also the general condition of the boat, Caprice, needs improvement.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Aug, Sept 2024
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ JEC65
A different biking experience
Bruges to Paris by Bike and Boat (and reverse)
Thirteen days of easy to moderate biking. The crew were friendly and helpful. The food was excellent! Lots of extra sightseeing excursions to choose from. Very old boat with very small cabins was the only drawback but price was reasonable.Generally the routes were on quiet roads on all types of surfaces.
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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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★★★★★ joe eberly
Nice Ride
Lake Constance Bicycle Path
This is a very easy ride with mostly flat land around a beautiful lake. We had e-bikes which made it very easy. Hotels all very nice, but no AC for hot weather. June can be risky with the weather. We had two days of five with steady rain. This is our 3rd trip with Bikes.com and was my lest favorite. We never met our local tour operator, even when we picked up our bikes. There was substantial flooding due to heavy rains and some road construction that we didn't know about until we came to it. It was at that time we had to figure an alternate route. A little heads up would have save a lot confusion, especially during our rainy days. On previous trips, the tour operator spent time going over the route with areas we needed to pay attention to. The fact that none of us spoke German didn't help in trying to understand road signs. The route is well marked but makings change from country to country, so pay attention.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Mid-June 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ John Cooley
Great trip---but could have been better
Coastal Islands of Southern Dalmatia
This was a great trip, however the lead guide was difficult to get along with ---the second guide was new and fantastic. The lead guide was overly strict and a bit condescending. We did not bike one of the days because he decided since there was rain we would not cycle. That was VERY disappointing. I was on a boat bike trip in Belgium and Netherlands and we biked rain or shine. The time we started biking was a bit late too-----it did not leave much time for for activities after biking.
The saving grace for the trip was the staff was fantastic on the Yolo.
One additional note is that this should be E-bike only....there is no way for a regular bike to keep up with ebikes on the terrain on this trip. One of the passengers insisted on riding a regular bike and on two separate days had to switch bikes with the guide in the rear so he could make it. He should have been told to switch to an ebike by the guides.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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?
- Croatia
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★★★★★ JPeter
History seen
Venice to Florence: From Rialto Across the Sea to Ponte Vecchio
The accommodations were satisfactory to good (hotel in Choggia was wonderful). The trip was as expected and explained in the brochure. For the most part the directions and markers were decent except in Florence. Little to no markers seen and the directions to the parking garage given were incorrect for Florence, frustrating.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 09/17 to 09/23
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2 including this one
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much 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
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★★★★★ Julia Bouchard
Beautiful countryside
Balkan Treasures
The countries we visited were awesome. The local tour operator left a lot to be desired. Before leaving the US we tried multiple times to download the gps routes onto our phones. Biketours.com stated they do not support the app we were supposed to use…..when we arrived in Trebinje our first day, none of us were able to see the routes…after phone calls with local operator, he walked us through using an app with his username and password-less than ideal. We eventually had the routes on our phones,but no way to mount phone on handlebars. Eventually we got one phone holder that immediately dropped the phone while spinning around!
Initially I was given a bike that was way too small. Tour operator wanted me to use it for the first day which had the longest climb of the week. Eventually he did supply a proper fitting bike that night. We never had anyone to check the bikes with us….
Many of the hotels were quite nice but when we were transferred to Stari Bar, the hotel owner said we did not have reservations. He gave us awful rooms, over the kitchen noisey, sink that didn’t drain…..husband got food poisoning from the restaurant. Albania was disappointing because the lake was so dirty and riding in the city was dangerous The Balkans are awesome but the local tour operator was not up to the standard I expected and received on previous bike tours.com trips- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania, Montenegro, Croatia
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★★★★★ Kelly Kimbler
Fun with friends
Holland’s Super Tulip Tour
The weather was not great so we had to roll with it. For it being a super tulip tour I thought we see more tulip farms and maybe visit one to see the inner workings of how tulips are produced and sold.
Our guide was trying hard but with a group the size of ours I’m sure that was difficult. I think it was her first time doing the super tulip tour. We missed both the flower market and the cheese market from them being closed on the days we were there. I think the cost of admission into keukenhof should have been included instead of us each having to buy ours individually online the night before. The flower parade was a nice bonus since we didn’t get to see the flower parade.
The food was good. The accommodations were basic but clean.- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- 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?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Kelly Kimbler
Fun with friends
Holland’s Super Tulip Tour
The weather was not great so we had to roll with it. For it being a super tulip tour I thought we see more tulip farms and maybe visit one to see the inner workings of how tulips are produced and sold.
Our guide was trying hard but with a group the size of ours I’m sure that was difficult. I think it was her first time doing the super tulip tour. We missed both the flower market and the cheese market from them being closed on the days we were there. I think the cost of admission into keukenhof should have been included instead of us each having to buy ours individually online the night before. The flower parade was a nice bonus since we didn’t get to see the flower parade.
The food was good. The accommodations were basic but clean.- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- 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?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Karen and Martin Keller
All bike tours are not equal
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
We are experienced bike tourists and have used several bike tour companies as well as planning our own tours. For this tour in particular: Accommodations were all very nice. The luggage transfers were timely and efficient and Roman, the driver, was great. The GPS worked well. The bikes were average and in good repair. A suggestion would be to have various saddle options. Overall the items and logistics of the bike tour co operator were in control of were very good. Specific to our experience, the actual mileages were different than initial itinerary causing final day plans in Budapest to be foiled. In our opinion, this stretch of the Danube radweg is not as scenic as the Passau to Vienna section. To no one’s fault, our specific tour was plagued by extreme heat and 3 days of solid torrential rain, which made this a less than ideal experience. Tour operator came through to try to assist us with alternative transportation options, which we appreciate.
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★★★★★ Richard 69
A nice ride
Strasbourg to Mainz: Imperial Cities and Charming Landscapes Along the Rhine
This is our eighth time cycling in Europe so we are experienced cyclers. This is the first and only time we had any problems. When we arrived in Strassbourg in the evening and checked our bikes we noticed right off that one of the bikes had a problem. We called Eurobike the next morning to resolve the issue and we were underwhelmed by their response. After several phone calls and two and a half hours taken out of the day we planned to spend sightseeing in Strassbourg I finally demanded that they bring us another bike which they reluctantly agreed to do. If we had not taken an extra day in Strassbourg there would have been no way for us to complete the first leg of our tour. So there was that.
We have always chosen the B level hotels and have always been more than satisfied. This tour the hotels were hit and miss. The Hotel Ibis in Heidelberg gave us a room that was literally the size of a closet nd it was more than a mile walk to get to the historic old town. The hotel Asgard in Worms was also a long way from the city center. I will say that all the hotels served a good breakfast.
The bikes were the typical rental bikes that we always get so they are a little heavy and slow so no surprises there. But we found the road surfaces to be very rough in many places which made for very slow travel and we found ourselves reaching our destinations much later than we planned.
We cycled through forests and lots of farmland which was fine but we really did not cycle along the Rhine as much as we would have liked. The scenery was pleasant enough but not nearly as spectacular as other tours we’ve taken.
The printed directions are always confusing and at times our route was not as well marked as we would have liked so there was a lot of stopping to check our phones. We found the app that we downloaded to be very helpful.
It’s always fun and exciting to be cycling in Europe and we did enjoy ourselves and had many fine meals along the way. Unfortunately this ride did not compare favorably with the other seven tours we’ve taken.
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