Bike Tour Reviews  page 171

  • Algarve Coastal Route
    (1/5) Amanda Jennings September 25, 2023

    Serious amounts of traffic

    · Algarve Coastal Route

    This ride has you in a lot of heavy traffic and even on the motorway at some places. The ride takes you through heavily touristed areas and then areas with nothing. This country very much highlighted the haves and the have nots in the country. I did not like the ride, it wasn't worth all of the traffic that we had to deal with.

    What was the date of your tour?
    September 2023
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    As expected
    Do you recommend this tour?
    No
    Countries included in this tour?
    Portugal
    • 1/5 Value
    • 1/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 5/5 Hotels or boat
    • 1/5 Scenery
    • 2/5 Ease of navigation
    • 5/5 Tour documents
  • Vienna to Budapest
    (1/5) Eric September 3, 2019

    Lackluster field tour!!

    · Vienna to Budapest (Classic)

    Hate to be the negative Nelly,but this tour was nowhere near where i'd hoped it to be...It really shouldn't be listed as a Danube River tour,as the only day i saw the river all day,was the last.Several days of riding through corn and sunflower fields on unmarked trails with poor direction. Let me be clear,I chose to follow the map and directions given,as I had no cell phone service in Europe. The last tour I did was Prague to Dresden.Clearly marked trails,with a GPS that wasn't great,but sufficient. Apparently I got my hopes up too high after that one.Spent most of my time checking and double checking Km markers in the guide Vs. Km markers on the bike. Not the relaxing ride I had hoped for.I,along with several other riders,spent some extra time looking for the actual trail. I was watching many people do the same as me...looking for the trail!! Too many unmarked junctions,this trail is really undeveloped in this part of Europe,which was unfortunate-this is what i went for,the ride.A lot of off road time,which would be fine,if I wasn't so busy checking and double checking maps.Really stressful when it should've been relaxing. The positive is the towns were great,the hotels were all very nice,the bike was better than I expected and handled everything-including the off road,and my luggage was always where it was supposed to be.I just so badly wish the ride would've been more relaxing....As i said when i began-the last day of the tour was what I had hoped for the whole length of the tour,relaxing and enjoyable.Unfortunately,it was the only one...

    What was the date of your tour?
    8-13-19
    How many tours have you completed?
    4
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    Somewhat harder
    Do you recommend this tour?
    No
    Countries included in this tour?
    Austria, Hungary
    • 2/5 Value
    • 4/5 Included meals
    • 4/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 4/5 Hotels or boat
    • 1/5 Scenery
    • 1/5 Ease of navigation
    • 2/5 Tour documents
    • 2/5 Local tour company services
    • 1/5 Route selection
  • Royal Zealand & Copenhagen
    (1/5) Sam Fleischacker July 16, 2024

    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
    • The bathroom in one of our hotels (the shower runs via the sink) - not sure how this hotel managed to eke out 3 stars ... (photo by Sam Fleischacker)
    • 1/5 Value
    • 4/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 1/5 Hotels or boat
    • 5/5 Scenery
    • 2/5 Ease of navigation
    • 1/5 Tour documents
    • 3/5 Local tour company services
    • 4/5 Route selection
  • Dolomites to Trieste
    (1/5) Heather Batchelor June 7, 2024

    Hail, lightning and rain

    · Dolomites to Trieste via Lake Bled at the Foot of the Julian Alps

    Didn’t get to do the trip because of terrible weather and the idea of sitting in a hotel room until 6pm without any luggage.

    Countries included in this tour?
    Italy, Slovenia, Austria
  • Danube Bike Path
    (1/5) Richard Severson October 9, 2024

    Very dissatisfied

    · Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)

    Our trip was shortened due to previous rains which had damaged the trail and sections were closed. We were not informed of this issue until we had been biking for two days. We were unable to ride the final two days as the trail was closed.
    We should have been notified of this situation prior to our leaving home. We would have cancelled the trip (we had trip insurance) and rebooked for next year. VERY disappointed in the way this information was withheld from us. It is a clear case of the bike touring company looking out for themselves and totally disregarding us, the customer.
    Also, one member of our party had to cancel due to medical reasons. This information must not have reached the provider as 4 bikes were delivered and all hotels were expecting 4 people.

    Countries included in this tour?
    Austria, Germany
  • Danube Family Tour
    (1/5) Mama May 22, 2016

    Danube family bike tour???

    · Danube Family Tour 7 Nights

    This trip did not turn out to be anything like we expected. Although the hotels and the scenery were beautiful the support from The Bike Company was useless. When a child with a temp of 104 needed a hospital they had no suggestions on where to go or how to get there. The maps they provided were useless and the directions given to us on the first night we're completed in about 20 minutes. The bikes were inconsistent some had water bottle holders some not. The day at the spa although nice contain total nudity. American children aren't used to that. The Farm Hotel turned out to be 3 goats. The bike ride into Venice was four miles of City biking. bike trails in Vienna are gorgeous but not particularly child friendly. The Danube bike paths all though lovely contained many areas where the speed limit was 70 kilometers an hour. We had seven and 10 year old children riding.The bike support was not given by the tour company but by another tour company. Support really meant they just transported our luggage. This would have been a beautiful ride for adults and teenagers. Not young children. the maps need to be completely redone.

    How many tours have you completed?
    8
    Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
    As expected
    Who is this tour suitable for?
    Families with teens
    Do you recommend this tour?
    No
    Countries included in this tour?
    Austria, Germany
    • 1/5 Value
    • 3/5 Included meals
    • 2/5 Bikes + equipment
    • 4/5 Hotels or boat
    • 5/5 Scenery
    • 1/5 Ease of navigation
    • 3/5 Tour documents
    • 1/5 Local tour company services
    • 2/5 Route selection