Bike Tour Reviews page 96
- Albania
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Cambodia
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- England
- Estonia
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Holland
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Montenegro
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Scotland
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
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- Turkey
- United States
- Vietnam
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★★★★★ Mike Brinkley June 7, 2023Spectacular
· Innsbruck to Lake Garda Across the Southern Slopes of the Alps
Spectacular scenery with an excellent local bike company who was very organized and helpful. Maps were good and the bike paths well marked in almost every place. The hotels were good and mostly in locations easy to find. Excellent trip.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2023
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Italy
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★★★★★ Michael Beiley June 8, 2023Top quality bike trip
· Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
Excellent,. Dedicated bikepaths or other bikepaths along most of the route, app very easy to follow, beautiful scenery, many places to stop along the way, biking all flat and most days biked between 30-40 miles. Hotels were very nice, near bikepath and near city center and restaurants. Rented hybrid bikes were very nice but needed a few adjustments along the way. Bike company picked up and delivered without any glitches. Highly recommend for beginners to intermediate riders.
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★★★★★ Harry Dobrowolski June 9, 2023Best of Slovenia
· Best of Slovenia: Highlights Across the Country From Bled to Piran
11 days was perfect to enjoy the beautiful bike tour of Best of Slovenia. Food and Hotels had been outstanding. It’s worth to book hotel upgrades. Standard rooms are very small.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May/June 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- more than 20
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Slovenia
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★★★★★ Karen Goodkin June 9, 2023Water, windmills and tall skinny houses
· Amsterdam to Bruges: Cycling through South Holland and Zeeland
Loved everything about this trip. The route took us through beautiful areas, all avoiding cars and large roads. Accommodations were excellent and the choice of towns and small cities for overnight stays were charming and worth our while. Distinctive too. Bikes were incredible! All in all, an excellent bike trip.
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★★★★★ Stanley Holman June 9, 2023Excellent tour.
· Medieval Villages of Catalonia
This self-guided tour was easily managed. The cycling was moderate, and most of the route was on either dedicated bike routes or calm roads. A reasonably accomplished cyclist would not need to dis-mount for the occasional steep or rough section (always short.) There was plenty of time to move from hotel to hotel and there were only 3 days when a move was required. There were numerous opportunities for refreshments along the way. AND the scenery was grand! Such a lovely way to see the countryside - riding through farmed fields, villages and towns. Able to smell the air and the scents of the flowers, hear the birds and feel the sun and the breeze. It was a great experience. And the hotels were excellent with delicious breakfasts.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May/June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- 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?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Dave Carlstrom June 10, 2023
On the road again... our third Biketours.com adventure
· Lake Constance Classic (11-nights)
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
SHOW LESS- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Germany, Switzerland
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★★★★★ Catherine Cram June 11, 2023Convenient 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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★★★★★ Karen Regin June 11, 2023Beautiful Austria
· Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)
The upscale lodging is absolutely wonderful. There was only one property that did not exceed expectations. The contact in Europe was less satisfying. Directions were sometimes hard to interpret, we ended up with directions to one town when our lodging was in another town, and there was not any help with GPS directions. But the bikes were nice and the lodging choices excellent overall.
The bike paths are wonderful and the country is beautiful. We really enjoyed riding through the small towns and eating at local cafes. There is not much English anywhere so be prepared for that. Overall, we loved the trip! -
★★★★★ Lowell Snow June 11, 2023Perfect Antidote to Winter
· Algarve Coastal Route
Warm, clear days. Manageable daily miles all along the coast. Excellent food. Good bikes and great support. Can’t ask for much more than that
- Countries included in this tour?
- Portugal
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★★★★★ Carla Myers June 11, 2023Great Trip
· · Mosel & Saar by Bike & Boat
This bike ride is one of our favorites, between the scenery and the options of some side trips during the ride and the wine tasting excursions. The crew was great. The only complaint was at dinner if you wanted anything to drink (even water, coffee & tea) you had to pay. Luckily the drink package was cheap, it was only good from 4pm to 11pm. Water, tea, juice and coffee were included at breakfast, we were on the road for lunch. They had everything you needed to make your sandwiches for lunch, including water, candy bars and fruit. Bring something to package your food.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 20, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5
- 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
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
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★★★★★ John Berg June 12, 2023Beautiful way to see the Netherlands and Belgium.
· · Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Magnifique II (and reverse)
This is a great way to see the Netherlands and Belgium - small villages, beautiful landscapes, and an escape from the great crowds of tourists in the large cities. I especially appreciated the guides and the crew of the Magnifique II. All of them were great hosts. I felt we were on a friend's private yacht. The other guests were all very interesting and enjoyable companions on the trip. Being with a small group, who were all active and energetic people, meant we didn't have to wait for people before beginning our tours. The larger cruise ships tend to attract a more sedentary group, which means very slow movement and long waits before getting started. The biking part of made this trip outstanding as did the crew and our fellow travelers.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- This is the first bike tour I have been on
- 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?
- Belgium, Holland
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★★★★★ Stephen Weber June 12, 2023Outstanding trip
· · Pearls of Dalmatia by Bike and Boat, Romantica
My wife and I took the Romantica from Dubrovnik to Split and had an excellent time! The three guides were outstanding: knowledgeable and extremely personable. We only had 12 people in our group, so there was lots of room on the boat to wander around. The city walking tours were a nice addition. The hills are a real climb, most of our group were on e-bikes but I started the trip on a peddle-bike. After 3 days I switched to an e-bike and really preferred it, would recommend e-bikes.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- This is my third bike/boat tour
- 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?
- Croatia
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★★★★★ Timothy Thornberry June 13, 2023Outstanding! Portugal is amazing!
· Best of the Algarve by Road Bike
Entire experience was great! 6 days of riding in Algarve! Routes were great! Hotels very nice! Portuguese people were gracious hosts! Wonderful experience! Can't wait to do it again! (Recommend a rest day in the middle. traveling and biking is hard on you!)
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- 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?
- Portugal
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★★★★★ Jeff and Sue Ross June 13, 2023
Great Adventure Worth Taking
· Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
This Self-Guided relatively flat route took us to some amazing places. The App which was included by the local company proved each days GPS Maps on your phone and work flawlessly. With the app, paper maps were not really needed, but helpful to have just in case. We were pleased with the quality of the hotels the local company had us stay in, all within walking distance to sites to see in each town. We wend in early June, which turned out to perfect, the weather was good and flowers in bloom. The route included a combination of paved and gravel trails and a few miles on roads that were not busy. The few roads turned out to be a non-issue.
Our only suggestion to riders, be familiar with Google Maps, download the area to use offline and maybe even pinpoint your hotels in Google maps ahead of time. With ALL tour companies, the GPS Maps and even paper maps do not always take you to your hotel, since in some cases they have multiple hotels they may use in each town. The end of the map rides may be close, but in some of these towns things can get confusing.
Last Added Note:
Our adventure was a combination of 3 separate rides, Innsbruck to Salzburg, Salzburg to Vienna and then Vienna to Budapest. all offered BikeTours.com. We combined all with few rest days in-between, to take in the sites in Innsbruck,Vienna and Budapest, taking 31 days to complete, if you have the time, well worth doing, we would do each of the rides again in a heartbeat.- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- We combined 3 bike tours into this one adventure (see review section), These were tours 6, 7 and 8, so 8 in total.
- 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?
- Austria, Hungary
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★★★★★ Evelyn Landry June 14, 2023Perfect way to experience northern Spain
· Northern Spain: Cantabrian & Asturian Coasts
This was a great way to be introduced to Northern Spain. The hotel accommodations were all great. The bicycles were in great condition and fit perfectly; they were great for the climbs. We really appreciated having two nights in some of the towns. Gave us time to explore the area after a good night's rest.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 5-10
- 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?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Terry Edeli June 14, 2023
Amazing
· Amsterdam to Bruges: Cycling through South Holland and Zeeland
Lovely trip. The itinerary was expertly planned for the scenic and carefree routes. Hotels were great. Bikes excellent. Super service.
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★★★★★ Henk V June 15, 2023All the sights in 3 hours
Rome Highlights Bike Tour
My daughter and I took the tour with Allesandro as our guide. We only had one day in Rome and the bike tour was a perfect way to get the most out of our day. The bike shop is on a very pretty street with flowery vine plants covering the street over the power lines.
Allesandro is a biking enthusiast and he knows the city very well. Rome is quite busy but the route was mostly back streets without too much traffic (car or pedestrian). However, there were a few spots where we needed to be in traffic and the tour has a bit of climbing so I'm glad we took the e-bikes. The bikes were heavy but quality.
We got some great pictures at each stop on the way. It was only the three of us so we moved fairly quickly and didn't dawdle much at the sites. Allesandro offered to take us to a couple more spots beyond what the normal tour had but unfortunately it started raining.
I would easily recommend this tour, especially if you have limited time. And Allesandro was a nice guide for the tour. His English was 6/10 but he knew a lot and was very friendly. -
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★★★★★ Karen Norlin June 16, 2023Albania is a wonderful destination!
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
The tour was great!. The bikes were in excellent condition. I didn't realize that the terrain was so mountainous, so I'm really glad I went for an e-bike. I really liked that most days included a side trip by bike or walking to explore the area. Each day had just the right amount of stops for coffee, snacks and lunch. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and courteous, and went out of his way to accommodate special requests. The food was great, all local, fresh, and authentic. Accomodations ranged from nice hotels in the cities to rustic cabins in the countryside to seaside resorts, which made me feel like I was experiencing the diversity of the country. One negative is that our group had 20 participants, which is the maximum for this trip. Although our guide and driver were able to easily handle this large a group, I would probably prefer being in a smaller group. I also would have liked a rest day in the middle of the trip, to allow some time to recover before the last 2 big climbing days, and provide an opportunity to spend a day exploring outside of the tour itinerary. I have been raving about this trip to my friends and family, and would not hesitate to recommend this trip to anyone looking for a biking adventure in Europe.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 3, 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was my fourth group bike tour
- 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?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Andrew Avramides June 16, 2023Great way to see Germany and Denmark off the beaten track
· Berlin – Copenhagen
Enjoyed the trip -some days were very long and so we caught the train to reduce the fatigue
The tour notes were very helpful to help us decide on the train option
We used the train twice but still cycled when we got the the town -this way we could enjoy the town
Some of the hotels were ordinary and I think they could be improved -
★★★★★ Gregory Gibb June 17, 2023
Great trip
· Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)
The staff was incredibly helpful with making arrangement for one of our party to ride with the luggage bus after he had a medical incident. I can't how much we appreciated it!
