Spain Bike Tour Reviews (page 9)
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★★★★★ BRAG November 12, 2017Great Leadership and organization for a customized tour of the Camino!
· Camino de Santiago: From León to Santiago
Our 18-person group experienced the Camino by bike both on parallel paved roads and on the path, when feasible. We saw spectacular countryside, biked the back roads through quaint villages, talked with other pilgrims, visited churches and religious sights, enjoyed the local food, and stayed in comfortable inns and lodges each evening. Attending mass in the Cathedral of Santiago was a highlight. It's a good way for a group to experience the Camino in only 8 days and we earned the Compostela by biking 206 miles. .
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept. 16, 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8 with Bike Tours.com
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- 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?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Bullet November 6, 2017
BRAG el Camino Trip sept. 207
· Camino de Santiago: From León to Santiago
- What was the date of your tour?
- 7/16-23/17
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10+
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Spain
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★★★★★ mikie November 2, 2017
Very nice ride. Seeing the pilgrims on the trail was heartwarming. Our guides were outstanidng.
· Camino de Santiago: From León to Santiago
- What was the date of your tour?
- 9/15 to 9/24
- How many tours have you completed?
- 30
- 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?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Cathy62 October 27, 2017Hardest bike trip I've ever done. Proud to have finished.
· Camino de Santiago: From Porto to Santiago de Compostela
I think this trip is a level 4 rather than a level 3 ride. It had some very difficult terrain that resulted in several in our group doing a fair amount of walking with their bikes. An electrical bike would have made the trip even more difficult.
Because of the difficulty of the terrain I missed seeing a lot of scenery. Keeping my eyes on the off-road trails to navigate the loose rocks meant I couldn't look around.
The Live, Love, Ride contact was great and responded in a timely manner to our needs. We did have one flat tire for which the incorrect sized tube was loaded on that bike. We did find the correct size on another bike in the group.
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★★★★★ Badger biker October 26, 2017
Good trip
· Medieval Villages of Catalonia
A very interesting ride along the shore of the Costa Brava and by a number od medieval towns. Generally not a difficult ride however much of the ride is on unpaved lanes and quite of bit of that is on rough roads, with sand and big rocks and large potholes. The tour company Creative Catalonia was very good. The hotels were excellent.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Oct 5 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Cowboybob October 17, 2017Off-Road Adventure
· Medieval Villages of Catalonia
My first tour with Creative Catalonia tours, and I would consider another. I was with a group of eight friends, one who managed the Garmin about 90% of the daily routes were on off-roadway, gravel trails through beautiful countryside. Staying on route required close reading of the route maps at times. The villages toured are amazing for their age and charm. Plenty of great cafes and restaurants along the way. The arranged hotel lodging was very good.
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 6, 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- 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?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Gelc October 15, 2017Majorka loop tour
· Majorca: A Loop Tour of the Beautiful Balearic Island
- What was the date of your tour?
- Oct 1 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- 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?
- Spain
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★★★★★ From Canada October 15, 2017
Great trip.
· Majorca: A Loop Tour of the Beautiful Balearic Island
This was our first self guided tour. Almost everything was perfect. There are a couple of suggestions that may make the trip even better. Even though this was a self guided tour there were other people who were doing the tour at the same time. We saw them here and there but did not get to meet them and talk to them until 5th day at the luncheon. It would have been nice to have that lunch earlier so we could meet and interact sooner. We missed out on potential good friendship and interaction with others.
The WiFi service was poor in most places. I use it regularly to stay in touch with family back home. The last place we stayed gave us individual wifi codes and it worked great.
We would have loved to stay two nights at the Port de Soller instead of Can Picafort. That was the most beautiful area and we just did not have enough time to explore the area.
The food was hit and miss but OK overall.
I would suggest finding small restaurants with daily special menu for lunches. We had our best food on our trip in a little town in a very small restaurant.
We will definitely do this kind of trips again.- What was the date of your tour?
- Sep 29th
- How many tours have you completed?
- two
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Jeff ak October 8, 2017Excellent way to tour Spain
· Camino de Santiago: A Pilgrim’s Route From Astorga to Santiago
So many positives and a few negatives. First the trail was excellent for mountain bikes with a mix of paved roads and dirt trails. Great rolling hills and scenery. Lots of walkers and sometimes we shared trail which could be crowded and sometimes we were on highway. Most people friendly and understood sharing trail with bikes. We were surprised to see hundreds of people a day walking the trail.
Signage was yellow markers/arrows and was excellent. Most of the time we followed them but bike markers were not too good. My major complaint was our maps were not good. They were google type maps that were either too detailed and small that you couldn't read them or too general and broad that you didn't know where to go. We got lost and had to rely on a book with detailed directions comparing it to a general map. That was frustrating especially when the walking trail and bike trail diverged. If in doubt we followed the yellow markers with the walkers but we got onto some really bad hills and had to push bikes. I suggested to the booking company to provide mid level detailed google maps with major landmarks noted on map.
Overall it was a good trip and the hotels were small and generally 3 star. The small towns were interesting and excellent. Booking company Tee Travel was very good and responsive to our bike problems - one bike had no front brakes and they had it repaired and delivered to our hotel. Overall our bikes were very good rental equipment.
I highly recommend someone in your group speaks Spanish as we would have had major problems if no one spoke Spanish. The bikes were delivered to our leon hotel by an employee that only spoke Spanish so he could not answer our English questions. Fortunately we had someone in our group that spoke both languages fluently so she translated questions and answers. Our Spanish translator also helped us with getting directions from locals and ordering food. Most hotel employees spoke adequate English.
Favorite city was ponferrada due to a huge castle. Our favorite hotel was portomarin due to small cabins overlooking a river and vineyards. Also best service and meal was in portomarin where we got all you could eat veal, salad and dessert for $13 euros each.
You should be an intermediate biker since sitting on a bike for 53 K a day is difficult for a week. I was a casual bike rider and paid the price on my rear end.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Oct 1st 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- First one
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- 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?
- Spain
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Brittany October 9, 2017
We're happy to hear you had a great time overall! Thanks very much for letting us know about the maps. We'll speak with our local operator partner about upgrading the maps for future clients.
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★★★★★ george October 3, 2017Surprisingly luxurious biking
· Best of Catalonia Cycle Touring
the biking was largely on old railroad right of ways or farm roads. the sections on paved roads were nearly deserted of traffic. The Costa Brava was gorgeous. Lots of medieval stone hilltop towns. The hotels were just fabulous. Great lunches and dinners for relatively little money. A side trip to the Dali museum.
- What was the date of your tour?
- mid-September
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- 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?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Anne52 October 2, 2017
An idyllic, romantic and gorgeous bike trip!
· Best of Catalonia Cycle Touring
This was our first self guided bike trip and what a lucky choice it was! Daniel and Lucy of Creative Catalonia are a dynamic couple who were so personable and helpful. They have organized a fascinating and beautiful bike trip. We were amazed at the often paved bike paths that wound through gorgeous country side, from the mountains to the sea. The places we stayed were super, we were often alone on the paths, the side trips were interesting, the restaurant recommendations were outstanding... We can't rave enough about this outstanding bike tour.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 14 - 21, 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was our first.
- 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?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Rosie September 26, 2017
One of the best researched and organized tours I've ever been on
· Best of Catalonia Cycle Touring
Creative Catalonia selected absolutely the best routes through beautiful countryside and seaside scenery as well as taking one through picturesque villages and selecting really great hotels in interesting cities and villages. We had a great variety of scenery and experiences. Additionally their equipment was great and their maps and instructions were very clear. Their assessments of distances and difficulty were right on and they kept us on small farm roads or streets with very few cars as much as possible. They also provided one garmen for every group that had the route programmed into it. It was impossible to get lost. They were also helpful with he small changes we wanted to make and had great suggestions for restaurants and other experiences along the way.
This is an exceptional outfitter.
Rosemary Heil
fall 2017- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- 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?
- Spain
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Jim Johnson, Founder and president September 27, 2017
Thank you for the great review, Rosemary! We love the "superlatives!" We agree that Creative Catalonia is among the best of the best--absolutely exceptional.
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★★★★★ Bonita September 25, 2017
Great scenery, great food & good biking trails
· Medieval Villages of Catalonia
Our guide, Daniel with Creative Catalonia, was always aware of our safety. He was knowledgeable about the things we were seeing. If he didn't know the answer to questions, we'd often receive an email that evening containing an answer. We got to see some amazing sites. The hotels were very nice & resturants we were directed to were usually really good. He made sure that our bikes were all in good, working condition.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- 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?
- Spain
-
★★★★★ Silvia September 24, 2017
Very good overall experience
· Camino de Santiago: From Porto to Santiago de Compostela
We enjoyed the bike rides. It was a great idea to upgrade to e-bikes! The terrain was challenging at times. Pedro the tour coordinator was very helpful, he was easy to reach and pleasant !
Overall the hotels were good, but the ones in Spain were much nicer and had better meals . We don't recommend to include the dinners in the package, we had some very poor dinners , particularly in Portugal.
The length of the biking trips were perfect, for most part good scenery although there was a day with too many roads through industrial areas. -
★★★★★ bikebuddies September 20, 2017
Muy Bueno!
· Medieval Villages of Catalonia
A great way to see and experience this area of Spain. The hotels were very nice to exceptional; especially the Hotel Los Arcs in Monells with its very gracious host/owner family and wonderful food. The maps and Garmin GPS made route finding almost flawless and the tour operators (Lucy and Daniel ) checked in with us during the week to see how things were going and if we needed anything. Don't miss seeing the Botanical Gardens midway through the trip on one of the loop rides; it is very well worth a visit. We have done over a dozen self-guided bike tours in Europe and this is one of the best organized and planned.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 11-16, 2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 13
- 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?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Jane B September 19, 2017Beautiful countryside in Northern Spain!
· Cycling Spain's Ebro River
We thoroughly enjoyed this tour through the countryside along the Ebro River -- the terrain varied from the hills at the river's source, through beautiful canyons and into the broad valleys of the Rioja. The hotels were wonderful, with hosts who were friendly, helpful and provided great dinners. Our bikes were in perfect condition. Overall, this trip exceeded our expectations. This is Northern Spain, so more clouds likely, but it only actually rained one day of the ride. Morning cool and clouds turned to afternoon sun and warmth. Perfect biking weather.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept. 3-10
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Spain
