4 Star Amsterdam to Bruges Tour Reviews — 31 to 51 of 51

Cycling from Vianen to Schoonhoven, and the walk through Bruges beautiful historic city. Bring cycling waterproof gear and be ready to take lots of pictures…

Visiting the beautiful cities of Bruges and Ghent

The fellowship on the Magnifique IV was wonderful. However, several of our fellow travelers tested positive for COVID right after leaving the ship. More options for testing and keeping the travelers free of COVID need to be provided.

The most memorable part was getting to see the countries from a bicycle. The weather was not good and the tour guide did an excellent job of juggling the personalities with varying degrees of athletic fitness. At 53-58, there were people on the boat that were over 20 years older than my wife and I, and as a result, some rides were cut short somewhat - this was a bit disappointing as my wife and I had hoped to ride at least the distances advertised. One additional constructive comment - some of the bikes were not in good shape. The bike set aside for me had its front brakes permanently rubbing and the solution was for me to ride a women's small bike for the week. Disappointing. The trip was excellent overall and we will do a bike and barge tour again.

Did the Amsterdam to Bruges bike & barge tour on the Tijdgeest. My wife & I had a great experience. Arje was a great guide & the entire boat crew made it a fantastic trip. The riding was quite easy & the evening city tours fun & informative. Would recommend to anyone
Thanks All
Dane & Kim

Biking through the countryside of the Netherlands and Belgium at a pace that allowed us to learn about both cultures and their histories was an opportunity not to be missed.

Recommendation...do the riding prior to your trip that they suggest. I did not and had an uncomfortable bum for a few days, lol.

Always have two guides. I can’t imagine having only one for such a diverse level of skills. We had one guide who lacked interpersonal skills. She lost her temper several times at several clients. I was one of those on the receiving end.

It was so wonderful to cycle through 2 beautiful countries taking in the scenery and ambiance.

The trip wasn't exactly as I understood it would be. The staff were absolutely great, couldn't be any better. The guide was also very good, knowledgeable and patient. However, it seems to me that the objective of each day's ride was to get from point A to point B; we didn't stop enough to enjoy & explore the sites along the way. Also, I wonder about riding thru farmers' fields. Perhaps that was the only way to reach certain destinations. We needed better introductions in the first meeting. We should have introduced ourselves at that meeting. We were 32 strangers together for 8 days, let's start with introductions.
The food was pretty average. Breakfast was fine; once in a while there was hot food served but you had to be aggressive to get any, there wasn't enough to go around. Food available for lunch was fine, no complaints. Dinners were disappointing. We didn't need gourmet dinners, we needed substantial meals. The best meal was the BBQ, there was enough food. Other meals were inadequate. Dinner on the last night was abysmal and the dessert was a joke, 1/2 a glass of liquid. I would like to see bar prices posted and a statement produced on the last day. I have no idea if I was charged the correct amount or not; not that I don't trust the staff, as I said they were great. In spite of sounding like a chronic complainer, my wife and I are talking about doing another Bike & Barge trip, we really enjoyed this one. Don't take my comments as negative criticism, take them as suggestions for improvement, no one is perfect.

The most memorable part of our trip was people we met, we made some fantastic new friends. The Dutch countryside was especially beautiful, just like out of a fairy tale. Lots of other great countryside and small villages as well, quaint and old European.
The rooms on the Fluvius were poorly ventilated, and the A/C was extremely noisy. The dining room, lounge, bar and upper deck were great.
One of our rides included having to take a short ferry ride. We were all asked to pay .70 cents for this. Many of us felt that was being extremely cheap, and should have been included. Really...70 cents!!!!
For each day of cycling we were only given 1-500ml bottle of water. This is not even close to daily requirements, especially given that on several days we were riding in 30 degrees C. It should have been at least 2L/person/day.
Our guide lacked enthusiasm. He told us to fill our empty water bottles in the bathrooms, he talked about bathroom breaks in the pre-ride briefing but despite being told (during the ride) that we'd need a break, he just kept going. Rarely did he stop for photos; there was some beautiful countryside that many of us would liked to have captured. For the most part, the only time he stopped was for coffee and lunch. He did not seem overly concerned about safety; when there was a car coming from behind the riders would shout "CAR" and that kept getting shouted up the line. One time I was behind the guide, so we both heard it at the same time...the guide then very flippantly said "Good for the car". Crossing major intersections was dicey; many times he would cross despite the traffic, while the group would then wait on the other side until it was CLEARLY safe to go. This seemed to frustrate him.
My bike was great, but it would have been nice to have a water bottle holder mounted on the frame, and include a cycling water bottle for it, which people could then take home. Not all bikes were the same; some had 2 hand brakes, while others had a hand brake and a foot brake, which took some getting used to for those that were assigned that type of bike. There was no option to swap.
The Fluvius crew were amazing. Very, very hard working, yet personable and great senses of humor! Shout outs to Alex, Nadia, Marianna, David & Captain Arno!!! (PS, we hope everything is okay with Nadia's mom).
Despite the negatives, we had a great time, met some amazing people, saw stunningly beautiful countryside, had lots of fun & laughter. And, we would go again!!

This was our 2nd trip this year. We signed up for a 3rd already. Barge and bike is wonderful.

The the scenery was very very enjoyable as were the other guests on board the boat. The major problem or I should say the major dissatisfaction came from the fact that the bikes were too big and too heavy. I am an experienced bike rider and usually feel comfortable on most bikes but these truly were very very uncomfortable for me and I know for some of the other smaller women on the trip, dangerous. My only other comment would be about the guide..... I felt his attitude was very condescending in the first few days he was barely a guide his aim was to get from point A to point B in whatever amount of time he deemed necessary without any consideration for the inexperienced bikers on the trip. The slower bikers trailed way behind perhaps in some cases almost a quarter of a mile behind him and he barely looked back to see if they were there or for that matter even struggling. I volunteered to sweep and finally in frustration stopped him and told him he must go as slow as the slowest biker. I thought it was rather interesting too that he made a point constantly of telling us that if we either went on our own or staggered behind and became lost that he would make no accommodation to look for us. He repeated on several occasions that we were to read the map, read the map! We laughed when we realized that he had actually gotten us lost because his GPS had run low on batteries and he missed a turn. Now this was a man who told us he had done this exact trip 16 times this year! Yes you can see that I was very unhappy with his attitude towards his guests, the people who were his bread and butter.

Food and scenery fantastic! Jack, bike tour guide was rude at times. Also expected everyone to keep up with his ebike. Several women spoke to him and he got a little better and used a sweep and someone to wait at turns. I expected something a little more leisurely so could take pictures along the way. I did not expect a road race even though I could keep up. However, inspite of this, I have recommended the trip to friends as it is a wonderful experience. I do hope you retrain your bike guides to be kind.

The bikes were not in excellent condition. Some needed work on them.
A guide better versed in local traditions and history would have been nice.

My sister and I loved the trip and have told many people to book the barg trip. One of the best trips I have had.

All good on our bike and barge trip from Amsterdam to Bruges - especially the fantastic boat crew (I got to spend a rainy afternoon on the bridge with the boat captain).

Trip was up to high standard and very enjoyable. Great staff and very friendly atmosphere.

Fantabulous! Will be back and do another trip. Am a Tripsite ambassador!

The bikes provided were crap. You could still see the cobwebs. What was particularly egregious was the lack of a decent bicycle pump to bring our tires up to pressure on a daily basis.

Was disappointed that there seemed to be less cycling per day that expected from the website description.