4 Star Austria Tour Reviews — 1 to 30 of 223

Staff was amazing, wanted to help and please you al the time. Food was good. Meat portions could have been a bit bigger since we need lot’s of protein to bike. We need non guided and I would not do that again, missed the knowledge of the area that a guide provides.

I would strongly recommend taking the guided tour as opposed to non guided. The app to use is very average and doesn’t give you any information along the ride.

the boat, service and routes. we'd have preferred to have more time in viena and budapest

Our group truly enjoyed the week on the Vivienne. The bike trails were well maintained and routes well marked which enabled us to enjoy the amazing scenery each day. The staff on Vivienne was incredible.
Two complaints were the e-bikes were very heavy
and there were no water bottle holders on the regular bikes.

Biking along the Danube bend. Beautiful shaded path, interesting scenery. Catching last minute standing tickets to the Staatsopera in Vienna was amazing! Coming into Bratislava while a Trans-Danube Swim was occurring was a unique experience. Great meal at a hotel recommended restaurant (etterum) in Mosonmagyaróvár. The bikes were adequate for our 200 mile journey. I only wish I had a water bottle holder on mine.

Biking the Wachou valley, outside Vienna. It was an incredible ride, with great places to stop along the way. The trip was great, the crew handled all those bikes great. Would have liked more time in some of the cities, and more diet options.
But, that’s being kinda picky, it was a great trip and would recommend.

This was my first trip on the Merlijn Bike & Barge. I was with a group of 3 couples that had done this trip before on the Merlijn. I found it outstanding, the equipment was excellent,( my wife and I rented electric bikes ) the cabins were very nice and roomy. Our meals were breakfast and dinner, the breakfast was good but I believe it could have been better, The dinners were first class....The barge also had a nice coffee bar and Bar that were excellent too. The trip was memoriable and I highly recommend the Merjin...

The scenery was beautiful! The Merlijn was beautiful and very comfortable. But, the standout for the trip was the staff. Coen and Christina made our week so wonderful and kept us well informed. “Cat” at the bar and serving was very charming and fun! He knew all our names by day 2! Simone kept our cabins tidy and did a great job on our laundry. June was always tidying up the ship and keeping it looking great. Ilsa was a really good tour guide and was very knowledgeable about the history of Austria.

The room on the boat was lovely and the food was very good. We did a guided tour and I felt our guide was inexperienced She did not have many safety measures that I have had on previous bike trips. i.e a sweep and ensuring everyone is ready to go before taking off. Also would have been better to be able to visit some cultural places like the Abbey, museums or churches. We were not given anytime on our rides to do this. The highlights was the wine region and wine tasting.

It was a great trip overall. We loved that part of the route also went inland a little through villages etc.

It would be great to have more lunch/food options marked on the maps and how to make sure they are open.

We also noticed that on the last bike day parting the route was over a blocked off and hard to ride dike so we were forced to find our way around via a main road.

It was well organized as nd we would do something similar again.

Klarà, our principal guide was awesome! She was always handy, solved all issues with a big smile on her face. Martin and Toni also very good but they left us in Vienna. Fine scenery, hotels, food, weather, etc...

Only one pitfall: we got other 2 guides after Vienna. One of them did not have a guide attitude, one example: the group that do not speak the local language was struggling to make the other in a restaurant and he was not helpful at all, he just got a beer for himself and walked out of the place. If you need more detail, please contact me.

Overall I think this is a very good trip. The landscape was beautiful and all the towns were charming. The terrain, for the most part, was easy to navigate. This was my first bike trip. I am not actually a true bike rider. If not for this trip I would probably ride 20 miles a year. I looked at doing something like this last year in order to see more of the world. And overall I was glad I did it. A great experience. I was supposed to do this trip with a friend but he was unable to do it due a family emergency. So, I was left to do it alone, without any guides. There was however a group of eight riders who were traveling with another tour company and riding virtually the same route as I, so there was some group connection between us. The terrain didn’t represent too much of a challenge for me (I didn’t have an E-bike) but on Leg 3 I decided to take the train from Rorschach to St Gallen. This ultimately proved to be a very wise decision, as the terrain would have been too steep for me to climb. Regarding the hotels- Tripsite did a great job of hotel selection. I travelled alone so the beds were very comfortable for me. Not sure if you’d be very comfortable with two in the room. I say this because most, if not all, of the hotels had no air conditioning. I travelled in mid June and the temperatures were unusually warm. So, the hotel rooms were typically warmer than I’m used to. The breakfasts were outstanding. My bags were always at the hotel when I arrived. Three issues I had to contend with- 1. Upon arrival in Überlingen there was no taxi stand. I was unable to load the Uber App because I was using the Airalo E-sim card on my phone. So, I wound up taking a bus to drop me close to the hotel. This added about an hour and a half to my travel to Überlingen. 2. The hotel had my reservation but it hadn’t been paid. I had to call the emergency number for Tripsite to get this sorted out. 3. The staff at the hotel were unaware that my bike had been delivered to the hotel. On the morning of Day 1 the folks at the local partner had to intercede with the bike rental company to determine that the bike was indeed delivered to the hotel the previous night (nobody at the hotel knew this).
I ultimately navigated with Apple Maps, which routed me through the towns as opposed to the RidewithGPS app which would have navigated me through fields and forests. That worked out well for me. So, ultimately, I would recommend this trip to anyone wanting to experience the charm of Swiss/German/Austrian culture.

Hotel accommodations excellent. Total trip of 268 km easily done in 5 days with Ebikes (we are in our early 80's). Bikes are of excellent quality, and on-the-way charging and overnight storage well organized. Perhaps a bit more road biking than expected.
Unfortunately we rode in rain 4 of the 5 days. That dampened enjoyment considerably.

The trip was exactly as promised and more. The chosen bike routes were very scenic, appropriate distances and gave us a great flavour of Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. The bikes were good quality and in excellent shape - top marks. The food was outstanding! Lots of food choices, special menus to highlight local foods and top quality ingredients. The Primadonna is a gorgeous boat, and our room was just as lovely as the advertising showed. One special highlight was using the boat to do a night tour of Budapest - the most beautiful city I have ever seen.

Most people on the trip were German, with a mixture of Dutch, French. There were only a few Americans and Canadians. The boat staff were mostly Serbian. That meant that there were inevitable language issues. For example, we paid 100 Euros to do a night bus tour of Vienna in English. But some German, Duthc and French travellers ended up on the bus too, so our tour guide ended up having to repeat all tour instructions in 4 languages, which was frustrating and inefficient. In the same vein, every evening we had briefings on the following days cycling trip. Our Serbian hotel manager did his best, but the information was often confusing, and the maps provided by Danau Tours were pretty average. This led to a number of wrong turns and navigation mix ups over the week.

In North America, we are used to having water provided free of charge when dining. So it felt cheap that we were asked to pay 7 Euros for a bottle of water at meals. Considering the cost of the trip, that didn't sit right. To be fair, we traveled around Europe after the trip, and we never encountered free water in restaurants, so it appears that is a European norm.

Lastly, although it is called a 4-country tour, you only cycle in 3 countries: Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. The only time you set foot in Germany is in Passau at the start and end of the week. So if you want to tour Germany, plan in time before or after the trip.

The maps and the app were very effective and helpful.
I was grateful there were people available when we needed help on the phone.
The locations to ck on bikes weren’t always open with people which made adjusting noises and seats more troublesome. One of the bikes seats wouldn’t hold up the position which made it difficult for the rider.
Schlogen was beautiful and peaceful.
I wish we had gotten there earlier to spend more time in that peaceful location.
I think it would be helpful for people to know the places they are visiting with must see sites and options for restaurants and when to allow more time for visits in the specific towns.

Hotels were good, but the one in Adragger had no hot shower and the electrical outlets didn’t work properly for charging.
The roads were clean and paved and made the riding extremely enjoyable.
Overall a beautiful journey.

We had such a great time on our trip & thank Leslie for his leadership & organization to make it fantastic! We had a junior suite as we booked early & it was perfect! The food was very good, the ship very clean and all the staff were friendly & helpful.

The only 2 suggestions would be:
1 - the bike app needs to be upgraded or tweeked as people were having trouble downloading & our phones were dying to quick using the app. Also, everyone should get one for free.

2- please put water bottle holders on the bikes! I drink a lot of water & find it hard to put in blue holder & the water kept leaking (on my phone!)
Also, a nice touch would be souvenir water bottles from the boat owners :)

All in all, a super trip! Thank you

The night cruise around the city of Budapest with everything lit up was glorious.

Our tours in Budapest on the bus was with an exceptional tour leader. She brought the city alive with all the history and beautiful locations we visited. Very passionate about her city. The walking tour in Bratislava was Wonderful. Daca gave a well thought out tour of the city center-absolutely the best.
Our biggest issue was the language, even when bike tours were explained in English we did not always understand certain words.

Our waiter Uros, gave us exemplary service. Very professional, friendly, helpful. Always looking out for us
All crew members were top notch

I especially liked the ability to bike through farmlands, quaint country villages, vineyards, apple orchards and see old castles, church spires, rolling hills in the background and of course, the beautiful Danube river was always on our side. Most of all though, was the chance to visit Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna and Munich on foot and enjoy the different food offerings and beers!
We did do the excursion into Budapest at night and that was fabulous. Seeing the three bridges all lit up and riding around Pest after having goulash and watching the dinner show of dancers and musicians was lovely, I'd do it all over again!

The trip was fantastic and well worth doing - highly recommend. The cycle route was wonderful and the hotels were all great.
The paper maps, app and instructions for getting between towns were excellent and very detailed (with one exception, see below), but the instructions for navigating from the end of each day's route to your hotel for the night were not clear or sufficient, and on occasion, missing entirely. This unfortunately meant that after 2-3 hours of relaxed, lovely cycling through fields, castles, ruins etc, each day ended with 40 stressful minutes trying to find the hotel.
The first day's route gave an alternative option for anyone staying in Petronell-Carnuntum, rather than cycling all the way to Bad Deutch-Altenburg on the north side of the river and then 30min back to Carnuntum, an option was given of taking the ferry across the river at Orth an der Donau and then "following the cycle path to Carnuntum" - this advice was not sufficient, as there was no signposted cycle path on the south side of the river. I ended up catching a train to Carnuntum rather than cycle on a busy main road.
I was also given an incorrect time and date for the briefing session, and had to find my way to a different hotel in Vienna in order to attend a briefing session (it turned out all briefing sessions over a 2 day period had been wrongly communicated to all travellers, and the poor driver was having a very hard time of it).
Lastly, the tickets for the train and boat that I was issued were for incorrect dates, but I'm pleased to say that the company sorted this out very quickly and sent replacement tickets for the correct dates on to one of the hotels along my route, which was good service.
I liked the fact that both a map app and paper maps with detailed written instructions were provided, as the app drained my phone battery very quickly so it was good to have the paper maps and directions as well.
I would still recommend this trip very highly, but I hope that better directions to the hotels (and the alternative route on day 1) can be provided to future travellers.

The route took us past many memorable sites. The historic sites were selected to provide a portrayal of most aspects of history and culture. The towns and villages were charming and the country roads connecting them provided a good sense of the Czech and Austrian way of life.
There were multiple issues with one of the bicycles including brakes that needed adjusting and a seat post bolt that needed replacing. We rode in mostly rainy conditions and had to stop and buy chain oil to clean the chain. Both issues could have been alleviated by a thorough check of the bike and providing chain oil and rags to keep the bikes clean. And, these deficiencies made for a painful ride and significantly detracted from the joy of the trip.
It would have been helpful to receive the Ride With GPS routes via email earlier. We spent an hour or more a day trying to match the written description of highlights of the route with their location on the GPS route. We linked the highlighted site with the mileage and wrote out our own itinerary. Additionally, the written information should be rewritten by a person who is a native speaker, who can write direct sentences and use essential English grammar.

Our guide and van driver were VERY knowledgable and accommodating to our needs!
Our group was comprised of 13 participants, 1 guide, and one support vehicle driver.

Unfortunately, there was flooding in central Europe during our stay. Several of the bike routes were closed but our guide made the best out of detours and rerouting due to flooding.

However, the bikes were poorly maintained. According to the guide the company AVE was not expecting ALL participants to choose E-bikes (Even though 70% of participants had booked in February and June) Thus, there was a shortage, and the company had to borrow e-bikes from other sources. Consequently, there were at least 4 different e-bike makes/models where parts could not be interchanged. Bike chains jumping off the gear occurred routinely 4-5 bikes a day. Some e-bikes had major gear shifting problems and other performance issues. Our guide and driver did an incredible job keeping us all "in the saddle" , bike saddle that is.... :)

We had opted for the hotel accommodation upgrade. The first and last hotel were meeting our expectations, but the other three hotel stays were disappointing. I would recommend using the regular accommodations.

The hotel “Clement” in Prague was excellent, the breakfast choices too numerous to list, and the location was ten minutes to the Old Town.

Near the hotel is the restaurant “Usadlu”, where the majority of patrons are locals. We had an unforgettable meal in the “Dungeon” , about 2 floors below ground in this venue!

One Tip: If you are 65 or older you get to use all public transportation in Prague free of charge.

The Vienna Hotel was centrally located: 3-4 Metro stations from the Karl's Platz and Stefan's Platz.
The city was easily negotiated by walking everywhere.

Despite the bike problems, we had a wonderful time and would like to do another bike tour!
It was an incredible experience!!

The biking was scenic and beautiful. The best biking was in Budapest and then in Austria on the last day. It was an experience I will never forget.

The itenarary was very good. Unfortunately the heavy rains did some of the distances a bit difficult.
I must however point out that the bikes where not up to standard. On arrival several bikes where actually broken. If it had not been for our excellent Guide Victor, it may have been a disaster.

We had many memorable parts of the trip. We enjoyed the postcard picturesque towns and the miles of green rolling hills along with our views of the alps.

We found that the daily trip tour directions were not very clear. We spent quite a bit of time sorting them, using gps and komoot app. Getting in and out of towns was the most confusing.
I would recommend spending more time with the local bike company to work through the directions. The staff of the bike company in Constance were quite busy, and could not spend the time, we felt that the easy intermediate rating of the trip should have emphasized the hill climbing days more.
The majority of the hotels were really lovely and the breakfast were very good. The Reingold provided us rooms in the basement where the hallway carpets in the area were very dirty. We were by the laundry and storage areas.

It was a great trip, even though we lost a day to the Danube flooding. It was fascinating to see how the officials dealt with trying to open up the pathway as quickly as possible. We would also like to say thank you to local ground folks for their willingness to assist in making changes for us so we could keep cycling.

My sister and I bike and barge once a year on smaller barges with only about 12 staterooms. We opted to try a true, large river boat on this trip. Our trip was on the Swiss Crown. It started and ended in Passau Germany, with a destination of Vienna. We were impressed by the beauty of the boat and by our room, which had every amenity we could have asked for. The Danube bike trail was amazing despite epic flooding that had occurred little over a week prior. Our guide Carl was a delight. The meals were exceptional and well executed. The staff worked as a well oiled machine...always on cue. For those that are used to larger ships and river boats, this cruise is for you! It will not disappoint. As for my sister and I, although we loved this experience, we found we missed the intimacy that smaller barges provide. But the Swiss Crown was an elegant and lovely experience we will never forget!

The maps were more helpful than the written directions. All hotels were excellent, rooms, service and food. The bikes were quite heavy for the distances involved. The women did not like the seats, rubbed their lady parts the wrong way. Questions were answered quickly through What’s App. Inform riders than many restaurants in Europe are closed on Sundays. Have a map that shows where the hotel(s) are located. Considering the Danube flooding conditions, the staff responded quickly, but it would have been nice to be better informed each morning about changing conditions.

The scenery was beautiful, very memorable. The staff was excellent, accommodating and professional. Thank you for that. The e-bikes were great, and definately made riding fun. Unfortunately, due to flooding on the Danube, we did not get to experience important parts of the trip. The staff did their best to make up for this, but we did miss out on anticipated stops and excursions.

Great trip with miles & miles of beautiful landscape. The cities and estates along the way are very impressive

The Iron Curtain Trail & Memorial was great. Especially for those that remember the Cold War era