5 Star Austria Tour Reviews — 601 to 630 of 670

This adventure was more than we expected. The boat was very well equipped, and our cabin was comfortable and larger than we expected. The staff was very friendly and dealt with all of our needs, and the meals were fabulous. Our bikes were well maintained and were well suited for the route we rode. The scenery was amazing and we come home with a collection of pictures and memories.

The itinerary was excellent. A nice blend of bike routes and city site seeing along the way. We spent a couple days in Vienna before the trip and then used our Vienna day to bike on the island. Glad we didn't have to cram Vienna into a few hours. It was our cruise director's first trip and his enthusiasm was greater than his organizational skills in his presentations.

Our Normandie trip from Passau to Budapest was spectacular! The weather, the boat, the food, the fellow bikers, the countryside and the bikes were all a delight. We were also pleased to learn that our guide rode each day. He was very knowledgeable; however, under stress was verbally contentious and short with guests. It became almost comical and so we learned to stay out of his way during certain times of the day. Nevertheless, the trip was a dream and we thank-you!!

Bicycling Passau to Vienna with the MS Normandie was a great experience. The bicycle route was mostly flat and in top condition. The views along the way were scenic and enjoyable. The small villages were charming and the larger cities were very beautiful. Our accommodations and meals on the boat were wonderful. One of my favorite experiences of the week was the optional trip to the opera house in Vienna. I am especially glad I didn't miss it. This was my third Tripsite tour and overall this adventure was everything and more that I had hoped for. I would highly recommend it to anyone that loves cycling. I think it is suitable for all skill levels. I will say that on this tour the guides daily instructions were minimal. His input was very basic and quite a disappointment compared to past guides. No photo slide show with instructions such as, "when you see this landmark or sign be sure to turn here." The guide books with maps that were provided were of great assistance, however, and we were able to compensate for the most part by carefully following these written instructions. There was also a small tourist guide book in each room from which you could read about points of interest in each city and village along the way. As I said, overall this was a fantastic week and my friend and I loved every minute!

Wonderful trip. Our room smelled really bad when we arrived. Mentioned it to the cleaning staff and they said it was the air conditioner. They were on the problem immediately and made sure we had no further problem. Bit of confusion with bike insurance, but on contacting Tripsite on our return this was dealt with immediately (thank you!). Might want to consider having a basic first aid kit onboard I fell in Vienna and badly sprained my ankle - no breaks fortunately. Had to get ice from he bar as there was nothing else available they couldn't give me much as it was needed for the drinks.

Great trip, through beautiful area. No problems with bikes or hotels. Staff at all hotels was helpful, accommodations great and all our luggage was always waiting for us.

Strongly recommend emailing pdf version of bike route maps and direction two weeks prior so they can be read and the directions studied. This is especially important in the city of Konstanz and suburbs due to lack of bike route signs in those areas. Had it not been for some friendly English speaking locals, we would have been seriously lost several times.

Also would be a good idea to provide directions to the next bike path segment from the each hotel as well as the from the end of each bike path segment to the next hotel.

As this was our 1st bike and boat experience, we did not know what to expect. We are recreational cyclists, not cycling fanatics, and were very happy with this trip and look forward to saving up to do another similar adventure.

I do have 2 comments. The meal situation. It was disappointing not to have the opportunity to mix with more of the passengers as we were at a table by ourselves and had to stay at this table for every meal - even breakfast - every day. As it was a breakfast buffet and not everyone arrives for breakfast at the same time, being free to sit wherever, would definitely encourage more socializing amongst all passengers. Also, some nights, even though the staff was definitely hustling, it took more than 2 hours to be served our main course. It would seem that a few more staff members could help with this loooong wait after a long tiring day.

Also, there was a definite, obvious bias each day towards the larger group of German speaking passengers when it came to the briefing on the bike route. They were always briefed first and always went over the allotted time leaving the briefing for the English speaking passengers a very rushed affair, leaving no time for clarifications and a late start each day. This did result in some people getting lost. Alternating which group was briefed first might alleviate this problem.

Having said this, it was a tremendous trip and I would definitely recommend it to any recreational cyclist. Wonderful scenery with fantastic suggested rest stops made it an exceptional adventure. Thank you for all your help in making this a superb, memorable experience. Your service was outstanding. Thank you again.
Judy.

The first day out, my e-bike had a low tire and faulty valve - not a great start, but the rest was very good. Sometimes, the route was to as clearly marked as we would have preferred. Nevertheless, I've told several friends about this trip and one is considering booking reservations! Thanks for everything.

Ship broke down and we were bused to Budapest vs cycling in, that was disappointing, but not to be helped. Jurgen our guide was very good.

Never brought it up to the bike staff, but gears on my bike were difficult to manage. I attributed it to my having small hands, but I also thought the gears should be replaced soon, for the next "small handed" guest.

It was a wonderful experience and we were fortunate to have beautiful weather the entire week.

I liked the ease of being in a larger boat vs a small barge. There was plenty of room in the lounge and other public places so we could get some quiet time. Also a little more anonymity on the larger boat and self guiding was fun.

Enjoyed the trip fully but thought there could have been a little better information on riding and expected timeline for rides, as we often rode faster than necessary and didn't know we could stop along the way for sight seeing etc. Our cycle guide was very nice but did not have all the information to answer our questions or help us to maximize our sight seeing experience.

We had a fantastic time it was a highlight of the trip; can't say about the bikes as we had our own.

The whole trip was fantastic! I have already recommended it to many of my friends and one group have already booked a trip for next year!

We could not have had such an amazing trip without the help from Tripsite. Anna from Tripsite worked with me on all of my hotel request, allowing us to customize our trip. We were able to choose the towns we preferred to stay in around the lake. Anna recommended hotels over other hotels and reserved lake view rooms which we requested. Our biking trip around Lake Constance would not have turned out as spectacular if it were not for Anna's hard work. I don't think we will use another tour company. The Barge/bike trip offers it all. An added bonus of traveling by boat is that you don't have to pack up every morning like you would have to with other tours that move your stuff from hotel to hotel with a van. The stress of packing up every morning is not there with this tour.
On the Barge/boat trips you simply wake up, go have your coffee and breakfast before you set off on your bike no packing required. When you return to the boat after the day's biking there is no unpacking or waiting to be assigned a room, it is off to the showers and out on the deck to join your new friends. We love the friends from around the world that these tours have allowed us to meet. It is a cultural exchange and add to the interest factor of traveling abroad. Thanks Tripsite, the Oppenheimers will be finding some more boat/bike tours that Tripsite offer, maybe Turkey or Greece.

There was a mixup checking in to the cabins on the boat. The boat staff assigned us different rooms than the vouchers from TripSite indicated. Glad I had my voucher, otherwise we wouldn't have been placed in the upper deck room we paid for. I think the mixup affected everyone in our group of 12, and unfortunately some people were not as fortunate as we were and ended up in lower deck cabins when they reserved upper deck ones.

We enjoyed the trip very much and are planning another. We enquired about the the free shirts for repeat customers but haven't gotten them. The website is not clear about ordering them.

This is the 3rd travel group I've put together through tripsite and each was very enjoyable. My groups ranged in size from 3 to 12. The first was a land bike trip in Provence, France and the next two were bike and boat trips on the Mozel and the Danube. I am not associated with a tour company but found working with Tripsite personnel, Mary, Carla and others, to be easy even for a novice like me to put together such trips. I have worked with other agencies but have found Tripsite to be more "reachable" and available at any time I had questions. I will continue to use them for future group and individual trips.

Some of the routes were complicated, but we had good backup from our staff, and possibility of getting lost was reduced considerably. The bikes were in excellent condition, the staff were friendly and very knowledgeable--it was a very enjoyable trip and I would do it again.

We had a great family adventure. We all enjoyed seeing and exploring new things while staying active. We really liked the self guided option, because it let us control the schedule and select what we wanted to see and do.

Have recommended the 2 trips we did to all our friends and they are very keen to go.

A wonderful experience made even better by the friendly and so very helpful staff. Thank you!

This was our first European experience, and we enjoyed every minute of it! What a great way to get to know the countries we went to and engage with the locals. Our bike trip took us off the beaten path and in to the old tiny villages and backcountry of Switzerland and Austria. It was a trip we will never forget. From the first day we arrived at our hotel in St. Moritz, Switzerland, with the exception of a flat tire, everything went off without a hitch. Thank you Tripsite!

My wife & I had a wonderful four country bike-boat trip on the Danube. Saw wonderful little towns, met good friends on the trip, and enjoyed good food and wine.

Despite nasty weather conditions, which no one can control, the crew made our trip fun and exciting.

My wife and I enjoyed eating off the boat. It was our choice to have more local flare and maximize time off boat. It did feel wasteful. It would be great if there was a reduced meals option or an option to "donate" meals or value of meals to charity.

Great bike/boat trip along the Danube!

The route descriptions were mixed. Some were excellent. Some were not. But our overall experience was wonderful. When the route descriptions were not as good, it added to the adventure and, as a result, we met additional people, who were generally warm and helpful.

It would be most helpful to have both detailed instructions (which are confirmed, e.g., make sure there's a street sign if the cue is to turn at a street or provide odometers if the cue is the travel a certain distance), and also decent maps."

The captain crew and trip leaders all went out of their way to make us feel at home and special. The bikes were ready when they needed to be. The dinners were ready on time. We were prepared for the next day's ride. I could not ask for a better experience! The My Story crew and Lesley as trip leader were the best!

Starting with Carla whose patience and friendliness and kindness enhanced the reservation process, through the gorgeous boat, great bikes, incredible food, fun fellow guests of several nationalities, friendly and cheerful staff and the utterly delightful Dietmer our trip guide, we were thrilled.