5 Star Austria Tour Reviews — 121 to 150 of 690

We had a great time on our bike & boat trip down the Danube! We were aboard the Primadonna. The highlight of the trip was Budapest. What an amazing city! It was a rest day so we had all day to explore. We left by night when all those incredible buildings were lit up and reflected in the Danube.
Optional city tours were available when we weren’t cycling. I recommend them because we learned history & facts about where we were. The organ concert in Linz was a wonderful experience too.
The boat was great. The staff was helpful and friendly, the meals were good, reflecting the region and our lowest deck room was comfortable. It did surprise us the first morning how close to the water level our window was!
The last day, cycling through vineyards and villages in Austria was delightful.
We would recommend this trip to others. The terrain is easy so you can enjoy your surroundings. We were glad we opted for the e-bikes. The Primadonna doesn’t provide helmets though but sold them in their little bike shop on board for €35, so we bought them.
Most of the people on the trip are retirees. Not many young people. They still have to work! They would enjoy it too though.

The evening cruise out of Budapest with all the illuminated building was so amazing.
Take your time in the smaller towns and cities as you bike to the larger cities. Most of the big cities are more difficult to get around. With the exception of Vienna, the guided tours were superb.

The beauty of the cycling route and the relaxed yet active daily schedule

The best part of the trip was the cycle portion through Austria’s Wachau Valley winery district. Truly picturesque!
Advice: Bring a Tupperware type container to pack your lunch. The boat provides a small sandwich and fruit but if you prefer to eat something else or just more than the sandwich, you need to have a container for it. We started packing the hard boiled eggs, and fruit in our bike bags but a container would have made it much easier. There are not very many opportunities to eat lunch at a restaurant while you are cycling, but plenty of gorgeous places to have a picnic. A travel picnic set with a cutting board, an a knife and fork would come in very handy.
We signed up for all the bus/walking tours to give our saddles a break. They were all great but the bus tour in Budapest we could have passed on because the boat docks right in the center of all the tourist spots so it was just as easy to navigate touring there on your own. Friends we met on the boat did the bike tour there and said it was great but I couldn’t face getting on the bike again that day:). Vienna is harder to get around so unless you feel pretty adventurous, I recommend the tour. We also did the trip to the concert and it was gorgeous- well worth it!
The e-bikes were awesome, and very comfortable. We bought gel seat covers and brought them with us which I think helped a lot. Unless you are a seasoned cyclist, it’s a lot of time on the bike and the tush gets tired.
Overall an amazing trip, the staff was fun and helpful. Our tour director was a substitute for the regular person and he was good but cranky. The regular tour director had awesome reviews so I think we just happened to get an off week!
I highly recommend this tour and now am ready to do another bike and boat in a different location!

The self-guided bike tours and the guided bike tour of Budapest. More time in Bratislava and more time for the last ride would be my only criticism.

Our group of four completed the nine-day Prague to Vienna Tour from 21st to 29th June 2024. Our experience was wonderful and memorable. We highly recommend this tour!

First, we had good support in the lead up to our tour and during it. All of our questions were promptly answered, both before we made reservations and when a few issues arose during the tour.

Second, the tour was very well organised. We had a detailed briefing and support before we started. Clear group communication was set up on WhatsApp among our group and with the tour’s support team. We were given maps and written guides for the ride each day, which pointed to tourist highlights and places to eat. Our rides were guided by Ride with GPS on our phones (bring a lithium battery to extend your phone’s life each day). Each bike had a phone mount to facilitate the use of Ride with GPS. The bikes and equipment were very good quality. We never worried about a breakdown. We were quickly back on the road after a punctured tire because we had the right tools for the job. In short, we never felt like we were on our own, even though we had no guide on the road.

Third, we found the daily routes, and options, to be outstanding. Each daily destination was a notable place to visit. We rode mainly along roads, and also on paved cycle paths, gravel and, at times, trails. My partner and I chose the extra distance routes whenever they were available, whereas the other couple on our tour selected the shorter options that catered to their interests. This is a tour for experienced cyclists with a good level of fitness, not novices or casual tourists.

Fourth, the accommodation was very good. We chose the upgraded facilities and were happy with all of them. Each day, they were close to the main historical or cultural sites. We could easily visit them, usually by walking or riding up to the castle at Vranov and Dyji.

We were very fortunate that we had very good weather. It only rained briefly on two days. I suspect that the riding would have been fine if it was wet, except for a few short stretches when we encountered rough cobbles or when we rode on short trails that linked roads or riding paths. We were well prepared for wet weather and would not have been challenged had it rained.

If we had to do it over again, then we make a few changes. We would use TripSite partner hotels before and after the tour. This would facilitate early briefing before we started the tour and easier hand-over of bikes when we were finished. We had planned to use .GPX files on our Garmin GPS units. Unfortunately, we didn’t download local maps onto our GPS units before we travelled, so that wasn’t feasible. We rented road bikes because that’s what we ride at home. There were places when a gravel bike would have been a better choice. One member of our group rode an e-bike. This made the rides less physically demanding.  SHOW MORE 

This was our 3rd trip like this and by far the best! It was a wonderfully well organized trip. We went with our children (3 and 11) and two of our friends in their 50s. Everyone have a great time. The distances and difficulties were doable. The towns were beautiful and interesting. And the routes provided a good variation of scenery. The non-biking days were well placed throughout the tour. Finally, the trip organizers were amazingly supportive when we had questions or needed to make adjustments. I can't recommend this trip enough!

The premium bikes were very good for the trip and a nice selection of hotels to stay at along the way.

Leslie, the cruise director made this trip the best one I’ve ever experienced!!!!

The most memorable part of our trip was the ability of the cruise director and crew to adapt to the high waters of the Danube. It was a wonderful trip; the bike rides we did were all enjoyable, even when many of them were ended by flooded back paths or required unexpected detours. The food was great!

We had a great time! As a bike guide in the US myself, I know how these things work. You cannot foresee every situation. And as a guide, we know to be flexible. And because of that we thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

Here are some thoughts for improvements for your next guests. These by no means took away from our enjoyment and are meant for future trips.
-- The hotels in general were nice. A few issues here and there (mostly normal stuff).
-- In Hainburg - Altes Kloster - there was no individually controlled AC. It was fine for us because the night was cool.
-- The breakfasts at all the hotels were excellent
-- In Esztergom, the Portobello Hotel was not so great. The hotel room actually smelled bad. My wife says it smelled like old shrimp. They sent someone up with a spray can which they left for us. That "hid" the smell for a while, and you got used to it. But when you stepped back in the room from outside you could clearly smell the mustiness. Also there was no coffee maker in the room (which is always a nice thing to have). We did OK there, but I'd recommend a different hotel for future guests.
-- Traveling by train from Gyor to Komarom was interesting. No elevators and no escalators. We had to carry bikes up and over (or down and under) the tracks to get to the platform. This is the kind of thing it would have been nice to know ahead of time.
-- There was no ferry service from Szentendre to Budapest. We ended up taking the train. While the docs say you might have to take the train, I think it would have been nice to have been told ahead of time that there would not be a boat.
-- Perhaps too, a little more heads up about possible river flooding and the need for detours (honestly, the guy we met with the bikes may have mentioned this. I'm just bring it up as a "nice to know" tip for future guests.

Again, none of these took away from *our* trip (except maybe the Portobello Hotel). As a bike guide these are the kinds of thing we like to look for and inform our guests about ahead of time.

And yes... we will see you on another adventure soon! We had a blast!

Thanks
-Philip & Caroline

The director and crew were very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the ride through the scenic landscape and quaint towns. The tours were very good too!

Food and service, cleanliness was excellent. The Staff was fantastic also. Only drawback was charging for coffee and water during non- meal times.

The Vivienne and its crew were all exceptional! I would not change anything. Our guide, Leslie went above and beyond.

Overall the trip was amazing. The most memorable part was just doing it, and so glad we did. The service staff on the ship was terrific. The food was pretty good but not quite 5 stars. The routes were fairly easy to navigate but in trickier areas, a guide or more detailed maps would be helpful. The tour guide was okay and did an adequate job if approached with questions. He did ride right by us on the trail on the last day and didn't even offer a friendly hello. That was a bit surprising to our group and fellow riders. No worries, though, it was a really fun trip. It was great to visit all the amazing cities along the way. The whole crew was first-rate from start to finish. I would easily recommend this trip to interested parties.

Beautiful scenery, good excursions, very professional staff, international community.

This is the perfect way to see the Danube for anybody who enjoys easy cycling with beautiful scenery. The MS Vivienne is a great boat, very recently refurbished with small but comfortable cabins, extremely friendly staff, and very good food. Everything was very well organized and the tour director provided plenty (sometimes too much) information regarding the next day’s ride or city visit. Take advantage of tours offered in Bratislava, Vienna and Budapest as the time in each (especially Vienna) is brief. The biking is mostly on paved trails with just a few places where we had to ride with traffic. We booked e-bikes, but could have easily done this with regular bikes. Our cruise was about half German speakers and half English speakers (with largest group being from US, followed by Canada, Australia, NZ, the Netherlands and the UK). The staff on board all speak English and the tour director is fluent in both German and English, so language is not an issue.

Very luxurious ship with superb dining and service. Highly recommend the Iron Gate cruise.

Everything we experienced was wonderful- the biking, the routes, the food on the boat, the excellent service , the room, the smooth transitions for tours. I highly recommend this trip and hope to go on another Swiss Crown trip in the futurez

If using the GUIBO app for route navigation, be sure to have an extra battery pack. The app uses up your phone battery.

If this review can be applied to the GUIBO app then, I'd give it (GUIBO) a poor rating. It sucks the phone battery. It does NOT guide you to (or back to) the route. It randomly talks to you (sometimes it tells you to turn, sometimes not). Fortunately, the routes are very simple, but it could certainly be improved. Providing a gpx file for my own device would be great. Even using google to navigate might be better.

The route was a great mix of countryside, nature and village. The cruise director, Leslie, provided invaluable information for route and highlights.

Our party of 4 had an amazing time on this tour. We loved the cycling and each day was different. The accommodations that we stayed in were all comfortable and had amazing breakfasts!
You will need some extra Euros for ferries and we crossed the Danube 3 or 4 times and it was not always covered. Also, the stairs at the train stations can be challenging with your bikes, especially for heavier e-bikes. We managed though and had a great time!

O roteiro é espetacular. Um trecho mais lindo que o outro. Os percursos são razoavelmente curtos e com baixo nível de dificuldade. Portanto, não é necessário ser um atleta ou dispor de grande preparo físico para essa aventura. Você não precisa sair cedo do hotel e vai chegar ao local de destino ainda cedo, para poder apreciar as belezas de cada lugar. No que se refere à organização, registro que, tanto a TRIPSITE quanto o seu parceiro RADWEG, de Constança, fizeram uma organização excepcional. Não deixaram nada a desejar. Pelo contrário, foram maravilhosos. Parabéns!

Tripsite's Czech partner and it's staff was excellent ! Their offline GPS system made following the route very easy and made the riding even more enjoyable. The accommodations, especially the pensions, were quaint and comfortable with very good breakfasts. It was a very memorable, fun experience!

I love that it was an active holiday where you are biking throughout the countries. There was a good mix of seeing the countryside and having a day in cities like Budapest and Vienna.

I don’t have one thing that stands out above the rest. Everything from beginning to end was marvellous . As our tour was 130 ish people it was hard to meet people as we were a group of 6. Just a thought to move dinner seating around a bit?? Not everyone may like this though.

10 outtta 10 for everything! Friendly, efficient staff. Incredible biking paths, spectacular scenery. Would have been nicer to spend more time in the little villages.

My most memorable part of the trip was the biking route each day; riding along the Danube, passing through old towns filled with rich history. The scenery was incredible. Austria was so peaceful, lush green surrounding our ride. I appreciated how the guides made sure we were ready and they were always available to assist if needed. It was fun to take the ferries across the river. The guides were very patient and knowledgeable.

Awesome trip! The ride lengths were perfect. The scenery was new and interesting every day. Hotels were great.

The Four Countries of Lake Constance was my tenth trip with Tripsite. Since 2017 I have done four bike and barge trips and five self-guided trips.

The partner company that runs this trip for Tripsite was excellent. With my wife in 2018 I did a 10 day circle eight trip around Lake Constance with the same partner. Therefore, I was already familiar with them.

They have beautiful modern bike place in Constance. The electric bikes they supplied my friend and myself were excellent, far better than the bikes supplied by vendors in other nations. Radweg’s employees were knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. Their printed materials, maps and BikeGPX routes were also excellent.

My friend and I were very excited about our trip, but suddenly he fell ill with COVID-19. Therefore, all I can write about is the first day’s ride from Constance to Schaffhausen. It was a beautiful ride with interesting historic places to stop. However, by the time we arrived at Schaffhausen my friend was obviously ill and a test confirmed it was Covid-19.

I was fine, but I could not abandon my friend with a potentially serious illness. Radweg's employees were incredibly helpful with our quick changes in plan. We needed to stay in one place and decided that place was Constance. For my health we needed separate rooms. For his health we needed to stay in the same hotel so I could check on him. In crowded high tourist season the Radweg employees helped us find adjacent rooms in Constance. They helped get us, all our luggage and the bikes back to Constance. They checked up on us periodically to make sure we were ok.

I am sorry I cannot write about Zurich, Vaduz or St Gallen. My friend and I were both very disappointed. Everything was looking great until the Covid. I can say that Radweg Reisen is a very high quality vendor for Tripsite. I hope to take more trips with them in the future. Who knows, maybe next year The Four Countries of Lake Constance.