Belgium Tour Reviews — 271 to 300 of 1071

Excellent tour. I would recommend this to any biking enthusiast. The countryside was idyllic, the tour leaders very knowledgeable, and the boat and staff were awesome!!

There were many memorable parts of the trip, all enjoyable. The barge, the guests and the crew were all great. I used an e-bike which was not great. I am barely 5’ 1” and the bike was a “small” and too big/heavy for me. It should have been an X-small. Another woman of similar size had a small and fell numerous times. I was disappointed that there was no alternative offered. I am an experienced rider and the heavy weight of the bike affected balance especially on curves. I’ve been on a number of bike trips and quality bikes and safety was a number one concern. Also there were no rear view mirrors. This was a safety concern. The answer I received was that the rear view mirrors are not used in the Netherland. This does not make sense as we got helmets and the people in the Netherlands don’t wear helmets. Why would we not be provided with rear mirrors.

enjoying the beautiful countryside on bikes with friends .

I cannot say enough great things about our trip from Brugge to Amsterdam! The Captain and Crew of the Merlijn were awesome, and our intrepid tour guide, Francien was great!
What a wonderful way to experience Belgium and the Nederlands; riding through the countryside, towns, polders, and along the canals on every manner of bike path.
We were spoiled by the food provided by Christina; a delicious breakfast buffet, tasty sandwiches in our packed lunches for the ride, and gourmet meals for dinner with a little bit of history about the dishes.
Our cabin was comfortable and cozy, and the dining room and lounge were always adorned with fresh flowers.
If you want to experience travel in a unique way, then this is the way to go:)

The guides and crew were all wonderful and did everything within their power to make the trip as enjoyable as possible. The Iris was a very comfortable boat. The cycling took us through varied landscapes. Helmets waterbottles and panniers are provided so no need to bring with you.

The cycling was the highlight of the trip for us, we thoroughly enjoyed the pace and travel through small towns and villages along the way. Of course the tulips fields are also quite a sight! Although the weather did not always cooperate - we like the motto “there is no bad weather - only poor clothing choices”. Be prepared.

We had a great trip. The magnifique lll was a perfect boat and the crew was terrific. They all worked as a team to give us a good experience. Our bicycle guides, Corrie and Marie Jose were patient ant good humoured. They gave us choices and good length of rides. The bicycles were in good condition and easy to use. We enjoyed touring the countryside and the cities of Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges.The food was delicious onboard. I would definitely recommend this trip.

It was an active adventure where you got to see so much of the country not just the tourist attractions.

Great trip. The guides where wonderful.

It was all perfect, a great experience and the Captain along with his wife and crew were superb

The Keukenhof gardens were spectacular. The food was also far above expectations.

Seeing fields of tulips and hyacinths in full bloom and in full fragrance was amazing as was the Keukenhof Gardens. Disappointingly, however, was that tulips were only one day of the entire trip. Ghent and Bruges were also definite highlights. The cuisine presented by Christina each evening on board the Merlijn was gourmet and delicious. Our guide was excellent and very knowledgeable. We were very pleased to have many layers of clothing as we had days of rain, wind, and or cold temps. A few mornings it was only 4C when we started out but did get up to 10C. Although the countryside is flat for easy riding, there were many bridges to cross requiring some decent hill climbing to get up and over! Belgium however was all flat and the much easier portion of the trip. Another tip to keep in mind is that the third week in the Netherlands is a school holiday as it is the King’s birthday. The KG was packed with people.

Coan & Christina own and operate the 50 meter 1930 converted cargo ship Merlijn along with a crew of 3 and a bike guide. The attention to detail , ,new equipment and bikes. The difference is other tour vessels are owned by larger companies and hire a captain a crew with older bikes.
Our guide Francien was very good, had 20 years experience and took us places that you would not see on a self guided tour. In the evenings after our on board gourmet dinner she would take who wanted to go on a tour of the city or town.
The scenery was amazing and a boat canal side tour in Gent was arranged. Our groups average was between 55 and 73 and everyone was able able to keep up a good pass on regular and e bikes.
We will be taking another tour they offer in Germany next year

Beatiful scenery, nice people, windy whether :)

The barge route was very nice and the food was excellent.
The Fluvius is an old barge and had several maintenance issues including; no hot water for 3 days, electrical problems and other maintenance issues. In their defense, the captain did his best to make it up to us with reduced bar bills and a free canal ride.
Bettina was superb particularly since it was her first time on this tour. Tom seemed to want to be elsewhere. His communication issues were almost nonexistent and attitude gruff.
Ride with GPS was very good though those of us who chose self guided were pretty much on our own.
The patch kit provided did not include a wrench so fixing a flat would have been tough for a bike mechanic and impossible for any other.
We did have wonderful entertainment one evening. I would have loved more history as it is such an important part of these countries.
All in all, if the Fluvius had been in better shape and Tom not so gruff, it would have been a wonderful tour.

Amsterdam to Bruges was our first bike and barge experience in 2016. The experience of small group travel, seeing villages and countrysides at 12-14 mph, and the coziness of barge life intoxicated us. We have since done six more tours. Everyone unique, quirky, full of beautiful vistas, and future friends from all over the world.
If you are considering this type of travel adventure for the first time, this tour is for you. AND for you stubborn Americans, there is absolutely no stigma attached to e-bikes. In fact, they are prolific throughout Europe.

Excelente cicloviagem, paisagens muito bonitas, vias super seguras e uma ótima organização pela tripsite!

Biking from Noyon - Compiègne, the Compiegne forest was very beautiful to bike through.

As we neared Paris, the biking was sometimes more difficult due to traffic on some sections of the route.

Comfortable lodging, excellent food (especially the soups- thanks Frank) knowledgeable guide and unforgettable landscapes - what more could you ask for?

OK. So we weren't expecting luxury at this price and on a barge trip. The rooms took a bit of getting used to but we really only slept there and mostly ears the comfortable common areas. Loved every minute of the biking and every bite of the food. Chef was amazing. The crew worked their butts off looking after us and the bike guide was everything one would want. Knowledgeable competent careful and patient. My only wish would be for a larger room and a bigger window but hey I got what I paid for and more

Too many memorable parts to decide. The staff aboard the quo vadis, the food, the beautiful scenery both on the bikes and barge. All were superior.

Cycling through the countryside and then returning to the comfort of our boat. The staff were accommodating and considerate. By far the best cruise that I have experienced. The meals were exceptional and the small group setting provided an opportunity for both socialization and relaxation. The crew also provided a variety of opportunities which enhanced the experience .

The boat, crew, dining, site seeing and and itinerary were fabulous, buy the most memorable was the bike tour guides, who- "with a little luck" was able to time our rides and routes through the many predicted rain showers and keep us dry and entertained.

This is our second TripSite tour and we love the combination of bike/hotel/luggage transport support and being on our own and without the added cost of a guide. We have recommended Trip Sites to many friends.

A few of the positives and suggestions...

Pros

Great bikes. High quality, both the regular and e-bikes.

Friendly, responsive and helpful staff. When a few of our group asked to exchange for e-bikes after a first very windy day, the local company (Dutch Bike Tours) was very friendly and drove them to us within a couple of hours (for a cost but that was expected).

The Netherlands is amazing for biking. Flat, accessed by a huge network of bike paths (seemingly every roadway), very well signed, drivers unexpectedly respectful to cyclists (compared to the U.S.), and so scenic.

Some lovely towns: we especially loved Gouda, Willemstadt, Zierikzee, Middleburg and Bruge.

Suggestions

Information: While we had contact with the local company in our first trip (Lake Constance), we had no initial contact with the company and had to figure things out more on our own. Information that would have been helpful:
1) It would have been helpful to have some basic instructions on how to use an e-bike (we had to search for instructional videos on the web).
2) how the Dutch bike path system works and is signed was only briefly mentioned in the printed material. More detailed explanation would have been helpful.

Maps: The printed maps provided are not very helpful. They are too big for the plastic window on the bike, the font is tiny and can’t be read while biking, and the print quality is low so even harder to read the maps. We ended up using Google Maps to map out the cycle route the next destination each day. This worked but was not ideal because there is no place to put the phone securely (e-bikes don’t have the front bag) and the route missed the customized route suggested by the tour company. We would recommend anyone to get the GPS option (even just one person in a group having this would be helpful). Or even better, why don’t you just include a GPS unit, or, a Google MyMap link for each day so we can get easier access to the customized route. I think this should be provided without extra cost since the printed maps simply don’t work.

Hotel/Locations: While some of the hotels were quaint, locally owned, and in or very close to the center of town, others felt like chain hotels in the suburbs. Perhaps ask people to select not only if they want a slightly nicer hotel but how important it is to be in/close to the historic center of the towns. For us, this would have been more important than better amenities in the hotels. This was probably the most disappointing part of the trip, especially Pappendrecht, a newer town seemingly without a historic area when we could have easily gone a few extra miles to Dordrecht.  SHOW MORE 

The staff on the Merjlin were fantastic
The bike seats were a bit uncomfortable but overall the trip was great. The tour guides were were great unfortunately they did not explain the route prior each day

Outstanding trip. The Merlijn is a first class ship. The owners and the crew were just out of this world accommodating. The food was delicious, maybe too delicious. My bike was fantastic. Can’t say enough good things about the ship and the people that own it. Liked it so much, I’m going back on it for three weeks next year in Germany.

The Merlijn and their staff were excellent! The food was fabulous too! The only reason I am giving this trip a 4 out of 5 stars is the tulips were on somewhat dying on May 11th. We booked this trip in 2019 for April 2020 and then COVID took over all of our lives. Then we rebooked for 2021 and had to change 1 week later. Then 2021 was still not safe to travel so when booking again for 2022, we had to switch to start May 3 in Bruges with the tulip part at the end of the trip. I loved Bruges and thoroughly enjoyed biking in Belgium. I developed a cough so unfortunately I missed a lot of biking in The Netherlands. But I did enjoy the river views while on the boat and got to experience locks also. When cruising into Rotterdam, I saw one of the super yacht builders' ship yard (Oceanco) and that was exciting for me as we sell to the super yachts.

Great meals, excellent organization.
More substantial lunches would be good.
The tulips were finished by the time we got to the fields. I don’t think the May 2 trip should be advertised as a tulip tour.

The food was very good, the accomodations were fine, the crew was very helpful and friendly. The route was less scenic than i had hoped for. Holland is prettier than Belgium (for what we saw) and the dutch bike paths are awesome.

This was our first Bike and Barge tour, it was great. The stay on the barge was what I expected. The captain and crew were wonderful. Captain (Hans) gave daily briefings, chef (Marcel) created a wide range of meals throughout the week that were excellent, desserts by Maria were also excellent. We enjoyed the whole experience on the barge.
Cycling with a guide was also wonderful, Ron (our guide) has a great knowledge of the history and facts of the areas we cycled, is very friendly and personable. He found hidden gems. We laughed and had a great time with him. Our group was friendly and made some new friends by the end of 11 days. It's a great experience. Cycling was easy, flat but winding in places.
I would recommend this ride.