Europe Bike + Boat Tour Reviews — 3931 to 3960 of 4942

The most memorable part: The people who we met and biked with.....a fun, engaging group of folks.

The boat its self is quaint. The cycling was scenic, beautiful and had a variation of easy to moderately challenging rides for an average cyclist, pretty doable for anyone. My only suggestion is to provide more water and provide it daily weather if cycling or not. In saying that, do bring yourselves 4 to 6 large bottles of water.
Packing -nothing too heavy do plan on layers, it was warmer than expected .
If you bring alcohol on to the boat you can only drink in your room.
Crew were great as was the guide and the food prepared by the Cook!!!

Cycling along the Danube of course was the highlight for sure.

Having been on several of these bike/barge tours, this was a different area culturally than trips south of Amsterdam. Interesting history of the area. Our guide was excellent and made the trip.

It was the most amazing trip we have ever done‼️
Everything was 5 star. The barge, food and crew were awesome.
There were 14 of us and we all agree it was the best.
Would recommend this trip.
Already looking at our next adventure with Tripsite.
Thank-you for such a memorable trip.
-Sandy Wallace and friends

The bike riding and the scenery in Croatia were stunning. Many interesting things to see and the beaches are beautiful and refreshing after a hot day of bike riding.

The entire cycling tour was fantastic. Each day was different, and with a guide who was absolutely terrific, we enjoyed every bit of it!

The biking part of the trip takes you through some of the most beautiful countryside in Belgium and the Netherlands. The tour guide is very knowledgeable about the history of the landscape. It's a very casual pace so keeping up is never a problem. There are many stops for coffee, lunch and afternoon breaks while biking.

My mom and I booked the trip from June 3- 10, 2017 from Moret-sur-Loing to Compiegne. What a fantastic holiday!! The biking was incredible and the bikes were in excellent shape - very easy to ride. Wieger was an excellent guide both on and off the bikes. We experienced France from a totally different perspective - biking in the forests, into Fontainebleau and having a picnic in the garden; stopping along the Seine for coffee at a small cafe; biking into Paris to Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. Every night Wieger would give us a small tour of the town we were moored in. The meals that Thea made each day were 5* - excellent!! The Clair de Lune was a lovely place to call our home each night and our captain Marco was very accommodating and friendly. We highly recommend this trip - what a fantastic experience!!!

All our needs were addressed. Being a guest on the Merlin was a pleasure. Our guide, Felix was very informative.

From making the arrangements to enjoying the trip, the guides, hosts, and accommodations, the experience was all excellent. Can't wait to do it again!!

Boat and bike trip was our first experience. It was really amazing and well- organized one :)) we just wish to have more options for healthy food on board and choose our table at dinner time to socialize with more people than having assigned seats every night. -Thank you

Most memorable part: Biking through the small towns and rural parts of our route.

I am very glad that I did this trip: the boat, cabin, food, bike, everything was very good. But there were some challenges, which I would like to mention.
1. The tour guide (Jan, his first name) was not rude, but more like indifferent to your problems. Very often his answer was ""It's up to you. You want this, go this way, you want that, go that way."" Hr didn't try to understand your problem and to find the best solution for your situation.
2. Bike path pavement sometimes was bad and poorly marked. For people with not good vision (like myself) it was a big problem. European bikers are more aggressive speed wise and more comfortable in the crowded environment. It was a problem to have pedestrians and bikers in both directions at the same time. So, for me it was easy to complete 50-60 kilometers physically, but it was stressful psychologically to be in such crowded place.
3. Unguided tour is a challenge: you can get lost, something can happen to you, your bike, and no help is available. One person locked a bike and lost a key. I even do not know how he came back on the boat. I am writing all these problems to give future fellow travelers more real picture before making a decision to take this trip, and moreover how to prepare yourself for the trip. My mistake was that I was thinking that if I can do 40 miles on the bike, I am ready for the trip. Physical part is not enough. You should be ready physically, but also you should be able to function in the crowded city environment at low speed, be able to repair your bike, if needed, to read a map, and not to expect that all people in the world like Americans. Sorry for being so long, but I really wanted to give the most truthful picture of my experience.

Great trip - exceeded my expectations- first class in every respect.
Bike courses were challenging but you can't beat the scenery.

The trip was fun despite almost nothing going as expected. It rained so much we often could not ride so we had fewer days of riding and less distance when we did ride, it was impossible to get clothing dry once they got wet, the cabins were tiny, and neither the guides nor the crew were Scottish or knew much about Scotland. And other than this superficial survey no one has asked for any substantive feedback. Nonetheless, the group bonded and we had fun.

The most memorable part were the people we met, both crew and guests. The route had been well chosen to let us experience the beauty of the area. I would have rated the guide and food higher except for the following reasons: although the guide was very personable and knowledgable he did not carry a first aid kit or tools to deal with emergencies. I think this could be easily remedied. Although the food was well prepared the captain could have spent a little more money on his selection of meats, cheese, and wine.

The most memorable part was the friendliness of the other guests.

Having never taken a bike and barge trip I didn't know what to expect. Wow....it exceeded my expectations. Boat was luxurious for a barge, what friendly, hard working staff. Tom our tour leader was terrific. Other than the fact that the single cabins are really small everything else outstanding.

We have been on seven self-guided bike trips (two of them with boats) and this was truly one of the best! The accommodations on our Prague ship, the MS Florentina were nicer (larger lounges, expansive deck, etc) than the Angela Esmee to be frank, but the Angela's superb crew, the charming towns as ports of call, and along the route, and our tour leader, Margaret, more than made up for it. I highly recommend this tour!

Besides the beautiful scenery, the staff on the boat were so friendly and helpful. They worked as a team, and the relationship with the guests was wonderful. We made many new friends, and had such a good time. Leaving, we had tears in our eyes. We loved the wineries and tasting many new wines. Although we understand the purpose of corkage fees, we thought they were too high, as we came back with one or two new ones every day! Loved the trip!

The entire week was fabulous. Loved cycling through the towns and country side. Tom our guide was very nice and an excellent guide. I also enjoyed our evening walking tour, especially when he brought us to the home of an artist and his wife. I bought a few pieces of jewelry.
We were very lucky with the weather and even ate outside 2 nights.
Loved that we were a small group and I knew everyone after a couple of days . I enjoyed everything.

We were glad that we did the independent bike ride starting in Bolzano 3 days before meeting up with everyone on the barge. The scenery and biking were incredible, especially on the alternate route. We did go solo the first day and got very lost 3 times! The next day we tagged along with others on the same trip. The directions could be more explicit ( Ex. It would be helpful to state directions that avoided questioning routes i.e. ""go this way, not that way""; caution - fork in road- bear right, but not up that 14% grade hill!) And what is a fly-over? (An overpass, we found out later) And what is considered a ""fountain""? (It's a small water spigot at a bikers rest stop). However, it was an adventure we won't forget. We learned we needed to have GPS through Google or another mapping/biking program. This would allow us to be more independent and ride self guided as biking with 28 or more people and 2 guides is slow going. The biking is on flat terrain, very easy. However, many days you bike around 30 miles, with many stops for breaks, tours, and sights. It was very warm in early June. Bring lip sunscreen and regular sunscreen!
The Ave Maria is fantastic, our rooms were cozy but totally comfortable. The boat is in mint condition. Food is amazing! Our 2 chefs were top notch. Staff are fun and we really were lucky to have a great group of fellow travelers. Ronnie and Silvia were our guides and they were great. They were very patient, helpful and fun to be with. We had a competition one night, all the 5 groups from different countries did a skit. It was hilarious!!
Also, arriving in Venice by boat at the end of the tour is the best way to go in our opinion. We stayed an extra day in Venice and took water buses to some of the islands. It was cooler there, we saw beautiful places and we used up our 3 day transit pass.
I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, we had an unforgettable, wonderful trip and are thinking of where to go on our next bike and barge adventure!

The routing in Bordeaux was great. Amazing scenery, passing through little towns and managing our way through a city or two made for an amazing adventure. One day I had a big problem with my bike and with a phone call I had a young man show up and fix it. He was my hero.

Loved the beauty of the rolling hills, vineyards and chateaus. Due to the hills, I would rate 2 of the days more moderate to difficult, leaning more to moderate. The maps and booklets are hard to follow, definitely have 1 person in your group get the GPS, it should be mandatory with all the turns. There is only a deposit required.
The staff were attentive, hard working and fun! The food was exceptional. We highly recommend this tour!

Touring by bicycle is the best! It's a great way to take in the scenery, small villages, and larger cities while getting a little exercise along the way. It was a very relaxing trip and I was glad to be a part of a larger group on the trip. The food and cycling directions could be improved, but the service and itinerary were great.

Most memorable parts: The camaraderie of the group and of course the fabulous meal by Chef Franco.

The best combination, boat and bicycle, without packing in every place.
Every morning a new city to visit and the best way is by bike where you can experience the sound of the win through the forest, the river just by your side and beautiful villages where always will be a huge church and a restaurant to have a beer.
And unforgettable experience, I just love to do it and would like to experience again.

The trip was very well organized, the scenery was beautiful, boat staff very helpful. All the meals were great. The packed lunch was a nice feature for the day rides. Rooms were very nice, lounge staff treated us well.
We liked the City of Budapest very much, glad we had the day to explore.
Biking through wine country on the last day was a great way to finish the experience.

The most beautiful part of the bike trip was he Danube Bend, eye candy around every corner! The thermal pools at Szechenyi in Budapest are not to be missed! It is the largest medicinal bath in Europe. Plan on spending 3-4 hours there, it is an unbelievable experience. Also, in the Jewish Quarter you can feel & experience Jewish life before WW II inside old shops; the communist period of Hungary at retro restaurants; and contemporary Budapest through street food and street art.