Europe Bike + Boat Tour Reviews — 4231 to 4260 of 4940

Wonderful standard of accommodation - meals quality and cabin comfort were excellent. Cheese tasting on board every evening was an unexpected bonus. The bikes are operated by a pedal break which was a new experience for our group of 7 but we adapted over the course of the trip. The cycle routes were excellent, not too strenuous and were long enough so that you really felt that you had a good day's exercise and yet there was just enough time to stop off in some of the lovely towns and villages for museum and cafe visits.

It was a great trip. The Romantica is a newer ship and therefore the rooms were a little bigger and the bathrooms comfortable. The two guides, Marko and Ivana, were excellent. The bike riding was good, although not many miles, maybe 90 over 6 days. One thing that was also different is all 32 guests rode together with the two guides. This had it's benefits, but for avid bikers like us, we spend a lot of time waiting. The food on the boat was outstanding, including many local dishes made with fresh ingredients.

The trip was well run and organized. The bikes were in excellent condition and easy to ride. The selected routes were easy to follow and offered many sights and excursions. Would highly recommend this trip.

Boat and crew were first class as was the bicycles. Lots of fun and enjoyed the evening company. Beautiful scenery and city visits. Most memorable was the 50 km day trip my 86 year old father-in-law did with 7 other family members.

The bike and barge trip aboard the Magnifique was amazing. Could not have asked for a better trip! Can't wait to go on another bike and barge trip.

The owners of the barge are on board and are involved in daily running of the ship. They made me feel like a guest in their home!

The boat staff was great. Food, service and cleanliness was excellent.

Fantastic dinners & wonderful guide, captain, staff!

Truly a wonderful experience. I was the tour organizer for a group of 12 tandem cyclists. Hennie and her staff at TripSite and the Captain and crew of the Quo Vadis were truly above and beyond expectations. This was a life bucket trip for all involved and all were very satisfied with the entire experience!

The trip was an awesome experience! Loved everything!

EVERYTHING stands out! From the greeting & service by the staff, (Lydia/Denisa) the guide Jack, the Captain & Jontein who ran the whole enterprise, Merlijn. The food. Lovely ever-changing table settings, The ample, fresh cabins, fresh flowers, excellent bikes and super maintenance & care, knowledgeable, friendly guiding thru the towns, memorials, history of the area. Capable, expert, amazing,skill of the Captain thru the narrow canals & rivers. The homegrown entertainment. We are putting a deposit on '18. ('17 is BOOKED!)

What stands out is the friendly competent crew - Coba, Marianne and Petra, the gourmet chef - Franco, the experienced knowledgeable guides - Piet and Wouter. Together they made the two week journey both comfortable and memorable.

Loved the Netherlands countryside. Beautiful flowers and farmland and great trails.
Also the friendly and professional staff.

The Zwaantje barge crew were most excellent - great accommodations, food and customer service!! I would take another bike and barge trip with this group....it was an experience of a lifetime!

Mega-kudos to the Zwaanje crew, headed by Martin. They're an extraordinary group.
Our guide, Mintje, was good and well-intentioned, but she sometimes didn't grasp entirely the group's priorities.
The route was fantastic -- scenery, length of rides, etc. The tours (champagne, brie, etc., were excellent, especially the family-owned company, Nowak. We learned things and had a lot of fun.
We appreciated how Martin and Mintje responded to our requests for flexibility in developing distance options for less- and more-eager riders.
Also, availability of electric bikes made it possible for spouses (of both sexes) to accompany on rides they usually wouldn't be able to do. We know electric bikes are controversial in some corners, but they made the trip possible for some of our group.
One last thing ... TripSite's PDF summarizing the ride, proposing packing lists, giving directions and tips, was excellent. Congratulations.

The Merlijn is a terrific vessel and the owners, Jantien & Henk and their staff are first rate.
Highly recommended.

Everything was great but it was our crew that made it so special.

Wonderful staff - the entire trip was just great! Tome, our guide was exceptional.

A good combination of biking and seeing the sites along the way. Plenty of time in the cities (Nancy, Metz) to wander around. This trip was not about putting on the miles every day on the bike but a good balance of biking and site seeing. Easy biking along canal paths mostly. Our guide got turned around a couple of times getting out of the cities. Els and Sander were great hosts on the barge. Very friendly. Els cooked me a birthday dessert one day that we enjoyed with our group after a day of biking. It was very hot in July and the air movement in the rooms was limited. A small fan would have been very much appreciated. As it was we slept with our door open (as did the others) just to get more air circulation. The barge is in very good condition. The bikes were brand new this season. They are owned by Els and Sander and not leased through a secondary company so they were in good working order.

Wonderful tour through the northern part of the Czech Republic. The local people are quite reserved. The boat works well as a big floating hotel and the crew is well trained. Lots of people to meet on board or along the way. Prague really is the jewel in the middle of Europe. Pictures aplenty!
I won't forget it.

I think the most memorable part was all of the different people from other countries that we met on the boat along with meeting and learning about the Czech Republic and their people! Great tours offered as well!

This was our first bike/barge tour and we loved it. Riding through the French countryside was wonderful and it felt like we were in a Van Gogh painting. The boat was nice and the crew was great, with a welcoming attitude and GREAT meals! The bikes were perfect and I'm a bike snob. We made new friends from around the world. Do it, you won't regret it!

Everything was A-1. I was totally surprised when our tour guide Tom managed to reunite me with my lost "zebra" luggage on a cobblestone street corner 4 days into the trip! Thanks, Tom!

We found the boat comfortable and the staff really helpful and friendly. The trip was most relaxing and a good insight into the Danube countryside.

Janine was the ultimate host and an excellent chef. She worked very hard to assure guests were satisfied with the trip.

This was a fabulous trip all around! The group was friendly, and guides were helpful and knowledgeable! Dinners were delicious and varied, stronger than expected for this type of trip. We really enjoyed being able to purchase wine on board the ship, also. The riding was varied, and we really appreciated that our guides made sure to schedule a mid-morning break for coffee/water/toilet. What a great way to get a sense of this part of Italy - from small villages and farm fields to Venice - just spectacular!
One suggestion for improvement: for riding in really hot weather, it would be great if there could be a little more flexibility. We rode during a heat spell (40 degrees Centigrade one day). It was difficult to shift schedules or shorten our rides due to logistics, and this created some health issues.

We had a lovely time. The barge and entire crew were wonderful. We were very disappointed with the bike guide though. She was not at all knowledgeable with her directions and we many times retraced steps on the bike. We feel we could have seen much more but her choices for stops were terrible. We would spend way too much time at a stop when we could have been seeing a lovely park nearby. Her choices for stops were not well planned out and some were just very disappointing. The captain, in our opinion should consider another guide for this trip. There is much to see in this area and easily done so on a bike. The guide was not good with directions and perhaps a bit more planning on her part would have made it a far more enjoyable trip. Berlin and the surrounding ares are beautiful and offer a wealth of history to be seen. We have taken other bike and barge trips and honestly, the guide truly is the person that makes or breaks the trip.

The short 13 km bike trip to Vodice was not scenic and seemed not a good choice for biking at all. Otherwise, the biking was great, scenic, nice villages, good stopping places. Thanks for a great week, great crew, great food and great company of others!