Europe Bike + Boat Tour Reviews — 4831 to 4860 of 4930

Our bike group of 11 cycled with the Merlijn on August 17,2013. This was a 10++. Everything was spectacular. Henk, the captain, and Jentien did everything possible to make this the very best. Our rooms, the food, the bikes, our guide-Klaus-, the crew, the ship were great. We are so spoiled. Everyone on board was like family. We sang, did kareoke, danced and of course went biking. The Main trail was all paved and easy. Klaus made it interesting for us by going over car bridges, rail bridges and little ferries. We were introduced to the "cornering" system, which we found very helpful. Do not think twice about booking a tour on the ship Merlijn. Thank you Tripsite for helping arrange this for our group. Our pre and post barge trip to Wurzburg and Berlin was alo lots of fun.

We took the Venice to Mantova tour in September, 2013. The AveMarie is a luxurious boat. We were very happy with our cabin and our accomodations. The crew was exceptional and went out of their way to meet any needs. Martina, our guide, was also exceptional. The food was excellent. The bikes were standard, sturdy hybrids, all in good repair. The roads and bike paths were 90% flat and easy but 10% harrowing because of traffic! Wear a helmet. The camaraderie made the trip special; I think the Girolibero crew gets credit for creating a sociable atmosphere that made the trip fun for everyone.

We just returned from our trip and wanted you to know how much we enjoyed it! Thanks for your help.

The shirt and shorts were a big hit!

We took Mantova to Venice tour Aug. 10th. The guide (Amermario) was top notch. The food was heavenly. The five person crew did everything possible to make us comfortable-including one unscheduled stop to pick up a rain soaked 30 riders! Ave Marie was super-including wi-fi!

We just got back from Amsterdam on Saturday. What a fantastic trip. We actually did more miles of biking than the itinerary listed. But that was fine. We had a great group of people. You don't need to be in fantastic shape for this trip but you should brush up on your basic bike skills. If you have not ridden in 20 years you may want to ride on some bike trails. It's a leisurely pace but it's not the mileage but the time in the saddle. On our longest ride we went about 35 miles but probably spent over 5 hours in the saddle. How will your tushy feel?

Our boat was the Tijdgeest, Gerritt (captain), Franz (deckhand, waiter, dog wrangler, and all around good kid), Eva (if I could keep her she would be my personal chef) are the crew. They did a fantastic job and the service was great. Food was great. After a long day of riding if Eva would have cooked a sock I would have eaten it. Rooms are small but livable. Comfy place to take a nap, sleep and get cleaned up. Nothing more. DO NOT over pack. Bring your own helmet and gloves. Bike shorts a must. Sun screen YES.

You will see a lot of country scenery. Pray for overcast skies. We got it and it made the ride even better. You will make a few stops along the way. Coffee and chocolate is your friend.

If you are nice they will make some allowances for food preferences. I am gluten free so they served me some dishes with no gluten and gave me a basket of gluten free bread for breakfast and to make lunch. Yay for Eva again. Also my wife does not eat pork. Again, yay for Eva for fixing that problem.

The only fair part of this tour was our guide. To be fair he did get us where we needed to go with only a couple of times getting, should I say it, slightly lost, but maps are a good thing. He did not tell much about what we were seeing and had to ask him to explain more about the cities and towns. If you don't care about that kind of stuff I guess you could google it. Bring a small camera for taking pictures. I have good biking skills and can take them while I am riding but there is plenty of time to stop as you ride because the pace is very slow. Make sure you have a sweeper who will wait with you. Ride at the front as it will give you time to take some pics as the rest of the group goes by.

For the money this trip has the most value and is well worth the price according to some of the people who we were traveling with and had been on these types of vacations before. If you don't get along with a small group of people who are from different countries or are not of basic fitness rethink going on this tour. We have people from Germany, Spain, New Zealand, Austrailia, Brazil, and the U.S.

Also, you may want to like dogs or at least tolerate them. Schnitzel is the real boss of the boat. He's a good dog and is mostly out of the way until we start to dock and then he's got to work. We had the honor of taking him for a nice walk.  SHOW MORE 

I had a fantastic time onboard the IRIS on the Amsterdam to Bruges tour 8/3/13. The IRIS is a great vessel for this kind of tour. Our air-conditioned cabin was spacious with plenty of cabinets and closet space and we easily stored our luggage underneath the bunks. The private bathroom also had well thought-out storage space and towel racks.

On this tour, I was able to put my worries and my wristwatch away and simply enjoy myself. Our guide, Wouter, took good care of us and was knowledgeable about each town and village we visited with him. The food was superb! Our chef, Clive, prepared inspired three-course dinners for us, including some local dishes, like Flemish stew. All in all, it was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had.

Thanks to the folks at Tripsite for booking this tour and providing really detailed information to me prior to the trip. I would like to mention two additional points that would have been useful to know. First, as to the meeting place of the boat, it would have been really helpful to know the boat would be moored near the very prominent and visable NEMO museum. Secondly, I appreciated that the e-mailed instructions gave us guidance on the customary amount to tip the crew. I just happened to ask one of the crew if the tip included the Guide as well as the Crew, and found out that it did not! Luckily, I learned this in time to (1) withdraw more money from an ATM, and (2) spread the word to as many guests as possible. Please tell Wouter that if someone forgot to tip him, it was probably because we were led to believe the tip included his services as well. I hope to sail with Eurosail again soon! Thanks for a great vaction!

The tour was excellent. We’d have no reservations about booking another tour comparable to this, or recommending the trip to others—in fact, we already have. We enjoyed every minute.

We were somewhat anxious about how the trip would work out: would we find the boat ok?; would we be able to get everything on-board ok?; would we have a good time? The trip worked like clockwork—everything worked exactly as it should!

Our accommodations on-board the Angela Esmee were quite comfortable. The rooms were small, as we expected. However, they were very comfortable. Additionally, we spent very little time in our cabin. Most of our time was spent either on the bikes, walking in the great port villages, on the top deck, or in the dining salon, enjoying the company of the others on the tour or the wonderful staff. Food on-board the ship was very good, and quite filling. Just right to get us off to a good start, or to replenish us after a great day of riding.

The staff was most accommodating. We really bonded with Arie, the tour leader. He proved to be very helpful, and knowledgeable. However, beyond that, he was personable! He is very well schooled, and has a great sense of humor. He was someone we enjoyed spending time with on our vacation. In addition to Arie, the Captain and ship’s crew (Matthew, and Peter), the hotel manager (Yvonne), cook, and the wait staff and cabin cleaning crew were all very personable, and willing to help with anything we needed.

The cycling was fantastic. The tour routes were obviously well thought out—they led us through picturesque small villages, and natural terrain. Traffic was negligible throughout the routes. Additionally, all of our many stops resulted in very positive, enjoyable conversations and interactions with everyone we encountered. At one stop, we were offered tea, coffee, and great conversation when we stopped into a local hardware store along our route between Enkhouzen and Hoorn. We also encountered the Wervershoof bakery owner’s wife, a fantastic lady, at one of our many bakery stops. There’s a reason Dutch Apple Pie is famous, though in Wervershoof, it’s the cookies that steal the show.

Thank you for helping us arrange rental of the Hase Pinos! They were quite enjoyable for the trip. TomTom rentals(info@tomtomtandem.nl) really went out of their way to help us get the bikes adjusted and to ensure we were comfortable on the bikes. They were with us for approximately two hours before departure to ensure everything was just right. In addition, Tom left us with a tool kit with anything we may have needed during the tour—fortunately, we didn’t need anything, the bikes performed flawlessly. I would suggest that you offer these Hase Pino Tandems as a routine option. There may be others who desire such a bike—especially cases where one rider is significantly stronger than another, or for cases where one rider may have a physical limitation that wouldn’t allow them to participate on their own. The advantages of the Pino are that two riders will stay together with their heads so close that they can carry on conversations. Plus, both have a beautiful view of the route ahead. My wife actually rode with her i-phone/camera dangling from a wrist strap—ready to snap photos at a moment’s notice, which she did quite often. During our tour, we encountered one other Hase Pino. It appeared the rider in the front may have been blind. Nevertheless, on this bike they could still participate in the ride.  SHOW MORE 

We have just returned from our holiday on the Anna Marie Agnes which we thoroughly enjoyed. The whole voyage and cycle riding was well planned and, Ida, the guide could not have been better.

We were allocated a dining table with a total of eight English speakers who all gelled from the first meal and we sometimes met at path side cafes.

I loved the Northern Tour aboard the Elodie. It is a nice small boat with a wonderful crew and fantastic bikes. I hope to do it again some day.

Just back from a wonderful bike and boat trip through the Provence. We, along with 18 of our friends from B.C., Canada, had booked the boat for ourselves and we can't say enough good things about the time and adventure we had. The staff - Lizzie, Amin(?) and Rose were perfect hosts, captain and chef. Our meals were wonderful and our guidance from Lizzie supreme. Thank you for giving us a trip to remember.

For the most part we really enjoyed the trip! We felt the boat staff (Lizzie, Rose and Amine) worked very hard in sometimes difficult circumstances to provide us with a great experience. Lizzie in particular was super-friendly and attentive to our needs.

Please feel free to call me 604-340-2580 to discuss the parts of tour that could be improved upon (boat mechanical condition with ongoing power failures; sub-standard bikes; quality and variation of the menu and food overall; and tour expertise.

We will do it Again. A perfect way too reelax and see new Things every day. Meet new pepeole from other continents. good groupe size on the Iris and the crew made us feel very comfortabel and "hyggeligt" (cousy). New city every night with out packing our stuff. We are on in a new route when posibel.

Our Kansas City biking group just got back from our annual European bike ride..This year it was a Bike and Barge trip: Paris to Bruges..It was a great trip..The Elodie was as pleasant as advertised, the food, prepared by Chef Sander, was excellent..Our guide, Ono was very good and patient with us..Michael, our Captain, couldn't have been better..

The countryside was beautiful..It was a memorable trip and we'll see you again next year..

Jim and Janet Elkan

Great Trip! Directions were clear & detailed for the self-guided portion. Maps could have been better by showing North orientation.

Guide on boat was fantastic! very knowledgeable and eager to please. Took us many places and gave us background info on things. Volunteered to take us on a tour of Venice and showed us how to use the water-bus system to get around on our own. Nicest boat and best guide I have had after many bike & barge trips.

We had great weather which helped make the trip so enjoyable. Heins, our guide, was fantastic.

Our recent (June 1-8) trip from Amsterdam to Bruges aboard the IRIS was outstanding.

The food was excellent every single day and the cabins are much larger than the website indicates. The cycling was wonderful and our guide Hugo added so much to the overall experience. This is a five star vacation!

Linda and Bill Guthrie - Ottawa, Canada

Our Tulip Tour in Netherlands was the most fun I've had on a vacation in years. Although there was a super small group, our guide, Lia, and the crew, Sander and Els, treated us incredibly well. The weather was cold, but we rode bikes every day, and even though it was too cold to see tulips, we managed to enjoy ourselves the whole time. Lia was so knowledgeable about the people, lore, history, politics, and engineering of Holland that she made every moment come alive. One thing that surprised me were the many monuments to WWII and she explained the history and its impact on the people. In addition to the planned excursions, we were able to enjoy a few spontaneous stops along the way. With such a small group we found ourselves all together more than might have been expected, and never once did it feel as if anybody was bored with seeing the same few faces every day. Our crew were simply fantastic, telling us about the boat, the rivers in Europe, the locks we passed through, and the villages we stayed in along the way. The food was terrific, and even though the chef was a vegetarian, she prepared wonderful dishes that included meat with each meal. And the desserts each night were delicious. I've been thinking about this trip a lot ever since we came home, and I would be so glad to do it again. Marvelous vacation!

Just got back from this tour yesterday and wish that I could do it all again tomorrow! Went from Brugge to Amsterdam on the Manifique. Outstanding crew with Carl as the Captain and Tom as the guide. Tom has a great sense of humor and related to everyone on the tour, with an awesome biking experience and even walking tours in the town most evenings. The folks at Tripsite was great - with lots of communication. I felt very prepared prior to leaving. I enjoyed working with Tripsite and greatly enjoyed the entire experience. Highly recommended.

Interesting area. Sometimes there were few places to stop along the route. Rain on 2 days were unfortunate. Route directions were not always clear.Overall, a decent tour.

Amei o passeio!! Tudo foi maravilhoso, desde a recepção calorosa na chegada, o barco todo decorado de flores e tulipas, aconchegante, a turma que fez o passeio conosco, os jantares maravilhosos feitos pela chef de cozinha simpatissíssima (que é dona do barco), o guia Sietsen que é super 10, as paisagens maravilhosas que apreciávamos nas pedaladas - plantações de tulipas de todas as cores, cisnes nadando próximos de nós, patinhos e aves coloridas, almoço em frente aos moinhos, as lindas vilazinhas e as cidades bucólicas do interior da Holanda, tudo muito lindo, e mto bem organizado. À noite, ainda tinha a roda de viola que o colega Eric tocava divinamente! E todos nós cantando juntos! A turma toda calorosa, que parecia que nos conhecíamos há anos... só deu vontade de voltar. Ano que vem, quero fazer outro roteiro e já estou convidando as pessoas no Brasil. VALE A PENA, MARAVILHA, Parabéns pessoal da Tripsite, Daniella Pontes, muito atenciosa, que nos atende muito bem! Grande abraço a todos vocês! CONSUELO e JANUZA - BRASIL 2013. (Vitória - ES).

The tour was packed with history, beauty & a real feel of how the people live there lives - thanks to Lia our guide. Food, decor & Jantien's hospitality aboard the Merlijn was second to none. The crew went out of there way to make this truly a memorable cycling vacation.

Thank you!

Travel quite different from the usual, fantastic landscapes. Traveled on the MS Magnifique, excellent service and facilities. The group guide (Tom) is attentive and competent. So you can be conducting another tour. Congratulations.               Ruyter Aquino.

Our trip, Venice to Mantova April 27th 2013, was absolutely spectacular. What can I say, the venue, facilities, amenities, equipment, guides, cooks, etc ...all exceeded expectations. Our chief guide and host, the friendly and indefatigable Hein Hoefnagels, was superb in making a last minute route and program change due to the unexpected Po river springtime flooding issue.. A very fun time, meeting some great people, learning about and seeing many historical sites.. this truly was an unforgettable experience.. My Bucket List , instead of being reduced by one, has probably been 'added to' for a repeat. !!

The April 14th, 2013 trip on the Elodie far exceeded my expectations. The dynamite crew provided excellent care and service. Meeting people from other countries, sharing stories, riding in the wind (and just a little bit of rain) and dining with each other for the week was a bonding experience. Ine, our guide, was patient and knowledgable, Vamme was a good captain who joined us on some of our city strolls and Sander was a chef extraordinaire ~ definitely the "King of Creme Brulle" ! My friend and I hope to take another Bike & Barge trip ~ and would arrange our trip around the Elodie. What wonderful memories!!!

We just returned from the Tulip Tour on the Elodie. It was fantastic. Our guide, Ine, was great, even going the extra mile by offering city walks each evening. Sander, the chef, created outstanding gourmet dinners enhanced by his enthusiastic description and presentations. Our captain was great, pitching in as needed. The bikes were brand new and of excellent quality, and the biking was really fun - challenging at times with the wind, which added to the enjoyment. We got to tour a working windmill and a cheese producing farm and learned a lot about the Netherlands. No tulip fields this week but that was the only disappointment and it was overshadowed by all the positives. A fantastic trip!

We had a wonderful week, despite the strong winds which made cycling more difficult. The tour guide was excellent and very supportive of any problems. The very late spring meant that we didn't see any flowering tulip fields, but the fields of daffodils and hyacinths more than made up for it. The crew of the Eva Josiena could not have been more welcoming.

What a fabulous time! The crew on the Elodie could not have been better. Sanders, the chef, put out gourmet meals every night, with wonderful breakfast choices each morning. Our guide for the week, Miriah, took such good care of us, was always cheerful & helpful, and we really saw an amazing cross section of the Netherlands.The April 7th trip, this year, was cold, and unfortunately because of the very late spring there were very few tulips, but that didn't dim our enjoyment, and it was highly unusual. Some of the mileages shown are a little short. Day 2 was possible to do 34 miles & day 7 was 22 miles. All do-able even for someone who hasn't kept up on their cycling.

A group of us will be doing the Tulip Tour on the Merlijn. A couple of years ago we toured Germany on Merlijn. It was a top notch experience and we are looking forward to this years trip.

My husband and I went on the Venice to Montova trip September 2012 and had a wonderful trip. Our guide Fabio was fabulous and the food was so good, I was worried I'd put on a few pounds. But with all the biking, I think I lost a few. The barge was so comfortable and the crew did everything possible to make our stay comfortable. We loved the towns and the sights, especially Montova and Venice. Such fascinating country. The terrain was flat enough that the biking was very manageable. One day we did more than expected, about 45 miles and it was windy, but we made it with the great bikes. We are definitely planning on taking another bike and barge trip through Tripsite!

We did south Dalmatia aboard Adonis. The island hopping was strenuous but the scenery grand. Great young guides and great food.