Europe Bike + Boat Tour Reviews — 1831 to 1860 of 4965

It isn't possible to pick out a "most memorable part." We will treasure memories of it all: the delightful and accommodating crew on the Ave Maria, the extraordinary food (where did those two men train?), the city guides that lead us around Venice and Mantua, the beautiful countryside viewed from excellent bikes, our always upbeat bicycling guides, and the terrific company of fellow bikers. It was the perfect up close and personal way to experience this part of Italy.

Crew was amazing. Everyone helpful. 30 person biking too big. Suggest it be split into 2 15 person groups.

Our boat, the Melody had a luxurious feel with very spacious rooms. The captain and crew were all gracious and helpful, Carla's smiles always bountiful. Our guides, Dora and Tara were fabulous, warm and knowledgeable. Dora is quite articulate and provided us with a lovely tour of Split. The weather was amazing and each swim stop most enjoyable. The waters of the Adriatic Sea are incredibly blue and clear. We were sorry we didn't participate in the rafting trip on Split, as those that did spoke highly of the adventure. The wine tasting at Vinarija Lipanović on the island of Vis was lovely, very good wine and food. Our visit to the beekeeper, Goran, on the island of Solta was also a real treat, prompting us to seek out our own local beekeeper at home. Since we were on the 2nd to last tour of the season, we were able to enjoy the quieter side of the roads, cafe stops, ports and sights.

If I could offer one suggestion; it would be to have stronger coffee on board the boat in the morning.

Neal & Susan

Reik welcoming and friendly nature & Omar's cooking.

I learned never to be on the last trip of the season, the exterior of the boat was kinda 'sad' looking.

Guides should actually know where they are going and put safety of riders at the top of their concern. Paul was so careless he was dangerous.

I don't think I would've gone on this trip if I would've known that I wasn't free to ride/stop when I wanted to or even provided the route information. I've been on several trips with Backroads and this did not measure up.

We liked the feel of the rustic boat, the Panagiota. Although far from luxurious, we found it comfortable. The cook, Nondas, along with the engineer and grill master, Makis, offered healthy and delicious creations for each lunch and dinner served on board. Dimitris and Alexandros were excellent guides, always attentive, helpful and knowledgeable. We couldn't have had better weather and each swim stop proved rewarding. The waters of the Ionian sea were breathtakingly clear and blue. The diverse set of fellow travelers also added exponentially to our adventure, with a special mention to Martin from Germany, who graced us with guitar and song our last evening on board. As our tour was the final one of the season, we also enjoyed the more quiet side of the many roads, ports and attractions we encountered.

Susan & Neal

This was our first bike tour & wont be the last! It was fantastic. The trip was well planned & everything worked smoothly. The guides, Demitris & Alex were the best, keeping us informed of the days activities, & always willing to answer our questions. The boat ride, scenery, plus informative facts about the area were excellent. Meals were outstanding, as well as the camaraderie between the guests. Our tour had only 13 guests, so we got lots of personalized attention! I would highly recommend this tour to anyone who wants to experience the Ionian Islands up close & personal by bike rather than from the seat of a tour bus!!!

This trip was amazing! The places we visited in Croatia were beautiful and so interesting with the history we learned about during the city tours!
The good on the boat was fantastic and the tour guides were wonderful too! Everyone I was with rated it as one of the best trips they’ve been on. I’m already recommending it to many friends.

The boat crew, Andrea, Dani, Alberto, Francisco and the two Stefanias were such excellent hosts. They created a friendly community atmosphere that brought all of us strangers together. They worked hard to make sure we were well taken care of on board and on the bikes and taught us so much about the culture, the ecosystem of the Po Valley and history which made the trip an educational experience. The local and regional meals they serverd were culinary masterpieces as memorable as any artwork we saw. I highly recommend this trip to cyclists of all ages and abilities. I would like to do it all over again! Thanks for a fun and exciting trip.

Dinners on the boat. The pace of biking was not to my liking. Not enough time for pictures. I felt pressured to keep up with the group. Planned stops were longer than needed. Would have liked a slower pace with more, shorter stops. Many of the roads were rough, and roads through cities were scary with traffic.

Appreciated that all on the trip were from USA. Trip leaders and crew were very nice.

The most memorable part of the trip was time aboard the Ave Maria. The crew made every effort to make sure all our needs were met, suggested places to visit that you wouldn’t find in guide books, fed us the most delicious local foods prepared from ingredients found that day and recipes from their grandmothers, their creativity and their obvious joy in cooking. I can still taste the lasagna with squash flowers! The other passengers were all fascinating people as well, all very experienced travelers and bikers. The thing I want others to know is that some parts of the trip, especially leaving Chioggio and Ferrara, we’re on busy roads with cars whizzing by you and crossing roundabouts and corners, and that even on the low traffic, one lane roads, you’ll frequently hear “car up” or “car back”. There were times when you could not enjoy the scenery because you had to watch for potholes and negotiate gravel. We bike on an at least weekly basis but often struggled to keep up and keep going on some of the 44K+ plus days. We preferred the easygoing pace of the self guided Danube trip. We booked pre and post tour accommodations through TripSite in Venice and Mantova. Both hotels were charming and accommodating with wonderful breakfasts.

Lovely route, wonderful guides, comfortable accommodations. Absolutely superb food!

Bring your own water bottle - despite the tripsite literature, one is not provided

Great scenery, great chef on the barge, nice boat, and great guides! Overall a great experience. However if I must find something that needs a bit of upgrading, it’s the bikes. They were getting pretty tired and needing tune ups. Some had bald tires and most lacked correct air pressure in the tires, on previous Boat Bike trips the bikes were much better maintained. It was the end of the season and the bikes had gone through a lot over the year was the reasoning, but I paid so I expect good bikes regardless of the time of year.

The guides and crew on the Magellen were fabulous. Despite a last minute change in itinerary due to a regatta being held on one of the islands, the changes were smooth and seamless. The weather was perfect, which made the rides all that more beautiful. The people were wonderful - crew, guides and fellow passengers. We rode the ebikes, which greatly enhanced the treks over the mountains of each island. I was dubious that I could successfully do this trip, as I hadn't been on a bicycle in several years, but it turned out not to be an issue at all. A special shout-out to our guides Senad, Alex, and Luka for their unending hospitality! The only disappointments were that the food did not live up to expectations and the surprise that although there was a hairdryer in each stateroom, there were no other amenities like soap in the shower or shampoo.

The islands, food and the people made our tour. Our bike tour guides were amazing, they are knowledgeable, informative and supportive. The only issue I had was the Thursday evening we did not have dinner on the boat, as most of the restaurants were closed for the season and it was very difficult to find our evening meal.

The trip was beautiful, the rides on the islands were fantastic, and the guides were absolutely the best! Riding on the islands of Hvar, Korcula, and Brac was a once in a lifetime experience. We loved it. Our guides added a great deal to the rides by offering explanations of the history, the language, and the sites. They also set up guided tours (included) in Split and Trogir that were excellent. The guides' knowledge of the area was remarkable; they made the tour that much more interesting. The on-board service was very good; Tina did an excellent job. The scenery was consistently breathtaking. We loved this trip.

The one area that could be improved was the on-board dinners. For the most part they were unremarkable, and sometimes disappointing. If the food were as good as it's been on other bike and boat trips this would have been a 5-star tour. I hope this can be improved.

This was a better than expected trip. The guides, boat crew, food, and other guests were exceptional. We had fabulous weather and our daily rides were breathtaking. Beautiful country and wonderful memories.

The biking group was wonderful. However there were not enough biking opportunities. I expect longer rides and rides into small towns to catch the culture. Wine tasting is not what I want?

I can't possibly name the most memorable part of the trip. It was all memorable! The boat was beautiful and quite comfortable. The staff was always so helpful, the food was exceptional, and of course, the location was stunning. As being part of the cycling group on board, the Terra Nova group was adept at executing and leading the group to beautiful and unique locations throughout the Duoro River Valley. I felt that the descriptions of each daily ride was spot on and lived up to what was written in the itinerary. The experiences off the boat was every bit as memorable as the experiences on the boat. The on board programs were great, as they provided the passengers a informative view of Portugal, from its history, culture, food, and national pride. Overall, the trip is one that I would highly recommend to anyone considering an immersive experience in Portugal, in this uniquely special manner.

Great food, wonderful attentive service, spectacular
beautiful scenery, relatively easy cycling, great trip for our entire family.

Great food, wonderful attentive service, spectacular
beautiful scenery, relatively easy cycling, great trip for our entire family.

This trip was amazing with great scenery and a great crew and staff who were so friendly and fun. The towns we rode through were small but very interesting and loaded with history. The barge was perfect and similar to the different barge we were on with 12 cabins which we think is a great size. Our group of 11 met 8 amazing people from Canada and 2 others from the states who just made the trip so much fun with a lot of laughter. Time to start planning the trip for next year.

I have used Tripsite for 10 bike trips and have always enjoyed the concept, scenery and people I have met. Nothing I am about to say has anything to do with those qualities I have come to expect and love about bike/barge experiences with Tripsite.

However (and there's always a "however") this tour, which was described on your website as "easy" was anything but.
I am 68 years old and have never used an e-bike on any tour, including the hills of Provence, but the hills encountered on this trip were challenging even for the riders half my age. The tour description was erroneous and misleading. I say misleading because looking at the tour guides' maps, the elevation levels were clearly labeled but not communicated to the guests. So those on e-bikes had a much different experience than those of us (4 out of 10 guests) who did not. Those of us who did not struggled.

The other complaint was a lack of things to see in the middle of the tour, unless churches are your thing and that's all I seemed to see in the form of tours, which got repetitive.

Nothing I have complained about here would prevent me from traveling with Tripsite again, as I am a true believer in this experience. BTW, the crew and the culinary staff were superb, as always.

This was my first bike and barge trip and it was wonderful! I plan to do more biking and cruising! It was fun traveling with 14 friends.

I particularly enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the river and the little villages we stopped in.

Our week was the last week of the season and the ferry across the river to Luxembourg was closed. The guide saw how disappointed we were and offered us to bike an additional 14 km to be able to get to that country which was an unanimous decision by our group.

Traveling on the IRIS was nice. Highlights: Bike ride from the extinct volcano down to the Mosel was a great 40 mile ride (almost all down hill). The wine tasting excursion was set up by our guide Paul. Quite different than others I have been to. It was an intimate meeting with the owner of the winery that had been in his family since the 1600s. It rained (really just a mist) during 2 of our rides but with rain gear, it didn’t effect us.

Give me a call if you would like to hear some minor suggestions for improvement.

Fantastic tour guides who selected awesome bike routes.

While the touring each day was beautiful, the most memorable part of the trip were the evening meals. Chefs Sylvia and Irena delighted us all with outstanding dishes featuring local ingredients and recipes. A gourmet bike tour!

Very well organised trip - the tour guides Silvia & Francesco were outstanding. Full of life, informative and funny.
The boat , Ave Maria, was very comfortable and well set out.
The bikes were excellent - we had electric ones.
The scenery, countryside and towns were lovely.