Italy Bike + Boat Tour Reviews — 301 to 330 of 367


L. Bockelmann
May 22, 2016

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

The entire bike-barge trip on the Ave Maria far exceeded our expectations. I would highly recommend this trip.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Joanne White
December 15, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Bolzano-Mantova-Venice

This Bike and Barge tour was amazing, best holiday ever!

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

JoAnn Grand
November 25, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

The biking was not as scenic as other trips I have been on. However the food, staff and guide were excellent.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Terrence Kinal
November 24, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

Crew and guides were friendly and extremely helpful. Meals and snacks were great! Good sense of comradery due to the small number of passengers. Good bikes, rides were interesting and manageable.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Alfred Lilly
November 24, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

Understanding the trip was planned for little difficulty, expected that the terrain would be flat, but was hoping for more scenery and countryside to take in while biking. Perhaps if there was an option of having a sag vehicle for those who couldn't/didn't want more difficult terrain so the option was available for those who could do more ... and see more. Overall great experience, friendly crew and excellent food!

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Lois Benson
November 24, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

The crew aboard the Ave Maria was cheerful and helpful, especially Michaela, who went above and beyond in helping with departure plans. The food was wonderful.
A group of 30 is a lot of work for the cycling guides, but I would have liked a few more rest breaks along the way, especially on the day to Ferrara.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

James & Kimberly Engel
November 24, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

We have decided that this is the only way we now want to see other countries, up close and personal! What a wonderful experience!
Loved getting exercise every day while viewing the beautiful countryside. Even better was ending our ride with wine, a delicious dinner and new friends!

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Brian J Craig
November 24, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

Our Guide, Rosita was excellent, friendly, pleasant and very knowledgeable. Would recommend her anytime.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Mike Tansey
November 24, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

Recommended for novice cyclists only. Not challenging enough for experienced cyclists.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Bodil Nielsen
November 24, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

Sometimes it would have been nice to stop for pictures of the scenery, but did not want to go to the back of the pack or be left behind. Helmut was an excellent guide and made sure everybody was safe. Food on board was the best I had in Italy. Staff very friendly and went the extra mile for our friends birthday.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Patricia Leigh Trivette
November 24, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

We should have trained more for endurance. The guides were wonderful and took such good care of us. The bicycles were amazingly comfortable. Beautiful dinners nightly. Thank you all.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Mia Moran
November 23, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

This was our second Tripsite trip, last year Germany, this year Italy. I have highly recommended your trip to all my friends. We hope to have the opportunity to take another bike and barge.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Jane Boyers
November 23, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Amalfi Coast - Tyrrhenian Sea

Our trip was for very good/strong bikers unless you got the electric bike which was great! The scenery was spectacular along the Amalfi coast!

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Ian Hamelin
November 23, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

We've experienced three Bike and Boat Tour in the past 15 months, and have already booked another for 2016. We absolutely love this mode of travel and the fact that it offers an active holiday, and the best of both site-seeing and exploring the countryside in a way that most other tours simply can not. We love sharing our experience with like-minded international travelers, and find we are extremely well treated by boat staff and guides.Together with the Tripsite staff, the website is a fabulous tool for selecting a holiday in that it allows us to compare boats, distances and routes. As a secondary benefit we find the Bike and Boat Tours offered by Tripsite to be excellent "value for money". We have recommended Tripsite to several friends and acquaintances, some of whom will be joining us on our next tour as "first-timers".

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

David Zimmer
November 23, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

The trip was great but the route was less than expected. The route was too much bike trails away from villages. We will definitely recommend Tripsite but not this trip. We look forward to our next trip with you guys.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Jennifer Scott
November 23, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

Great guides made the trip for us. Allowing 2 bike groups with different strengths was the best way.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Lynn Yetman
November 23, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

We have done 8 trips with Tripsite. All trips were great.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Norma Trinchero
November 23, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

Ave Maria, as well as 3 previous trips on the Merljin, superb. Some guides on Merjijn were mediocre, but Hein is incredible guide/person. Friends have recently taken B/B Red Hat?, bad experience. The above 4 trips speak highly of your program. Looking forward to next trip, F2017.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Katherine Graves
November 22, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

We loved this trip! It was so fun for our family of four. Our two boys, ages 11 & 14, enjoyed biking and stopping off to swim in the ocean, trying new delicious food, and learning from our wonderful guide, Fabio. The boat was very nice and the crew were lovely.

We had record setting beat the week we were there and yet still had a fantastic trip. The rooms stayed reasonably cool with the AC-- that was a life saver to have available.

If I had to change anything, I'd probably like to have the boat docked closer to Venice proper so it would be more accessible on arrival and through the first couple days. We made it work-- all a good adventure. The scenery on the bike route was relaxing-- not terribly dramatic, but really nice for small town explorers, birders, and those who enjoy farmland/pastoral scenery.
Pros: delicious food, easy cycling terrain, excellent City/town tours, comfortable rooms, great value, easy logistics when you don't have to move your stuff each day, meeting nice people from all over the world.
Cons: weather was exceedingly hot in July (but would do it again anyway!)

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Richard Hoffmann
November 21, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

We had a fantastic time on the Ave Maria and we're lucky to have Hein as our guide.....great guy!

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Oscar Martinez
November 21, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

We have been on seven or eight bike and barge trips in the past and this one was, by far, the best. From the greeting upon arriving, to the spacious and comfortable accommodations and exquisite food. The guide was pleasant and very informative ( great sense of humor, too ) Our hotel reservations in Venice were cancelled at the last minute, but he was able to get us a room. The Ave Maria is a beautiful boat with everything you need. We can't say enough about every crew member. Part of the scenery was not as nice as on other trips, but that couldn't be helped. People at Tripsite were always very helpful and quick to respond. We had a wonderful time. We will highly recommend this Tripsite adventure!

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Christopher Manning
November 21, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Bolzano-Mantova-Venice

Route guides(arrows)could in some areas(particularly in the Bolzano to barge section when riders on their own) be more clearly marked and better positioned.
Steph,our guide,and the boat crew combined to make this a special experience.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Gail Whitty
November 20, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

I love our leader Michaela and we want to do another trip with her. I have recommended the Pugna boat Mantova-Venice trip to many people.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Lee Beamish
November 20, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Amalfi Coast - Tyrrhenian Sea

Alex was amazing. She was so informative, hard-working and enjoyable to be around. The staff on our boat were excellent as well.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

James Varah
November 20, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

Our tour guide Marco was ok, but not outstanding. His commentary was adequate, but we got more from the notes provided.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Sandra Ware
November 20, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

Tedious farm land, 30 mile an hour winds. Our guide and staff were fabulous! Put them on a little more picturesque route and I would say yes. Marco was absolutely wonderful!

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Marilyn McDowell
November 20, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Amalfi Coast - Tyrrhenian Sea

The Amalfi coast section of biking was along the main roads driven by large local buses and the other tourist traffic was very heavy - although the drivers were not mean or aggressive, it was very unnerving to be biking on such busy roads. The guide seemed to be surprised that the traffic was still so heavy the 2nd week of September.

The boat anchored in Amalfi on the 3rd night, in an unprotected harbor - the boat rocked and banged all night long, no one including the crew was able to sleep, and apparently this was not an uncommon experience when in the Amalfi harbor.

On day 4, after an extremely hot day of biking we reached the boat in Cetara. For some reason, the boat was anchored along side the sister boat, not next to the pier. The crew made us wait in the hot sun until the bikes were hoisted on to the sister boat, then situated the bikes on our boat before allowing us to get on our boat to shower or get something to drink. AND since we were not next to the pier, to get from the sister boat to our boat the crew had us step up on the railing of the sister boat then step on the railing of our boat then down to the deck. Although they were assisting us, it was definitely an accident waiting to happen and totally unnecessary. On our Croatian trip in the Dalmation Islands, this type of parallel boat anchoring was common, but the boats utilized the openings in the railings to allow us to walk through the boats...

The captain fell and injured himself during this bike hoisting situation, and was certainly in pain when we finally got on the boat, but he was very rude to another passenger who commented about the inappropriateness of loading the bikes first and the ""rail balancing"" access to the boat.

Capri was a crowded disappointment, not worth the stop. Naples was also not worth the stop, large, dirty, crowded, the walking tour was not very interesting. On the positive side the Amalfi coast was absolutely beautiful and we really enjoyed the islands of Ischia and Procida with their quiet roads and small peaceful little towns.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Frank McDowell
November 20, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Amalfi Coast - Tyrrhenian Sea

"The ""recommend this trip (Tyhrennian Sea)"" question is a difficult question to answer. Scenery is great. Pompeii great. Guide good. Some passengers had issues with the Capt. At the end of our third day out we were secured to our sister boat in such a way that we had to walk across the railings (not on deck) to transfer to our vessel. It was unsafe, and honestly, uncomfortable for the women. When a few of our female passengers shared their opinion with the Capt he dismissed their concerns. In fairness, he had slipped and broken several ribs while handling bikes and was probably not in the best mood. When we finished biking on this same day (very hot) the crew/guide made all of us wait while they loaded the bikes. We all thought that was odd. They did not offer an explanation. The scenery was very good, guide was a nice guy and very knowledgeable. The crew was mixed. Cook & first mate great. Barista not so much. Capt....I don't know. After his accident he left to recover. Forgot about our second night. The harbor was unprotected from the prevailing wind direction and we rocked on 2-3 waves all night. No one slept-crew included. I told Marilyn if we encounter another night like that I was getting a room. It was miserable. The rest of the anchorages were fine. After writing this I changed my survey answer from Yes to No. I would send them to Metz if they want easy biking and Croatia for difficult.

On the plus side...The Metz (Merlijn 2013) & So Dalmatia tours (San Snova 2015) was excellent in every way. Crew, boat, scenery, guides. We'll return to Europe but events in Paris probably have many of us thinking about different options.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Cheri Emahiser
November 20, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

We were self-guided for 3 days. The road guides given us were written for bike riders using a GPS. No GPS was provided. Thus, the guides were a bit confusing. We didn't notice the odometers (and they were not pointed out to us during our orientation) on our bikes until it was too late. We should have attempted to track our mileage against the miles listed from point to point in the guide book. Instead, we followed the advice we were given during orientation, which was to just follow the green arrows. We got very lost one day. We followed the arrows in the wrong direction! We should have paid more attention to the road guide. It might be good to update the guides if GPS's are not going to be provided.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy

Biran Hobbs
November 20, 2015

Verified Reviewer

· Mantova to Venice or Venice to Mantova

Personally I would have preferred another day of biking and a day less in Venice - If people wanted to see Venice they could stay an extra day or so after.

Countries included in this tour?
Italy