Europe Bike Tour Reviews — 511 to 540 of 1751

Dinner/wine tasting with Luca and Roberto.

The written route directions could be made a bit clearer. I would suggest you have a native English speaker try riding the routes and make changes as (s)he goes. They were okay but there were a few places where they were difficult to follow. The GPS is definitely helpful but sometimes it lagged so the written directions are needed.

The places you suggested to go to were all great along with the vouchers … and you definitely needed someone to read the GPS correctly since it could be tricky. I would also suggest an electric bike if people are thinking about it all since there are a lot of hills but all doable and needs to be see on the trails.

Cycling through the stunningly beautiful and varied landscapes. Not to be rushed and stop for coffee breaks to enjoy watching the locals .

The scenery was spectacular, especially between Passau and Linz and later through the wine region. Flat bike path almost all the way from Passau to Vienna. The booklet with directions that was given to us at orientation was extremely well organized, very clear, and useful. We enjoyed very much the freedom of the self-guided tour, stopping in villages for a cappuccino and pastries. Our luggage was always there when we arrived at our hotel. The hotels were nice, except for the one in Linz, (Shwarzer Bar) which was right above a noisy bar, and with poor service. I would recommend a different hotel. A major highlight of the trip was Hotel Kirchenwirt in the lovely village of Weissenkichen, in the one region. In fact, I would recommend staying two nights there to enjoy the spectacular biking through the vineyards and resting bit in the middle of the trip. The two 70+km days were a bit long but very doable. Overall a memorable vacation, very well organized by Tripsite.

Being a part of the Touaventur family at their farm near Evora

Riding up Restonica Gorge outside of Corte really showcased the rugged beauty of this island. The pedal-assist bikes were necessary and very good quality. We appreciated our guide Georg who had encyclopedic knowledge of the history and geography of Corsica, among many other things. As the only Americans in this all-German group, we still still achieved a lively camaraderie by the end of the week. Two of the hotels were wonderful, charming and stylish; two other hotels were disappointing in their setting and service level (from someone who is picky about hotels!). Bring layers for cycling - even in hot weather there were shady downhills that got very chilly!

The fall weather made for a beautiful ride along the Danube. The GPS was excellent at guiding us down the bike lanes and thru the lovely villages and cities. The route has impressive paved off road trails most of the way with occasional packed gravel trails. The hotels were excellent and our bags were always awaiting are arrival. We have taken other trips with Tripsite and they have all been well organized and fun.

The inland parts: more hilly and definitely a more rocky tandscape.We were disappointed with the Trpsite information we did not receive prior to arriving: no water bottles provided; use of an app on our phone that we barely managed to get to function before heading out. Again Solentobihpkes was fine. They just didn't know what Tripsite had not told us. For navigation we had no reason to not expect a freestanding Garment like device like friends on other trips had. "And, by the way, did you bring a battery pack since the phone will quickly run out of power?" Luckily the tour company had an extra pack for us. Others seemed to have been told about the navigation system and the need for battery pack. They probably books with a different agency.

The white villages were beautiful. The hotels were excellent and our guides were so kind and attentive. Great trip and we had e-bikes which we needed for elevation changes.

Road cycling in and between small villages in the Loire Valley countryside is a great experience that we will remember for a lifetime. The air was fresh and clean; the farm roads and paths quiet and almost entirely car-free; and the locals we encountered along the way were delighted to attempt conversation with us. We often stopped along the way at small local patisseries, boulangeries, and ice cream shops for sustenance, which was heavenly and inexpensive by American standards. We traveled by train from Paris to the start of our tour in Orleans and again by train from the end of our tour in Le Croisic back to Paris. The trains conveniently ran frequently, quickly and on-time.

We bookended our self-guided cycling tour with a few days in Paris at both ends of the tour. We were glad that we gave ourselves time to adjust to the nine-hour time difference and the attendant rigors of travel before getting on our rental bikes in Orleans. Taking a few days at the end before returning home gave us an opportunity to visit the Palace at Versailles, the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, as well as learning how to navigate the Paris Metro and RER transit systems without the pressure of catching a flight or a train.

Our tour was customized at our request to include the routes of three six-day tours offered by Tripsite, run back-to-back. If we were to do this tour again, we'd include some extra overnight stays in the tour to give us a chance to spend more time doing activities off the bike.

We elected to purchase a dinner package. This was helpful as it made sure we had reservations at suitable restaurants where we sampled French haut cuisine that we likely would have missed had we not bought the package. In France, many smaller towns have limited dinner service on Sunday and Monday evenings, so having reservations in advance saved us from going hungry a couple of times. We also elected to purchase a château tours package, as we anticipated long lines at the ticket windows for château tours.

Our accommodations were excellent. All of them were well suited to cycle tourists, providing safe and secure places to park our bicycles overnight.

The rental bikes we used were very suitable for touring and well-maintained, and came with repair kits that came in handy when we experienced a couple of flat tires. The rental service was very accomodating when we wanted to change our pedals to SPD-style pedals and replace a non e-bike with an e-bike during the tour. The e-bike had a removable battery so we could charge it in our hotel room.

Tripsite provided an app for our smartphones, “Roadbook for Discovery.” The app proved to be useful for navigating the trip stages as it would notify us when we were off-course, provide use with descriptive information for places of interest and the availability of food and picnic areas along and near the route. It also includes an “SOS” feature that we did not need to use. Having the routes on our GARMIN GPS devices with European cycling maps would have been an improvement in navigating the routes. We learned to rely on the Loire Vélo road signs for most of our journey. Having a GPS is helpful when the "official" route is blocked or detoured.  SHOW MORE 

Overall, this is a lovely trip, with beautiful sites and numerous delightful stops along the way. We chose category A hotels, modified the 7 day trip by adding a 2nd night in Lindau, and spent the last 2 nights in Arbon, where we ended the trip, without returning to Konstanz (this is our 9th trip, about 50% bike and barge). It appears the daily destinations change depending on the length of trip and availability(or best rate for booking company??).
Pros: Lots to do in Konstanz, including swimming in the lake. Enjoyed Hotel Halm very much - central location, nice rooms and good breakfasts. We adored Hotel Rheingold - rooms were new, with patio or deck, and restaurant was delicious, with a gorgeous hilltop view. Lindau was the perfect 2 night stop with lots to see and quaint restaurants. The upgraded Bayerischer in Lindau was super with much appreciated sauna and two wonderful pools, delicious breakfast - highly recommend the A+ upgrade. Parkhotel in Uberlingen also had lovely amenities. We had super Sept/October weather and towns were very charming all along the way. Stein am Rhein is worth a short stop, if that’s on your route.
Cons: The tour operator requires you to get your bikes from their location - every other trip we’ve done, the bikes were waiting for us at the hotel - not a big deal, but just FYI. Although we loved Hotel Rheingold in Gailingen, we question why bike to Gailingen - there are so many other towns that are actually around Lake Constance we would have preferred to spend time in. The route was mostly farmland all along the way and not great - then bike back the same way, about 60k, to Parkhotel in Uberlingen which is straight up a difficult hill, with no restaurant options other than the pricey hotel restaurant. Because of the long day, we missed sites in/around Uberlingen. We found Arbon sweet (be sure to see the MOMO cider museum), but the Frohsinn hotel rooms, although clean and efficient, seemed just above hostel grade.
Overall, we can recommend this trip, but if you’re looking for a truly scenic, seamless route without large climbs, we’d suggest a trip along the Mosel…spectacular!

Lovely towns. Nice roads. Very little traffic. Wonderful way to see Italy.

The accommodations were unfortunately, the worst part. This was our second Tripsite trip and we found it much more expensive than out last one, while several of the hotels were shockingly dirty and uncomfortable.

The biking was perfect - equipment worked well and was as promised

This was our third self-guided bike tour with Tripsite. The local operator did a great job. We had a pre-meeting about a week prior to the tour where they overviewed the tour and helped us set up the RideWithGPS app on our phones. They met us at the hotel in Muggia with our bikes, panniers, chargers (we upgraded to ebikes which I would recommend), bike locks, spare tubes, etc. The bikes were in excellent condition and the GPS navigation worked well. I purchased a handlebar phone holder on Amazon which was convenient for following the route on RideWithGPS.

Why only three stars for this review? We did not think the route along the rail trail was very interesting. Much of it was through scrubby forest and fields. Very few villages. Parts of the trail were quite rough gravel. The last couple of days up the coast were more interesting. We felt that the other two self guided bike tours we have booked through Tripsite (Around Lake Constance and Camino de Santiago E-Bike Tour) were much more interesting. Lake Constance was almost entirely paved bike trails and The Camino tour passed through many beautiful villages. While we were quite happy with the service provided by the local partner. I would not recommend this particular tour.

Biking along the river with the beautiful scenery and riding through the villages on the cobblestone streets was very memorable. Also loved being in a forest and riding next to farm lands and vineyards with the Cathedrals and Castles on the hill tops. Everyone at all the hotels were very friendly and helpful! The route was exceedingly well marked and there was no threat of getting lost!

Tips: Make sure you have sunscreen, snacks, cash and your ID's with you during the ride

This tour was very well organized, and out of at least 6 self-guided bike trips that we've taken, the only one that didn't have mistakes/errors in the maps and/or GPX tracks. Every hotel was expecting us and we didn't have to sort out a booking made under someone else's name (also a first). The scenery was lovely, and the second day of biking was among the top two I've ever had. The last day of biking within Stockholm itself was the highlight of the trip for the other members of the party (I missed it due to a headache). We went several days early and enjoyed spending time in Stockholm itself - a beautiful, clean city, well set up for bikes. Many thanks to Carmen who did a wonderful job and covered every detail.

The city of Dijon is a wonderful place to spend a few days before starting on this tour. Riding from Dijon, which I loved, I was struck by how soon I was riding through wine country. The terrain is very gentle and the vineyards are beautiful. I stopped at several vineyards and sampled some very nice pinot noir, Chardonnay and rosé wines. I found several wineries that were recommended to visit, and a few that I went off the tour route to find. The weather was beautiful, the accommodation was nice and the wineries were world class.

Everything was great! Accommodations were clean and comfortable, luggage arrives onsite each day. Everything was well organized.
We had a wonderful Ed smoky trip, the memories will last a lifetime! I’ve already shared your website with quite a few people! Highly recommend!

The small towns and inns we stayed in were lovely. The people we met in these areas were warm and friendly. Not everyone accepted credit cards or cashless payment so it is necessary to bring cash along to these areas. The bike path was very well marked and easy to ride. The company in Austria that facilitated the ride was less than helpful. We used there app but it was not setup with our exact ride so finding hotels and restaurants was a challenge. We also did not get a proper first night introduction about our itinerary and therefore we were missing critical train tickets and boat information.

Cycling through french villages was simply out of this world! Take the time to get to know how to use the Sat Nav before you start, as it took us the first day to get it right, but after that it made the trip much easier. The electric bikes (although were heavier than I'm use too) were great as there are quite a few tough inclines.

Bike pathways through Austria were in fantastic condition, well marked and easy to follow making for a relaxing ride. Some of the paths in Hungary were not suitable for a road bike (no pavement and loose rocky terrain). Some warning about this before selecting a bike or alternative route would have been helpful. Our bags were always at the hotel when we arrived which was very nice after a long ride.
The hotels were nice. Most offered a nice relaxing outdoor space. The breakfast options were all comparable to each other and provided a good start to the day.
The bike “fitting” was a bit disappointing, the bikes were dropped off and only after a lot of hunting around was the staff able to provide a tool to adjust the seat height. There was no tool kit provided and when we asked the kit was not suitable for the bike we had. I would have preferred a stop in Linz rather than the small city before it. There would be more things to do in Linz in the evening.
Overall I was pleased with the trip and I would recommend it, especially the Germany to Vienna section.

The trip was amazing and we loved seeing all the towns and the countryside. I would rate it as easy-moderate as there were some pretty challenging hills. Also, the directions could be confusing at times.

I loved cycling through the small towns the first 2 days. The buildings were so cute and the flowers were gorgeous! Highly recommend a gel seat pad. We used the wee-hoos for our 2 girls and they were great, however if you are short there are some challenges getting them attached to the bike. The bike shop was great working with us to make it happen, but it took some creative adjustments.

The tour was so well-thought and prepared I only had to cycle and enjoy the ride. Since I was on my own, I joined other groups which made it all the easier and funnier. The towns we stayed were all breathtaking and Im back for more.

We were concerned with using hybrid versus e-bikes but in the end we’re happy with our decision. The Trek bikes were great, we felt very supported by the local operator. They are available for any questions and issues. The hotels were 4-star quality. Scenery from Porto to Lisbon was everything we dreamed of. Very good trip

This was the first bike tour my wife and I had done together. We intentionally chose the Puglia tour because of the moderate daily distances and relatively flat terrain. We went out of our way to choose the guided tour option departing Sep 16 but due to a monumental mistake on my part, we ended up booking our flights at a later date and switched to the Sep 23 self-guided option.

The tour was very enjoyable. We were fortunate in that the weather was clear and the temperatures mostly moderate, with only a short interlude of rain on one of the days. Some of the riding was by the coast, but much of it was slightly inland, amongst olive tree groves and small, quaint Apulian towns. The hotels were satisfactory, the reserved dinners were generally very good, and the reserved breakfasts were acceptable. The self-guided option worked out very well, the maps were easy to follow, and it would likely become our default approach in future. We did meet a number of others along the way, running into each other at recommended stops on the route, at the hotels or at reserved restaurants.

The bikes (my wife on an e-bike, me on a regular hybrid) were in very good condition and the local tour company and their staff were very helpful and service-oriented. The Tripsite staff was also very helpful in providing information and getting us booked, and despite all of their fair warnings that we would lose our payment if we cancelled our trip after a certain date, were happy to accommodate our request to change from the Sep 16 guided option, for which we had paid a high season supplement, to the Sep 23 self-guided option, for an additional fee. Bearing in mind that this was due to a mistake on my part, we appreciate that they made the change, though we would have saved a significant amount of money if we had gotten things right in the first place!

Overall, happy to recommend the region, the tour, and both the local provider and Tripsite.

(Side note for those who follow a vegan / WFPB diet: I was able to get by with fava bean purée with chicory, grilled vegetable side dishes, pizza, pasta, and lots of bread with olive oil!)

Though the entire self guided Ebike trip was amazing! (except for not being picked up at the airport in Porto on our arrival & having to take a taxis) For me probably the final leg of the EBike trip entering Santiago de Compestela knowing that we just completed the 7 day trip. At age 71 getting the Certificate of Completion is special. Though staying in the Castle in Bayonia & the Torre do Rio Hotel in Caldras de Reis where the waterfall flowed directly into the swimming pool were wonderful as well.

The way the organization of the tour and attention to detail is remarkable. The places chosen to stay during the tour were the best. The routes are also so well planned and I really enjoyed myself on each day. It was an amazing experience, I feel very greateful and happy with the tour :)))

Please have this kind of tours in Mexico!

The whole experience was memorable.

My suggestion to others would be that they do not rent a Touring bike for the 10 day - sportiv - version of the trip.

Amazing scenery and wonderfully organized. We were extremely fortunate with the weather for our 5day tour. Being late September, it was harvest season and we watched them unloading, weighing and processing grapes at the winery in the centre of Meersburg, as well as cycling through orchards of apples and pears at the peak of harvest.
On the weekend there were multiple events around the Untersee, including a rally car event, Porsche event, and moped event. Travelled through picturesque towns, as well as agriculture fields with cows and sheep with the iconic sound of their traditional bells. Most of the ride we were on trails designated for bikes exclusively, and where the bike trails were shared , with either traffic or pedestrians, priority and respect was given to cyclists. This route had very few hills. The hotels were well organized for bike storage