Europe Bike Tour Reviews — 871 to 900 of 1753

Overall the trip was a great success.
The accommodations were fine. All clean and well kept. Air conditioning did not always work properly.
Bikes were in great condition throughout the entire trip.
Suggestions: we took road bikes for the trip and followed routes for these bikes yet several locations were very uncomfortable for riding. Roads with lots of potholes and gravel not meant for road bikes.
Overall experience was very positive and the company's organiztion was great.

Could not have been better. Everthying about it was superb.

To learn about the customs of our German and Austrian people, and specifically their specialty foods and drinks (Weissbeer). Not at all places one would accept credit or debit cards, so I strongly suggest taking sufficient cash and learn about Bancomat (ATM) machines along the way.

Diversity of the scenery, which was beautiful. A good portion of the route is right along the Adriatic, which we jumped in several times. The Adriatic is very nice.The rest of the time we were cycling through forests, vineyards or old train tunnels on our way to mountain/hilltop villages. Stunning views from all of the hotels. The people in Slovenia and Croatia were friendly and often times very engaging.
We also took a day trip, before the start of the cycling journey, to the interior of Slovenia. Beautiful country… very clean. Ljubljana is a very cool city. Would recommend if time allows.

Wonderful trip! We were a party of eight, ages 55 to 72, and did the 8-day self-guided tour. The scenery was spectacular, the e-bikes were almost new (two of them were brand new), the GPS route finding was excellent, the hotels were all very comfortable, and the baggage handling was flawless. Most of the riding was on dedicated bike paths, backroads, or elevated wood paths. There were a few short sections of sand that required pushing the bikes and a few busy stretches of road (all with good shoulders). Two memorable hotels are Parador de Baiona in Bayona which is inside a castle, and Torre do Rio in Caldas Dos Reis which is in a remodeled 18th century textile mill featuring a waterfall pool and spectacular gardens.

The GPS guidance takes you from door-to-door of each hotel on the tour. We got off track at least once a per day with the GPS it is easy to get back on route. I recommend using both the Garmin GPS provided by Top Bikes (the tour operator) and the "Ride with GPS" route that Top Bike will help you load on your phone at the orientation session.

We had a few days of rain near the end of the trip but fortunately is came in short intense bursts that we could wait out in a sheltered spot. We did the tour in early September so it was quite warm. I recommend taking a bike rain coat and possibly a helmet cover. The panniers provided by Top Bike are water proof.

We are already planning our next self-guided bike tour!

The scenery along the route is amazing. Rolling vineyards and hills are gorgeous. The chateaux were stunning with Chenonceaux the most spectacular (pro tip, GET THERE WHEN IT OPENS at 9am. You must reserve your time to visit online before you go. Also, get the audio guides whenever you can; really adds to the visit). We also took the canoe tour along the Cher river and saw Chenonceaux from the water; HIGHLY recommend doing this.
The chateau in Blois and Chaumont-Sur-Loire were gorgeous, as was Chambord. Cheverny was a treat with the hound pen and Tin Tin exhibit.
We found a winery on the route from Amboise to Vouvray (Caves Cathelineau in Chancay). We did a tour and then a tasting and it was one of the highlights of our trip
The route is rated Easy to Moderate. My wife and I are both experienced recreational cyclists and we opted for E-bikes. There ARE numerous hilly sections and wind; unless you truly love riding up hills, would strongly recommend an E-bike for this trip. Also, opt for the GPS guided route and use the app BikeGPX. I spent the $10 to upgrade the app and it was the best investment. I cannot imagine taking this tour using paper maps. Far too many twists and turns along the way to stay on track.

What a truly wonderful trip. The team at Top Bikes, specifically Sergio, John, John N and Miguel were totally fantastic. We had so much fun. The E-bikes were brand new and very useful on the trip. They loaded the GPS maps (which were very reliable) onto my Edge 1030 which was very helpful. They did a great job getting us setup. Miguel happily led us out of Porto on our first day. While this trip is relatively flat the first three days the terrain is extremely varied. Paved roads, cobblestones, narrow streets, wooded paths with branches and pine needles through forests, boardwalks (some elevated) and SAND. The portions of the path particularly on the first two days with stretches of sand along the coast required some walking. But the scenery is varied and beautiful and all the pilgrims on the route are very pleasant. All of the hotels were quite nice and two are in beautiful centuries old buildings. We did self guided but were lucky enough to meet up with Sergio, Miguel, and John N on our sixth day when the group they were leading caught up with us. We had a great hilarious dinner with all three of them. These guys know their stuff and love helping their clients have a great vacation. We are already telling other folks to come do this trip with them next year!

The people we traveled with and the shared adventures as well as the beauty of Ireland

The beauty of the whole trip with the sea, the forests and the quaint towns.

The beauty of the whole trip with the sea, the forests and the quaint towns.

Route offers a variety of landscapes and experiences.

Loved the off day in Clifden. Ireland is beautiful and the people could not be more warm. But do not recommend biking in Connemara. Many, many hills make it moderate at best, and there are no shoulders on very narrow lanes.

We only had 6 in our group so we were self-guided. From day 1, we felt the tour was incorrectly rated as easy-moderate. All 6 of us are seasoned riders but the hills, especially Day 1 were in the “difficult “ category. Four of the riders had been on previous tours with other companies. The directions for each day were lengthy and confusing, often requiring us to stop often to reread them. Some of the restaurants suggested we’re out-of-the-way only for us to later come across a nice one on our route. Caused us to question whether the person writing the directions had ever taken the trip. Luckily, we had a rider who would use his GPS which proved more helpful than the written directions. It was a fantastic trip because of the riders and the beautiful countryside. The ranking of difficulty needs to be changed as a novice biker would not be able to complete this tour.

When I first heard about Friesland from an acquaintance, I didn’t know much about that part of Holland. But I’m sure glad I did my research because biking in Friesland was one of my favorite bike trips ever! The countryside and the sea were so beautiful and full of life. The hotels we stayed in were both modern and quaint, with comfortable rooms, and well connected to town for dinner and shopping. The breakfasts were fit for a king with so many choices to be had. The things I will remember the most are: 1. The many many canals along the ride with people in their boats waving to us as we rode by, 2. The beautiful green farmland with cows, sheep, horses grazing and farmers working their fields, 3. The houses and buildings in the very clean towns with the interesting colorful facades, 4. The sheep grazing along the path on the coast; so fun to watch them graze, rest, and wander! 5. Seeing old windmills in a few places but many modern windmills dotting the landscape, 6. The sea in all its splendor, 7. The French fries and mayonnaise, a true taste treat! At the end of each day it became a tradition for us to have a beer to celebrate our ride that day, especially on the very windy days along the coast! Our 27 speed bikes were sturdy and comfortable and easy to use the lock and key, though it might have been helpful to have someone help us the first day to get acquainted with the bikes. The maps with the numbers were well done and helped us navigate, though getting in and out of the towns was sometimes a challenge. Also, not all of us had maps (couples share one) or a pack attached to hold a map; so with only 2 of 4 of us navigating, it was sometimes tricky; every single person should have a map on a self guided bike trip. One thing I wish we would have done was perhaps to stay an extra day in a couple of the towns along the way, both for rest and exploration, and maybe have gone to one of the islands; more emphasis that this was an option could’ve made the tour a bit longer, but less rushed. But all in all, this was an amazing trip that I would highly recommend to anyone that enjoys both biking and adventure!

The most memorable would be the countryside, farms, the wonderful bicycling trails. The cows and sheep :)
very bucolic landscape.

One suggestion for the future to consider.... I think it best to do the trip in reverse of what was laid out. The reason I say this is, because of prevailing winds of the North Sea (Waddell Sea), we had head wind (sometimes severe). Had the tour been as I suggest, we would have a tail wind to our backs. I noted that most of the Dutch weekenders did in reverse of us (They obviously knew their country side best!) great time was had by all! Cheers :)

Wonderful trip! Beautiful scenery, easy bike trail, nice accommodations. Tripsite did a great job organizing and setting up the trip. The representative at Austria Radreisen (the on-site bike company) was friendly and helpful in fitting our bikes, answering our questions, and making sure we were satisfied. The bikes were especially nice, easy to ride and shift with plenty of storage. Our luggage was always waiting for us at each hotel when we arrived.

The tour is amazing. It's the best way of knowing the north coast of Portugal. The villages are really nice, the landscape is beautiful, the hotels were good. The route was really easy to follow. We didn't have any trouble at all. The only thing that would have been better is if could have ridden over less national roads.

Highlights was wonderful riding on French country roads with mostly minimal traffic. The official route takes a lot of twists and turns. We improvised (e.g. following marked bike paths in the general direction we wanted to go in, and at times a slightly busier road) and it went well.

Bicycling to Chenonceau, going through vineyards, stopping to taste wines at a small private chateau with terraced gardens.

Burgundy is a wonderful place for a bike tour. Dijon and Beaune have nice tourist sites, and we ate well and had excellent wine throughout. We especially liked the restaurant at Hotel Le Dracy.
The routes were nice, highlighted by the bike path along the canal between Beaune and Dracy. The hybrid bicycles were good, if a little heavy for those of us used to road bikes. We had no mechanical issues.

Nice route, much of it on dedicated bicycle paths. The gravel bikes we rented were good - no mechanical issues of any kind. The biggest problem was that when we arrived at Perouges, a beautifully preserved medieval town, we found that ALL of the restaurants in town were closed that (Wednesday) night,. The tour required a Sunday start, thereby guaranteeing a frustrating visit to Perouges on Wednesday.
One other suggestion. It was pretty hot and it would have been nice if there had been 2 bottle cages on each bike.
We did enjoy this tour.

The challenge of finding our way and doing it successfully despite the guide books being almost useless. The guide book for the Passau to Vienna book was slightly better but that was mostly because the paths were self evident. The book for the Vienna to Budapest leg was quite useless.

Lake Konstance was a wonderful biking experience. The ebikes were great! I would recommend some type of rearview mirror on the bike. We did the 5 day “easy” trip but there were 3 fifty mile legs. We cut thing short by taking the ferry and that worked well. Anna from Tripsite was excellent switching our hotels as a result of shortening. Luggage delivery to the hotels was seemless! Both hotels were great with excellent breakfasts.
We had perfect weather the whole trip.

Pedaling through the fields of France was magnificent. Loved hooping off for a quick wine tasting or a leisurely tour through a chateau.

The lovely countryside and friendliness of the polish people.
We had opted for e- bikes. And one had a faulty brake but with the help of an outstanding helpful driver (Pawel) it was fixed and we could use it on the second day. He also bought holders for phones which was an absolute must.
Generally the hotels met our expectations. Jóhanna the guide in Krakow was wonderful.
The maps and the description of the route were useless for us. Too detailed and impossible to follow. We were not able to use the mapme app partly because we got the GPS too late. Instead we used Google maps.
All things considered it was a great trip that we sincerely recommend.

This tour was incredible!!! We did this with our two teenage daughters 13 and 15… and we were all blow away by the beauty of the Netherlands and the immaculate organization of Tripsite and their team!

The route was a brilliant mixture of history and pristine nature. It was pretty flat so although an effort at times for the teens, not difficult at all… but you felt like you deserved our sundowner drink at the end of the day.

Hotels were all lovely, with delicious breakfasts included. The towns we went through were beautiful and hotels in very central locations.

The bikes were top class, gave us no issues whatsoever. Peter Vos from Tulip tours was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable about the route. Gave us a good briefing and off we went.

We would love to return to do more trips in the future.

Thanks again to all at Tripsite.

The Highlights of Northern Zealand trip was great. The lodgings were good, especially the palace (Kokkadal). The breakfasts were all excellent with both variety and quality. The scenery and the sights are as seen on tripsite. Denmark is truly a biker's dream. Christian from Ruby Rejser was very helpful and kind. The only problem with this tour was the GPS. I have never used one before so I do not know if there are better ones but what we were given did not work well. They were tiny and difficult to read and they kept freezing. As well, the maps that we were given were not detailed enough. We met a couple from France who shared the app given to them by their travel agent and it worked quite well. There were two days that we used it when our GPS froze. I do believe that Ruby Rejser is obligated to provide equipment that works.

Trip from Spoleto to San Luca was great overall, enjoyed the scenery. Visiting Montefalco was awesome. Arriving in Santa Barbara hotel with a pool waiting for us was a great surprise at the end of the day.
Tip: gpx tracks were excellent in use. I brought a box with me from home attached to a bike for the phone to follow tracks during riding. The problem was seeing track in a sunny day. I had to stop once in a while where shade was available in order to stay on the right road.
I do not know how to improve this challenge.