France Bike & Hotel Tour Reviews — 61 to 90 of 228

We experienced the most amazing trip for our wedding anniversary. The self-guided tour was a great way to visit this beautiful region at your own pace. The hotels picked out were absolutely gorgeous and well situated, all the main sights were at walking distance. I have to say that the itinerary was a bit harder than we expected and there were some very steep (and long) climbs. We highly recommend this trip!

Everything was perfect!! The bikes awesome. The places and the experience amazing! We had a wonderful time, even though the weather was not very good.

This was a great trip for beginners - the hotels and bike journey were extremely well curated. These bike paths are also much more traveled than we were expecting (in a good way), but be sure to ask your tour provider to provide lunch options in the GPS route.

Our group of 4 friends (2 couples) enjoyed the chateaux that we visited, the French countryside, cuisine, wine tasting, accommodations, and friendliness of the French people. We would likely not have found the hotels selected if we planned the trip ourselves and several were very unusual and enjoyable. The hotel locations were typically near a variety of restaurants. In Tours we found a very interesting museum housing journeyman crafted works in all trades that were exquisite. We also encountered a "self-service" ferry boat that was fun to operate. Angers had a chateau housing the Apocalypse tapestry that we found worthwhile.
This ride was a mix of flat and hilly days with the last day longer and hillier than the rest. One of our riders was "fit" and in his 60's and had no difficulties; I, fortunately, upgraded to an e-bike and managed fine but struggled the week before on several of the Amboise based rides (I am 74 and a lifetime rider). In addition to the subjective difficulty rating, it would be helpful to include the total elevation change in the tour listing so one can better decide between a regular bike and e-bike.
The other complaint was the quality of the maps and instructions. They are not adequate without the app that was provided though I was told the maps and ride instructions would be sufficient. (I've seen some comments on other tours about app problems, too.) I was expecting maps and instructions of the quality provided on rides in the past and these were dissimilar. Sign posting was generally good but not always. The app did manage to keep us on track, however. The app also routed us to the destination city but not to the hotel so we had to use google to find the hotel. All part of the adventure, I suppose.
The bikes were flawless and appropriate for the roads and the support from Tripsite before and during the tour, especially with my last minute request for an e-bike upgrade was excellent and greatly appreciated - a big shout out to the Tripsite team. This was our 4th Tripsite trip and we look forward to our next one.

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

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!

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 

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.

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.

We had a great time on this trip. It is easy cycling so good for newbies. The cassoulet at the Castelnaudary lodging was excellent. As was the place itself.

We used the GPS files so no problem navigating. Others mentioned the written directions could use work. Bikes were very good and we had no problems.

Would recommend taking the alternate routes some days. They go off the canal for better views.

For a picnic lunch go to Le Relais de Sully in Villesèquelande. Very well provisioned store.

If having lunch on the last day go to Marseillan Port, not Plage. Very limited options. Or power through and stop at La Parenthèse (accès N°23) almost at Sète. For which you will pay more but beautiful beach and food.

Carcassonne was a highlight of this trip. It is an exceptional city. I plan a return visit. The weather cooperated, only one day of showers. This is my 4th bike trip using Tripsite. I highly recommend them. They are extremely responsive and helpful in planning your dream vacation.

Gordes and Rousillon and St Remy where the best bike rides. Very Scenic and interesting. This is our first self guided bike ride. Hotels were friendly and great. Avignon is a great place to visit and see local culture and history.

Ride book is almost useless. helped with start of ride location. Maps are unreadable; trip route lost in all the colors. Without GPX phone maps would not have been feasible to do the rides. One phone battery is not enough for a days ride. Important you stress riders need backup phones or portable charger unit.
Bike set up was poorly handled. Phillipe was unavailable, his wife came late instead. She did not discuss all relevant issues for first time riders - pedal change mechanics, two different bike computers and operation, use of map book. Got a late start for ride in morning

I have cycled in many parts of France and this was one of the most beautiful. The tour takes you through vineyards, fields of sunflowers, fields of produce, hilltop villages, castles. We found fabulous coffee stops and great food. We choose the basic hotel package. 2 of the hotels are very basic but the beds were clean and comfortable and the meals provided were excellent. I personally would opt to upgrade next time. This tour has 2 days of hills which were doable and provided fabulous views. You need to be a regular cyclist to enjoy. It was quite something to cycle through these high vineyards and villages. I highly recommend this tour. The bikes were excellent and similar to what we use at home. We had a good hand off.The gps provided stopped working after 2 days but we easily used the ride with gps app that we had downloaded. I would make sure I had this as a backup. A couple of the restaurants and sites were actually closed down so double check before you head out. I love dealing with Tripsite as everyone is so helpful.

Great itinerary, good hotels, beautiful scenery. Bikes in excellent condition.

Very nice trip! We were celebrating our anniversary so opted for the 'luxury' level accommodations, each of which was nice and unique. We were assigned an extremely tiny room in the last hotel, but that was (I think) just luck of the draw and their lovely pool area was nice enough to make up for it. The bike routes were mostly awesome, but there were a few spots that need to be slightly revised in just a couple spots for safety. Overall, lots of beautiful vineyards, vistas, lovely hill towns. If you are a foodie, some of the hotels have Michelin star offerings, but they are closed a couple days of the week-- our timing was slightly off with the days we were in the hotel in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue was when the days their restaurant was closed, so if that is important to you, I'd recommend starting this tour on a day that enables you to overlap with at least one open day.
We started on a Saturday, and while that wasn't great for some of the restaurants in some towns, it still worked out well for hitting an amazing local products market in Gourdes and in St Remy a couple days later. We still ate amazing food - many many great options in each of the cities you will stay in.

The chateaux at chenonceaux and chambord were very impressive. The former for its harmony with the natural setting and the latter for the sheer size and grandeur of roofs and towers.

Overall the entire biking experience was fantastic even for non-bikers like 3 of the 4 in our group. E-bikes made all the difference. There were some miscommunications with the Tripsite team hear in the US, but the actual tour operators, Active Tours, who are in country did a phenomenal job of picking up the ball. If it has been a while since you were on a bike, I would double the time to get to each scheduled reservation for wine tasting. But once you get into the groove, being able to ride the "Route of the Grand Crus" and taste the wine along the way it will be an unforgettable experience.

Entire trip was excellent! Great service and communication from TripSite. The equipment was perfect, everything went very well. Would highly recommend!

We have always done guided bike tours with TripSite so this self-guided tour of Corsica was a first. Although it was a little more complicated to set up Ani at TripSite was very helpful and the folks at EuropeActive were great to work with locally.
The weather was perfect; the scenery exceptional; and the Corsican people very friendly. Our trip was timed to tuck in before the tourist season so crowds had not yet arrived.
Tri p exceeded expectations.

Scenery, especially the last 2 days through the Vezere Valley was beautiful. The route had many more hills and more riding on roads, some with a good bit of traffic than we expected, but happy to have e-bikes. We loved our e-bikes, although ideally we would have gotten them the evening before, not 9am the morning we started riding. Norbert and his crew who delivered the bikes were helpful with setting up the bikes, as well as getting the GPS tracks for us which we requested, but hadn't gotten. Our first day riding there was a bridge out over the river that was being completely rebuilt. We used Google maps to find a way around, but it meant riding on a busy highway for 12km. When we called Loire Valley Travel that evening to let them know so the map could be updated, we were told they don't check the routes each year. That bridge construction appeared to be a long ongoing project. However, the most concerning thing was our accommodation on the 3rd night, which was in a remote location outside Bergerac. We did not even get to see Bergerac (other than riding through heavy traffic). We were served dinner at the B&B without any choice of food. I don't eat duck or foie Gras, so I had mashed celeriac for dinner (and a great dessert). It was absolutely NOT a superior accommodation, although the owner was very nice and beds were comfortable and our room was clean. The pictures on their website were not at all representative. I was shocked when compared to the sample accommodation on your website. We were very pleased with our hotels in Bordeaux, Les Eyzies, and Sarlat. The one in St. Emilion was OK, but "shabby", not at all superior.

Several of our friends have used your company in Portugal and have been very pleased. They mentioned meeting an area manager before the ride for an orientation, as well as raving about their awesome hotels. Please let us know if you would like further details, but sadly we were quite disappointed in this ride that we were very much looking forward to.

A fantastic tour, that provides great diversity from the rich river flats of the Dordogne to hills & valleys that the river snakes through on the journey, and the food, wine & sites are extraordinary. The last day is a loop ride to La Roque Gageac, hard to imagine a more picturesque town. Recommend e-bikes to anyone other than a serious cyclist, & recommend an extra night in Bergerac to break the trip up with plenty to see in the fascinating city.

The people at Tripsite gave all information before the decision. (Claudia) and made our decision very easy
The cities were very well chosen
The hotels are very good
The local agency we needed twice, first because we did not received the GPS routes and the girls were very nice and competente. The next day we needed some more information, but there were no one speaking English. So Claudia helped us

Tudo perfeito. Paisagens incríveis. Organização nota 10. Recomendo muito. Melhor viagem da vida.

The amazing part of the trip was the visit on the castles. The Chambord castle is incredible, and so the Chenonceaux. But the parks and vineyards are memorable. Beyond this, you could visit the Da Vinci’s house, in Amboise. We did a wine degustation right on the vineyard. It was memorable!

The trip was very well organized. There were no glitches and the people we were in contact with were very friendly.
On the other hand, I totally recommend the route, on the banks of the Loire river, with wonderful landscapes and very picturesque villages, all complemented by good French gastronomy.
In short: totally recommended.

All the trip was memorable

Our first trip was canceled, frustating all group. The other was good because Mosel River is beautiful. The route description was awful and terrible for guide. We were lost sometimes because Tripsite don’t indicate a confiable app for route cycling . My bike was blocked with a different locker from others. The combination was written in a paper separately. We are so diappointed with Tripsite

HE ENVIADO EL MAIL CON TODOS LOS PROBLEMAS QUE TUVE Y NO FUERON RESUELTOS, ADEMAS DE HABER ENVIADO UN MAIL PIDIENDO EL 50% de lo pagado ya que el viaje en la primera mitad del mismo, si bien tenia problemas la bciicleta que teniamos , la segunda parte del viaje fue una odisea, nos perdimos he hicimos el 3 dia 20 km de mas, ya que las indicaciones eran desastrosas, y el ultima dia 10 km mas....a si que no puedo recomendar el viaje que hice, no es el tour habitual ya que la primera parte estaba perfectmente indicado con carteles y la seguna parte era con las indicaciones de un papel qu e nos dieron, al perdernos el google maps si bien le indicabamos que queriamos rutas con bicicleta, nos enviaba por rutas muy peligrosas...nos pusieron en peligro . mala experiencia

My husband and I have taken six trips with TRIPSite, mostly self-guided bicycle tours. We continue to appreciate the outstanding value we receive from TRIPSite and their vendors. Whether we ask for customized routes, additional layovers, comfortable accommodations or wayfinding/GPS materials, TRIPSite delivers every time. The regular bikes (not eBikes) we choose are high quality, the distances are manageable for two +70 year old cyclists, and the new GPS app worked beautifully. Our luggage was always delivered to our destination in a timely manner, our rooms were always ready when we arrived (really important when we craved a shower) and the included breakfasts were hearty and substantial prior to a day of cycling. Sixty percent of the two Loire Valley tours were on spectacular roads and picturesque trails without cars, a huge advantage for us for safety considerations.

We discovered that when we cycled through the vineyards, countrysides and forests, it was often difficult to find fresh water. On hot days in August, we had to carry up to 4 liters of water to ensure we avoided dehydration. Be prepared!

We did two back-to-back Loire trips for a total of 12 days and 250 miles. The chateaus were fabulous, the countryside was spectacular and the rivers and forests were verdant and lush. We highly recommend these two trips.

Everything about the Famous Villages of Provence was memorable; the views, the wine, the food and especially the accommodations. The staff at the hotels were so friendly and helpful. We were thankful that we upgraded to ebikes as some of the climbs would have been challenging. There is a learning cure when using the GPS, but it is very accurate and we truly enjoyed riding along the country lanes through apple and olive orchards.