Bike Tour Reviews — 361 to 390 of 1693

The itinerary for this trip was very scenic with a good mix of countryside and small towns. The hotels were nicely located and appointed.

Route: nice combination of countryside and small towns. The GPS tracks that were provided worked great on our Garmin device. Getting into Amsterdam was a bit unnerving so not sure if there would have been a little less busy route to the hotel.

Hotels: all were located near city center and within walking distance of town sites and restaurants. The Hotel Mondragon in Zierikzee was wonderful; the host at Hotel Loskade was very helpful and accommodating. The NH Bruges was an ‘upgrade’ and while the location was very good, the hotel itself was worn and in need of maintenance and upgrade. All hotels provided nice buffet breakfasts.

Bikes : the hybrid bike was comfortable and well maintained. The e-bike was comfortable and the battery had a very long charge time. The hybrid bike came with handlebars that adjusted with a lever however the e-bike did not. The e-bike required a multi-tool to make this adjustment. A crank arm and pedal fell off the e-bike while riding and the thread was stripped taking some expertise to repair. Thankfully, our travel companion brought a multi-tool otherwise we would have been unable to fix these two issues in the field. Our travel companions had a couple mechanical issues and were told to find a bike shop for repair. That is fine if you are in a large town during the week, but on the road there were very few. Highly suggest including a multi-tool in the repair kit that is provided.

We had a pleasant week exploring!

The ride along the Burren Coast Way. Spectacular views of the sea.
I am not a road biker and I personally found the trip a little more challenging than the "Easy to Moderate" rating posted on the website.
I would suggest you need to be comfortable riding on fairly busy roads at times and train for the hills, some are quite challenging.
Overall a very special way to see Ireland and well worth the challenge.

I enjoyed the trip very much. The first half of the trip was the best portion for the ride. The trail is mostly an elevated bike path with beautiful scenery and biergartens along the way. I took the hilly route leaving Bolzano and my thighs regretted that decision for a few days, but I got to see some amazing views on the way down.
Each of the towns along the route are great, my favorite being Verona. The Lake Guarda region in all is amazing. I am an artist and thrive on seeing art that is new to me. Most of the towns had museums, cathedrals or just buildings in general that sated my needs for visual engagement.
I made friends with a couple on the same tour and had an even better time than expected.
The weather was a bit rainy two or three days of the tour but I'd recommend just looking at weather apps and plan accordingly. There were always breaks in the weather.
The app works very well for guiding you through the lands. My new friends gave me the advice to wear an ear bud to hear the directions which made navigation even easier.
I booked my trip very last minute, as result I stayed at a hotel at the end of the trip that was considerably farther from Venice than I would have liked. But it was simple enough to get to Venice, just a bit time consuming. My friends stayed at a hotel on the edge of Venice I would have much preferred.
I paid for the upgrades hotels and an extra might at the end of the trip, both were a very good choice in my estimation.
The trip has inspired me to return to some of the locations, like I said Lake Guarda and Verona were the highlights.i could go on and on.....

Your website should warn people if they choose a tandem bike, that only one pannier is provided for two people. No handle bar bag is provided.
An additional very low cost tool that should be included in every pannier is a bike multitool. You are riding a bike in the countryside and most times not near a bike store, let alone one that is actually opened when you need it. We had parts fall off bikes (e-bikes and tandem) that were not able to be fixed unless you had a multitool. A pedal fell off while riding, and of course no town in site for miles. We happened to have a bike multitool so we could continue on our ride.
The hotel provided in Willemstad was not satisfactory. We had low angled ceilings that you can easily bump your head on when turning around. The sky light leaked. The room had a bad smell.
The tour instructions for Amsterdam could have been updated to reflect all the bike path closures in the city. These paths had been closed for a long time, so alternate instructions to maneuver around the city would have been very helpful.

We really enjoyed cycling along the Danube. The nine days went by quickly and some of the overnight stay locations were in such interesting towns that we explored in the evening. Although it is rated "Easy", be prepared for some days of cycling into strong headwinds and a few days of 65-70 km of cycling. Accommodations were very good and the breakfasts provided set us up for the ride. The GPX tracks were sometimes out of sync with the printed tour book on the portion of the trip in Germany. In a few locations the tracks shown did not exist, or were out-of-date due to new construction. This tour would benefit from an option to stay an extra day in one of the towns to provide a cycling break as well as an opportunity to explore, e.g. Linz.

Loved our guide. She was very educational and kind. The farm to table eating experiences were fun.

Hotel & Bikes perfect. Just check the hotel ubicaciones. 2 of that can be better.

I loved the trip, but I would make sure that the tour group meets you prior to the take off...They left the bikes and we never saw anybody to help us get started. We were three hours trying to get the ebikes moving, turned out it was the connection between the control and the bike. If we had, had some help that frusteration would have been resolved quickley. Didnt feel like we were helped at all. We did love the trip, we feel like we are stronger because we overcame so many obsticals. The maps were in german, and the road instructions were in a seperate book, it was hard to coordinate the 2.

Doc

A wonderful way to experience the Netherlands! The towns and countryside are great to explore by bicycle. This being my first trip to the Netherlands, it was interesting to see so many varied landscapes when my pre-trip impression of the country was just canals and flat land between cities. It was so much more....beautiful forested areas full of songbirds, huge sandy beaches, interesting agricultural regions....and the TOWNS! So much history and charm. Wonderful people too.

My one suggestion for others would be to navigate the bike paths and lanes in the same way you would in your car on the road: Keep right unless passing, pay attention at intersections, make sure to know the signage and lane marks, look both ways before pulling out into traffic, etc.. Netherlands is truly heaven for bike riders, but you do need to pay attention because there are so many riders everywhere.

Our trip was excellent. Everything was well set up. One thing, the height of one our bikers was not correct. I sent the info in ft. and inches. It was changed into cm.
Way off. Thank goodness tulip cycling had another bike for one of our gentlemen.

The landscape was fantastic, the villages were beautiful, and we were mainly alone on the roads: very few cars. The hotels were also well chosen.

The scenic views were the most beautiful I experienced in our 5 bike trips.
The hotels were great as well as breakfast.
In my opinion this ride was more challenging then lead on to believe. The hills were steep.
We had a oroblem day one with hotel.
Left 2 hours late dud nit have the combination to the bike. Did kit have any maps, any welcome package.nothing.
Also we had mostly rain , would have needed a map peotector for our bikes. The maps were useless in the rain.

The rugged coastline and the castle at Baiona as well as the hotel on the rushing River Torro de Oro.

It’s hard to say because the trip was full of so many memorable moments! Particularly loved the routes through the Burrens, the charming villages and inns in County Clare, and the breakfasts! Cycling through the breathtaking scenery was the highlight of my experience. Very impressed with the quality of our touring bikes and with Thomas who got us set up on them. Organization was superb. Hassle-free check-ins at our accommodation and our bags were always there ahead of us.

Staying at Quinta De Sao Tome. Great place to stay, great food and very friendly Hosts.

I really appreciated the thoughtful routing of the GPS track, it put in great places to experience so much that was wonderful in Catalan country. The mediaeval towns and historic spots, great restaurants and boutique hotels in unique settings. We had fabulous support from Your staff when we experienced misadventure on our first day, due some learning curves with the technology.

Good staff in Hotel of Portopalo, good spots to go in Syracuse and Noto, great gastronomy in every city. A great experience overall.
I have one observation, some ways in roads with a lot of traffic + cars/bus fast passing us.
I would do this tour again.

Exceptional organisation. Great contact person who was in touch daily and available instantly for any queries arising . Extremely helpful and gave advice as to sights and restaurants etc wherever we were. Excellent hire bikes and the route perfect with lesser roads and bike paths . We enjoyed the variety of cities, small towns , history and rural areas . Excellent accommodation. Would thoroughly recommend this self guided tour .

Route hotels and food were exceptional. Come prepared knowing how to navigate using technology.

we were lodged at Quinta de Sao Tome because they didn't have enough room at the original farm . We loved our stay there and the food was also delicious. The staff was great, especially Claudio, who was consistently pleasant and helpful. The bike rides were enjoyable but our enjoyment was reduced by the rather profoundly poor proof-testing of one of our maps. Because of the rough nature of some trails , specially the one going to the winery that nobody could find, nobody seemed to be aware of the actual incomplete nature of the mapped trail. We found this oversight vexing and could easily have led to further unpleasantries.
Although, one of our members was assured that she had a suitable bike to accommodate her size, an appropriate bike was not waiting for us and had to be found at the last moment and replace by a lower standard one / that was not very comfortable . We booked different bike ride in the past before this one and always received a briefing the night before . There .we were brief on arrival and that was it . the GPS provided was not always easy to follow and I would advise them to try the different trail before they send people on it. Some of the road are in poor condition.
We also found the pricing of the bike portion of our trip was a problem. We could only fit 3 days of biking in but were charged 5 days and denied the weekly rate which would have been cheaper, in spite of only using the three days. The bike portion of our trip was poor value in the context of our previous biking experiences.

Vienna, Budapest and gyor. There wasn’t much to see along the ride.

Beauty of the Dordogne region. Great pull-offs for picnicking every day. Lascaux caves and museum, brilliantly well done!! Don’t miss it. Also, a last minute side trip to Les Eyzies prehistoric museum! Also fantastic!

The Lake Garda and Adige river tour was a beautiful ride almost entirely on paved trails so minimal time was spent worrying about cars on the roads. Coming off the mountain down to Lake Garda is an amazing sight and definitely a highlight of the tour. Be sure and download the GPS tracks on your phone because those are the only directions you get.

The scenery through the Adige River valley is fabulous. The biking is not too strenuous since most of the days are generally downhill. The climb to the view over Lake Garda is beautiful. Really fun to cycle through so many small towns along the way and interesting to cycle along the shores of Lake Garda too.

Great hotels which were distinct from each other. Quality bikes with comfortable seats and smooth gear changing.
The bikes were all locked when we arrived. It took far too long for someone to find the lock codes. There were no welcome packets/route maps and general information for the group of 12 and little help from the hotel who had apparently, all the information we needed. Unfortunate and unprofessional. The local people were apologetic but it should never have happened.

The itinerary was fabulous! It was perfect for our level of activity interest; the directions were easy to follow and the bikes were perfect. Our hotels were great and we were very happy to have our luggage arrive before us; one hotel even put the luggage in the room for us.

The suggestion to be in Gouda on Thursday was perfect - we absolutely loved the cheese market! We modified our cycling on that day to fit the weather and interest, so the flexibility in our schedule was an additional bonus for this sort of trip.

I'm so glad we planned to stay over night in our first city, as it gave us the opportunity to explore before cycling off to the next spot. I would recommend that anyone taking this tour also plan to spend the night of the last day of cycling in the destination city as well, as it was very relaxing on the other days to put the bikes away, rest and explore which was not an option for the last day. Also note that anyone taking this sort of tour should have a gentle reminder that in most hotels, the stairs are narrow and steep, so less luggage will be much easier to manage in the long run, lol.

Regarding the garmin and RideWithGps directions - there were a few places that the paths were slightly different; this wasn't terrible but it was a bit annoying and if that could be resolved, i think that would be very helpful.

This was a good tour , the hotels selections were great, but we had a terrible start as there was no one on site to provide maps and to unlock the bikes . Very frustrating. Our weather was wet, for 2.5 days, so check out the rainy season. Also there were no front panniers for the bikes to hold the maps, a problem especially in wet weather.we finally received our maps on day 3 of 5. Poor planning on Tripsites behalf.
It’s a good thing some of us had the electronic maps or we would have been totally lost.

We caught a spell of good clear weather, with rain on arrival and last day, so views from climbs were spectacular over ocean, especially Coomakista at 250 m. Join the loads of busses to look over the view, proud in the fact you rode there! The rest day has optional circuit through Valentia island which was a highlight. Optional steep 15% or worse grades down to lighthouse, but we would recommend doing that even if you push your bike up worst grades at bottom of hill. On the ascent back, don’t miss the road off to the right to the tetrapod tracks. The B and B owner suggested a restaurant just off the north ferry landing for sea food, to join the locals with a Guinness and red ale, waiting outside in the setting sun.

The Gap of Dunloe is a remote surreal climb on the ascent out of Black Valley, with descent back into the busy world of tourists on day trip walks, and civilization. On a cold wet day as we had through from Kenmare back to Killarney, don’t forgo a stop at the Avocado Molls Gap shop and cafe, even if you add a few kilometres to the suggested route, as it is a great place to warm up, get a hot chocolate, and look over to the Molls Gap, which you don’t get to ride through, unless you want to travel a more major route independently.

Insist on an understanding of the provided ride with GPS information, as we missed some important items at first, and also check the bikes over carefully. We had quite important problems with the bikes that we didn’t notice until into the trip, but to their credit the company responded quickly and replaced both bikes. This is my only reason for taking off a star.

Communications throughout were excellent.

Lascaux Caves were unbelievable, as were the cliff dwellings and Natural History museum in Les Eyzies. Sophie was inccredible, always responding in a timely fashion with our questions and concerns. My bike seat kept sliding down, and I had to stop many times a day to raise it again. The biggest dissatisfaction was not having audible cues with our road navigation system. And it wouldn’t tell you that you were off course right away, so often we found ourselves turning around. The food was very difficult if you were a vegetarian and after riding bikes all day, we would have liked to have eaten before 8 o’clock at night. I know you don’t have control of that, but, just saying…

The most memorable part of the trip was the beautiful scenery of Portugal and seeing it from a variety of vistas. Also, we had a terrific group of people that was led by Joao and Telmo. Both guides provided excellent service, moving bags, as well as replenishing water and snacks. Joao was very informative about Portugal and as well helped us selecting menu items etc. Telmo has an infectious personality who kept a close eye on the group when guiding, was highly communicative during the rides and cheered us on. The guides did an excellent job of providing great stops, surprises (fada), and additional tours (distillery, wine tasting etc.) It truly gave us a glimpse into the culture of this beautiful country.

In terms of suggestions, I would upgrade sections of this trip from moderate to difficult. We encountered deep sand, rough, rocky terrain and a deep drop off a mountain that led to some dicey moments and a few spills. As well, I would suggest prior to getting into busy traffic, there is a clear safety plan in place that is communicated to the group. Not that there was a lot of traffic, but there was enough traffic and we did have one biker go into a ditch. The accommodations ranged from excellent to one that was not great (In the village) as our room smelled of mold. I understand with people joining at the last minute, accommodations may have had to change but maybe a more consistent range would be better. Overall, the trip was amazing and I would highly recommend it. I believe the few suggestions are very doable and would help with the comfort and safety of others. Thanks so much Telmo and Joao, hope we ride together again!