4 Star Czech Republic Tour Reviews — 1 to 23 of 23

We had a great experience on this trip! We chose the Standard hotel package, and overall the accommodations were excellent. Here's where we stayed:

Prague – Hotel DAP

Melnik – Pension U Zámku

Litomerice – Pension Dubina

Decin – Hotel Česká Koruna

Bad Schandau/Krippen – Hotel Erbgericht

Dresden – Hotel Martha

Our favorite stops were Prague and Melnik. Prague was incredibly clean, walkable, and felt very safe. Hotel DAP is about half a mile from Prague Castle, and walking to the main sites was easy and enjoyable.

Melnik is a charming little wine town perched above a valley, and sipping local wine right next to the vines it came from—while enjoying that view—was a definite highlight.

The one hotel we didn’t love was in Krippen. To be fair, it was raining that day and we didn’t feel like taking the ferry into Bad Schandau, but the hotel itself felt a bit dated and in need of some updates.

As for the biking: the Czech bike paths vary quite a bit. One minute you’re on a smooth trail, the next you're riding along a road with traffic, a dirt path, or a bumpy gravel section. The terrain is also hillier than expected, and sometimes you don’t get much notice before a climb.

We’re in our mid-30s, not regular cyclists but pretty active (we’re runners), and we did the tour on standard bikes. There were definitely a few hills where we had to hop off and walk the bikes. The standard bikes were a bit heavy and could have used some chain lube and a tune up. If that doesn’t sound ideal, I’d recommend going with the e-bike option for a smoother ride.

Weather-wise, we got lucky—just a little rain, and temps were mild overall. Most hotels didn’t have AC, so it got a bit stuffy at night, but opening a window helped.

All in all, we loved the tour and highly recommend it. The scenery, towns, and experiences made it a trip we’ll always remember.

Klarà, our principal guide was awesome! She was always handy, solved all issues with a big smile on her face. Martin and Toni also very good but they left us in Vienna. Fine scenery, hotels, food, weather, etc...

Only one pitfall: we got other 2 guides after Vienna. One of them did not have a guide attitude, one example: the group that do not speak the local language was struggling to make the other in a restaurant and he was not helpful at all, he just got a beer for himself and walked out of the place. If you need more detail, please contact me.

This was a fun and memorable tour with enough options to keep even fast cyclists (which my wife and I aren't) engaged and occupied beyond the daily pedal. And the Ride with GPS app supplied by the agency, with all the rides preloaded, removed the worry and stress of missing turns and taking wrong forks, with detailed instructions and maps serving as a backup. There was a bit of confusion about the dinner vouchers - we at first assumed, wrongly, that they covered drinks. Also, when one restaurant we had vouchers for us in Dresden turned out to be closed for renovations, we were told to walk thirty minutes to an affiliate restaurant - that refused to honor the vouchers. Despite this miscommunication, all ended well when the agency gave us new vouchers for our last dinner in Prague, which was as not in our contract. I would ride with this tour operator again for their prompt and courteous service, as well as for their outstanding planning and execution.

The route took us past many memorable sites. The historic sites were selected to provide a portrayal of most aspects of history and culture. The towns and villages were charming and the country roads connecting them provided a good sense of the Czech and Austrian way of life.
There were multiple issues with one of the bicycles including brakes that needed adjusting and a seat post bolt that needed replacing. We rode in mostly rainy conditions and had to stop and buy chain oil to clean the chain. Both issues could have been alleviated by a thorough check of the bike and providing chain oil and rags to keep the bikes clean. And, these deficiencies made for a painful ride and significantly detracted from the joy of the trip.
It would have been helpful to receive the Ride With GPS routes via email earlier. We spent an hour or more a day trying to match the written description of highlights of the route with their location on the GPS route. We linked the highlighted site with the mileage and wrote out our own itinerary. Additionally, the written information should be rewritten by a person who is a native speaker, who can write direct sentences and use essential English grammar.

Our guide and van driver were VERY knowledgable and accommodating to our needs!
Our group was comprised of 13 participants, 1 guide, and one support vehicle driver.

Unfortunately, there was flooding in central Europe during our stay. Several of the bike routes were closed but our guide made the best out of detours and rerouting due to flooding.

However, the bikes were poorly maintained. According to the guide the company AVE was not expecting ALL participants to choose E-bikes (Even though 70% of participants had booked in February and June) Thus, there was a shortage, and the company had to borrow e-bikes from other sources. Consequently, there were at least 4 different e-bike makes/models where parts could not be interchanged. Bike chains jumping off the gear occurred routinely 4-5 bikes a day. Some e-bikes had major gear shifting problems and other performance issues. Our guide and driver did an incredible job keeping us all "in the saddle" , bike saddle that is.... :)

We had opted for the hotel accommodation upgrade. The first and last hotel were meeting our expectations, but the other three hotel stays were disappointing. I would recommend using the regular accommodations.

The hotel “Clement” in Prague was excellent, the breakfast choices too numerous to list, and the location was ten minutes to the Old Town.

Near the hotel is the restaurant “Usadlu”, where the majority of patrons are locals. We had an unforgettable meal in the “Dungeon” , about 2 floors below ground in this venue!

One Tip: If you are 65 or older you get to use all public transportation in Prague free of charge.

The Vienna Hotel was centrally located: 3-4 Metro stations from the Karl's Platz and Stefan's Platz.
The city was easily negotiated by walking everywhere.

Despite the bike problems, we had a wonderful time and would like to do another bike tour!
It was an incredible experience!!

Great trip with miles & miles of beautiful landscape. The cities and estates along the way are very impressive

The Iron Curtain Trail & Memorial was great. Especially for those that remember the Cold War era

The Spa Triangle biking tour - late August 2024 was more rigorous than we anticipated...lots of hills. Four of us went and we are in our mid-late 50's. Two of us chose acoustic bikes and two got electric bikes. This worked out well because we are all around the same height and could switch off as necessary. Plus the electrics carried the paniers with all the food/snacks, drinks and all extras.
A couple things I'd like to mention. The Trip site partners were very friendly and for the most part very responsive. Sometimes there was a language challenge, but we got through it. We upgraded to the Superior Hotel category and glad we did because we can't imagine what the lower category would have gotten us. With that said, the first hotel: Schlosspark in Karlovy Vary was very dated and in 1 of the 2 rooms, the air conditioning was not working properly and it was very warm on our first night. We mentioned to the front desk and were told a technician would come by. By the time we returned after dinner, the room was still very hot and we mentioned again but were told there was nothing they could do. I then reached out to our Trip Site partners and they said they would speak with the hotel. The hotel offered another room but it too had no a/c. We were promised an upgraded room the next night. I ended up putting my mattress on the floor of the room my sister & cousin were in to be able to get a comfortable night sleep before our first day of cycling. As far as the "upgraded" room...it was equally dated and had a tub instead of a shower but it did have it's own mini-split for a/c.

Our riding that day was greeted with perfect weather and we had a picnic lunch at what looked like a castle. We also passed a nice covered bridge along the route. The one thing we definitely wish we had known and been advised of is that the only place in the Spa Triangle with Thermal spas is Karlovy Vary. The other towns you will stay/visit do not offer the thermal baths. Unfortunately, we didn't find this out until we were at the next town. The town itself is lively and we happened to be there at the time of a music and wine festival and lucked out with all the music in and around the town.

The next town of Frantiskovy Lazne was all painted in yellow and we stayed at the Spa & Kur Hotel Harvey which was by far the best hotel of the 3. It was the most modern and best breakfast spread. Although, don't get spa services here, they were disappointing...lots of oil being rubbed all over and nothing more. The town is sleepy but beautiful. There are lots of green parks in this town as well. Our rides from this town included stopping at Soos, a nature preserve to see natural springs. On our final day here, we biked out through the town of Cheb which was lovely and then had another picnic lunch at a church stop that had picnic tables. We also saw a herd of elk and ram along this route which was a wonderful surprise.  SHOW MORE 

I enjoyed all of the villages/cities I stopped in and the lodgings were excellent. My pannier was broken and it was replaced right away which was much appreciated. Several of the GPS maps had sections which did not accurately reflect the route or were confusing. One route did not indicate that a very large road construction project was in progress and it took me an hour to figure out how to get back on track. Parts of the routes were marked as unpaved and while true, several miles of the unpaved roads were difficult to navigate. That being said, I always was able to find my final destination.

The second day from Nymburk to Kutna Hora was one of the most beautiful bike trips I've done to date.
The cycle path inside the woods next to the river is simply beautiful.

The cycle tour in Prague , just the 2 of us and our guide Ivo. Starting on Sunday morning at 8.30 am, hardly any tourists around and we cycled all around with stops for explanations and photo”s and a beer of course ! A great 3 1/2 hours !

We really enjoyed cycling to Hrensko and onto Tri prameny and walking up to Pravcicka Brana natural Bridge. although nature was scarred by the forest fires last year, it was still a great walk with amazing views.

A good range of hotels.
Good company.
Good route suggestions.

The friendliness of the Czech people and the peace and quiet of the countryside and villages. The recreation of the bunker by the enthusiasts in Slup was very interesting. The towns en route were architecturally stunning.

Route offers a variety of landscapes and experiences.

Beautiful countryside and amazing cheap beer. A few of the roads were a bit busier than I would have imagined but that didn't stop us enjoying the awesome scenery the Bohemian countryside has to offer. Rides are challenging (a little hilly in places) but well rewarded with some great beer in every town.

There are some great recommendations for lunch stops on the tour and it was nice to be able to see smaller villages that you wouldn't normally see.

Prepare to put on a few pounds as even the cycling won't work off all the amazing food and beer!

The boat and crew and guide were all top notch

My onboard experience was wonderful. The staff was awesome, very helpful and accommodating. The biking was quite an experience, a bit challenging at times due to some unpaved paths, however it was rewarding.

The history and the countryside was fantastic. Need work with maps - took us over an hour to find the hotel in Dresden as we were never given a city map of Dresden with hotels marked as other cities. Do not recommend dinner package as fixed menu at some of restaurants was not very good.

This was a wonderful tour with many interesting & historic stops along the way. The portion in the Czech Republic included challenging terrain while the ride from Vienna to Budapest was fairly flat. The hotels were all unique and very different, from botels to spas to penzione. Locations were great, had delicious breakfasts and were clean with the exception of the last one, which I'll discuss later. This trip would have been perfect if a few simple things had occurred: we received detailed information for the trip the day we left for Prague. Since there were some modifications, I lost half a day in Prague getting those worked out. That easily could've been taken care of before we left if we had the detailed info sooner. When we arrived in Prague, the cycling company sent Maps.me files to load. Because of the types of phones we have, it again took some vacation time to figure out how to download. We discovered that these were imperative to smooth navigating along the routes so I recommend that those files be sent in advance. The only other disappointment was that the hotel in Budapest was very dirty with mold all over the shower floor and walls. We had been told we'd be in a much nicer hotel, but i'm assuming they were unable to book it. Fortunately, we had booked our extra nights elsewhere. Bottom line, I would recommend this trip with the modifications above.

My wife and I did the 13 day Prague to Krakow self guided cycling tour the last week of August thru the first week of September 2017.
We both enjoyed it immensely. Europe Bike Tours spent a couple hours with us reviewing the trip material. The paperwork Vitek went over with us included:
A contact list and program itinerary.
A description of the day, route description, problematic turns/crossroads/tips, highlights, bike repair shops, medical care, places to eat, plus a graph showing distance and climbed meters.
Turn by turn directions for each day.
Regional maps with the trip route highlighted.
Plus a map of the town we were staying in each night.
Hotel vouchers
A GPS route was also available which we used and highly recommend.(It makes the biking more care free as you do not have to reference maps constantly, which saves a lot of time.)

We were provided with hybrid (crossover) bikes which were very comfortable and suitable for the terrain. The terrain varied immensely from paved trails to rough trails through the woods.
The bikes held up well. We had no flat tires or any other mechanical issues. The bikes had a bag on the front to hold what you needed during the day plus a cover in cased it rained. Helmets’ were also provided.
We chose the standard hotel accommodations. They were all good and some were exceptional. The hotel location was always great; right in the center of town.
The luggage transfer was great. Our luggage was at the next accommodation by 4pm or earlier each day.

We purchased the half board dinner option which we would not recommend. Although the food was good to excellent in all the locations except for two, I was led to believe that we would receive 3 main course options and this was not true. You took what you got. We do not feel there were any benefits with this option. There were plenty of restaurants available to choose from for the same cost where you could select from a full menu.
Prague and Krakow are both beautiful cities, with incredible architecture and history. Both cities have stately market squares, bridges spanning the rivers which run through them, plus numerous parks, cafes, restaurants, cathedrals, clock towers, castles, palaces, etc. We added four extra days to our trip giving us 2 extra days in both cities which allowed us time to explore them, which was totally worth it.
The cycling route takes you through beautiful towns and countryside. It follows rivers where ever possible.

Overall I highly recommend Europe Bike Tours. Vitek took very good care of us ensuring all went well.

A fabulous tour. Friendly countries to cycle in, great history and a variety of terrain. Would recommend an extra night in Znojmo to give you a chance to go discover the catacombs.and a chance to enjoy the magnificent view , wine and delicious food from the local winery. Would check with the tour company to ensure that the bikes will be delivered the night before so they can be checked out.
The Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia were places we had never been to and they exceeded my expectations hugely. Accommodation was chosen well and the bike company was very helpful.

Boat and crew were great. Biking and shore excursions were confusing. Explanations not always clear in English.

We were told the distances we would ride each day but these did not match the GPS we were given. Each day was longer and harder than we were led to believe. You need to make it clear that the ride is not for beginners as there are many hills and long distances most days. I would rate this as a medium ride, not an easy/medium ride. Our group could not complete the ride as it was too hot.