3 Star Danube Bike Path - Vienna to Budapest Tour Reviews — 1 to 6 of 6

Budapest was the best city. Bratislava 2nd and Győr 3rd. The ride past Prinz Eugen’s hunting lodge (Schloß Hof), Bicycle Freedom’s Bridge and lunch at the Penny Coffea at the Slovakian side of the bridge (outstanding poached eggs on avocado bagels) and the ride past Devin Castle and the confluence of the Morova and Danube rivers was the nicest part of the ride.
The rest of the trip and the towns were very boring and monotonous. We had slippery mud in some sections of the trail with rain, and had to use the main roads. The train transfers went smoothly but did require carrying heavy bicycles up and down quite a few steps to reach the platforms.

Our cycling trip was marred by inclimate weather which cut the tour short due to flooding of the Danube. Because of the detours that were forced upon us we got to see some of the national forest (although we had to clime over downed trees to get through.

The weather wreaked havoc on the trip - with highly unusual rainfall inundation and wind conditions in Austria and Slovakia. The subsequent flooding affected the routes and led to the tour company cancelling 2/3 of the trip. The local tour company struggled to manage communication with everyone. We were booked into a different hotel for the 2nd night and not provided with directions to this hotel. Budapest was lovely and we had great weather there, but we did not experience most of the bike route.

While to bike, the GPS app, and the lodgings were all good, this trip had problems. First, I was routed to the wrong city/hotel on the first day. My trip itinerary and my GPS instructions put me in the wrong city so I had to ride additional miles to get to where my luggage was located. Very poor but doable. My main complaint is about the lack of communication from the local on the ground operator. My bike, while good, had an issue with the seat slowing lowering so every 30 minutes or so I would have to raise it back up. I called the company and was told someone would call me back, they didn't. I called again and was told that they would contact someone to come and look at the bike and that they would call back in a couple of minutes, they didn't. I called again and received the same response and the same result of not calling back. They are open until 8pm so at 7:45pm I called yet again and this time there was no answer and no way to leave a message. They did call back the next day and send me a list of bike shops in my next city. I was told to have the repair made, send them the receipt, and I would be reimbursed they were vague on how I was going to be reimbursed. I decided to stay with readjusting my seat every 30 minutes because I lost all confidence in them.

I will say that Rebecca from TripSite was excellent. I called her after the no answer phone call. She followed up with me later that day as well as the next day and patiently listened to my story. Thanks Rebecca!

Misunderstanding on inclusion of meals at the hotels other than Vienna, Bratislava, & Budapest. We specified that we’d like them included and they were not. We were able to find restaurants, but obviously that increased the cost for us.

We very much enjoyed this trip but it was a real adventure. At times I felt we were filming an episode for the Amazing Race! The maps we were provided with were very confusing. For example, we were not made aware that we had to make a detour as portions of the National Park were closed. Google Maps wasn't much help as they do not provide bicycle routes for Slovakia and Hungary. Fortunately, other cyclists told us to download the MAPS.ME app and this was a real life saver. I would advise anyone doing this trip to use this app or have some sort of GPS. We encountered other cyclists that were travelling with other companies that were provided with far more detailed maps, yet they too had difficulty. A GPS is a must.

We were dismayed that on a couple of occasions our luggage left unattended in the lobby area of hotels. I feel the luggage should always be stored in a secure area.