1 Star Europe Tour Reviews — 1 to 30 of 38

Super poor communications from Tripsite. Lack of timely information regarding changes in the itinerary did not allow us any opportunity to cancel or reschedule or discuss options. We contacted Tripsite many times and most Inquires to Tripsite staff and requests for manager to call did not get a response.

Crew on the boat tried to be positive and accommodate a new plan but the boat hadn’t been to the scheduled stops in months. Better communication from Tripsite would have enabled us to make changes or adjust. We were unable to boat to several stops and a 3 hour each way bus ride was simply not an acceptable option.

I would not use Tripsite again.

We had one glorious day of biking along the Danube. After that . . .
Due to low water the boat could not sail to Budapest. Then a breakdown caused further delay such that we could not get to Vienna as planned and the stop in Bratislava would be only 1/2 day. With this prospect we left the boat and made our own way, at our own expense to Vienna, Budapest and back to Munich.

We made the decision to leave the boat on the third morning after low water levels and then mechanical issues required the two nights of the trip (Vienna and Budapest to be scraped or cut to a minimal tour after hours long bus ride. The water level couldn’t be helped but the mechanical issues just added to the nonbiking onboard down time. The staff were lovely but it was no longer the trip we paid for.

Hello,
Very dissatisfied with the trip as a whole. I am requesting a REFUND for the trip as we did not get what was stated in the 8 day, self guided Tour.
1. Did NOT stop in SINES as suggested, due to a bike race, roads closed off so had to start 10km further down the road from our starting point. (I am sure the race would have been booked months in advance, therefore Tripsite should have anticipated this). Vague instructions and impersonable from the person who picked us up (information session should have been at our hotel however we were ubered to another hotel and put right on the bus, (No conversation/communication at all, poor customer service!!!) from Lisbon to "Sines". I know it was a self guided tour but not impressed.
2. Course is NOT Easy to Moderate (many hills and unrideable trails) : we all are experienced bikers, however the trails were horrendous and hard to navigate. These are NOT bike trails!!....gravel, sand (lots), rocks, uneven trails with minimal paved roads. We had to walk our bikes up mutiple/several hills due to the poor conditions! Would not recommend this tour to anyone at all! We had to use APPLE MAPS because the routes that were given were unmanageable and the GPS given wasn't working well, at the best of times and not very user friendly. I would hihgly suggest you send someone from Tripsite to bike on the trails and you would understand what is going on.

2. No one checked in on us at all throughout the trip. One person had fallen, bruised, scraped legs and arms. No support at all. No first Aid Kit supplied! No one had followed up when been informed on how the person was or even if the bike was still workable.

3. Last hotel, in Lagos (on the "list of hotels") we biked to and was informed we had no reservations "Cascade Wellness and Lifestyle Resort". All other hotels were accurate on the list except for this one. Why??? we had to bike another 2km to go to other Hotel Nh....not happy. Very stressful after an unpleasant 8 days.
2 of the hotels were subpar the other were good.

4. I had also infromed you I was GLUTEN INTOLERANT therefore, for Breakfast I expected accomodations however there were only 2 hotels that could, with very minimal options (no carbs to eat....not good when biking every day)

We had booked with Tripsite before and were very happy (Croatia, Bike and Barge, excellent trip) and that is why we had booked with you once again. As stated above, I am requesting a refund as for what we paid for and what we got is unacceptable.

Regards, Darlene Capaldi
Deeply dissatisfied customer

Make sure you are an experience biker as the level was listed as moderate but it was definitely advanced.
Didn’t enjoy the e-biking part at all and would not recommend it. Most people in the group didn’t enjoy it. Also many issues with e-bikes.

The trip was cancelled one day before departure. The offered alternative, Arnhem-Maastricht, is not comparable! Even the upgrade to the upper deck and the drinks package couldn't compensate for it. If our friends hadn't traveled all the way from Canada specifically for this trip, we would have cancelled.

We were extremely unhappy with this trip. We were told by the bike/barge crew that Tripsite subcontracted our Avignon barge/bike trip with another company. Unfortunately, Tripsite didn't inform us of this change. The bike/barge trip we signed up for was advertised as "Easy to Moderate". The bike tour was NOT Easy to Moderate. In fact, our bike tour leader advised us that this trip was rated as "Moderate to Difficult". As a result, we weren't able to ride everyday due to the difficulty of the terrain. The barge we stayed on was extremely humid and damp. The bedsheets, towels and floor in our room were constantly damp even with running the AC all day and night. Every morning, there was standing water on the floor of our room. We had to constantly mop up the water on our room's floor--even with the AC continuously running. Very disappointed with this trip!

This tour was a big disappointment for me. Before you book read this review!
First of all, the itinerary: Days 1-4 are a waste of time. Don’t expect to see anything scenic or interesting for 4 days. First night/day 2 are in maestre, you may as well be in Akron Ohio. Boring, industrial, hotel is next to some car dealerships. Cycling begins with a trek through Maestre into Venice where you catch 2 ferries. BEWARE, ferry #2 takes max 4 bikes, as 28 lined up behind us to load only 4 every half hour. Some waited 3-4 hours to get on a ferry. Day 2 ends in Carole. What a dump. Cheap cheesy family destination for young families on limited budget, hotel smells of wet towels. The cycling is a grueling mix of relentless sunshine with nary a patch of shade, endless cornfields and gravel and dirt “roads”.
Did you want to see the Adriatic? You will have to wait, cornfields, and bumpy gravel roads await you. Occasionally we passed through some of the most unremarkable towns that I never needed to know and will now forget.
Day three description reads: “ride towards the Julien alps”. Why even write this? You could write “ride towards Ireland” and it would be equally as relevant. There is not a hill or mountain in sight. Day three you wind up in Portogruaro. Another subpar hotel. Tiny tiny room, uncomfortable beds, more weird musty smells and poorly functioning AC. ( we paid for the hotel “upgrade”, I shudder to think what the base price rooms were.)
Finally at the end of day 4, suffering from Stockholm syndrome we encountered a few columns from an ancient Roman structure and took some pictures so our friends and family wouldn’t know what fools we were to be spending time in Italy this way. Aquileia is comparatively cute, but perhaps we were starved for scenery by then. There are probably 5 or 6 restaurants and there’s a pretty church.
Days 5-7 offer a bit more to see and we finally spend some time cycling by the Adriatic. The route provided to exit Trieste on day 5 was a one hour tour of shipyards and industrial parks, thanks for that. Slovenia and Porec were both charming. Most of our group were exhausted upon arrival every day, one gentleman was injured. Everyone seemed generally disappointed in the bike routes and the lack of scenery.
Hotels ranged from nothing special to downright bad throughout. I DO NOT recommend this tour. For reference, last year we did Norway cycle/hike and were blown away with the hotels, scenery, inclusions, route etc. Book that!

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

I was very disappointed with this trip! Not only were the cabins very small, they were completely enclosed with no external air flow systems. So, when one person in our group came down with COVID, it quickly spread to 4 more.

Since I had been rooming with one of the persons who tested positive, I offered to leave the trip [so I would not spread the virus to other customers] with the understanding that the ship's crew would pay for my hotel stay in Gent Belgium and the cab fare from the boat to the hotel. Moreover, I expected the crew to give me a refund for the portion of the trip I could not use [not the entire sum, but just what they would save on meals, etc.]. However, after packing my suitcase, isolating from the rest of the customers on board, and preparing to deboard, I was told than not only was the crew not going to pay for the items they said they would, the crew insisted that I pay a surcharge of another 30 Euros for increased fuel costs.

A.
The Thalassa, the boat on which we traveled needs immediate repairs to the holding tank/sewage system. The smells emanated into our cabin day and night. To resolve the only thing we could do was open the portholes, run the air-conditioning, and leave our cabin door open all at the same time. We left the boat one night early due to the smell. Two other couples did the same. We were told from day one of the cruise the smell would improve once we began sailing but that was not the case. Our room smelled of sewage fumes the entire trip. Additionally the smell of diesel fumes while in port was excessive. While the captain, crew, and tour guides were good, this boat is not ready for taking people on vacation.
Suggestions:
1. Rework venting systems for ship
2. Leave port the day of embarkation. No need to stay in port and smell diesel fumes from the boats (including the Thalassa) until the next day.

B. The e-bikes we used for this trip were tired and in need of serious repair or new bikes need to be purchased.
Suggestion:
1. Maintenance and repair review of each bike should be undertaken and new equipment installed as needed.

C. We did a tour extension in Athens for 3 days. Tripsite did not send any information about our extension ahead of time. So, while we had a driver pick us up at the airport and we had a nice hotel, there was no tour guide. We had to figure out what was planned for us on our own. Tripsite referred us to our Greek contact of whom there was none.
Suggestion:
Better contact between Tripsite and their overseas vendor to be sure travelers have made appropriate contact with local guides.

I'm curious where in Vienna you saw the waltzing? Was this while you were riding, or a trip extension? Our group will be dancing while biking, this August...

There was none. Due to the Covid situation we decided to cancel the trip. However we were not able to change the reservation to next year and ended up having to pay to get out of the deal. Not very nice and not very user friendly, Haven't heard any response to my earlier complain.

Biking was just ok, could have been more challenging but I knew going into this tour the biking was rated easy. The towns and villages are beautiful. The breakfast was good but the lunches they gave you for the tour during the day were horrible, thankfully there were places to eat along the way. The dinners were also poor quality, many dinners were a repeat of the day before presented differently ,especially the fish dinners. There also seem to be a discontent among the staff they could’ve been a little bit more accommodating and friendly. The rooms are basically neat and clean and comfortable the bikes were also good and the mechanics that maintain them were readily available to assist anyone in the morning before the ride. My main concern was the constant smell of sewage that was present throughout the boat and especially in the main lobby ,they often kept the sliding glass doors on both sides of the ship open to alleviate the smell. This was an obvious problem they couldn’t solve. At times, we were rafter up to other ships at port and had to walk through these other boats to the Carissima, it was obvious that the Carissima was no- frills compared to these other boats. If you are considering a tour along the Danube I would suggest looking into other cruise ships.

Our guide was terrible!
The crew on the ship very nice.
Food excellent.

The barge itself, the chef and the captain were great. Unfortunately, the most memorable take away from this trip was the cycling itself. This was a guided tour and our guide was only familiar with the city of Paris. We were to follow the Oise and Seine rivers and seldon rode along the river paths. The first two days were the worst involving a lot of backtracking and nearly impassable trails that seriously impacted the mileage and time in the saddle. One day we arrived at the boat an hour after the scheduled dinner time. Our ride through the city of Paris was traumatizing because of the heavy traffic and crowded bike lanes. Why were we not riding along the Seine??? Perhaps the guide was not totally to blame. Hat tours could have provided him with better maps and information. Whatever the reason, the ten riders paid the price. This was not the tour we signed up for.

I did this "guided" bike tour from London to Amsterdam. There are many areas where improvement is needed.

We weren't given a map or App of the biking route as promised. We rode through many villages, resorts and towns from Dunkirk to Amsterdam but were not told the names of the towns, or the history of the towns - and we stopped only for "coffee breaks". When we asked what town we were in for the coffee breaks the guide was unable to tell us. We either used google maps or asked strangers where we were. Also, we biked past notable places of interest like the beach in Dunkirk where British troops were rescued during WWII - and the Dover Castle - but never stopped - even to take pictures. It was all about getting to the next hotel in time for dinner.

We weren't told the hotel we were staying in until we arrived at the hotel. We usually arrived at the hotel around 6pm and had little time to turn in our bikes for the night, get our luggage, unpack, shower, change clothes and get ready for dinner by 8pm which usually lasted over two hours. And then we started early the next day - to get to our hotel for the next night.

Overall it is a "forced march" from London to Amsterdam. If you want to bike 344Km then I suggest you just go and bike 344Km for the exercise on a route most convenient to you because that is what this is. Or, take the self-guided tour which is cheaper and includes maps and the App and you can sight-see and take time to enjoy the country-side you are biking through.

The online website says "You will receive a code to download the maps, itinerary, points of interest, services and GPS position on your smartphone or GPS device. The App provides GPS tracks to be used offline. Paper copies of the route are available with supplement of €15." When I asked for the map or the App I was told they were only available to self-guided participants and that I should use GPS to figure out where we were at any given point. But that is not what the website says/said. As it is, we have no map or record of the route we biked or the towns we passed through. I would not recommend this "tour" to anyone.

PS. Do not interpret this critique as a criticism of the people who guided this tour. The people who guided us were patient, kind, personal, friendly and professional....in my opinion they had/have no impact on how this tour is/was deigned.

The Classic Lady was a nice barge. It was clean, adequate cabin space, food delicious and staff very nice. This was all good if you just want to go on a barge tour of the Lake District in Poland.
If you want a tour that highlights bicycling, this is not the tour for you. We went to both Cycle and see the area. The routes we were taken on were unsafe and basically unrideable. The course is approximately 80% in the woods on deep sandy, moderately rolling hills. The sand was so deep (4 inches and more) everyone was off their bikes walking. When you did get some cycling going it was a slow go with hands tightly on the handlebars, praying that you didn't fall. Everyone, including our guide, fell at least one maybe 2-4 times. Many get road rash and some hurt shoulders, hips and knees. Several folks only road 2-3 days out of 6 because of the course conditions or because they were hurt.
This is an unfit tour for anyone.

The support and coordination by tripsite was awful. The directions they provided were more like Escape Room Clues rather than directions. Tripsite directs us to a ferry across the river Muir which was closed which no alternative route. I would never use Tripsite again

The trip was great, hotel, bikes, etc but was way overpriced. I could have booked the same or similar hotel myself on booking.com and asked the hotel to add the bikes. It would have cost hundreds of euro less for my 5-day trip. Tripsite didn't do anything else and didn't even answer my emails quickly when I did have questions. I never met a Tripsite employee. The hotel owner Paul at Fevery handled everything. My advice to others, is do it on your own and safe a lot of money for the exact same trip.

My husband and I have been on 12 European bike/boat tours. We love to see the world this way, and we are usually 100% satisfied and happy when we finish a trip.
In April we took the Ave Maria tour from Venice to Mantova. The first two days we biked on busy highways next to large lorries, semis, and garbage trucks, one of which almost wiped me out. We were shocked at having to ride on these highways because here is the company description of this trip on this website...
"This cycling tour is largely along the flats of the Po plains, and the daily stages vary from 25 to 55 km – mostly on tarmac cycle paths along rivers and canals, or quiet country roads."
The first two days of this trip were not on QUIET COUNTRY ROADS. They were on heavily traveled highways, and they were dangerous and certainly no fun! We will never travel with this company again because they were not truthful about the roads and
paths. This was not a relaxing trip.
On a good note...we had wonderful food on board. The chefs were amazing, and we looked forward to dinner every night.
The Ave Maria advertises air conditioning. It is true they have it, but they don't turn it on very often, like it is off all night, every night. So most of us had to sleep with our doors wide open. Our rooms were like saunas, with no windows to open. For that reason, I would not recommend this boat, no matter what tour it was on.

Well-Done
We rode the entire week independently of the 30-person group, which is our preference. We requested beforehand, and received promptly, the GPX files for each stage, which we downloaded to our Garmin bicycle computers together with relevant open source street maps. We used the GPS directions as our primary navigation, and referred to the jigsaw puzzle of a tour map and the turn-by-turn directions in puzzling moments. All three references agreed very well, which is a great comfort. Tour Guide Michela provided us a separate walk-through every evening, clarifying points of confusion and explaining where the main group would be. Several times we met the group for special sightseeing tours. Otherwise, we did our own thing, took rest stops at our own discretion and ate the picnic lunch at places of our own choosing.

The bicycles were better than expected. We chose the e-bikes and count the expense as worth the money. The batteries were strong enough to carry us through the 30-mile days with a couple of power dots left over. The seats were comfortable and the handlebars were especially comfortable to the wrist. The gears changed easily.

Needs Improvement
Plating the food before serving meant that a great deal was wasted. It would be more accommodating to serve family style, in bowls, so people can serve themselves what their appetite and inclination suggests.

The itinerary was generally okay, but we had to meet the boat or bus by appointment several times, which meant waiting around for hours at a time. Other bike-and-boat tours we went on were better organized to find the boat at the end of the day's ride.

Unsatisfactory
The company is proud of their cooking, but the quality was badly degraded by the excessive use of salt. Even those people who were indifferent to their salt intake agreed it was "very salty". The taste of the food was ruined by the cook's excess. Upon tasting the first night's dinner, I required that they make special salt-free dinners for me. Two nights they "forgot" and spoiled the food. The cooks should learn to make their food unsalted and let the guests add that seasoning at table. It will improve the dining experience for everybody.

The internet service was the worst I've seen since dial-up telephone modems. People wanted simple access to email and to post photos on social media, but were continuously thwarted by irregular service and severe deterioration, which seemed to be deliberate. For example, the night we were in Zelo, they announced there was no wi-fi at all because of the remote location, which was fishy to begin with. Next morning, we decided to stay on the boat for the day, which allowed me to observe that within minutes of the big group rolling away, they switched the wi-fi back on for the rest of the day, until that evening when it went to pieces again. There is no excuse for such poor service in this day and age.  SHOW MORE 

Bikes were in terrible condition. My while broke down with 10 miles left on the first day. My wife’s bike had a flat that the crew was just going to fill with air. My sister-in-laws bike broke down 5 miles out on the third day. Food was poor. Very few English speakers among the crew. Directions and maps for the rides were poor or non existent. When we complained we were told. “Well you made it back didn’t you?”

After having had prior positive experiences, I was very disappointed with this trip. The accommodation on the boat was almost to the point of ridiculous! The upper bunk was almost impossible to get into and getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night was treacherous! The staff were pleasant enough and the food was okay. Peter, our guide, was also disappointing. He really seemed to have little interest in whether we were enjoying our ride. He would often head out ahead of us and then a some point realize that we weren't all there and would stop or go back. He did not wear any kind of identifiable clothing so that we knew who or what to look for if we were further behind. Thank goodness there were enough of us with prior experience that we picked up the slack and made sure the first timers weren't left behind. I invited my sister, a first timer, to join me on this trip and found myself apologizing many times that this trip was less than enjoyable. That being said we did see some nice scenery and did come across some stores that were actually open. The general comment was "that's just the French" Another thing to note is that finding the bus that was supposed to take us from Paris to meet the boat ended up being a bit of a fiasco! We waited for an hour in the hot sun and the bus had been there the whole time. There was no identifiable sign to let us know that was our bus. Several times members of our group checked with the driver and were told that it wasn't our bus. Finally one of the members of our group who was more proficient in French appeared to ask the right question as it turned out that the bus was actually ours. Not a good omen apparently! All in all I would not recommend this trip to anyone!

This trip was a disappointment. We have done about a dozen trips with Tripsite and this trip was not up to standard. First of all there is garbage all over the sides of the roads. We had some of that in Sardinia, but this was the worst! We also had some poor accommodations. In Modica the imitation hard wood floors had buckled and I tripped over them. Also, at the end of a 62 kilometer day we arrived at the farm hotel and were told we had no reservation, despite the fact that we had a voucher for that hotel. We had to go an additional 4 k down a. Dry busy road late in the day. All in all, this trip is not up to your high standards!

Guides had no map, and got us lost daily. They spoke no French, so could ask no one for help. Because of the getting lost daily, we didn't get to see the towns in which we were moored for the night. Kitchen ran out of bread, so I had to buy my sandwich one day. Rooms were not cleaned except for trash being removed once. Boat was moored in Paris 1/2 hour walk away from where the captain said he would be, with not notifying guests. A complete and total DISASTER!!!

This trip is not accurately described. Most of our group found the biking to be quite challenging, yet it was rated as "Easy to Moderate". This is a misrepresentation and should be adjusted. On the first day, one our group had to be taken to the hospital due to the heat and exertion. The captain of Le Fleur could use some lessons in hospitality. He and his crew occupied the salon every evening for their meal after we ate, and then they stayed there for the evening. This put the guests out on the back deck as the only alternative -- and then he scolded us when we were laughing due to the noise. The captain did not treat us like guests, but the other team members were friendly. The fact that we sailed with the captain's young daughter and their large dog was a surprise. I would not recommend this boat, but enjoyed the sites and activities. I have taken two other bike and barge tours, and this one did not compare favorably.

The staff and crew of the Anna Marie were very friendly and helpful but over all, if this was my first bike and barge trip, it would probably would have been my last. The accommodations were small, we knew that going in but because space was so limited, there was nowhere to hang the towels to dry properly so they should have been changed a little more frequently. The mattress on the bunk bed also needed to be changed as it was old and hard to sleep on.
The food at breakfast was the same for 7 days, as were the luncheon meats. The bread was fabulous but could have been switched up with some protein like eggs to start the day. The dinners were, on most occasions, tasty and delicious but lacked quantity after a long bike ride.
My biggest complaint was the cost of the water. The days were hot, the stores and restaurants along the way were closed and for the temperature we should have been provided with water or somewhere to fill our bottles. The boat charged too much for a small bottle and provided only one even smaller bottle for the day.
Our bike guide did not provided any history of the areas we saw and at night, we were not given any tours of the place we were moored at.
Last but not least, all the bikes needed to be tuned up, several chains, when changing gears, fell off, some brakes did not work well and some gears would not change properly.
The most memorable part of the trip were the rest of the passengers, we all enjoyed each others company and had the ability to laugh at some of the situations described.

It's a shame that the incompetence and the misogynistic attitude of one person can affect what could have been a fantastic trip, our guide on several occasions got lost and we ended up doing many more kilometres of riding including a very long and steep hill climb that we had to walk in the hot sun.
I can not praise the Captain and crew of the Zwaantjie more highly it's a shame he has no control over the guides that are allocated to various trips.

Ostuni was a lively, great city- a major contrast to the rest of the region which is apparently deserted until summer is in full swing. I also really appreciated having my bike replaced, but I obviously wish the standard bike I got in the first place were more appropriate for long distance rides.