Europe Tour Reviews — 5611 to 5640 of 6839

We did the Tour of Tulips of last day 8 April 2017. Our group was of 9 brazilians and the compliments were unanimous. The boat is amazing, very cozy and comfortable, the food delicious and the wonderful staff. Our guide, Lia, was extremely professional, attentive and available. The bike tour was really indescribable. We’ve been through wonderful places and we could learn a bit from Netherlands and its charms.
I would like to especially thank Jantien and all the care and attention with which she dedicated to me, when I hurt my ankle.
Thank you for everything Jantien! We hope to see you soon in another bike tour. Big hug !

The most memorable aspects of the trip were cycling, Keukenhof tulpis, and Alsmeer flower market.

The Portugal scenery was amazing. But the best part of the trip was the care we received from the local service, Portugal Nature Trails. One of our party fell and broke a rib on the trip, and Sofia at Portugal Nature Trails was all over it. She arranged a trip to the hospital, for many additional taxis, and checked in with us regularly.
Not memorable: the hotel in Comporta. This hotel was not up to the standards of the other hotels, and the breakfast was extremely skimpy. So much so that we had to stop for another breakfast about an hour into our ride that morning. You should not use that hotel again.

The best part was the flower Gardens and flower fields.

This trip was absolutely wonderful. Even with a day or two of challenging weather.....with the right clothes it didn't matter. We were surrounded by such beauty every day and the people of the Netherlands are top notch.....you really couldn't find people that are sweeter and friendlier anywhere. Five Star Plus!!!

On the first day at the end of the ride, we tackling the "unpleasantly steep incline"(your words).....after going the wrong way at Stein am Rhein. We should have listened to the local 'angels' we met on the way! C'est la vie!

Awesome experience...I just would liked for the guide to pedal slower so that I could enjoy my surroundings more.

The most memorable part was fellow cyclists and our very helpful and knowledgeable guide.

Honestly, it was a dream from booking to end. I had quite a few questions that Tripsite answered within hours, but the greatest surprise was the Quo Vadis. It was incredible; my first riverboat but most definitely not my last. The ship lulled me to sleep, Chef Frank cooked the best meal of my life every night, and Captain Rendert was so accommodating and intelligent. He surveyed the weather, the course, everything everyday, and tailored it to our crew. I can't wait for my next cruise!

This trip was, like others organized by Tripsite, fantastic. The duration was perfect, the rating easy-moderate was correct. Note that there are a few places where you have to dismount and walk your bike. The local partner in Porto was great. My brother's chain snapped, and they organized a repair in the next town before we even got to it, and my brother's bike was fixed within hours.
The local operator clearly care about cycling a lot. They were very organized and friendly and gave us a walking tour of Porto the day before we set out.
The scenery is fantastic, the food is great, take advantage and eat a lot of cod! I wish we had stayed a little longer in Santiago, as it is a wonderful city. The bikes we were provided were excellent. In short, one of the best adventures of my life. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Bruges was an amazingly beautiful city and the accommodations were wonderful.

Excellent trip!

The most memorable part was the people we met.

The most memorable part was beautiful scenery, especially the magical villages we rode through in Provence.

The most memorable part was the beautiful scenery, because of the spring blooming and greenery everywhere. We recommend someone to go on the trial to prepare markings at every intersection. We had to guess which way to go many times. For international travelers, maybe one page in the booklet of the varied biking markings would be very helpful.
The law in all 3 countries does not require you to bring a helmet, but we recommend it.

Lanzarote is a beautiful destination perfect for a week of cycling! The volcanic landscape, mountains, caves, architecture, ocean views, climbs and downhills are all amazing. Unfortunately, our experience with our fist hotel and Papagayo Bike could not be described as beautiful or amazing. Our first two nights in Costa Teguise were spent at a hotel geared toward toddlers (H10 Lanzarote Garden Hotel). The room and breakfast options were quite good but the hotel was exceptionally overrun with toddler, strollers, and toddler oriented entertainment. This "toddler hotel" became even more disappointing when we found Papagayo bike shop located at, and nearly inside, a much more adult oriented hotel on the water. Again, unfortunately Papagayo Bikes did not meet our expectations. As a nearly two meter tall person I had specifically asked about bike fit and been told they could fit me just fine. The employees at Papagayo knew little about bike fit and how to move seats and bars. I had not brought my own tools because I had been told I'd be provided a small tool kit. I had to beg to take a hex key from the shop so I could make small adjustments along the way on my too small bike. The hybrid bikes provided were rather worn out and not at all up to the standard of the road bikes being rented out at this shop. We had to decline the first bike provided to my wife due to poor shifting and noisy brakes. The second bike seemed okay and she rode that for the first day of the tour, only to have difficulties with the brakes throughout that day. Although the route description we signed up for said we would be staying in Haria at the north end of the island our second night, we were not booked into accommodation in Haria and instead had an 80 km first day to get back to Costa Teguise for another night at the toddler hotel. Since we were nearby the bike shop, the next morning we brought my wife's bike back to Papagayo. They said the brakes could not be fixed right then and received what was now her third bike. She rode that one, dusty from being in storage, for the rest of the tour. When she got a flat on a long climb we discovered her spare tube was for a mountain sized tire! Luckily, the tube in my own pannier was the correct size and we were not stranded. New, correct sized tubes were immediately dropped at our second hotel the Florida. Our experience at the Florida was lovely in every way. The room, the food, the entire experience was just lovely. Our experience, and disappointment at the start of the tour, were smoothed over and tempered by the amazing island of Lanzarote and the much more adequate accommodations after those first two nights. We had a lovely experience despite the less than stellar first hotel and issues with the bicycles.

The Route Guide that we received was in German. We called Velociped and they said that they ran out of English guide - Basically we were SOL and not getting the Route Guide in English. They knew it way before hand that they did not have any English Route Guide - they should have let you or us know and maybe sent us written instructions for the route. We had difficulty in the first 3 days of the trip. We did not even get any instructions of how the electric bikes worked or how to operate it. The first day - my wife struggled on the ebike because it was not working right- we had to call. Instructions on what to do and how to start it would have been good. Very poor customer service. In addition, we signed up for CLASS A hotels, which was supposed to be 3 or 4 stars - not one of the hotels provided was a 4 star. The scenery along the Mosel River was spectacular, the luggage transfers between hotels was great.

Route descriptions need significant updating and elaboration. There were many detours that are not indicated in the guide - took us off track, added many km and much confusion to the ride. Became VERY frustrating. Bikes need much better maintenance - friend had a broken chain day 2 . Arranging the repair was difficult - they lost a day of cycling. Very poor communication around the repair, no one seemed to know what they were doing. Really took away from the trip. Would have been much worse had we been in a more remote area when the break happened - would have been stranded for hours. The most helpful person was a local tow truck driver - he saved the day. Never saw a representative from the company in person for the whole trip. What??? Should, at the very least, have one at the beginning to review procedures, answer questions. Liked the biking, but some routes along canals got boring. We ended up going off route - saw much more. Hotel, luggage transfers were smooth. With the exception of the hotel in Bornem, hotels were nice. Overall, quite pleasant when things were going well, but did not feel that we got good personal support or service for the money we paid. Emergency support services need a LOT of improvement.

In relation to overall satisfaction for the trip we felt the breaks for coffee and lunch were a bit long and being in November daylight at the end of the day was an issue so in our opinion the breaks needed to be shorter.
In relation to hotel food overall the breakfasts provided were superb except for the hotel in Alcala La Real (Hotel Terrepalma) where the breakfast was both meagre and unhealthy. If the hotel can't accommodate the breakfast requirements perhaps another location for breakfast could be found for a group of hungry bikers.
In relation to the route descriptions that were written for the bikers to carry they were, at times, difficult to follow and somewhat confusing. For the most part the guide was able to offset the confusion.
The time of the year impacted the scenery as most fields were plowed under and there was a lot of smoke from fall burning making the views hazy however we did have fantastic weather which certainly added to the scenic experience.
Our guide, Jeff Lacey, was amazing! He was knowledgeable and attentive, great with people, excellent bike technician, fluent in both Spanish and English, he was encouraging and overall having him as a guide truly added excellence to this trip.
Thank you Tripsite for all your support prior to this trip. Your support and organization before the trip were truly appreciated, prompt and well executed.
What was the most memorable part of our trip? The variety in the terrain including the scenery!

Great tour with fabulous scenery, great towns and on most days plenty of beer gardens. Mostly safe/limited cars with fair hotels in great locations. Romantic Road is great. Probably more difficult vs easy to moderate....2 days have some large hills....but manageable. The romantic road (first part of this trip) is also amazing but this portion has better hotels