Europe Tour Reviews — 5791 to 5820 of 6839

A wonderful experience as my first bike tour. Enjoyed most everything about the trip, even with the boat breaking down and a new bike route added for the day. However, my first hour was stressful as I had been given the wrong pier to meet the boat. Fortunately, the sister boat was able to give me directions. Two other guest had the wrong directions to pier also.

Food and scenery fantastic! Jack, bike tour guide was rude at times. Also expected everyone to keep up with his ebike. Several women spoke to him and he got a little better and used a sweep and someone to wait at turns. I expected something a little more leisurely so could take pictures along the way. I did not expect a road race even though I could keep up. However, inspite of this, I have recommended the trip to friends as it is a wonderful experience. I do hope you retrain your bike guides to be kind.

The bikes were not in excellent condition. Some needed work on them.
A guide better versed in local traditions and history would have been nice.

The barge BORDEAUX and all of the staff were great. The rooms small as expected but comfortable. The food at dinner was adequate and well presented but certainly not excellent for taste and quality. Breakfasts were ok often some of the hot food was served cold. Plenty of food and variety for breakfast.
The guide, Scott, is a very nice person and tried extremely hard to help everyone but the maps and supplied route instructions are poor. Need a lot of work to become usable for everyone. No problem for me as I had a GPS unit with me. All of the time the routes include highways and roads. There are NO dedicated bike paths and that should be made clear on the trip description so people come in full knowledge of that issue. Such roads are likely to be unsafe for many ""first time"" riders. For that reason I would not recommend this trip to others. There are far safer bike routes in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, with just as nice and memorable scenery and more ""lived in"" towns with cafes and bier gardens than this tour had to offer. After the first 20 Chateaux one gets easily bored seeing another Chateaux for the next 5 days. Generally the scenery was ok but having to dodge traffic is not fun at any time. Also spending 2 or 3 nights at Cadillac at the end is really a poor location and very little to do there. This trip is not quite ready yet.
I will be riding again next year with Tripsite but we will go back to the countries mentioned above.

The most memorable part of this trip was riding through kilometers of apple orchards on a beautifully paved bike trail.

What an awesome bike trip!!
Well organized, incredible scenery, great hotels, mild/moderate difficulty.
Recommend to anyone in reasonable fitness level.

We loved this trip. The captain and crew could not have been more accommodating. Due to low water levels, we started our tour a little further north of Dijon than usual and as a result were a day ahead of schedule. This prompted the Captain to make a small detour down the lovely Canal du Nivernais where we had some of the best biking of all. We were blessed with great weather and enjoyed most dinners out on the deck. And coming into Paris - who knew there was a 2km long underground canal through the city! A wonderful experience. Look forward to another trip on the Feniks in the future.

My wife, I and two friends took this trip in September. The farmhouse was a wonderful place to stay and rooms and common areas are very comfortable. Pool and grounds are lovely. The farm's owner has a classic car collection that is an added bonus if you are able to see it. Breakfasts are excellent. The staff we dealt with --Maria, Manuela and Johanna--were beyond great. They consistently went out of their way to make sure we had the best trip possible. Bikes were well maintained and appropriate for the terrain. I have been on three self-guided bike trips in Europe and the daily directions here were excellent--the best I have seen. The only caveat I have about the trip is that the difficulty level should be moderate and not easy. Daily trips were challenging beyond an easy category. In fact, four of the five days riding instructions listed the route as a medium bike ride. Other than that a great trip and good value. I gave the trip four stars rather than five due to the difficulty level.

The best part of this trip would be a toss-up between the ride in light rain from Joigny to Sens, the cruise up the Loing to Moret sur Loing, and the arrival at our mooring in Paris with Place de la Bastille in the background.
Linde, our guide, was very good. The roads/trails were a bit rougher in some places than we anticipated. We anticipated cramped quarters and they were as expected but quite serviceable. The bike worked well but a mountain bike with suspension would have been nice in some spots.

The variety of scenery around Karlovac Croatia was awesome: rivers, farms, war ruins, small mountains, churches and more. The hotel was very nice and well-located along the river for a refreshing swim. The fixed menu was the same two night in a row until we finally asked for something different. Biking to the sister property in the mountains was far more strenuous than most would handle, so I'd caution anyone against staying at the rural hotel or biking there unless you are in fantastic shape. We loved it, of course. The only suggestion I'd make is for the hotel to provide printed maps and suggested routes. They had us rely upon a website and we have a difficult time matching up the website information with the routes described in the trip brochure/materials. We ultimately did fine (with one notably long detour upon getting lost!), but we like a logistical challenge. Others less inclined might become quite frustrated. Overall, it was an excellent trip and excellent value!

This was a great bike and barge trip, although we originally had not chosen this one. Our original trip around Paris ,unfortunately was cancelled just shortly before we were supposed to leave. The staff at Tripsite was very helpful and we were able to book the Bourgogne one on the Feniks. The bike routes had to be changed a bit, due to the barge being delayed on the canal a few times. That meant a lot of riding along the canals, which made it easy riding, but not quite as interesting. However, the "plan B" as a whole turned out to be very nice and we saw many beautiful and interesting sites. The only complaint would be that there were a lot of mosquitoes, which of course is not the captain's fault. Next time I would come up with some kind of solution to put some "screens" on the windows, so we won't wake up in the morning full of mosquito bites...... Our guide was great, as was the whole crew. The cook was fantastic and we had the most wonderful meals during our tour. Good thing we did a good amount of bike riding, or we would have ended up putting on quite a few pounds.... All in all, we highly recommend this bike and barge trip.

It was a wonderful way to see the country. Wonderful fellow travelers and the crew couldn't gave been more accommodating . So much fun!

My grades given to this trip show my displeasure with several items encountered while on our trip. First, the pickup at the airport was bungled by "Pepe" our guide. He did not have a sign for us to recognize the tour! It was a miracle he finally found us. The boat was laid out well, the crew was very pleasant, however none of the 3 crew members spoke fluent english (necessary for the Americans, Canadians, Dutch, and German passengers). My major complaint was regarding the cabin Air Conditioning. The captain only turned on the AC from 6PM to Midnight. In August, the temperature was in the mid 80's - too hot to sleep in an enclosed cabin after midnight! I would discourage any potential guest not to take this trip unless the captain changes his AC rules and provides cooling throughout the night!
The food was OK with little variation from day to day but the last "onshore meal" at a local restaurant was inedible!! Skip the restaurant meal and eat onboard (not a current option) or give the guests an upscale restaurant or eliminate the meal altogether and each guest is on their own for the last supper.

I thought there weren't enough safety precautions: riding too close, no warning of slowing or stopping. Would have liked more stops along the way for photos.

Loved the Magnifique II! The food was spectacular! Variety of routes/terrains.

I loved the small villages. The international mixture of the group made for excellent discussion among the group. Food on the barge was excellent!

The boat was great and food wonderful. All staff couldn't have been nicer.

We did the 3-day self-guided tour from Bolzano to Lake Garda to Mantua first and that was a great adventure for us. The food and people we met on the boat was also a wonderful experience.

I am a tag-along non-bicycler, but I was really happy on the barge reading, drinking coffee and watching the enchanting scenery.

A big thank you to all your staff and to Austria for making my journey a wonderful experience.

The Aeolian Archipelago Trip was sold as easy/moderate and as a result there were several people that probably should not have been there. As a consequence the guide was indecisive most days how to deal with the itinerary and as a consequence kept adjusting and shortening the rides. As for my wife and I we traveled all the way from Canada to enjoy the boat, scenery and riding as a total experience.

Because of the constant changing of the daily itinerary and shortened rides we became somewhat dissatisfied with the total experience.

We did the bike barge trip from Bruges to Paris on the Zwantjie. We would absolutely recommend the trip. Our comments are:
1. While the cabins are small, they are still adequate and good layout in the bathroom ( each cabin has it's own) . They are kept very clean. They all have AC as the porthole does not open.
2. The rides was rated easy to moderate. It was MUCH harder than Bolzano to Venice so be prepared. I would say it should be rated moderate. The second week is easier than the first - perhaps due to improved fitness but also l think there are less hills.
3. Meals were good and wholesome.
4. Staff were incredibly obliging. Nothing was too much trouble. Thank you Martyn ( the Captain ), Michael ( mechanic ), Chris ( chef/cook ), Gosha ( amazingly efficient at serving meals/alcohol and cleaning the cabins ) and our great guides, Christain and Elia.
5. Size of about 24 riders is excellent. For us, better than say 30-40 as on the Ava Maria. You get to know all the riders are we had a great group of people, Australians, Americans and Poms.
6. When we stayed in Perrone we went to Villers Bretonneux. This is particularly relevant to Australians - whose troops saved the town from the Germans in WW1. A stunning memorial site -very moving. We also rode through a number of memorials to WW1 victims. Also quite moving.

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

We knew the barge was old, but weren't prepared for the very tiny, cramped cabin space which was definitely not the one advertised!
Most of the bicycles were in fairly good condition, but my husband got one on which the chain kept coming off and had a fall because of that.
The barge operators, Stephan and Florence, were lovely and worked very hard to provide a good experience, cooking traditional French meals each evening complete with dessert. The tour guide, Jan, did an excellent job keeping the cycling group on track and adjusting our days to accommodate the extreme temperatures during the hottest week of the summer!

My wife and I did this sailing biking trip 14 months ago ,loved the ship and family owner operation -great staff -great evening meals -also liked that it wasn't crowded so could enjoy other people on board. biking was great -rented e bikes and it was a lot of fun
I would recommend the tour

The boat was well maintained. Beds were comfy for bunks. Our cabin [#9] had huge bathroom. With the hot Aug temps, a fan would have been appreciated. Bring a small personal 4" or 6" USB fan if you can find the space in your luggage. A small soaking pool on the deck was a welcome relief from the heat.

Meals were basic, but tasty and filling. Els did a nice job of accommodating my dietary restrictions. Ample cooler filtered water was available on the boat - remember your water bottle. Lunches were packed in zip lock baggies. Bring your own insulated lunch bag / Tupperware to keep your lunch fresher.

GIANT bike were like new and well maintained. I was disappointed we could not use the bikes during the city stops that were part of the day trips or after dinner when we returned to the barge. Even though the bikes have locks, Sander and Els don't allow this to minimize theft risk. Besides my husband and I, all participants were in there mid-60s to mid-70s and didn't seem to mind.

Our guide, Weiger, did an outstanding job of leading our daily tour as well as guiding us through the cities we were docked in at night. He managed the multiple languages within our group with ease. The participants on our trip were German [6], Spanish [3], Austrailian [2] and American [2-us]. By the end of the week, our group had bonded even though our shared vocabulary was easily less than 50 words!

The countryside between Thionville and Wasserbillig was very beautiful and what I had envisioned - river and hills covered with vinyards. The other days were nice paved bike trail with the river on one side and trees on the other. I could have taken a picture and convinced friends that I was still in the US Midwest. I guess that is why there are so many French and Germans in Wisconsin and Iowa! I think I would have preferred more time off of the trail and in the countryside, but perhaps if we did do that, the car traffic would cause me to have a different opinion. Certainly the cities we stopped in were old and had a quaint European feel.