Europe Tour Reviews — 5791 to 5820 of 7002

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

Del 8 al 18 de julio del año 2016, un grupo de doce personas adultos y ya entrados en años, pues el más joven tiene 54 años y el mayor 70, hicimos el recorrido en bicicleta de las Repúblicas Bálticas. Somos un grupo de cicloturistas experimentados, que ya hemos recorrido medio Europa en bicicleta.
La organización de TRIPSITE del recorrido fue muy buena, pues estaba mezclado la actividad física con el turismo de naturaleza y el cultural. Tanto el guía como el chófer del vehículo de apoyo fueron dos personas encantadoras, atentas y se adaptaron muy bien a las características del grupo.
La actividad en bicicleta, para nuestro grupo, nos pareció corta, pero nos dimos cuenta que no todos los grupos ciclistas suelen ser gente experimentada y los guías y programas se tienen que adaptar a la generalidad de los grupos.
La experiencia fu e interesante, y las Repúblicas Bálticas con sus pueblos, ciudades y pobladores nos parecieron simpáticas y alegres.

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.

What a fun time! Having a beer or two on the top deck of the Zwaantje each night was a great way to finish the day. The Zwaantje bar was well stocked and very reasonably priced.

Fulton....thank you for capturing the essence of our trip of a lifetime in the Champagne countryside of France...not to mention the wonderful experiences along with sharing them with old friends and meeting new ones. Looking forward to our next adventure!!

Nancy...What a great blog. Your photos are wonderful, as always! You are living the retirement that the rest of us dream of having someday.

Great blog post! I also really enjoyed the pictures. The pictures and the captions gave me a sense of what these places are like. I especially liked the food photos. I do have to end this comment with a question, why not Munich, Germany?

It is wonderful to see how your retirement has turned into this creative adventure for you, both in travel and photographic artistry! Mark and I hope to begin soon!

I felt that the guide could have put more effort into letting us know what we were seeing. When we came upon a historic site such as a church, castle or such his standard comment was, "here is a church, you can go in and look at it if you want". We sat in front of the Porta Negra in Trier and were told it was a Roman ruin. Nothing more. My e-bike malfunctioned and I had to ride a regular bike the next day. I had ordered an e-bike because I have a health condition and was quite embarrassed that I held the rest of the group up while I walked the regular bike up small hills.

We had a very enjoyable trip with beautiful scenery, good rides and pretty good weather most of the time. The Route maps and detailed instructions could be improved upon. There were several mistakes on which way to turn as well as confusing instructions. Luckily, we had GPS with us to help out in various situations.
The food was very tasty, esp. the dinners. Great young chef.
One thing which bothered us was that we were told not to bring any wine aboard the boat - we were to only purchase wine that was available on the boat via the token machine. Odd, since we were traveling and bicycling in Bordeaux WINE country, visiting chateaus daily!! We think that there should be another arrangement in that area. It's apparently a financial situation although it was explained that they didn't want wine spills in the cabin. A damage deposit could be arranged if that's really the issue.
Otherwise, the staff, bikes and experience was great. This was our 3rd Bike/Barge trip with TripSite. Gladly recommend it often to others. We especially enjoyed St. Emilion (tour of monolithic church was amazing!) and riding to/from Blaye and touring the Citadel.

Having a guide for the biking. He was terrific. We had a route change which led to a boring day biking. They do not give you water at the table. Too many people on the boat. Lining up for things to buy tickets. Did not like having to buy a drink package. Too expensive.
Staff was very pleasant. Our guide was fabulous.