5 Star Europe Tour Reviews — 841 to 870 of 4477

The tour was very well organized. Pieter was waiting for us at the Abcoude train station when we arrived and he took the time to thoroughly explain everything about the bikes, the equipment, safety rules and tips, hotels, etc. Most of the pedalling is through the country side and small and quaint villages. The scenery was beautiful and relaxing. All hotels were excellent, with well appointed rooms although a few were on the smaller side. Nevertheless, all hotels had their own unique charm and all breakfasts were excellent.

Before starting, we thought we could average around 18 km/h but in reality, we were closer to the 15-16 km/ average pretty much every day. Main reasons for that were :
1. Head winds (sometimes quite strong) more than half of the time which slow you down
2. Stopping/starting to take pictures, admire the scenery. Every time you stop, you have to get back up to speed.
3. Cycling through towns and villages, you can't go very fast as there are pedestrians and you are cycling on (sometimes very) uneven coblestones.
4. Getting lost. The GPS worked quite well in the country side but not as well once in larger cities. Not all wrong detours were the GPS fault though!

Some tips :
- Leave early if you would like to make some stops along the way (take a coffee, visit a windmill, etc.) and not arrive at your destination at 6 PM. This is especially true if you want to visit something at your end destination for the day as most attractions close around 5 PM.
- Plan your next day's itinerary the night before. Some days there aren't many lunch options along the way so make sure your timing is right. On day 3, we ended up doing a little more than 40 kms before lunch and ate around 2:30 PM because the area where we wanted to stop turned out to be a commercial area with no place to eat.
- Expect to do a few more kms every day because of wrong turns, things to visit, etc.
- Have a data plan. For us, because the GPS didn't always work so well in town, that's what we used to get to the hotels 4 of the 6 days.
- As mentioned in the documentation on how to prepare, make sure you are saddle ready. Based on our experience, the most difficult/painful day was the second one. After that, it got better every day.

Overall, we loved our experience and we highly recommend this tour without hesitation.

This boat and bike trip was really an ideal combination accessible cycling for all in our party (with a mix of e-bikes and gravel bikes), fantastic gourmet food onboard the Andela Lora and great way to experience getting to know Isteria. The boat was well-appointed and comfortable for the 34 guests and we all felt very well looked-after!

The director and crew were very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the ride through the scenic landscape and quaint towns. The tours were very good too!

We had a wonderful experience on the tour. The boat exceeded our expectations in terms of accommodation and the food was delicious. Our tour guides were knowledgeable and very organized - clear about bike directions and safety conscious. Biking was a mix of roads and gravel trails. E bike recommended unless you are a strong cyclist.

We had an amazing time on our Istrian bike/barge trip in May/June 2024. We loved the guides and the crew and the food was amazing! The scenery and bike routes were spectacular and we really enjoyed the extras (Croatian language lesson, Croatian history/geography lecture and city guides) ! Would recommend and hope to do again.

A note and not a review. Some colleagues returned to the Fluvius a few minutes after midnight and the sliding glass doors on either side of the main deck were locked. These doors were locked with a key on both the outside and the inside. My concern is that if there were an emergency and crew were not available, passengers could not open the sliding glass doors from the inside. I think this is a safety issue and those doors should have an emergency inside lock that can be opened by any passenger or crew without a key or without specific training.

Overall, a great trip. Excellent meals - thanks to Mirka and her staff. Carla and Laura were great tour guides and I hope Carla recovers from her accident soon.

Another suggestion - review mirrors on the bikes would make keeping groups together a bit easier.

Great group, amazing food!!, beautiful surroundings, well chosen routes, catered to a variety of capability and fitness levels. We all could do it. The e-bikes were reliable and made the trip doable for all.
The ship was clean and comfortable and the crew super congenial. We were grateful to have an above deck cabin.

The excellent food, for me, was the most memorable. The biking and the guides were great but the quality of the food stood out for me

Crew was amazing! Food was gourmet. Itinerary was perfect. Bike rides were the perfect combination of scenic and challenge. Boat was comfortable.

Food and service, cleanliness was excellent. The Staff was fantastic also. Only drawback was charging for coffee and water during non- meal times.

The whole trip was amazing. The people, the food, the beauty of Italy. Illenia our tour guide took great care of us, along with Eunice. I am ready to do it again!!!

We were on the boat "Sailing Home" and we went from Bruges to Amsterdam. We've never done a Bike & Barge trip before and this trip far exceeded our expectations. From the moment we stepped on board, there was a warm welcome from the 5 fantastic crew members. These 5 could not do enough for you to make your trip a trip to remember. There were 22 travelers on board and having breakfast and dinners with them was so much fun. The food was 5 star every night, the captain was awesome with our boat... smooth and easy travel. Our bike guide was outstanding. We went to so many different places, learned about the history in the villages, she personalized the trip by taking us to a cheese farm and was calm under pressure! The biking was incredible... it was so beautiful everywhere! The rooms were cozy and it was so nice having a bathroom in each room! I highly recommend this trip. It was spectacular!

The route is carefully planned to include as much rural bike paths and beautiful country side. As someone who grew up in the Netherlands, I am very impressed in the careful planning of green and agricultural area versus urbanization. The route led us via these green parts of the Netherland I hadn't experienced before. The cultural aspect in the selection of stop=over cities is also noteworthy and admirable.

All in all a great trip and highly recommendable.

Our bike guides, Luka and Luka were amazing. They were friendly, informative, and very helpful. We look forward to biking with them again! The tour of the Southern Dalmatia islands was fantastic; Solta and Korcula being two of our favourite islands.
The Magellan, was very comfortable and clean, with an air conditioned cabin and great bathroom facilities. Personally, I loved the bathroom, with a separate, good sized shower. Ivan, our captain, docked us in the most perfect spots. We also must say the chef onboard, Bojan, was amazing! All the crew and staff were very friendly.

The Vivienne and its crew were all exceptional! I would not change anything. Our guide, Leslie went above and beyond.

The staff aboard the Magnifique IV were fabulous. We had great bike tour guides. The people we met on the ship were from all over the world and we all became friends. I would highly recommend this tour and we will be doing this again

Our Coastal Camino experience (self-guided) was truly amazing! The incredible scenery, the amazing hotels, and the connections we made wth fellow pilgrims from around the world. The tour company in Portugal was very responsive and went out of their way to ensure our experience was special. We stayed in the most incredible locations, including a fortress, a castle and an incredible old textile mill that has been converted into a literal ‘Garden of Eden’ with its own waterfall. We loved walking 5-6 hours per day (very achievable) and the routes were so beautiful (they took our breath away). Arriving at the Santiago de Compostela was an emotional and joyous experience. This trip exceeded our expectations and we are already planning our next Camino adventure!

Beautiful landscape and cultural events of National day. We had 9 days of warm weather 60-70s with only a half of rain one morning. This was unusual according to many locals with whom we talked. The contrast between the snow cover mountains and the roads along the fjords was extraordinary.

A fantastic value for the money! Our guides Mirta and Luca were fantastic, and the entire crew went out of their way to ensure we had a great time. The bikes and the rides were excellent and the entire group had so much fun. Would definitely do again.

The biking routes were excellent! The recommended paths of the self-guided tour were well chosen, easy to follow, gorgeous and fun.

The daily rides were wonderful. We saw lots of the French countryside plus the use of the canal locks. Advice: be sure you are comfortable on a bike, touring or e-bike. We left the boat at 9:00 and returned by 4 or 5, so we're riding all day. Some in our group hadn't ridden in decades and it was rough. There is always an option to cruise the canals on the boat, which is great!

We recently completed the bike and boat trip from Briare to Nevers , it was an excellent vacation. The Claire de Lune was the perfect size, very clean and Captain Marco did an outstanding job navigating the boat through the locks and canals. The bicycles worked perfectly and our guide Annita led us around for 165 miles through the French countryside seeing farms, small villages, castles and chateaux's. There was a surprise stop every day and we even visited a small goat cheese farm. The food was excellent every day, breakfast and dinner were well prepared and we had fresh baguette's daily with ample cold cuts and condiments to make lunches and the kitchen also provided a nice container to carry the lunch on our bikes. Every morning we had an optional yoga class from our hostess Dita and we also did outdoor stretching before we started our ride The tour slightly deviates from the itinerary because some places are closed on certain days and there can be road issues. Sancerre was a nice place to visit and the hill climb to get there can be challenging but well worth it . I highly recommend this trip if you are looking to do a relaxing bicycle ride through the quiet French countryside and seeing the canals and bicycling the cycle paths , this was a first class trip on a first class boat

The whole trip was fabulous. The boat was comfortable and crew and guide were very well informed and provided a great experience. The family who owns and runs the boat are capable, competent and helpful.

Biking through the quaint villages and islands on well-planned routes was fantastic.

I enjoyed the trip very much. The first half of the trip was the best portion for the ride. The trail is mostly an elevated bike path with beautiful scenery and biergartens along the way. I took the hilly route leaving Bolzano and my thighs regretted that decision for a few days, but I got to see some amazing views on the way down.
Each of the towns along the route are great, my favorite being Verona. The Lake Guarda region in all is amazing. I am an artist and thrive on seeing art that is new to me. Most of the towns had museums, cathedrals or just buildings in general that sated my needs for visual engagement.
I made friends with a couple on the same tour and had an even better time than expected.
The weather was a bit rainy two or three days of the tour but I'd recommend just looking at weather apps and plan accordingly. There were always breaks in the weather.
The app works very well for guiding you through the lands. My new friends gave me the advice to wear an ear bud to hear the directions which made navigation even easier.
I booked my trip very last minute, as result I stayed at a hotel at the end of the trip that was considerably farther from Venice than I would have liked. But it was simple enough to get to Venice, just a bit time consuming. My friends stayed at a hotel on the edge of Venice I would have much preferred.
I paid for the upgrades hotels and an extra might at the end of the trip, both were a very good choice in my estimation.
The trip has inspired me to return to some of the locations, like I said Lake Guarda and Verona were the highlights.i could go on and on.....

Our tour aboard the Sundial was fantastic. In addition to the gorgeous setting and the wonderful boat, what really made our trip special was the crew, a family operation. They were pleasant, interactive, hard working, and professional, all while making an extra effort to make our trip smooth and enjoyable. In addition, the food was excellent, with lots of seafood prepared differently each night. With only six couples on board, it was an intimate, fun atmosphere. My only suggestion would be for Tripsite, not the crew, and that would be to more accurately represent the difficulty of the riding. For my age, I am a relatively strong cyclist so I originally selected a conventional bike. Fortunately, during the bike fitting before leaving port, Angelo, the first mate, gave us an accurate description of the rides (many kilometers of 6% grade, etc.) and encouraged us to select a bike that would make the rides enjoyable, not a torturous workout. Because of that I switched to an e-bike, and I am very glad I did— I would have been miserable and not able to enjoy the beauty of the islands.

I loved the trip!
beautiful places, good planning, great guide and wonderful group atmosphere. We get to know Greece in a unique and intimate way!
The Tripsite agency was impeccable with information and quick responses!

Loved our guide. She was very educational and kind. The farm to table eating experiences were fun.

Its May; pack for all weather, it'll happen within your 4 hour ride, yes there are hills - spend the money, get an ebike! Such great guides McEel & Marcel. So glad to be lead by them, their knowledge, trail guidance was reassuring, you felt safe with them knowing where the group was going and looking out for you. Stopping to enjoy coffees and "should see" items. Steffie; owner of the boat and also our chef made such delicious dishes; duck, salmon, sea bass and lovely bought the day of vegetables...did I mention the the morning cheeses and breads, yum, yum. It would be nice to know the name of the cheeses...sadly, can't remember them now.
We hesitated taking a smaller boat but thoroughly enjoyed learning how canals work, river tunnels, felt like we part of the water system way, not knowing where the Fleur was going to park added to the excitement of finding her.
Absolutely loved it. Great way to experience the waterways of Europe as they did hundreds of years ago, though with a shower and warm bed...

Hotel & Bikes perfect. Just check the hotel ubicaciones. 2 of that can be better.