4 Star Europe Tour Reviews — 1171 to 1200 of 1359

The person who dropped off the bikes did not have the tools to adjust the handle bars, so the bikes did not fit well.
The saddle (bike seat) was the type that would be commonly found on a road bike and not on a touring bike.
The gears were not aligned correctly, so it was extremely difficult to shift gears. Sometimes, in order to shift gears, it was required to repeatedly shift the gears up and down before the bike would shift into the lower or upper gear.

The scenery in the Bordeaux region was lovely, as were the people we encountered along the way. Some of the staff were extremely helpful and added to our overall enjoyment of the trip.
We thoroughly enjoyed our days of cycling, despite the many problems my husband experienced with his bicycle (locked brakes, flat tires, a pump that didn't work, loose bearings in the pedals...)
More accurate written descriptions and an updated GPS would have helped with the navigation on the our self-guided routes.
Asking for a dinner without red meat resulted in being served an omelette on more than one occasion (not a great alternative).
Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable trip!

The scenery was amazing! Crew were excellent! Food was delicious! Can't wait to go again!

The the scenery was very very enjoyable as were the other guests on board the boat. The major problem or I should say the major dissatisfaction came from the fact that the bikes were too big and too heavy. I am an experienced bike rider and usually feel comfortable on most bikes but these truly were very very uncomfortable for me and I know for some of the other smaller women on the trip, dangerous. My only other comment would be about the guide..... I felt his attitude was very condescending in the first few days he was barely a guide his aim was to get from point A to point B in whatever amount of time he deemed necessary without any consideration for the inexperienced bikers on the trip. The slower bikers trailed way behind perhaps in some cases almost a quarter of a mile behind him and he barely looked back to see if they were there or for that matter even struggling. I volunteered to sweep and finally in frustration stopped him and told him he must go as slow as the slowest biker. I thought it was rather interesting too that he made a point constantly of telling us that if we either went on our own or staggered behind and became lost that he would make no accommodation to look for us. He repeated on several occasions that we were to read the map, read the map! We laughed when we realized that he had actually gotten us lost because his GPS had run low on batteries and he missed a turn. Now this was a man who told us he had done this exact trip 16 times this year! Yes you can see that I was very unhappy with his attitude towards his guests, the people who were his bread and butter.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

Croatia/Dalmatian Coast and islands are a beautiful vacation destination that we highly recommend. However the roads, lack of a shoulder, narrow streets, and lack of safety make it a very difficult and unnerving biking destination. Bikers need to fully understand that this area is not bike friendly.

The most memorable part was Day 6 Rossatz - Pochlarn was the most scenic part of the trail. Magical small villages - wish the whole route could have been like this. Most of the trail was uneventful, some of the trail was in poor shape and rough riding.
Unfortunately, there was a language barrier between the Americans and the tour guide, so instructions were not always clear, and we needed to fend for ourselves most of the time. Certain sections of map were confusing and trail was not well marked. We made it though, and enjoyed the adventure!
Beautiful cities and villages to visit - wish we would have had more time to explore! All in all very good trail ride and good trip!

Overall a great trip and experience. The Mosel exceeded my expectations.
Collaborative and friendly staff; very good chef, very good captain and crew. Host was efficient but not overly friendly. Bike tour guide was ok but not very organized.

Accommodations were too small. The rest of the journey made up for lack of space. No room to put our belongings.

This was my 4th cycling holiday but this year the quality of bikes was poor, only had 7 gears, had 21 gears every other year and did not like the back pedal brake.

Most memorable part was Stein am Rhein, and also liked the fact we could stop cycling and jump into the lake whenever we wanted.

Fantastic dinners & wonderful guide, captain, staff!

Loved the Netherlands countryside. Beautiful flowers and farmland and great trails.
Also the friendly and professional staff.

Fantastic trip! An amazing area of France to explore by bike. The views were amazing, lots of interesting history, great food and drinks. The tour was well organized and staff were friendly and helpful.
Our only comment: it was rated as 'moderate', and ratings are averages and are relative of course, but there were sections of the route that were quite difficult, e.g. steep dirt/stone roads that we had to walk the bikes up (and we are in good condition and have done a lot of bike tripping before). Should probably note this in the description.

The Hotel and Bike store did not know each other and the hotel had to look up on map where the bike store was. It would be better if upon arriving at the hotel, they could point us in the right direction immediately.
Our GPS on the bikes were a little old - very small- so it was hard to make out sometimes - if we were following the map correctly. We had to double check on our own phones a few times which gets into roaming charges.
The bikes were clean and had good tires/brakes so that was good.
Both staff at hotel and bike stores were good.

Everything was A-1. I was totally surprised when our tour guide Tom managed to reunite me with my lost "zebra" luggage on a cobblestone street corner 4 days into the trip! Thanks, Tom!

We had a lovely time. The barge and entire crew were wonderful. We were very disappointed with the bike guide though. She was not at all knowledgeable with her directions and we many times retraced steps on the bike. We feel we could have seen much more but her choices for stops were terrible. We would spend way too much time at a stop when we could have been seeing a lovely park nearby. Her choices for stops were not well planned out and some were just very disappointing. The captain, in our opinion should consider another guide for this trip. There is much to see in this area and easily done so on a bike. The guide was not good with directions and perhaps a bit more planning on her part would have made it a far more enjoyable trip. Berlin and the surrounding ares are beautiful and offer a wealth of history to be seen. We have taken other bike and barge trips and honestly, the guide truly is the person that makes or breaks the trip.

The trip itself was amazing! Spectacular scenery and just the right amount of cycling every day. We loved the fact that it was self-guided so we could go at our own pace. The description of easy to moderate was accurate, but I know it would have been much harder had we not had electric bikes. I have 2 specific complaints: First, the quality of the hotels was not up to par. A friend described one as exactly like his dorm room in college...small, smelly, run down, not properly air-conditioned, out of the way, and generally unsatisfactory. Secondly, the directions and the maps need to be updated. More than once we found ourselves at a dead-end or could not find a turn we were supposed to take. We wasted a lot to time going back and forth trying to find the supposed route. Thankfully we speak Italian, so we could stop and ask locals for directions. At other times we just ended up relying on the GPS on our phone to find a proper route. Overall, if these two things were improved this would be a perfect trip. I highly recommend the trip.

The scenery between Passau and Vienna was the most memorable part of the trip, even when we were away from the Danube. Beautiful.

The reason I gave the first question a 4 out of 5 is because the daily rides were long enough that it was hard (tiring) to get back out in the evenings to see the local sites or to see some of the sites along the way. That was probably also a result of trying to coordinate and corral too many people (9 on our trip) to get things done in a timely manner. I suspect the 10-day option for this trip might have been better for us.

Regarding route and description guides, sometimes it was a little too much to remember to coordinate the route book, the additional instructions in the travel documents (voucher) book, and Rad & Reisen's Travel Information book, not to mention the daily itinerary in the literature advertising this trip. In fact, the worst mistake we made was the worst one we could have made: ignoring the instructions to take the van transfer from Grein to Gasthof zum Aigner Kreuz, Bad Kreuzen to avoid very steep inclines. However, some of the literature given to us suggested we go to Klam Castle (a good way up the incline to Bad Kreuzen), which was not on the way to Grein, and that is what we did.

I've now taken 5 bike trips in Europe: 2 using hotels, 3 using boats/barges. Barges are easier: you only have to unpack and repack once while riding.

Thank you for all your help putting this trip together. Overall, it was a great experience.

The most memorable part was the scenic route along the Burren and the Wild Atlantic Way. It was 22 km of beautiful ocean views and incredible landscape. It was also amazing to see the Cliffs of Moher.

The Guide gave us very little information about either the equipment or route before he left us. Just simple things would have helped significantly. He was abrupt, especially with women and certainly less than helpful. The guidebook was good for the most part, but some sections were completely useless. Some of this may have been due to translation, but improvements are needed. When we entered cities, we always had to ask for assistance.
We have taken about 10 European bike trips and expect some difficulties finding our way, but have never encountered the degree of problems we had on this trip.

Loved our guide, the food quality and variety was the only disappointment.