Europe Tour Reviews — 1801 to 1830 of 6847

The daily rides supported by the bike and boat guide Wilma on the de Holland , was excellent! Each city and countryside we rode through was that much better with the detail of information provided by her. Loved each day.
Be prepared for wind and a little rain in October month.

Most memorable was the excellent guiding from Wilma who gave us so much information about the routes.

It was wonderful visiting the cities and small towns each day in addition to the countryside.

Road cycling in and between small villages in the Loire Valley countryside is a great experience that we will remember for a lifetime. The air was fresh and clean; the farm roads and paths quiet and almost entirely car-free; and the locals we encountered along the way were delighted to attempt conversation with us. We often stopped along the way at small local patisseries, boulangeries, and ice cream shops for sustenance, which was heavenly and inexpensive by American standards. We traveled by train from Paris to the start of our tour in Orleans and again by train from the end of our tour in Le Croisic back to Paris. The trains conveniently ran frequently, quickly and on-time.

We bookended our self-guided cycling tour with a few days in Paris at both ends of the tour. We were glad that we gave ourselves time to adjust to the nine-hour time difference and the attendant rigors of travel before getting on our rental bikes in Orleans. Taking a few days at the end before returning home gave us an opportunity to visit the Palace at Versailles, the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, as well as learning how to navigate the Paris Metro and RER transit systems without the pressure of catching a flight or a train.

Our tour was customized at our request to include the routes of three six-day tours offered by Tripsite, run back-to-back. If we were to do this tour again, we'd include some extra overnight stays in the tour to give us a chance to spend more time doing activities off the bike.

We elected to purchase a dinner package. This was helpful as it made sure we had reservations at suitable restaurants where we sampled French haut cuisine that we likely would have missed had we not bought the package. In France, many smaller towns have limited dinner service on Sunday and Monday evenings, so having reservations in advance saved us from going hungry a couple of times. We also elected to purchase a château tours package, as we anticipated long lines at the ticket windows for château tours.

Our accommodations were excellent. All of them were well suited to cycle tourists, providing safe and secure places to park our bicycles overnight.

The rental bikes we used were very suitable for touring and well-maintained, and came with repair kits that came in handy when we experienced a couple of flat tires. The rental service was very accomodating when we wanted to change our pedals to SPD-style pedals and replace a non e-bike with an e-bike during the tour. The e-bike had a removable battery so we could charge it in our hotel room.

Tripsite provided an app for our smartphones, “Roadbook for Discovery.” The app proved to be useful for navigating the trip stages as it would notify us when we were off-course, provide use with descriptive information for places of interest and the availability of food and picnic areas along and near the route. It also includes an “SOS” feature that we did not need to use. Having the routes on our GARMIN GPS devices with European cycling maps would have been an improvement in navigating the routes. We learned to rely on the Loire Vélo road signs for most of our journey. Having a GPS is helpful when the "official" route is blocked or detoured.  SHOW MORE 

The Mosel valley is a wonderful cycling locale. There are few hills, endless "cute" (ie scenic) storybook towns and villages, and of course vineyards climbing every hill in a patchwork quilt. There are hills on both sides of the valley, so it is protected from strong winds and the climate is very mild - after all, that's why the Romans lived there for hundreds of years and even moved their capital from Rome to Trier. As a North American I had never heard of the starting and ending towns, but they turned out to be easily accessible by rail from major cities. Being there the first week of September coincided with the wine festivals in pretty much every town. This was my second time cycling along the Mosel; there was little overlap between the two cycling holidays as the itinerary was quite different. And the boats were very different too. Even when we visited the same towns we saw different things. And we cycled one day from a volcano caldera down a rail-to-bike-path trail that descended 1000' in 55km, including almost-one-kilometre long stone tunnels through mountains. It is such a relaxing trip I would consider doing it again.

Overall, this is a lovely trip, with beautiful sites and numerous delightful stops along the way. We chose category A hotels, modified the 7 day trip by adding a 2nd night in Lindau, and spent the last 2 nights in Arbon, where we ended the trip, without returning to Konstanz (this is our 9th trip, about 50% bike and barge). It appears the daily destinations change depending on the length of trip and availability(or best rate for booking company??).
Pros: Lots to do in Konstanz, including swimming in the lake. Enjoyed Hotel Halm very much - central location, nice rooms and good breakfasts. We adored Hotel Rheingold - rooms were new, with patio or deck, and restaurant was delicious, with a gorgeous hilltop view. Lindau was the perfect 2 night stop with lots to see and quaint restaurants. The upgraded Bayerischer in Lindau was super with much appreciated sauna and two wonderful pools, delicious breakfast - highly recommend the A+ upgrade. Parkhotel in Uberlingen also had lovely amenities. We had super Sept/October weather and towns were very charming all along the way. Stein am Rhein is worth a short stop, if that’s on your route.
Cons: The tour operator requires you to get your bikes from their location - every other trip we’ve done, the bikes were waiting for us at the hotel - not a big deal, but just FYI. Although we loved Hotel Rheingold in Gailingen, we question why bike to Gailingen - there are so many other towns that are actually around Lake Constance we would have preferred to spend time in. The route was mostly farmland all along the way and not great - then bike back the same way, about 60k, to Parkhotel in Uberlingen which is straight up a difficult hill, with no restaurant options other than the pricey hotel restaurant. Because of the long day, we missed sites in/around Uberlingen. We found Arbon sweet (be sure to see the MOMO cider museum), but the Frohsinn hotel rooms, although clean and efficient, seemed just above hostel grade.
Overall, we can recommend this trip, but if you’re looking for a truly scenic, seamless route without large climbs, we’d suggest a trip along the Mosel…spectacular!

The most memorable part was sailing through the small islands and riding our bikes with the beautiful sea as a back drop.
I think I would not make a s many stops. I had trouble with my bike, so I would suggest newer bikes.
The guides were great.

Excellent itinerary with great paths and trails. Love the Merlijn and all that it has to offer. Coen and Christina along with the crew are 5star! Thomas was a terrific guide and fun to travel with.

Wonderful views while riding the isles , great support from the guides

Every day held something new along our way. Landscapes changed, cities and towns were vastly different, crops varied, castles and palaces were different. Enjoy it all.

At the time we were on the trip the boat assigned a dining table and you had to sit with the same people every meal every day. We were a single couple and were put at a table with one other couple who were thankfully a lovely couple. It would have been nice however to be able to sit with others at least for breakfast and lunch.

Bicycle riding along the Moselle was terrific. Beautiful scenery.
Guides were knowledgeable, but could have been a little more aware of riders in traffic situations.

Lovely towns. Nice roads. Very little traffic. Wonderful way to see Italy.

The accommodations were unfortunately, the worst part. This was our second Tripsite trip and we found it much more expensive than out last one, while several of the hotels were shockingly dirty and uncomfortable.

Cycling through beautiful countryside and small villages. Swimming in clear blue sea water.
A great way to see enjoy your surroundings

The biking was perfect - equipment worked well and was as promised

EXCELLENT staff on the barge, Magnifique lll. Only tip for others: ENJOY the beautiful scenery and the lovely staff

This was our third self-guided bike tour with Tripsite. The local operator did a great job. We had a pre-meeting about a week prior to the tour where they overviewed the tour and helped us set up the RideWithGPS app on our phones. They met us at the hotel in Muggia with our bikes, panniers, chargers (we upgraded to ebikes which I would recommend), bike locks, spare tubes, etc. The bikes were in excellent condition and the GPS navigation worked well. I purchased a handlebar phone holder on Amazon which was convenient for following the route on RideWithGPS.

Why only three stars for this review? We did not think the route along the rail trail was very interesting. Much of it was through scrubby forest and fields. Very few villages. Parts of the trail were quite rough gravel. The last couple of days up the coast were more interesting. We felt that the other two self guided bike tours we have booked through Tripsite (Around Lake Constance and Camino de Santiago E-Bike Tour) were much more interesting. Lake Constance was almost entirely paved bike trails and The Camino tour passed through many beautiful villages. While we were quite happy with the service provided by the local partner. I would not recommend this particular tour.

The crew and owners Coen and Christina are just so friendly and they make you feel like family. The ship is so clean and very luxurious. I did 4 weeks straight on the Merlijn and had 2 different guides. llse and Thomas were just a joy to be with. They are both exceptionally good at guiding! There are not enough words to say about this fantastic journey.

The people on board. And the food. Stella was great, too. I liked the open windows in the upstairs rooms. Also, coffee or cappuccino, espresso 24/7.

The Danube River and scenery around it was spectacular. Seeing it from the bike paths, or on board the ship was very special. My husband didn’t cycle, but was well taken care of by the wonderful staff aboard the Swiss Crown, and enjoyed the trip as much as we did on the bikes.
Food, accommodations and service was first class.

Food prepared for dinners and beautiful scenery on the rides

Biking along the river with the beautiful scenery and riding through the villages on the cobblestone streets was very memorable. Also loved being in a forest and riding next to farm lands and vineyards with the Cathedrals and Castles on the hill tops. Everyone at all the hotels were very friendly and helpful! The route was exceedingly well marked and there was no threat of getting lost!

Tips: Make sure you have sunscreen, snacks, cash and your ID's with you during the ride

scenery along the Mosel, friendliness of local people, small group on board, lousy food amost every night..

The chef was extraordinary! All of the meals were delicious and plentiful!
The islands were a bit disappointing. Very barren and not much to see or explore.
Wish we spent more time biking than sailing.

This tour was very well organized, and out of at least 6 self-guided bike trips that we've taken, the only one that didn't have mistakes/errors in the maps and/or GPX tracks. Every hotel was expecting us and we didn't have to sort out a booking made under someone else's name (also a first). The scenery was lovely, and the second day of biking was among the top two I've ever had. The last day of biking within Stockholm itself was the highlight of the trip for the other members of the party (I missed it due to a headache). We went several days early and enjoyed spending time in Stockholm itself - a beautiful, clean city, well set up for bikes. Many thanks to Carmen who did a wonderful job and covered every detail.

The city of Dijon is a wonderful place to spend a few days before starting on this tour. Riding from Dijon, which I loved, I was struck by how soon I was riding through wine country. The terrain is very gentle and the vineyards are beautiful. I stopped at several vineyards and sampled some very nice pinot noir, Chardonnay and rosé wines. I found several wineries that were recommended to visit, and a few that I went off the tour route to find. The weather was beautiful, the accommodation was nice and the wineries were world class.

Everything was great! Accommodations were clean and comfortable, luggage arrives onsite each day. Everything was well organized.
We had a wonderful Ed smoky trip, the memories will last a lifetime! I’ve already shared your website with quite a few people! Highly recommend!

Our Tour Guide, Hugo made the entire trip. His enthusiasm, knowledge and energy made for a very busy, exhausting and fun filled week.
The cuisine was out of this world. The ladies did such a wonderful job.

Wonderful itinerary. Incredible bike trails.
Terrific crew. The swim in the Adriatic was fantastic.

The small towns and inns we stayed in were lovely. The people we met in these areas were warm and friendly. Not everyone accepted credit cards or cashless payment so it is necessary to bring cash along to these areas. The bike path was very well marked and easy to ride. The company in Austria that facilitated the ride was less than helpful. We used there app but it was not setup with our exact ride so finding hotels and restaurants was a challenge. We also did not get a proper first night introduction about our itinerary and therefore we were missing critical train tickets and boat information.

Cycling through french villages was simply out of this world! Take the time to get to know how to use the Sat Nav before you start, as it took us the first day to get it right, but after that it made the trip much easier. The electric bikes (although were heavier than I'm use too) were great as there are quite a few tough inclines.

The overall organised week-the daily presentation of our next days excursions. On top of biking through beautiful routes , we also benefited from nightly activities and presentations of local cultural products such as chocolaterie,beer and cuisine.
The warm and welcoming reception of the whole crew, especially our two experienced and knowledgeable guides : Peter Van Avermaet & Tom Stout ,their camaraderie and sense of humor made the whole group feel at ease !
The chef was very accommodating as I had requested a gluten and lactose free diet. Many thanks !!!
Tips - In order to fully enjoy this wonderful adventure ,when booking a Bike & Barge ,you should be ready ,comfortable and expecting to be biking !!!!