5 Star Europe Tour Reviews — 2071 to 2100 of 4485

I loved all the experiences, from the boat ride through Ghent, the exploration of the various towns along the way, the Kinderdijk windmills, sitting in the hot tub and cruising along the rivers, learning the history of the area and enjoying the great food and company of our tour group and guides. Great trip!

The Moselle is a storybook beautiful valley with vineyards sloping up the river valleys and quaint towns along the way with castles on the hills. I couldn't ask for a more beautiful location. The Merlijn crew were amazing; the food was wonderful and our tour guide Leia made the trip enjoyable and informative. I really appreciated they took us to visit Berg Elze, I loved the castle. All around, this was a fabulous vacation that I would recommend to anyone who knows how to bike!

The tour went through amazing neighborhoods and towns, so much beauty. The bike was comfortable, but wish I had a gel seat cushion! It would have been a plus to have that added to the things to bring on the trip. The tour guides were very personable and knowledgeable.

My biggest room for improvement would be the food. It was so carbohydrate based, too many sweets for breakfast, it was a challenge for the chef to keep up with eggs in the mornings. Surprising we never had a salad or greens. I can only believe it is due to refrigeration on the boat, but that was a disappointment.

Overall, I would do this tour again.

I had a great time! I didn’t ride as much as I thought I would, but I have a shoulder issue and it wasn’t cooperating. But I loved just sitting on the top deck watching Belgium and The Netherlands go by. The crew was outstanding, and very cooperative. And everyone of them could do most anything.
Although the routes each day were flat, this is not as easy as it might seem. It does require some training. The bikes are heavy, and not in the best shape. In the future, I’d choose an e bike, although they are very heavy also. Our guides were great, and worked with me, and my shoulder, to enable me to do the most riding I wanted to do.

Hello
I did this tour with my daughter on july 2022
the tour was excellent and really enjoy it!! WONDERFULL
The day before our trip, we met Luca and he explained us everything about the bikes and how to get to each city following a map in a App using our cel phones ... (I think it will be better for the company to rent GPS instead of us using our phones... so we use them only to communicate, take photos , videos etc and dont run out of battery ... (We came prepared so we didnt had any problem because we had extra external batteries... but anyway )
While traveling wE could contact LUCA by WhattsApp and was very easy to reach... He is a great guy !!

The first day as we started from Prague to Melnik was ok ... but as the days went by, the scenery began to get better and better and more beautiful til the end in Dresden !! Traveling by bike through all this places is very easy end very enjoyable.. IS LIKE DREAMING
There are many places you can sit down and enjoy the scenery and have lunch on the grass or benches which you can find everywhere looking at the wonderful river!! And also is very easy to find restaurants and supermarkets everywhere !!

All the hotels we stayed in were wonderful and the breakfast very good ( Pension Dubina in Litomerice was great but the breakfast was horrible, other than that EVERYTHING was wonderful !! )

I highly recommend this tour !!
I will be back

Almost everything. Boat and staff were both wonderfull. Scenery was magnificent, got lucky with great weather.

Great staff and fun traveling and experiencing this with a large group of friends! Scenery was spectacular and we had great weather.

Great tour. Helpful crew, accommodation and meals.

Lovely trip. Great accommodation, meals and helpful crew.

This tour takes you through spectacular landscapes and beautiful villages.

The barge crew and the bike guide were fabulous. Friendly, accommodating, informative, flexible, and knowledgeable.

The trip was excellent! We loved it. Great to meet people from all over the world. The Ave Maria Barge was just right. The crew was excellent! The crew was helpful and personable beyond expectations. The dinners were really wonderful, I enjoyed going through the small towns in Italy. Our ride leaders knew where they were going and were very informative regarding the towns we visited. I can’t wait to do another bike and barge!

My wife and I have just recently finished this trip and we can highly recommend it.We have done three boat and bike tours and this has been the best. The Thalassa is well appointed for such a trip,from the adequate cabins with AC ,lots of space to relax,frequent stops where the Captain would drop the anchor for swims,friendly crew and excellent meals.The two guides Catarine and Johanese made this run so smoothly.Catarine s background in Archeology most informative for us. The group on board were a mix of families and single travellers twelve in total . The bikes were of good quality,made in Germany.I am seventy years of age and we chose E bikes which I recommend as there are some challenging hills on the islands. The islands and coast lines are stunning. For us it ticked all the boxes.

My husband and I enjoyed our week long Lakes and Castles cycling tour of rural Sweden and Stockholm. Carmen of Nordic Trails organized a great trip to include a visit to Stendörren nature reserve, Tullgarn Royal Castle, lake swimming, wild blueberry picking, a two-night stay in beautiful Trosa and a return to Stockholm from Mariefred with its historic Gripsholm Castle by steamboat. The tour was mostly on lightly travelled roads and bike trails. We enjoyed our hotel stays in modest inns with friendly staffs. While we travelled with another couple, the trip would also be suitable for families with older children. Carmen's riding instructions and maps were excellent and she also offered helpful GPS routes.
Note: We brought our own road tandem equipped with 32x700 road tires, and we were able to handle the varied surfaces reasonably well. (No flats!)

I was very excited to be going on this bike tour of Holland/Belgium. It was a great chance for some father-son bonding, especially after a 3-year vacation drought due to the pandemic. If anything, the trip was even better than I imagined. The guides (Hans and Arnold) were fantastic, the rides were gorgeous, the accommodations were luxurious, the food was excellent—a really top-notch trip and a very affordable price. I also can't say enough good things about Walter and the crew of the Magnifique III (Corrie, Inge, Albert-first mate). If you're thinking about it, book-it you won't be disappointed. The only piece of advice would be to bring padded shorts or a gel saddle, especially if you're not used to being on a bike saddle for several hours a day. The only other piece of advice would be to wait until the 2022 summer travel chaos has subsided; and/or consider flying into/out of Brussels, instead of Amsterdam.

It was the wonderful people, (tour guides, chefs and boat crew) of the Ava Maria, that made this tour experience more than exceptional and much more than expected. We appreciated their expertise, knowledge and humourous delivery of all. Five star experience!!!!!

The guided bicycle tour was the most memorable part of the trip. Our guide, Thomas, was so knowledgeable about local history and culture and made sure we never got lost. The staff were remarkably friendly and helpful, and the food was varied, fresh, and delicious. From our point of view, join the guided bike tour to catch all of the local highlights and be efficient with your ride. Our fellow bike tour members were fun, energetic and competent even though our ages ranged from 29-71. Relax and don't worry about when and where you'll meet your group and what you'll need to bring. There is always someone available to clarify logistics. Take advantage of the extra activities like bus tours and concerts. They add even more richness to the experience. Finally, though we don't speak German, we always felt "in the know" because all communication was offered bilingually. Truly a great experience. We're looking to book our next one!

Tip. 3rd party navigation tools such as a heads up Garmin Edge are 100% necessary for the self guided section. Also, the self guided section is NOT a beginner ride. Intermediate is more appropriate.

The most memorable part of the trip was the people we met. From the crew to the fellow cyclists it was an amazing cast of people and made the experience such a pleasure. Riding with people from England, Germany, Canada and the US led to amazing days in the saddle and wonderful conversations over delicious dinners. When doing these trips the best advice I can give is at dinner move to a different table each evening and meet and dine with the other passengers. The friendships I have made over the years from these rides are truly remarkable.

Many beautiful experiences, met new nice people, a uniquely great crew on the Ave Maria, great food.

The captain and staff were all very personable and worked well together. Steffi is amazing!

The countryside was beautiful and excursions interesting. Luckily, we had magnificent weather, which made everything feel perfect!

The wine tastings could have included a brief tour, like the cider tasting excursion did.

We had a wonderful time. The rides were amazing, although some were very difficult. We could tailor our days to fit us best, and it was easy to find a different way if we wanted to shorten or include less hills. The hotels were all beautiful, top notch places, in the very best locations for each city or town. Ignacio and Borja with Iberiocycle did everything within their power to make sure we were well taken care of. They communicated with us every day, fixed what needed to be fixed and got us on our way. We were a large group, 15 riders, and therefore not so easy to accommodate, but they did. The people of the northern coast were so friendly. Drivers were extremely courteous, even on the very curvy narrow mountain roads where it took a lot of patience for them to make their way around us. Because of the pandemic, we waited nearly two years to complete this trip from when it was originally planned, and we had the very best time. Thank you Ignacio and Borja from the Salty Dogs

We had a wonderful time. The rides were amazing, although some were very difficult. We could tailor our days to fit us best, and it was easy to find a different way if we wanted to shorten or include less hills. The hotels were all beautiful, top notch places, in the very best locations for each city or town. Ignacio and Borja with Iberiocycle did everything within their power to make sure we were well taken care of. They communicated with us every day, fixed what needed to be fixed and got us on our way. We were a large group, 15 riders, and therefore not so easy to accommodate, but they did. The people of the northern coast were so friendly. Drivers were extremely courteous, even on the very curvy narrow mountain roads where it took a lot of patience for them to make their way around us. Because of the pandemic, we waited nearly two years to complete this trip from when it was originally planned, and we had the very best time. Thank you Ignacio and Borja from the Salty Dogs

Biking through the small villages was very picturesque. Only regret was not having a GoPro to video as we were riding through.

We liked cycling by the river and seeing the beautiful sights. We were lost a couple of times so would have liked more detailed instructions.
We also liked the places we stopped for the night and some of the side trips like at Hrensko and Terezin.

Our week on the Ave Marie far exceeded our expectations. Hardly words to convey how fabulous it all was. This is the 3rd such adventure for us. Our Girolibero Provence Bike and Barge was absolutely wonderful. Our Loire Valley outing with another company was pretty awful but returning to a Girolibero guided trip erased all those memories. How to praise the comfortable boat, the outstanding meals, and then the crew of 6 who went above and beyond to ensure every day was totally enjoyable and to remember forever. The crew worked so well together taking such good and kind care of all of us. We made new friends, saw so much and learned so much as Hugo and Giorgio shared so much of their vast knowledge of the Po River Valley. We miss all of them so much and wish we lived closer. Thank you Girolibero for making all this possible.

We just returned from this cruise less than a week ago. I cannot express how wonderful it was. The scenery was breathtaking, the staff outstanding. The Swiss Crown was a beautiful boat to call home for a week. The staff on board were delightfully pleasant and accommodating. They made every effort to make it a positive experience for everyone. The dining room was beautiful, and our table had a great location. It wasn't too loud, we could easily hold a conversation with our fellow travelers. We had previously taken this trip on the Charissima and found the dining room was too noisy. The food was tastefully prepared with many regional dishes. At 1600 hr everyday they had a dessert / coffee hour that was very special, the staff were readily available for more coffee.
Though there were only a handful of English speaking travelers, Jergen was an enthusiastic program director. He was very accommodating to locate a bicycle that would fit our very petite daughter, even getting extra bikes just in the event that one didn't fit. He went out of his way to obtain a concert ticket for my husband when he didn't sign up in the required time frame. He did give us good directions and if we had questions he was available to answer them. I enjoyed this trip more because of the staff, boat and riding. Overall better than our previous trip, and I thought that trip was awesome. We constantly talked about the beauty of the river, the birds chirping in the forest, the food and the staff. I would love to travel on this boat again.

This was a fantastic bike trip! The weather forecast for our trip was not favorable but we had only 1 rainy day and we were prepared with rain gear. The route was beautiful and very safe. French drivers are very aware and respectful of cyclists. So many beautiful places to see! We highly recommend on the 5th day to visit the gardens and Benac castle. There is a choice to visit 2 other castles that day but the gardens include lots of walking as does exploring the castle. The optional ride in Sarlat is well worth it but don’t miss the canoe on the Dordogne. We did both. We stayed an extra day in Sarlat in June because high season is July so it was not mobbed. A lovely experience! If you do not speak French just try a few words and you will be well received. If you expect a non English speaking French person if they speak English they will say no and not attempt to help you.

Where to begin for a tour that was wonderful for the easy to moderate rides, stupendous for the foods we were given, joyous for the chance for two 60 yr old sisters to be together for our 3rd Tripsite bike adventure! The tour operator, Guilia, was kind and very prepared so we began smoothly and ended the same. In between we had some easy rides, some challenging rides (weather very hot this July!), 2 flat tires and a whole lot of smiles with breathtaking towns, juicy figs, cherries, olive trees and grapes bordering our riding paths. A cold beer or Rose was our prize at the end of each ride! We were given 4 Tastings: wine, cheese factory, Meat/Cheeses, and more wine!! And dinners to make any who love Italian cuisine salivate! We felt safe throughout our travels. Some of the paths could use some work but we are always the "cup 3/4 full" kind of people, so we plowed through everything and were so happy. We arrived in Matera a day early to enjoy its beauty and would have loved to end with an extra day in Lecce had we known how lovely it was as well. We LOVED the places we stayed!

A sign of a great trip... looking for our next tripsite adventure together before we have finished this one!!

Well organized boat and cycle tour through South Holland. The Poseidon was a super boat with great staff and great food. The tours were well organized by Ingrid. Ingrid is excellent, well informed and very helpful. She provided some assistance and guidelines for our self guided tour. The E bikes were very good. Highly recommend.