4 Star France Tour Reviews — 1 to 30 of 220

Chiverney!
The scenery and castles were wonderful. We did have some problems, however. Touring Chiverney and Chamont in one day, plus riding 55k would have been too much! Only one castle a day, please. We did not ride that day due to high winds, so we took Uber to the Castles and back to Blois. The app worked sometimes, and sometimes it did not. Getting to the start point was problematic with the app. We were not told our bikes were in Blois until the guy arrived to bring our helmets and he told us. We could have been better prepared to ride if we'd had access to the bikes before 9am.

Most memorable were:
The evening spent with a family-run wine farmer; tasting and purchasing wine from the guys who made it;
Seeing the cathedral in Trier;
The covered market in Metz and other open farmer markets along the way;
The moderate biking through the picturesque Moselle wine country;
Cultural and historic insights and explanations by our guide Wim;
Getting to know other Americans on the same journey;
The great food and wine offered all but one night on the Iris;
A few minutes spent on the bridge with our captain;
And finally, enjoying the hospitality, friendliness and accommodation of the crew of the Iris and our guides Wim and Alice.
On the, "Items in need of improvement" list:
One of our guides was more knowledgeable and willing to share his knowledge than the other; she has good guide skills but is inexperienced and needs to study the route and its attractions and features a bit;
There were several falls experienced by several of our group, which was 100% composed of seniors. Seniors fall, it's a fact of life, and they fall more often on bikes, especially those who don't bike much and are awkward on a bike. Some of these "accidents" can be avoided. A better orientation the night before we depart that clearly states the rules of the road would be advisable, and reminders each night about what the guides saw that day and coaching on what could be doe to assure the safety of guests. That coaching should include: do not ride side by side to have a conversation - single file only; obey traffic signals; signal when you're coming to a stop; move your bike off the path when stopping. This kind of basic rules of the road talk is needed and some direct, private conversations with the violators would go a long way towards increased safety. I was relieved no one needed medical attention. It's unrealistic to think that none of your seniors will ever have a fall on a week-long trip, but many of them can be avoided.
The bikes have seen a long season by a variety of guests and by mid-October they have a lot of wear and tear. Might be time to sell them and replace with new ones.
The Iris is a great boat for 20 guests; I found myself hoping for a space where I could read a book in private. On another bike and barge trip in Italy on the Ave Maria there was a second deck with deck chairs and an awning. Guess I'm saying I would have preferred a larger boat.

Great tour leader and staff on board. Interesting itinerary. Accommodated our food preference.

The first part of the tour was more difficult than anticipated because of the many hills. Feniks is the smallest of all the boats we have toured with and the accommodation was very cramped. We really enjoyed our fellow travellers - 4 Canadians and 8 Australians - and the boat's crew. Our guide, Seitse, who we have travelled with on a previous tour, is one of the best in the business.

Riding along the Moselle amongst the vines and stopping at gorgeous little towns.

Distances on the bikes were reasonable and allowed sufficient time to enjoy our surroundings.

Our guide François and support staff were fabulous. The weather was perfect to see these magical sites and to enjoy cycling across the landscape. The boat staff were welcoming and the rooms very comfortable. The only reason that we are not giving this a 5 star rating is that it only became clear shortly before the trip that most of the passengers on the boat were from 1 country (in this case Germany), what that meant is that we were traveling in France yet having a German experience so more like voyeurs than a French immersion experience. The food on the boat catered to a German diet instead of a French diet (yes there were croissants in the morning and dessert crepes yet that was about it). It also seemed that none of the staff on the boat were from France. We are grateful that our tour guide and all the city guides were French and really made an effort to share the French experience!

We had an excellent time on the tour. The sites we great, biking path was paved, food and the care on the Iris was excellent.
Biking on the city bridges were not always easy. A little scary with the traffic. Loved the e-bike. Would definitely go on another bike and barge trip.

Coming down the Seine and seeing the Eiffel Tower from the boat was great.

Un general the castles we visited and the ride the last day was the best one in terms is the mix of castles and view a round the road.
On data 2-3 it was a little bit too “underpopulated”, not mucho too see for a big part of the day.. and we experienced lot of wind!

We really loved the Alsace region. The first few days we followed the Alsace Wine Route and you really do ride through the middle of vineyards. The scenery is beautiful and the villages are very picturesque. We opted to spend the day in Colmar and I was so glad we did. It was a highlight of the trip.

We found the description of the ride as Moderate to be misleading. We expected rolling hills and some climbs, but the steepness of the hills going into Riquewihr and Kayserberg was extreme. All the other riders we saw on the route that day were on e-bikes. So unless you are a very strong rider, I would recommend getting an e-bike.

The only disappointment with the itinerary was that the trip was changed to end in Saint-Louis, France rather than Basel, Switzerland. There really isn’t much to see or do in Saint-Louis. If this is going to continue, the trip description on the website really needs to be changed.

It was wonderful travelling through the vineyards and chatting with the local farmers as they harvested the grapes. We also enjoyed travelling along scenic rivers and canals. Almost everything was paved, and only a small percentage of the trip was on roads with traffic. But the description of the ride is misleading. it should be described as moderate to difficult. In the material, it gave estimates of the grades of the various climbs. I rode with a Garmin GPS and it showed much different grades. For example, the last (#5) climb on Cycling Day 2 from Obernai into Riquewihr is described as a 3.3 percent grade over 5.06 km. What it doesn't say is that 3.3 percent is the average. In fact, much of the climb was between 3 and 6 percent, and a portion was over 9%. I registered 13% on my Garmin. This is not a moderate activity. We experienced similar discrepancies on some of the other days.

Since we only got to spend 1 day in the champagne area, that part was not memorable. The historic features we did see were WEI museums and cemeteries.

The entire crew on the boat were wonderful. The two guides, Mieke and Wim worked very well together. The chef prepared wonderful meals for us each day. Scenery was fabulous.
Now that most riders are riding ebikes that should be all that is offered. The push bikes with only 8 gears were impossible for riders to keep up with the ebike riders, Never had enough time to stop and take pictures.

The great people we met & the staff on the boat.
My negatives about the boat was the lack of an outdoor seating area to enjoy - probably due to the size of the boat. Also I felt 18 people for one guide was not great from a safety perspective. No mirros on the bikes or communication capabilities between the guide & the person identified as the ‘sweeper’.

Seeing the poppy fields in bloom was best part. Worst was map book not matching gps file for first few directions of isle de sorgue to st. Remy ride. Hotel in St. Remy was excellent.

Lots of comfortable cycling over easy terrain, even in extreme summer heat. The cities that are visited are unique and interesting with lots of things to see from cathedrals to the Gutenberg museum. Keep in mind that except for one evening, travelers are not on the boat when it is traveling along the Rhine. Instead, the boat goes from port to port while travelers cycle from port to port. Also keep in mind that this is not the most scenic portion of the Rhine except for the last day, where we cycled through vineyards on the slopes down to the Rhine. Otherwise, the terrain was mostly flat with dikes between the cycle path and the river making it hard to see the river. Once we got out of the heavily industrial cities, the ride was pleasant and flat through wooded areas, grassland, and farmland. Roughly one-quarter of the ride was along the Rhine, one-quarter through cities or industrial areas, and one-half through grassland/forest, and farmland. Food was outstanding; the rooms on the boat were clean and comfortable, but a little worn. Staff was outstanding -- very helpful and friendly. We would definitely do another bike/boat cruise on the Olympia.

Great first experience with a bike and barge tour. Excellent guides and barge crew. Biking distances and terrain was very manageable on e-bikes, even for those with only moderate biking experience. Personally I would have preferred a self guided tour, but now I know for our next trip.

Everything was perfect, the app great. I took the luxury package, but the hotels were not really luxury. I thought they all were going to be like Hotel Le Clos D’Amboise, like small beautiful hotels. At least you should change hotel Mercure from Blois.

But I think we are going to repeat the experience. Thanks

The French Riviera is very beautiful and the weather is great!!
I loved my hotel in Hyeres. The Pontiere is amazing- a beautiful location

This e-bike and boat tour along the Rhine was a dream come true! The landscapes were absolutely breathtaking, from the picturesque wine villages to the historic castles perched along the riverbanks. Each stop was rich in culture—Strasbourg Cathedral and Colmar’s Gothic art were personal highlights. And the food! Sampling local wines and regional dishes like tarte flambée in Alsace was an unforgettable experience. The stress-free e-biking made it accessible and enjoyable, even for someone like me who’s not an avid cyclist. Highly recommend this tour for its perfect balance of relaxation and adventure!

The little towns like the v one pictured above. Use deutsch bank ATM to exchange for euros

We really liked the old walled cities at the start, middle, and end of this trip! These cities were beautiful! Didn’t like the bike trails as well as the ones on our Germany bike/barge trip last year, as there were lots of dirt/gravel and a fair amount of riding along the edge of roads. Was not a fan of L’Estello barge bathrooms as they had the shower right in the bathroom, so everything gets wet and you had to run the A/C on a low temp to get everything to dry out. Food was great and the barge staff was very friendly and did a great job!! We did enjoy this trip a lot. Next year we booked an Italy bike/barge from Venice to Mantova.

Touring the Abby that is being restored. It was amazing! The fishing lodge/castle was very cool, too. The guide and barge staff were great and went out of their way to make us comfortable. The reason I gave it only 4 stars is we rode on busy roads more than I was expecting and more than I like to. But, we saw a lot more by leaving the canel trail. So, everything is a tradeoff. The canel path was dull after a day or so. I didn't see any areas that were being restored, like I see along bike trails here. That was disappointing, but probably something most people wouldn't notice. The fod was very good, at times, excellent. The guests were all very nice and extremely good natured about the rain we had almost every day. Overall, it was quite enjoyable.

Biking in the Mosel wine region watching grape harvest.
Exploring the city of Trier was a highlight.

The food, the staff, and the perfect mix of strangers from around the world exceeded our expectations. The cookbook also a nice surprise souvenir that we now keep on our coffee table. Mikky is an excellent guide, for many reasons! The bikes are solid!
Suggestions, nothing major, simply notes to help things out:
1) a reminder in the morning to bring money for entrance fees. No problem with them not being included in the trip cost, I simply could have used a reminder. The situation was handled fine, but would prefer to avoid asking people for a loan.
2) please consider making and showing a short video RE how to be a “corner”; corner positioning, what/who to look for, when to leave your post. perhaps consider a longer video that covers all the biking etiquette, such as safe distance between bikes, traffic signals, etc.
To explain my 4 rating; I simply didn’t come to understand how small the room was until entering it. I looked at room pictures and measurements and considered them. When we entered our room it our new reality became obvious. This is not our first bike and barge trip. The largest boat we have been on held 24 guests. However, this is the smallest room we have stayed in. Going forward we now know what we are considering when seeing these room measurements and layouts, and we will likely avoid them going forward. We understand the rooms cannot be changed, simply explaining our 4 rating.

My wife and I traveled on the Magnifique 1 from October 1, 2024 to October 7, 2024. We absolutely loved the staff; very friendly and helpful. The stop in Trier, with a guide, was great. The food on board was pretty good but the bikes were not. They were quite heavy and had too few gears, which made climbing even moderate hills quite difficult.

What a great way to explore several cities by bike! If you're seeking fun, exercise, meeting other like minded cyclists, this is a must do!

Biking riding component.

The gluten free option was absolutely not satisfactory. When arriving it was not noted. The chef said we had to come see him. We paid 120 euros and we only received two pasta meals and bread for lunch and a cookie jar. The bread put out was 2 slices for each gf person. The rest could have as much as they wanted. The shopping should have been done before hand in Paris where there are gf bakeries not the same stuff we can buy. We got what was in the pantry.
One meal we got baked apples for dessert. How are 2 pastas, 2 slices of bread per day and a baked apple worth 120E? It is totally not appropriate to charge so much after already paying a lot for the trip. It seems like a cash grab as there were three of us. Whomever makes this decision should be ashamed of themselves. Fair $ for fair service. We should all be reimbursed!

The small towns that we went into were amazing. The trails and trail maps were perfect and the bike we were given were great. They were smooth riding and handled great.