5 Star France Tour Reviews — 511 to 540 of 607

Besides the beautiful scenery, the staff on the boat were so friendly and helpful. They worked as a team, and the relationship with the guests was wonderful. We made many new friends, and had such a good time. Leaving, we had tears in our eyes. We loved the wineries and tasting many new wines. Although we understand the purpose of corkage fees, we thought they were too high, as we came back with one or two new ones every day! Loved the trip!

The routing in Bordeaux was great. Amazing scenery, passing through little towns and managing our way through a city or two made for an amazing adventure. One day I had a big problem with my bike and with a phone call I had a young man show up and fix it. He was my hero.

Loved the beauty of the rolling hills, vineyards and chateaus. Due to the hills, I would rate 2 of the days more moderate to difficult, leaning more to moderate. The maps and booklets are hard to follow, definitely have 1 person in your group get the GPS, it should be mandatory with all the turns. There is only a deposit required.
The staff were attentive, hard working and fun! The food was exceptional. We highly recommend this tour!

Accommodations faultless. Bike company efficient and I loved my bike. Maps very inadequate, we should not have been on "on ramps" to or navigating 4 lane highways, check out the maps through Cavaillon for example. More moderate than recreational cycling especially the hills. Great on an E bike if you had one. Scenery exquisite. Weather too! Thank you to Mary for organizing or extra nights in Avignon, another great hotel.

"easy to moderate" was at the outset incorrect, it was "moderate to difficult" when one considers the length and incline of the hills. Also, our group of twelve experienced 3 flat tires, the first time in many years of biking in Europe, and each was on an e-bike. The hotels, on the other hand were exquisite!

The most memorable part of the trip was the scenery and atmosphere.

Two items that were not as expected.
The literature states two guides but there was only one guide. This means there could only be one guided ride per day. So provide two guides or change the description of the trip to say only one guided ride per day.
Our pre-trip information provided a location for the where the barge would be moored in Paris. We selected a hotel near this location and planned activities based on this location. The boat did not dock at this location. We were not told that the location was changing. The boat docked. We didn't know where we were at and our guide also didn't know where we were at. Guide was very good. This was an issue with the boat captain.

The Captain and crew were just wonderful. While the sights were certainly great, like cheese making, Champagne tasting, visitng the ruins and the WWII cemeteries it was the warm welcome from the Captain and crew that really made this trip. There was nothing they wouldn't do for us including getting fresh baguettes every day, finding out our personal preferences for drinks after a long day in the saddle, and in general giving 110% to keep everyone happy. I strongly recommend the Captain and crew of the Zwaantje! I also must mention a big thank you to Carla and her crew at Tripsite for their assistance in getting us additional e-bikes. Without the e-bikes some of us just wouldn't have made the hills, with them we enjoyed every minute. Thank you!

Ah...The trip was memorable for so many reasons, the people, the sites. Bikes were amazing to ride. Loved the infinity gears. We loved the Soleo, however it sunk due to some submerged metal. The staff did their level best to help the passengers continue vacation, get to their embassy to get new passports, medications, and put us up in hotels. The Estello was brought up to continue our trip. There were some circulation/moisture issues on the Estello so we didn't enjoy that boat as much. One suggestion would be to do a short first day clinic to ensure riders understand basic group riding etiquette. Rounding the city round about would have been better/safer had we all gathered and taken the lane to go as a group rather than single file around in such an extended line. Then resume to single file along country/city roads. The sites were amazing but there were some areas that must have required more city riding. Loved the Carmarge horses, fields of poppies, flamingos, roman stadium and aquaduct. Loved the group of people and the crew. Peter and Sheena did a great job despite their loss of the boat. Marco was awesome, he was our single contact after the barge sunk he helped organize us and processed us thru what had to be done. Arie also was a huge help during this process.. (the owner of the boat was in and out, he didn't even recognize any of the passengers try to apologize for the situation or see how we were doing.. not a fan of the owner of the boat) Oh the folks at Tripsite who I contacted did try to see what they can do. We have separate insurance as suggested but I'm not sure if Tripsite will try to make any reparations for our interrupted trip.. we missed 2 days of cycling.. I wouldn't mind a discount on a future trip.

The most memorable part was beautiful scenery, especially the magical villages we rode through in Provence.

We had a very enjoyable trip with beautiful scenery, good rides and pretty good weather most of the time. The Route maps and detailed instructions could be improved upon. There were several mistakes on which way to turn as well as confusing instructions. Luckily, we had GPS with us to help out in various situations.
The food was very tasty, esp. the dinners. Great young chef.
One thing which bothered us was that we were told not to bring any wine aboard the boat - we were to only purchase wine that was available on the boat via the token machine. Odd, since we were traveling and bicycling in Bordeaux WINE country, visiting chateaus daily!! We think that there should be another arrangement in that area. It's apparently a financial situation although it was explained that they didn't want wine spills in the cabin. A damage deposit could be arranged if that's really the issue.
Otherwise, the staff, bikes and experience was great. This was our 3rd Bike/Barge trip with TripSite. Gladly recommend it often to others. We especially enjoyed St. Emilion (tour of monolithic church was amazing!) and riding to/from Blaye and touring the Citadel.

We took this trip from Compiegne to Moret-sur-Loing in September. It was just perfect in every way. There were eight in our group and Marco made us feel like family. The bike ride along the Seine was just beautiful with views one would never see from a car. There is so much activity along the river and in the evening we were guided around the towns where the barge was moored for the night. The bike ride through Paris was personally terrifying for me, but was also a thrill. I would probably do it again. Our guide Yought was full of stories and also very supportive. I could not have done it without him. WE all appreciated Kim who prepared wonderful meals with great variety and was always there to welcome us back at the end of the day. This was the perfect bike/barge trip. We are now thinking about taking a trip in Holland with the Clair de Lune.

The amazing all inclusive 3-4 course dinners at the end of the day were great. The castles were great to see.

I really enjoyed the off-road trails and quiet back roads near Aigues Mortes.

Barge, service, guide, food, comfort, weather and on and on...all great.

We really enjoyed the trip but the self-guided instructions could have been better. We relied on Google maps more than we should have had to; would have been quite lost without it.
We were a very small group and we all got along very well and became friends throughout the week.

My companion and I broke from the main group and visited a small vineyard and were given a complete tour including a tasting by the owner

Hotel and food were superb. The bike routes were wonderfully scenic, quiet roads, lovely towns. The directions were mostly good and the GPS didn't work for us. I would highly recommend the trip.

It was a fun week celebrating my birthday in the heart of Bordeaux with ten friends!

It was fun. I would recommend more bike trails away from the highways. The drivers were very courteous but we did not like riding on the side of highways. It felt dangerous and there was smell of exhaust.
Also, the charge for wine was at least double of what it should have been.

This trip was truly amazing. We cycled through beautiful countryside and visited spectacular vineyards. The only comment we have is that we didn't like using tokens for our drinks on board the ship. Would rather use a credit card. Also would like to have a choice of meals ie fish, meat or veggie rather than only one choice. Food was great but choice is important.

This trip was most enjoyable and the cities and scenery were gorgeous.

This was a very nice trip. Scenery, bike routes, side trips were all very good. We had a terrific guide who interacted well with the group. The barge was very nice and the owners/crew were exceptional. The dinners could not have been better - Els is an amazing cook.

The most memorable part of my trip was seeing the brilliant lights on the fabulous architecture of the historic buildings of Bordeaux. I was so impressed with these images against the skyline and the reflecting "mirror" pool in front of the buildings. We spent an evening walking along the boardwalk by the Garonne River and we could enjoy this breathtaking scenery.

The most memorable part of my trip was being asked to push the large domino to start the "domino effect" which was a practice run for the "FAB Festival in Bordeaux". One evening, we walked by the colourful "Water Mirror", which is a famous kind of fountain in Bordeaux, and we stopped to examine one of the large dominoes which was made out of a white limestone substance. One of the organizers of the "FAB Festival" invited me to start the dominoes. I was thrilled to have such an honour. Everyone cheered. I will never forget it!

This was a fun trip full of historic sites. Would have liked to have maps so we could go off at our own speed sometimes. The side trips for additional mileage were great. Got to ride some of the "Tour de Flanders" route with cobbles and hills. Chantilly was fantastic! Also took a side adventure to a roman ruin, something we weren't expecting in that part of France.

The best part of this trip would be a toss-up between the ride in light rain from Joigny to Sens, the cruise up the Loing to Moret sur Loing, and the arrival at our mooring in Paris with Place de la Bastille in the background.
Linde, our guide, was very good. The roads/trails were a bit rougher in some places than we anticipated. We anticipated cramped quarters and they were as expected but quite serviceable. The bike worked well but a mountain bike with suspension would have been nice in some spots.

The boat was great and food wonderful. All staff couldn't have been nicer.

I am a tag-along non-bicycler, but I was really happy on the barge reading, drinking coffee and watching the enchanting scenery.

We did the bike barge trip from Bruges to Paris on the Zwantjie. We would absolutely recommend the trip. Our comments are:
1. While the cabins are small, they are still adequate and good layout in the bathroom ( each cabin has it's own) . They are kept very clean. They all have AC as the porthole does not open.
2. The rides was rated easy to moderate. It was MUCH harder than Bolzano to Venice so be prepared. I would say it should be rated moderate. The second week is easier than the first - perhaps due to improved fitness but also l think there are less hills.
3. Meals were good and wholesome.
4. Staff were incredibly obliging. Nothing was too much trouble. Thank you Martyn ( the Captain ), Michael ( mechanic ), Chris ( chef/cook ), Gosha ( amazingly efficient at serving meals/alcohol and cleaning the cabins ) and our great guides, Christain and Elia.
5. Size of about 24 riders is excellent. For us, better than say 30-40 as on the Ava Maria. You get to know all the riders are we had a great group of people, Australians, Americans and Poms.
6. When we stayed in Perrone we went to Villers Bretonneux. This is particularly relevant to Australians - whose troops saved the town from the Germans in WW1. A stunning memorial site -very moving. We also rode through a number of memorials to WW1 victims. Also quite moving.