3 Star France Tour Reviews — 31 to 60 of 61

Guides were absolutely world-class in all respects: knowledgeable, safe, proactive and TOTALLY guest-oriented. Is there a description more favorable that "FANTASTIC?!"

The barge and crew were amazing as were the bike guides. I would not change a thing.

However . . . the bikes were horrid and it was a bike trip! They were dated . . . poorly maintained . . . and dangerous. I had a piece of my front fender break and get stuck between my spokes in the front tire. I could have been badly injured if not going so slow through construction. I would think a "bike" trip would offer much better bikes in the future. I would not recommend this trip to friends because of the bikes . . . everything else was top notch . . . the food, the staff, the rooms, the bar . . . too bad about the bikes not meeting expectations.

The Loire was wonderful, Jon the guide was wonderful and Lunch in Adon was Magnifique!

We really liked the MS Arkona, the staff and our F&B head mgr. Routes were Ok, but need better route descriptions esp for English speakers. Electric bikes were excellent! Def the better way to really enjoy the ride!

Most memorable-one big friendly group. Chef and Pilot were fine; guide and barge were adequate.

My trip was the Villages of Provence. A wonderful area to bike through. I would suggest that the orientation be set for a determined amount of time to allow for complete question and answer time. Also it would be helpful to go through the use of the GPS thoroughly. The bike maintenance was not done prior to our week long trip. The tail light and the computer on my bike did not function properly. All in all the hotels, service, food, and ambience were wonderful. I’d highly recommend this trip to intermediate to advanced cyclists.

It was an altogether pleasant experience; the highlight was the lovely little village of Saint-Émilion.

Beautiful chateaus. Great wine. Not allowed to drink in cabin. Cabin extremely small. Shower barely fit one person. Guide excellent. No sauna or hot tub. I would recommend this trip but not this boat (the Bordeaux).

A great trip in many ways. Good staff - helpful and friendly. Good scenic route with chances to visit places of interest, very good food. Only draw back was problems with 3 out of 4 'E' bikes and a lack of expertise in how to fix them causing stress to some riders.

Much of the bike ride was difficult to navigate. Signs on the road are not always clear. Expected more country rides but much of the bike ride was through cities with many vehicles (somewhat dangerous). If we elect to travel with Tripsite again, we will do more research to determine ease of navigation along the bike route and how much of the route is through traffic.

The attentiveness and skill of the crew was most memorable. Chris was an awesome guide, encouraging everyone and being a wealth of knowledge about the environs. Conor was personable and available to share her knowledge and experience. Kim is a great cook and quite a character. Together, they overcame the limitation of an outdated too small barge to create an environment that allowed the riders to really enjoy the countryside and each other.

The Elodie bike/barge trip was fabulous in terms of scenery, routes, staff, food. However, 2 couples on the barge were not able to keep up with our very leisurely pace. I would advise your company to stress level of fitness for participants, and also to recommend 2 guides for different ability levels.

The group was excellent. We had a great time together. Jean and I were the only Americans aboard but everyone spoke English.
This trip, rated moderate, was the most challenging of the four tours we have booked thru Tripsite since 2012. It stretched us to the limits of our biking abilities.
The tour was thru pleasant countryside but lacked the highlights of our previous tours- no Eiffel Tower, Venice canals or Pont du Gard.
The barge itself was a weak point, although it was not advertised as a strength.
Most disappointing was the food, especially the evening meals featuring mostly starches- pasta, mashed potatoes, quinoa and rice. Don't know whether this was a budget or skills problem.
The guide was excellent, competent, friendly and caring.
The bikes themselves were mostly good although there were some minor problems-with a tire once and an ebike battery that didn't fully charge overnight. Giro Libero bikes were in better condition than those of Hat Tours based on our two tours with each of them.
The Loire Valley tour was enjoyable, but the weakest of the four trips we have taken.
Our fondest memories will be those of great conversations, lots of laughs with new friends we will probably never see again and a sense of accomplishment for what was for us an arduous trek.
As a tip for others, as I mentioned to bike and barge rookies, check out other trips as advertised in Tripsite's catalog.

The Itinerary was very well planned out and the staff were all amazing!!!! This was the perfect trip for our group!!!!

We met a lot of really nice people. We were surprised that our guide was largely unfamiliar with the route!

Guide, Antonella, crew, food, tour and route were fine, but the Estello was not, surely not "comfort plus". The boat is tired, lounge furniture was dirty, lead to believe the boat was not equivalent to Ave Maria but close, Girolibro providing better boats than FR companies. Were tied up close to a FR boat, was better. Cabins in comparison to other boats we have booked are poor, shower was not separate from remainder of the head so everything was soaked after shower. Since we booked the entire boat for Coastal Cruisers, even though no one seemed to complain, we expected better. Your bike and barge tours continue to be good value with folks who provide services compensating for "tired boat".

Most Memorable Part: Cycling itself throughout southern France

This tour should be rated moderate/difficult. There are many steep climbs. I had an E bike so not bad for me. The non E bikers had a big job. If everyone had an e bike, a very enjoyable journey. The scenery was gorgeous. The hotels were beautiful and welcoming. The maps provided by the trip organizer and rather GPS could have been more detailed.

The Route Guide that we received was in German. We called Velociped and they said that they ran out of English guide - Basically we were SOL and not getting the Route Guide in English. They knew it way before hand that they did not have any English Route Guide - they should have let you or us know and maybe sent us written instructions for the route. We had difficulty in the first 3 days of the trip. We did not even get any instructions of how the electric bikes worked or how to operate it. The first day - my wife struggled on the ebike because it was not working right- we had to call. Instructions on what to do and how to start it would have been good. Very poor customer service. In addition, we signed up for CLASS A hotels, which was supposed to be 3 or 4 stars - not one of the hotels provided was a 4 star. The scenery along the Mosel River was spectacular, the luggage transfers between hotels was great.

Lovely being in the area at this time near harvest but the routes, route preparation in the evening and historical information that might enhance the experience were severely lacking. The GPS devices were difficult to work with and virtually no help was given as to how to correctly operate them.

It was lovely being in the area at this time near harvest but the routes, route preparation in the evening and historical information that might enhance the experience were severely lacking. The GPS devices were difficult to work with and virtually no help was given as to how to correctly operate them.

This Bordeaux trip needs a lot of attention and improvement. It started out badly at the Bordeaux train station attempting to catch the bus to embark. It took us 2 hours to find the place to catch the bus. I understand that the station is being renovated but you know this, yet you post no signs, no information, have no greeters, nothing to help people find the bus. The maps were really bad - difficult to follow especially given lack of adequate road signage at each location. We spent more time lost and trying to find our way around that enjoying the scenery in many locations. We eventually just gave up on biking because we didn't want to get lost any more. I am not sure what the local statutes are but you could post little signs marking the way for bikers to follow. This would not be hard and would help your patrons to find their way. The food needs help. Why would you have the EXACT same breakfast items for 7 days in a row? I understand you have limited staff but it would not be difficult to vary it up every other day. There were a three dinners that I did not even eat because the food was bad. Granted there were a few meals that were good, I was overall disappointed with the meals. Some of the crew were fantastic, but I felt like communication was poor regarding when we would have to leave the port for "le mascaret" (tidal surge wave) - it seemed like they were always an hour behind when they said it would happen or there was a last minute rush to get people off the boat or get stuck on it for the day. The captain seemed impatient all the time with getting people off the boat. Many things could have been better communicated in the evening "tour talks." And the tour talks were really boring....they weren't especially helpful for biking on the next day. They would literally put us to sleep. Also, we spent 3 nights and two days in the village of Cadillac. While it was a very charming place that I enjoyed, 3 nights and 2 days in such a small place was too much. Why not spend 3 nights and 2 days in Bordeaux, where there is a lot to see and do? I am glad I went on this trip but I would not do this trip again, nor would I recommend it. I met people who have been on other Tripsite boat/bike tours who said this one was far inferior to others they have been on. I would like to call out specifically two staff members who were really great - Arnaud and Sebastian. They were always smiling and fun and really seemed to enjoy their jobs. They made the trip so much better.

We knew the barge was old, but weren't prepared for the very tiny, cramped cabin space which was definitely not the one advertised!
Most of the bicycles were in fairly good condition, but my husband got one on which the chain kept coming off and had a fall because of that.
The barge operators, Stephan and Florence, were lovely and worked very hard to provide a good experience, cooking traditional French meals each evening complete with dessert. The tour guide, Jan, did an excellent job keeping the cycling group on track and adjusting our days to accommodate the extreme temperatures during the hottest week of the summer!

Sorry, it rained the entire trip. Route and scenery would have been fine if not for that. Barge has seen better days. Staff (Stephan and Florence) are very pleasant.
Suggestion: Give the tour riders a sew-on patch to remember the tour.

The guide seemed lost most of the time. He didn't know where to stop for a picnic and one day we ate our lunches at a bus stop. I realize cafes mostly close in France between 12 and 2, but his lack of knowledge of where to find a toilet after lunch was a problem. He chastised us for being slow to re-organize, but then later we'd stop for no reason and wait for up to a half hour with no info from him. He was good at describing architecture.

I would recommend the trip only if the biking instructions we changed. Alsace is a wonderful area and the people, food, and accommodations were great! But the instructions for the bike routes were too confusing and unclear and not in English. They were in Dutch - not even French or German!

We have done several bike barge trips in france and europe and other places. This one was just too crowded with tourists. Of course it was August, so that explains a lot. Our least favorite that we have done.

Our guide was not good, would ride off too fast, often the tail end riders were lost and confused as they could not keep up. Everything else was excellent!

I was pleased with the points of interest on the tour (Strasbourg, Heidelberg, Colmar, Breisach), however, the route was very industrial at times and there was just nothing special about it. The maps and route descriptions were terrible and I'd say that was the number one complaint of fellow passengers. I talked to the guide and he said they will redo the route for next year so hopefully with some changes, it will be much better.

The Rhine from Mainz to Basel, for the most part, is industrial and not as picturesque as other European bike and barge routes we've enjoyed. There were a few cities (Heidelberg, Germany and Strausbourg, France) which were beautiful and offered much to do, but we were expecting the scenic bike routes with quaint towns for cake and coffee, or beer stops along the way and were sorely disappointed. But the most disappointing aspect of this trip was the inability of the on-board guide to give proper instructions nor enlighten us of things to see or visit. We found out about popular sites from all channels except the guides. In Strausbourg, while chatting with tourists, we heard of an amazing evening light show projected onto an enormous cathedral - huge crowds gathered to enjoy this historic presentation, yet nothing was mentioned of it by our guide. We have needed so little guidance to enjoy our bike and barge trips, but this one missed the mark. Based on previous trips that we've done, we'd convinced 2 other couples to join us and they were underwhelmed and disappointed as well. The barge and accommodations were adequate, though rooms were random sizes no matter which deck you choose. One couple paid extra for the upper deck, but their room was much smaller than another couple's on the lower level. The staff and meals on this barge were top notch and we can't say enough about the gourmet chef and tireless staff.