4 Star France Tour Reviews — 181 to 210 of 212

Fantastic trip! An amazing area of France to explore by bike. The views were amazing, lots of interesting history, great food and drinks. The tour was well organized and staff were friendly and helpful.
Our only comment: it was rated as 'moderate', and ratings are averages and are relative of course, but there were sections of the route that were quite difficult, e.g. steep dirt/stone roads that we had to walk the bikes up (and we are in good condition and have done a lot of bike tripping before). Should probably note this in the description.

Really impressed by the effort and kindness of the staff on the boat.

Try and offer more non-meat entrees for dinner. Too much meat. Also, try and incorporate rail trails( voies ferrees) when possible. They provide relaxed cycling without worrying about constant traffic.
Very friendly staff and good display of professionalism. Bikes were easy to ride! And, it was hard to have to drink only what the boat offered. Can we have more choice, especially in wine country like Bordeaux? Thanks for everything.

Rooms really small; Guide was lost a lot; Staffers not very good with knowledge of E bikes;
But food was great..staff was kind..trip was pretty.

This is our third trip with Tripsite and this was our least favorite so far. The scenery was not particularly stunning and in France we were on more roads than we would have preferred. We also stayed in larger cities such as Basel and Freiburg than in previous trips. It is a personal preference, but we prefer the smaller towns such as the ones we encountered on our trip from Amsterdam to Brugge and from Prague to Dresden.

On the positive front, the lodging and equipment were the best that we have had from the three trips. The hotels were quite nice and truly were 4 star accommodations. The bikes had cushy seats and comfortable handlebars. Even the panniers were a step up with easy snap on and off functionality and very good water proofing.

We enjoyed the trip and it was high quality as we have enjoyed with Tripsite. The scenery just wasn't as nice and that's why we rank this as our least favorite of our trips so far. Have no fear, we will go again next year and are already looking at the Barcelona/Girona trip. We love working with Tripsite and will be long-term customers!

The trip was great! Mostly all positive. Tom and I would like to have the pace a bit faster....that was the only negative.

Everything did not go perfectly all the time but we had a great time and the guys from Girolibero were always doing their best to help out when needed.

Initial bikes provided were in very poor state. They were replaced when we contacted local agent at the end of the first day.

Some hotels definitely better than others. Also some of the road directions were not translated well. Overall, however, generally satisfied with the trip but the service could use some improvements.

Issues related to the boat: bad smell, cabin room was cozier than we would choose in the future. Laundry facilities were inadequate. We really enjoyed the trip, the guide and the experience!

This is the second barge and bike trip we took with Tripsite and I would have to say we liked the scenery more on the Taste of Burgundy than we did with Provence. Riding the in the Camargue got a little boring. Other than that we enjoyed the overall trip.

My main concern about this particular trip is that we did not know ahead of time that staying on the barge and not biking was not an option unless one was sick. The winds were pretty bad (25-50 miles per hour) so that some of us did not feel up to the rides. On the particularly difficult day, it would have been nice to just remain with the boat.

The Soleo was a disappointment in all respects.

More time in certain areas would have been nice. There were instances where it felt like we were being pushed along, and I appreciate that we had 22 people of varying age, skill experience and physical ability, and that we have to get back to the boat. Our guide was very good, but you needed to try and understand his manner, which could be short at times. He was knowledgeable, insightful and caring, but his manner did not necessarily reflect that. Meals were good but thought it would reflect more French cuisine of the Provence area, not a complaint, just an observation.
Staff was excellent and I continue to recommend this bike trip and company to friends."

A great trip overall and a good value. I would've preferred an upcharge option for better hotels. The downside was the directions book, though well made and attractive, it was not helpful or practical. I found it was much easier to follow the road signs and ignore the book. Also, the book needs to point out attractions and diversions and points of interest. People are coming from all over the world to see this one particular area, it is so important to know what there is to explore in the countryside rather than just following the route.

Somewhat inadequate initial bike instruction due to bike shop rescheduling at their convenience. Bike maintenance was only average causing the bikes to not operate as described.

One of my discoveries for this trip was that I think I prefer a self-guided tour to a guided one. The group was larger than what I was really comfortable with, as I like to stop for photos and wasn't comfortable doing that with the large group. (My spouse and I had just finished a 6 day self-guided tour thru Holland). The bikes were fine, but one of our group had constant problems with hers. The food was fine, but I prefer more options, and would have liked eating away from the lunch basket-type of fare we fixed ourselves from barge foods. I loved that the guides gave us interesting evening walking tours.

Food was great, would have liked more flexibility on cycling.

The boat was great and we all got the cabins we were hoping for – the food was really good. The girls commented that they weren’t expecting the food to be as good as it was.
• The biking was as easy as we expected, I didn’t like the bikes as much as the bikes we had on the Danube the year before but the bikes were exactly what they said on the web-site. Pretty well all the trails were paved – makes it hard to come back to PEI trails!
• Apparently we weren’t on as pretty a section of the Rhine as we could have been but we saw some great scenery and little villages were so clean, friendly and relatively easy to get around. The crew said they didn’t like this route because it wasn’t as scenic and not as many places to stop. Apparently, they are not going to do the same route next year.
• I don’t think the tour itself was quite as well run as the one on MV Story on Danube IN 2014. I didn’t think the tour guide this year gave nearly as good instructions as the previous year and often it was difficult to figure out exactly which trail to take. The book with maps had a number of errors but guy said that would be fixed. I think they were some translations errors as well.. Last year, the tour guide always biked the route (he would wait until boat left so was always behind us and we knew he’d catch up). This guy said he was always behind us but we only saw him once and very briefly. He didn’t give suggestions of places to eat etc like they did last year. We always found good spots so that was not an issue but not because he provided suggestions. In 2014 the directions were very very clear and the company put arrows on the sign posts to show the directions. That was very helpful but non of that happened this year 2015. Maybe if they had continued the tour they would have done that as well.
• The directions we got for where the boat was docked in Basel were wrong – the directions said to go to West side and that was where the boat was always docked!! Well, it wasn’t there it was on the east side. Thankfully when it wasn’t where it was expected to be, the cab driver knew where it “probably” was. We did NOT feel the cabby took advantage of us as a few other couples has same issue and one of them had taken a bus to the dock!!. Tripsite was very responsive when we explained this and you were very generous in reimbursing us for cab fares (should have been 21 E per cab but was 54E per cab). I saw the meter and he only charged us what the meter said, plus he turned meter off a couple of times. We did give him tip. We took 2 cabs for the 6 of us and they followed each other so we all had same issue.
• We would absolutely go on another Tripsite trip and we all had a great time – just wanted to give you the feedback. If asked, I would recommend the Danube over this section of the Rhine. I would however try a different section of the Rhine and we may look at Holland another year.  SHOW MORE 

This was our 4th trip with Tripsite - very reliable and good value.

Overall trip came up to expectations. Crew was friendly and capable. The glitches to be expected on a new boat-new tour were minimal. Daily itineraries seemed to be well planned. Highlight was riding to Eiffel Tower and on to Notre Dame. Enjoyed tunnel cruise and free day in Paris. Meals on board were very good. Small group made dining fairly intimate. Bikes good but not excellent. Mine had a shifting problem that was a minor annoyance. Cabin accommodations were fine given the nature of the bike and barge experience. While this barge was in general less luxurious than those on our prior trips, (Mantova-Venice and Avignon-Comargue) it was fairly advertised as a ""Standard"" and priced accordingly. We thought that riding to the Eiffel Tower was pretty nifty and it became our main bragging points upon our return home. This was our third bike and barge with Tripsite. We recommend this type of experience and Tripsite to all.

Staff was wonderful. Weather not so good but we had a great time.

Loved the trip and the Merlijn. Hoping to do another tour in 2017.

The guide was not well prepared with maps and the boat kept changing docking locations. The Rhine is very industrial from Basel to Mainz. The rides were not very interesting or long. It was not one of your better offers.

The bike part was more challenging than in the discription. You have to be a strong biker used to hills. There are many hills and one very challenging hill. So I would not consider this an easy tour as in the description. However it was well worth the effort if you are well trained. Our guide Wiro was awesome and kept us together and on time which was very much appreciated. I would recommends this trip in spring or early summer. By the time we went end of August the vegetation was all dried up and there were no flowers because they had such a hot dry summer. I prefer a comfort plus boat as you have more space in your cabin. These cabins were very small. However all in all it was a beautiful, historic and worth while tr which I would recommend to avid cyclists.

The guides are young and very athletic. People who sign up for this level of bicycling aren't usually top bikers, unless they are doing it to be with friends or spouse. I think a bit more thought could be put into the introductory ride the first day, bridge crossings, sudden merging into traffic, sudden turns to go steeply uphill. I've done much longer bike rides, but at this age, I didn't want that much challenge.

The boat itself is nothing remarkable, but quite comfortable and clean. The staff was amazingly friendly. Route descriptions were sparse in some sections so there was some guessing involved. The maps themselves didn't have any road names on them if you did get lost they were of no use. We honestly didn't rely on the maps/route descriptions as much as the info from our daily meetings with the tour guide. There were good and bad days as far as scenery on the rides, a few days were pretty boring with not a lot to look at, while others were quite beautiful. We docked within walking distance to town on all days except one (where you had the option of one lonely restaurant). On board you are provided with maps and flyers for each overnight town. The bikes were super heavy and cumbersome (not bikes I am used to) but this is the norm in Europe. The food on board was excellent. I would recommend this trip as I know the routes are being reviewed and descriptions/maps updated.

There seemed to be tension between the owners of the barge and guy doing the cooking, cleaning and maintenance. The guy was trying to do the job of more than 2 people by himself. One day when he needed help with a cranky generator the captain was in a bar. We did not get clean towels half way through as promised. I have been on 2 bike and barge trips and this had the worst staff. The guide was good but left slower riders at several critical junctures. It did not happen often. Seems the system works best when the owner is captain. Means he is present and accountable.

Garrit, our bike tour leader, was a novice on this route as well as a poor communicator to the english speaking clients. The docking area changed at each stop from the printed instructions, and the maps and turn-by-turn instructions were only partly correct! Everyone got lost at some point in the trip!! I had asked for GPS routing for my bike Garmin GPS but was told the route was to new and that it was not available! I think some accurate preparation would have made the trip more pleasant.
Second - the route along the Rhine is not scenic (as on the Danube) with few small towns to stop and look/snack on the way. The most notable sights were gravel pits and cement manufacturing. Of course, that is not the fault of the tour operator, however, they should have provided a detailed description of the small towns on the way (although not on the river) to give us the option of exploring the interesting ones and forgetting about the towns with 3 streets and no interesting sights.

Boat staff need to learn how to be more polite and friendly. The management seems to be in the military service.