5 Star France Tour Reviews — 181 to 210 of 583

This is the 2nd time our family of 4 (age 19 to 63) joined a bike and boat tour. Last time it was a much bigger boat on the Danube whereas this time is a much smaller but very comfortable and cozy boat Princess Royale on the Mosel. We are very glad we picked this tour!
To start with, the itinerary was carefully designed to cover enough quaint small towns to impress us, allowing enough break/rest in between for those (like me) who are physically less fit! The scenery along the Mosel needs no elaboration! We were lucky that the weather has been superb: not too hot nor too cold, no rain, nice breezy every now and then!

But what makes this trip especially memorable has to be the crew:
(1) Our guide Ilsa (not sure is I am spelling it right) is just amazing! Knowledgeable, professional, well organized, friendly....we saw her riding out to double check next day's route even after the day's long ride! At each stop point, be it architecture or scenery, she had enough history or stories to amuse us! Our other guide Arindena seems newer to her job but we are seeing lots of energy and potential in her too!
(2) The chef Astrid - what a charm! Not only did her cuisine exceeded our expectation on a trip of this price range (to be fair, we are not paying the price of a Viking cruise ship!), more importantly, her enthusiasm in sharing with us her food preparation details before every dinner was a true delight! In our culture (Chinese) we have a saying: those who respect their job will be happiest with their job. We most definitely see the respect, love and care in her work and how all these transpire into excellent meals in our tummies!
(3) The rest of the crew - Anita the host, Theresa the waitress, Ronnier the sailer, Nico the captain (and his wife) - all are always so friendly and helpful. We found them more like a family then a crew. Our 2 young daughters have befriended with them (especially with young Theresa) and were sad to leave!

We will most definitely recommend this tour, and especially this boat!!! We hope to one day join their other tours! Thank you again and have a wonderful summer!

Mosel river valley is beautiful. Dinners on the ship each night were delicious.

For me the most memorable part of the trip was meeting all the passengers and crew and enjoying their company for a week. The rides each day that were planned were great and I can't say enough about the food we had on the boat. I would do another boat/bike trip again!

Beautiful French countryside with amazing staff aboard the L'Estello. A special shout-out to our outstanding chef, Josef;steward, Alice; tour leader, Alessandra, and Captain Filippo. The daily rides were fun! There were interesting places to visit everyday.

Seeing the beautiful country side of the Champagne region of France. The three course meals each night were spectacular! Great job Chef Frank.

Me and my wife enjoyed the trip very much. The boat was OK, the service, the crew and the atmospher were excellent. The cabins were compact but wisely built and planned. Next time, try to arrange climate with lower temperatures...........

Way too many memories to pin it down to one part. Amazing journey, what a great way to see and experience Europe!! Purchase trip health insurance!!! Woman on our trip fell and broke her femur. Had surgery in German hospital and had to be flown back on a special plan with a nurse! Big money!!!

Fantastic trip in every way!

Our guides were amazing. They provided variety, information and enough stops to inform, rest and recharge.
Our cook must have come from the most prestigious restaurant. Her variety, presentation and enthusiasm made every meal a treat.
The crew could not have been better. They attended to everything and worked as a fine tuned team to make our trip memorable.

I highly recommend this trip experience.

Had 2 awsome tour guides

The boat living area and dining room were lovely. The meals were SO GOOD and beautifully presented. The guides were great and I learned a lot. I appreciated being divided into two groups. Seeing poppies in fields as we biked along was delightful.!!

We had a wonderful experience on this trip. The owner of the barge and his crew were just like family. lovely meals from our wonderful cook and the first mate was always there to help and a plush was him doing washing every day for all of us. Our guide was very experienced and was always available. Our captain was unbelievable. This was our second bike, barge trip, and crew could not be faulted. my only suggestion would be if you are not a real good cyclist consider using an electric assist bike France has a lot of hills. On the hole a wonderful two weeks. Thank you. FENIKS

Fabulous food-very fresh and expertly prepared. Beautiful rides through the countryside- and many historic sites!

Entire trip was excellent! Great service and communication from TripSite. The equipment was perfect, everything went very well. Would highly recommend!

I loved this trip! The food was wonderful, our guides Hetty and Corri were amazing, and the boat was very nice. Unfortunately the air conditioning in our room did not work very well, but other than that everything was perfect. The staff was excellent.

We have always done guided bike tours with TripSite so this self-guided tour of Corsica was a first. Although it was a little more complicated to set up Ani at TripSite was very helpful and the folks at EuropeActive were great to work with locally.
The weather was perfect; the scenery exceptional; and the Corsican people very friendly. Our trip was timed to tuck in before the tourist season so crowds had not yet arrived.
Tri p exceeded expectations.

We have been on 9 tours now - and this is definitely one of the good trips - why? the CREW!!!! Cpt Willie runs a great barge -that crew from the chef to the guides to the deck hand - all were involved in making our trip a success - and they were so much fun ....... the chef Frank definitely a big winner as well.
he ride was good - getting to see all the war memorials and WW1 battle regions - then on the champagne region .... very beautiful .... we had 2 tastings at 2 cellars - (what would have been nice is having a tasting at a champagne cellar - show casing a variety of labels and how the tastes vary .....this is the first time all were on electric bikes and they were definitely handy on the hills and handled Frances bike tracks and trails well .
The other passengers were alot of fun also and everyone got on well - but it was a good trip - good ride -good boat - good scenery - yep ready to book 2024!

The food on board Zwaantje was the best we have had on the three trips we have now completed with tripsite. The use of e-bikes was a good decision it allowed us to experience the sometimes challenging climbs with ease.

The best part of our trip was the crew! Our captain, guide, cook and cabin staff made this trip special. From the first day we were welcomed, encouraged, and accommodated. After 600km of memorable cycling it was indicative that the entire group chose to “sail” the last 20km. into Paris with our new family. A fabulous ending to a great two weeks.

We particularly enjoyed the four crew members who took care of us. The guide, captain, cook and cabin leader couldn’t have better. They cared for each cyclist in every way. We all chose to ride the barge into Paris on our last day and it was a very special day.

Overall it was a wonderful trip and experience. It was well organized and the 4 person crew was just fantastic. Food and ambience above expectations. All went smoothly for us. Note some headwinds which may be seasonal.

3rd Barge trip. All have been excellent. The barge, crew, food, bicycles and tours all very very good. We all had a great time!! Such a fun and simple way to travel and enjoy your own group of friends!!

What a beautiful and interesting region of France to travel through. We loved the historic towns and monuments we visited and once again doing it with a small group of lovely travellers and cyclists was most enjoyable.
The crew were fantastic and our guide went above and beyond to keep us all safe and have a wonderful trip.
Would easily recommend this trip for anyone who loves France, history and beautiful French countryside.

The Captain and crew were outstanding especially our daily tour guide Machiela who was extraordinary with kindness, Knowledge, and very eager to please everyone
Tip to others would be to expect about 20% riding on ruff gravel and ruff tarmac

The most memorable part of our tour? Impossible to limit to one thing! This trip has it all: miles of gorgeous countryside roads and trails, small villages that look plucked from a travel brochure, access to castles and fortresses that are beautifully frozen in time... and experiencing all of it in springtime glory was tremendous. Being able to see Carrieres des Lumieres -- the Van Gogh immersive exhibit -- was such an unexpected treat. Perfect biking weather. It was our first bike and barge with electric bikes and it was fantastic... SO easy to manage the headwinds and longer uphill climbs with the pedal-assist. Really, we can't say enough about this tour... so wonderful on every level!

(** If you print this review, can you please just list me as "Kristine S"? Thanks so much!)

We went on this tour in late September of 2022. We had previously been in southern Europe and became accustomed to the eighty degree temperatures. We were initially scheduled for the Loire Valley tour on the same barge (Clair de Lune), but the low water levels resulted in canceling the Loire and replacing it with Strasbourg to Nancy. Strasbourg is incredibly beautiful - we'd go back.

The barge - I'd been on a barge for three weeks (Bruges to Epernay on the Zwaanje - great trip) so knew what to expect. Can't say enough about the captain and crew. All aces. The chef (cannot call her a 'cook') was beyond excellent. She got applause every night after announcing the dinner selection. Truly wonderful dining. The weather, however, did not cooperate.

To coin a phrase, it was ratty. Rain, rain, rain. Temps in the fifties. I'm from the Seattle area and will not ride in this kind of weather. Nothing the barge crew cold do about it. I got in three days of riding.

Locks were amazing - one had more than fifty feet of lift. The barge elevator was really an experience. Seeing the abandoned locks was also quite cool.

The tour guide needs to be upgraded. His English was not excellent. eBikes were a bit tired, but adequate. Good tour, except for the weather. Would liked to have done the Loire Valley - maybe next time... Nine out of ten for the tour - the weather hurt.

The boat was comfy and well appointed, the beds were very comfortable, the biking along the river was fabulous with knowledgeable and friendly guides. I also enjoyed the sumptuous dinners each night. One of the best parts of this trip was getting to know our fellow travelers and make new friends.

A fantastic tour, that provides great diversity from the rich river flats of the Dordogne to hills & valleys that the river snakes through on the journey, and the food, wine & sites are extraordinary. The last day is a loop ride to La Roque Gageac, hard to imagine a more picturesque town. Recommend e-bikes to anyone other than a serious cyclist, & recommend an extra night in Bergerac to break the trip up with plenty to see in the fascinating city.

My wife and truly enjoyed this tour on the Caprice in 2018. The reviews previously posted are very informative and descriptive about barge life on the Caprice, the itinerary, guides, and dining. We booked early July in order to take pre-boarding day trips to the lavender fields outside Avignon. As with all of our bike-barge tours, we have met and befriended the most interesting and wonderful people. Summer heat and some challenging ascents could be mitigated by reserving an e-bike.

This was my fourth bike/barge tour with Tripsite, and it was just as amazing as the other trips. Loved every moment. The ship and crew were simply outstanding. The only disappointment is that the itinerary said we would be in Metz for the evening, to even include a walking tour. We were greatly looking forward to it. However, we left Metz within an hour of boarding. It was a great topic of conversation among many passengers, who were also disappointed. So I’m not sure why we even started in Metz, to only leave right away and travel quite a distance to our first port. Other than that, it was as wonderful as each of my other Trip Site vacations.

The itinerary was terrific. We had fabulous guides who gave us lots of information about the sites we were visiting. The boat was very comfortable and the food was great. We had just 20 participants and everyone was very interesting and friendly. Can't wait for our next trip!