France Tour Reviews — 241 to 270 of 943

EXCELLENT staff on the barge, Magnifique lll. Only tip for others: ENJOY the beautiful scenery and the lovely staff

Food prepared for dinners and beautiful scenery on the rides

The city of Dijon is a wonderful place to spend a few days before starting on this tour. Riding from Dijon, which I loved, I was struck by how soon I was riding through wine country. The terrain is very gentle and the vineyards are beautiful. I stopped at several vineyards and sampled some very nice pinot noir, Chardonnay and rosé wines. I found several wineries that were recommended to visit, and a few that I went off the tour route to find. The weather was beautiful, the accommodation was nice and the wineries were world class.

Cycling through french villages was simply out of this world! Take the time to get to know how to use the Sat Nav before you start, as it took us the first day to get it right, but after that it made the trip much easier. The electric bikes (although were heavier than I'm use too) were great as there are quite a few tough inclines.

Our trip was another trip of a lifetime. Number 5 with trip site. This company is the best. There is no other that will give you this type of service for the money. We have used them five times over the last 10 years and will continue to. Each trip has surpassed the last one in regards to being another trip of a lifetime that out does the one previous. Our group has gone on two trips to Croatia want to Greece/Turkey, one to Brussels and one to Germany. I will be planning the next one soon. You are missing out if you did not take advantage of this opportunity to book with trip site for any of their biking boating trips. Germany gear grinders, Croatia crazy crew, Greece gear grinders, Belgium bike bashers, more to come.

Our chef was outstanding! Our stop at a winery along the way was outstanding. Wish there were more fun stops along the way.

The Crew, The CHEF*****, The Views, The Guides, The people we met along the way!!

Riding through the Belgium and France country-sides on our bicycles..

We had a great time on this trip. It is easy cycling so good for newbies. The cassoulet at the Castelnaudary lodging was excellent. As was the place itself.

We used the GPS files so no problem navigating. Others mentioned the written directions could use work. Bikes were very good and we had no problems.

Would recommend taking the alternate routes some days. They go off the canal for better views.

For a picnic lunch go to Le Relais de Sully in Villesèquelande. Very well provisioned store.

If having lunch on the last day go to Marseillan Port, not Plage. Very limited options. Or power through and stop at La Parenthèse (accès N°23) almost at Sète. For which you will pay more but beautiful beach and food.

Carcassonne was a highlight of this trip. It is an exceptional city. I plan a return visit. The weather cooperated, only one day of showers. This is my 4th bike trip using Tripsite. I highly recommend them. They are extremely responsive and helpful in planning your dream vacation.

Provence’s history is very interesting & our guide, Alex showed us some less touristy archaeological sites. Loved cycling down shaded country lanes especially as the 90-95 degree heat in Sep was a struggle at times. Be prepared for potholes and gravel on many of those scenic backroads. Add a visor to your bike helmet to ward of some of the heat & keep your energy up. The L’ Estello had a lovely upper deck lounge & eating area. The cabins are small & do not all have the same amenities (hooks, storage). The bathrooms are quite small & for anyone over 5’7” hard to move around in. There is no separate shower stall therefore everything in the bathroom gets wet; you must remember to remove anything that you don’t want to get wet which is a daily task when cycling. Instead of a train from Paris to Provence, consider a flight to Montpellier; it is a 30 min taxi ride to Aigues Mortes. Good connections from/to your North American flight make it possible for you to avoid a layover in Paris or a 4 hr train (with transfers) ride.

Trip was good, food was good, routes were good, the condition on the roads / trails chosen were not the best but that is really out of the control of Tripsite. A bit disappointed that there were no cycling jersey's on the boat for sale as well as we did not receive a Tripsite pre trip gift as we had in the past for being a repeat customer.

We were amazed at all the vineyards! We knew the area was famous for Riesling but we had no idea how immense the area was. We also loved the small villages. So much history there.

Gordes and Rousillon and St Remy where the best bike rides. Very Scenic and interesting. This is our first self guided bike ride. Hotels were friendly and great. Avignon is a great place to visit and see local culture and history.

Ride book is almost useless. helped with start of ride location. Maps are unreadable; trip route lost in all the colors. Without GPX phone maps would not have been feasible to do the rides. One phone battery is not enough for a days ride. Important you stress riders need backup phones or portable charger unit.
Bike set up was poorly handled. Phillipe was unavailable, his wife came late instead. She did not discuss all relevant issues for first time riders - pedal change mechanics, two different bike computers and operation, use of map book. Got a late start for ride in morning

The scope of the vineyards in the river valley. The manual biked were absurdly heavy and improperly geared for the route

I just did this tour from Paris to Bruges. It was awesome. At 80 I was the senior participant. Marius(Captain), Henk ( Mate), Barbara(Chef), Harm (Guide) were the highlight for me as I could converse with them in Dutch and they were most accommodating of my age. Meals were awesome, daily laundry service was a life saver and the guide, Harm was informative and entertaining with a great sense of humor. The accommodations were very comfortable. Marius obviously took great pride in his boat and the experience he provided to his clients. I would certainly sail with him again.

We have done four cycle trips in Europe using Tripsite and we loved this one the best. Our cycling tour guide Alex was so familiar with the tiny lanes, quaint villages and back country roads and we saw southern France through a lens that would not have been available to us if we had driven ourselves. She was passionate and knowledgeable about all the history that we were witnessing and there were many additional tours along the way. The Estello boat was compact, clean and well-run with delicious meals. I would highly recommend this Provence, Wilderness of Camargue tour to anyone wanting to experience the rural beauty of southern France. PS Bring your own water bottles as they are no longer provided.

I have cycled in many parts of France and this was one of the most beautiful. The tour takes you through vineyards, fields of sunflowers, fields of produce, hilltop villages, castles. We found fabulous coffee stops and great food. We choose the basic hotel package. 2 of the hotels are very basic but the beds were clean and comfortable and the meals provided were excellent. I personally would opt to upgrade next time. This tour has 2 days of hills which were doable and provided fabulous views. You need to be a regular cyclist to enjoy. It was quite something to cycle through these high vineyards and villages. I highly recommend this tour. The bikes were excellent and similar to what we use at home. We had a good hand off.The gps provided stopped working after 2 days but we easily used the ride with gps app that we had downloaded. I would make sure I had this as a backup. A couple of the restaurants and sites were actually closed down so double check before you head out. I love dealing with Tripsite as everyone is so helpful.

Cycling each day in beautiful weather. I found the seats quite hard even though I took my own memory foam seat cover. The rides are long and sitting on hard seats can be a problem, so I’d recommend taking a comfy lambs wool seat cover. Friends had one and they looked great. The guides do stop every 20 mins for a water & bathroom break which was great. The boat was really lovely, nicely decorated, our cabin downstairs was big enough to be comfortable, the food was exceptional and plenty of it. A wonderful experience overall.

The chef! The crew were fantastic and made the trip. The barge is basic and aging, but clean and well equipped. The cycling routes were full of history and beauty. A few of the back roads and bike paths were rough but manageable. The rest were fantastic.

The crew were fabulous and provided a wonderful experience. Beautiful scenery and Alex our guide explained the history of each area during our cycling adventures which was an added bonus.

Great itinerary, good hotels, beautiful scenery. Bikes in excellent condition.

Very nice trip! We were celebrating our anniversary so opted for the 'luxury' level accommodations, each of which was nice and unique. We were assigned an extremely tiny room in the last hotel, but that was (I think) just luck of the draw and their lovely pool area was nice enough to make up for it. The bike routes were mostly awesome, but there were a few spots that need to be slightly revised in just a couple spots for safety. Overall, lots of beautiful vineyards, vistas, lovely hill towns. If you are a foodie, some of the hotels have Michelin star offerings, but they are closed a couple days of the week-- our timing was slightly off with the days we were in the hotel in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue was when the days their restaurant was closed, so if that is important to you, I'd recommend starting this tour on a day that enables you to overlap with at least one open day.
We started on a Saturday, and while that wasn't great for some of the restaurants in some towns, it still worked out well for hitting an amazing local products market in Gourdes and in St Remy a couple days later. We still ate amazing food - many many great options in each of the cities you will stay in.

The chateaux at chenonceaux and chambord were very impressive. The former for its harmony with the natural setting and the latter for the sheer size and grandeur of roofs and towers.

This was the perfect vacation. We were biking in 3 beautiful countries, enjoying the scenery with a guide, then going back to the barge and having great meals. Had evening tours of the towns. Great communication before the trip from Tripsite and during the trip, we had the guide and crew who were above and beyond in anything we needed for a good trip. We will be going again next year on another one.

The villages were so beautiful. It seemed as though they could have been taken from a storybook or a movie.

Our crew worked seamlessly to provide an optimal experience.

The itinerary, crew and food were very good. Also, the fellow bikers were all very nice and sociable. Lack of storage space in the room was a minor problem, but we adapted.
The bikes were somewhat of an issue as about 50% of the bikes were e-bikes, which when mixed with the hybrids created problems on hills (most hills were leading up to bridges),
E-bikes do not have to build up speed, so stayed constant, but if the hybrids were behind, we could not always build up speed to get them up the minor hills as quick, causing delays. Only having 8 total gears, without another smaller one in the front compounded the issue for some. The e-bikes should be at the rear of the group. Speed is not an issue for the rest of the biking on level ground.

We were very pleased with the boat, the team, and the itinerary. The guides were knowledgable and very helpful. The boat was comfortable. Food was good. overall, a great experience and highly recommended.

Overall the entire biking experience was fantastic even for non-bikers like 3 of the 4 in our group. E-bikes made all the difference. There were some miscommunications with the Tripsite team hear in the US, but the actual tour operators, Active Tours, who are in country did a phenomenal job of picking up the ball. If it has been a while since you were on a bike, I would double the time to get to each scheduled reservation for wine tasting. But once you get into the groove, being able to ride the "Route of the Grand Crus" and taste the wine along the way it will be an unforgettable experience.

This was a great week mostly due to the people. The crew, Capt. Luc, Francesca, Jen and Annita were first rate. Our fellow passengers made it so much fun and made for delightful dinners together, as well as, riding throughout the French countryside. The people we meet each trip is the reason we keep coming back as we develop lifelong friendships with riders around the globe!