France Tour Reviews — 241 to 270 of 932

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!

This was an amazing tour for several reasons. Firstly, there were 7 (rather than a full complement of 14) experienced cyclists over the age of 60, none of whom used an e-bike. This allowed the guide to change the cycle route to reflect our abilities, to show us some special sights and to give us a special experience. Harm, the guide, did this with ease. Secondly, the crew of the Feniks was excellent. This includes Fiona, the captain, Rainier, the assistant and Hilde, the cook. Thirdly, the laundry service was a game changer. If we had understood what this service involved, we could have packed considerably lighter.

Pack lightly. Rooms are extremely small but well air conditioned.
I really don't have a favorite part. It was not a relaxing trip as the bruge to Amsterdam tour was. This took us through more crowded towns that were difficult to navigate due to traffic. It was extremely hot which added to the difficulty. Food on the boat was great but breakfast and lunch were repetitive. Crew was awesome and very accommodating.

The guides and boat employees were very good. The food was excellent. The boat’s air conditioning was okay to poor in the rooms and nonexistent on the main deck. Many people had daily issues with their bikes (brakes, gears, e-bikes not always working, etc.). The guides were excellent but had limited bike mechanic skills. These trips need a full time bike mechanic and extra bikes available to trade out when some bikes are not working well.

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.

Places we visited like Sens and Auxerre.

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.

This was my first experience riding an electric bike and I was skeptical at first, but now I’m sold! I’ve done many bike tours in years past and am older now and haven’t ridden enough to be in shape for riding hills. The e-bike allowed me to greatly enjoy the tour AND have energy left over for enjoying evening activities! My favorite part of the tour was riding through the champagne area. The vistas were breathtaking and visits to the vineyards for wine tasting were such fun. I loved riding off the usual tourist paths through quaint villages filled with cottages that looked like they were from fairy tales, complete with beautiful gardens and clay tiled roofs. Stops along our daily rides to enjoy coffee in a cafe or maybe a beer or glass of wine in the late afternoons was an added treat. We often squeezed in a little shopping during these stops. The crew of the Zwaantje couldn’t have been more pleasant. The meals prepared by Chef Frank were a delight each evening!

The crew was the best! A definite ten + in every way. Dinners were excellent and crew always available to us. Nelleka lent us her fan at night! Harm great guide. Fiona excellent skipper and Reinier always helpful. Great atmosphere. It would have been nice to have some special stops, maybe a cooking class, winery and more info about special sites would be good. Tour description clearly stated that barge has Wi-Fi and air conditioning. It was very hot and ac very spotty and not available at night. No wifi.

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