4 Star Germany Tour Reviews — 1 to 30 of 353

The friendships made on the trip were wonderful. The organising of the bikes was excellent. The waiters and waitresses were lovely and all so professional.

Lukas managed to provide great guidance, historical insights and an overall enjoyable experience. Some hotels were marginal on comfort but that did not diminish our impression of a very well organized tour. We are seeking him out for our next tour to Budapest!

We had so much fun! This trip is great for a variety of mobility and fitness, as the trails are straightforward and easy terrain. You go past castle upon castle and through timber home towns. We went during the fall, so got to enjoy the crisp air and leaves changing. Very glad we planned ahead with the right layers. There were great options for activities and sights to see along the way. Make sure you do your research around operating hours, tickets, and what options there are to get there. We loved Eltz Castle and Cohem Castle. Some required hiking to get to. The tour operator offered a lot of additional activities as well that were really fun like a historical walking tour, wine tasting, and etc. They were very thoughtful to accommodate a variety of languages for us to join.

Most memorable were:
The evening spent with a family-run wine farmer; tasting and purchasing wine from the guys who made it;
Seeing the cathedral in Trier;
The covered market in Metz and other open farmer markets along the way;
The moderate biking through the picturesque Moselle wine country;
Cultural and historic insights and explanations by our guide Wim;
Getting to know other Americans on the same journey;
The great food and wine offered all but one night on the Iris;
A few minutes spent on the bridge with our captain;
And finally, enjoying the hospitality, friendliness and accommodation of the crew of the Iris and our guides Wim and Alice.
On the, "Items in need of improvement" list:
One of our guides was more knowledgeable and willing to share his knowledge than the other; she has good guide skills but is inexperienced and needs to study the route and its attractions and features a bit;
There were several falls experienced by several of our group, which was 100% composed of seniors. Seniors fall, it's a fact of life, and they fall more often on bikes, especially those who don't bike much and are awkward on a bike. Some of these "accidents" can be avoided. A better orientation the night before we depart that clearly states the rules of the road would be advisable, and reminders each night about what the guides saw that day and coaching on what could be doe to assure the safety of guests. That coaching should include: do not ride side by side to have a conversation - single file only; obey traffic signals; signal when you're coming to a stop; move your bike off the path when stopping. This kind of basic rules of the road talk is needed and some direct, private conversations with the violators would go a long way towards increased safety. I was relieved no one needed medical attention. It's unrealistic to think that none of your seniors will ever have a fall on a week-long trip, but many of them can be avoided.
The bikes have seen a long season by a variety of guests and by mid-October they have a lot of wear and tear. Might be time to sell them and replace with new ones.
The Iris is a great boat for 20 guests; I found myself hoping for a space where I could read a book in private. On another bike and barge trip in Italy on the Ave Maria there was a second deck with deck chairs and an awning. Guess I'm saying I would have preferred a larger boat.

Great tour leader and staff on board. Interesting itinerary. Accommodated our food preference.

Cycling along the Mosel River was lovely. The paths are great and the vineyards and villages were quaint and memorable.

The highlight of our trip was the food! Our chef went all out everyday to accommodate those this dietary needs while giving us delicious flavors and variety everyday.

Unfortunately our tour guid had never led this tour before and was unfamiliar with the area. He made some wrong turns that left the group frustrated on rainy days and wasn’t able to lead us on walking tours of the towns we visited.

Great trip overall. The boat and food were excellent. Unfortunately because we were the last tour of the summer the bikes were in bad shape. Lots of breakdowns and swapping out of bikes, fiddling with batteries, etc each day. To improve the experience the bikes should be maintained between every trip!

Riding along the Moselle amongst the vines and stopping at gorgeous little towns.

The scenery and the historical cities were so wonderful. Especially loved the last day of biking through wine country and small villages. Food was excellent, and accommodation was comfortable. Only complaint would be the lack of clear, English directions during our information sessions each evening. A guide out on the course would be recommended.

The boat was great , all the rooms had windows and a little terrace, and the food was amazing. I would have liked to have more time to visit the cities were the boat docked. Cycling was fun...but we could not visit the interesting sites.

Scenery was great bikes where good boat was excellent would have been bocce if helmets could have been provided or rented as hard to pack and carry one to Europe .

We had an excellent time on the tour. The sites we great, biking path was paved, food and the care on the Iris was excellent.
Biking on the city bridges were not always easy. A little scary with the traffic. Loved the e-bike. Would definitely go on another bike and barge trip.

The first day and last day of biking were beautiful. The route the other days weren’t as nice.
The boat staff were wonderful and the food was delicious.
Only downside was having to be on the boat for a certain time as the boat moved all night long. I prefer the tours when the boat moves as we bike and stays in port all night. Nice for after dinner walk in towns.

Guides were great. Trip was very educational. Side tours were great even in the rain. Would to have more time to spend in each city. One day is just not enough to enjoy the local flavors.

This was our 2nd self-guided bike tour in Europe. It was a little different than our first where everyone leaving from our hotel was on the same schedule. With this company, you are basically customizing your tour by chosing to stay extra nights in some cities. The route chosen by the local company was qood. We had a variety of small villages and towns, crop fields and forrests. Lodging in the Category B hotels was good to excellent. The cycle paths were very good most of the time with little mixing with cars. We did this in Sept and it seemed alot of restaurants/cafes along the route were closed, so you might bring a lunch with you. The bikes were good, but do not have mirrors, which I had inquired ahead about. We did bring our own.

Liked the disco night. The fourth ride was beautiful.
Meals were also good and super service.
My e-bike was too heavy for me- suggest a more compact and less heavy bike for smaller women. Also, we had wanted to book a guide for the 9 of us and there were only 2 on this boat. We would have enjoyed having one to eliminate getting lost and also helping us find fun locations to stop enroute. We did this on our Italian trip and it made a large difference to our enjoyment.
Your staff are very helpful and pleasant. Well done overall.

This was a spectacular time to tour the German countryside. While biking the countryside, we took in castles, churches and farmers markets. We watched the amazing grape harvest, talked to the vineyard owners and tasted great wines. I would do it again!

Staff was amazing, wanted to help and please you al the time. Food was good. Meat portions could have been a bit bigger since we need lot’s of protein to bike. We need non guided and I would not do that again, missed the knowledge of the area that a guide provides.

I would strongly recommend taking the guided tour as opposed to non guided. The app to use is very average and doesn’t give you any information along the ride.

the boat, service and routes. we'd have preferred to have more time in viena and budapest

Our group truly enjoyed the week on the Vivienne. The bike trails were well maintained and routes well marked which enabled us to enjoy the amazing scenery each day. The staff on Vivienne was incredible.
Two complaints were the e-bikes were very heavy
and there were no water bottle holders on the regular bikes.

Biking the Wachou valley, outside Vienna. It was an incredible ride, with great places to stop along the way. The trip was great, the crew handled all those bikes great. Would have liked more time in some of the cities, and more diet options.
But, that’s being kinda picky, it was a great trip and would recommend.

Wonderful biking throughout! App was helpful as was the route book. The arrow stickers Leslie put out were great. Bus/walking tour in Bratislava was good. Would have been nice if we stopped to taste some specialty foods. Not much time to explore. The bike tour in Budapest was fine while we were on the bike paths, but then the guide took us on some VERY busy streets with no bike lanes and mingling with cars, I was scared. then he lost three of us. Vienna concert was lovely. The Vivienne staff was very friendly and worked hard to get the bikes in and out, feed all of us and serve drinks. Great job by all of them. Leslie was always around and did a great job of managing all aspects of the trip.

The entire crew on the boat were wonderful. The two guides, Mieke and Wim worked very well together. The chef prepared wonderful meals for us each day. Scenery was fabulous.
Now that most riders are riding ebikes that should be all that is offered. The push bikes with only 8 gears were impossible for riders to keep up with the ebike riders, Never had enough time to stop and take pictures.

This was my first trip on the Merlijn Bike & Barge. I was with a group of 3 couples that had done this trip before on the Merlijn. I found it outstanding, the equipment was excellent,( my wife and I rented electric bikes ) the cabins were very nice and roomy. Our meals were breakfast and dinner, the breakfast was good but I believe it could have been better, The dinners were first class....The barge also had a nice coffee bar and Bar that were excellent too. The trip was memoriable and I highly recommend the Merjin...

The scenery was beautiful! The Merlijn was beautiful and very comfortable. But, the standout for the trip was the staff. Coen and Christina made our week so wonderful and kept us well informed. “Cat” at the bar and serving was very charming and fun! He knew all our names by day 2! Simone kept our cabins tidy and did a great job on our laundry. June was always tidying up the ship and keeping it looking great. Ilsa was a really good tour guide and was very knowledgeable about the history of Austria.

The room on the boat was lovely and the food was very good. We did a guided tour and I felt our guide was inexperienced She did not have many safety measures that I have had on previous bike trips. i.e a sweep and ensuring everyone is ready to go before taking off. Also would have been better to be able to visit some cultural places like the Abbey, museums or churches. We were not given anytime on our rides to do this. The highlights was the wine region and wine tasting.

It was a great trip overall. We loved that part of the route also went inland a little through villages etc.

It would be great to have more lunch/food options marked on the maps and how to make sure they are open.

We also noticed that on the last bike day parting the route was over a blocked off and hard to ride dike so we were forced to find our way around via a main road.

It was well organized as nd we would do something similar again.

Lots of comfortable cycling over easy terrain, even in extreme summer heat. The cities that are visited are unique and interesting with lots of things to see from cathedrals to the Gutenberg museum. Keep in mind that except for one evening, travelers are not on the boat when it is traveling along the Rhine. Instead, the boat goes from port to port while travelers cycle from port to port. Also keep in mind that this is not the most scenic portion of the Rhine except for the last day, where we cycled through vineyards on the slopes down to the Rhine. Otherwise, the terrain was mostly flat with dikes between the cycle path and the river making it hard to see the river. Once we got out of the heavily industrial cities, the ride was pleasant and flat through wooded areas, grassland, and farmland. Roughly one-quarter of the ride was along the Rhine, one-quarter through cities or industrial areas, and one-half through grassland/forest, and farmland. Food was outstanding; the rooms on the boat were clean and comfortable, but a little worn. Staff was outstanding -- very helpful and friendly. We would definitely do another bike/boat cruise on the Olympia.

We had a great experience on this trip! We chose the Standard hotel package, and overall the accommodations were excellent. Here's where we stayed:

Prague – Hotel DAP

Melnik – Pension U Zámku

Litomerice – Pension Dubina

Decin – Hotel Česká Koruna

Bad Schandau/Krippen – Hotel Erbgericht

Dresden – Hotel Martha

Our favorite stops were Prague and Melnik. Prague was incredibly clean, walkable, and felt very safe. Hotel DAP is about half a mile from Prague Castle, and walking to the main sites was easy and enjoyable.

Melnik is a charming little wine town perched above a valley, and sipping local wine right next to the vines it came from—while enjoying that view—was a definite highlight.

The one hotel we didn’t love was in Krippen. To be fair, it was raining that day and we didn’t feel like taking the ferry into Bad Schandau, but the hotel itself felt a bit dated and in need of some updates.

As for the biking: the Czech bike paths vary quite a bit. One minute you’re on a smooth trail, the next you're riding along a road with traffic, a dirt path, or a bumpy gravel section. The terrain is also hillier than expected, and sometimes you don’t get much notice before a climb.

We’re in our mid-30s, not regular cyclists but pretty active (we’re runners), and we did the tour on standard bikes. There were definitely a few hills where we had to hop off and walk the bikes. The standard bikes were a bit heavy and could have used some chain lube and a tune up. If that doesn’t sound ideal, I’d recommend going with the e-bike option for a smoother ride.

Weather-wise, we got lucky—just a little rain, and temps were mild overall. Most hotels didn’t have AC, so it got a bit stuffy at night, but opening a window helped.

All in all, we loved the tour and highly recommend it. The scenery, towns, and experiences made it a trip we’ll always remember.