4 Star Germany Tour Reviews — 61 to 90 of 353

The Spa Triangle biking tour - late August 2024 was more rigorous than we anticipated...lots of hills. Four of us went and we are in our mid-late 50's. Two of us chose acoustic bikes and two got electric bikes. This worked out well because we are all around the same height and could switch off as necessary. Plus the electrics carried the paniers with all the food/snacks, drinks and all extras.
A couple things I'd like to mention. The Trip site partners were very friendly and for the most part very responsive. Sometimes there was a language challenge, but we got through it. We upgraded to the Superior Hotel category and glad we did because we can't imagine what the lower category would have gotten us. With that said, the first hotel: Schlosspark in Karlovy Vary was very dated and in 1 of the 2 rooms, the air conditioning was not working properly and it was very warm on our first night. We mentioned to the front desk and were told a technician would come by. By the time we returned after dinner, the room was still very hot and we mentioned again but were told there was nothing they could do. I then reached out to our Trip Site partners and they said they would speak with the hotel. The hotel offered another room but it too had no a/c. We were promised an upgraded room the next night. I ended up putting my mattress on the floor of the room my sister & cousin were in to be able to get a comfortable night sleep before our first day of cycling. As far as the "upgraded" room...it was equally dated and had a tub instead of a shower but it did have it's own mini-split for a/c.

Our riding that day was greeted with perfect weather and we had a picnic lunch at what looked like a castle. We also passed a nice covered bridge along the route. The one thing we definitely wish we had known and been advised of is that the only place in the Spa Triangle with Thermal spas is Karlovy Vary. The other towns you will stay/visit do not offer the thermal baths. Unfortunately, we didn't find this out until we were at the next town. The town itself is lively and we happened to be there at the time of a music and wine festival and lucked out with all the music in and around the town.

The next town of Frantiskovy Lazne was all painted in yellow and we stayed at the Spa & Kur Hotel Harvey which was by far the best hotel of the 3. It was the most modern and best breakfast spread. Although, don't get spa services here, they were disappointing...lots of oil being rubbed all over and nothing more. The town is sleepy but beautiful. There are lots of green parks in this town as well. Our rides from this town included stopping at Soos, a nature preserve to see natural springs. On our final day here, we biked out through the town of Cheb which was lovely and then had another picnic lunch at a church stop that had picnic tables. We also saw a herd of elk and ram along this route which was a wonderful surprise.  SHOW MORE 

Riding through the grapevine vineyards.
Riding through the forest in aschaffenburg.
Riding into the little towns

We had the opportunity to evaluate the Iris so don’t have anything to add

Our favorite parts of the trip was the day in Budapest and also the last day of riding. The scenery and stops were all beautiful.
While the daily itinerary sessions with the cruise director were well done and informative the timing should be rotated between the different language groups. The other group was larger and therefore always ran longer than planned.
We found the bikes to be of good quality but you may need another crew member to service them after each ride. We pointed out that there was an issue with my wife’s bike but on the next ride the front brake was still rubbing. Also another member of our group’s chain was quite noisy. Still dealing with these bikes is a massive job and I give the crew full credit.

The people on the trip and the staff were all memorable. The scenic trails and the system of rivers and canals. Visiting the towns and villages on our own.

The route was amazing and the guides were great. The food was average at best. Folks were assigned a table for dinner. Despite that, the waiters still had to ask everyone whether they had ordered the fish or the chicken. Folks should have been able to sit with whomever they wanted to. Being stuck with someone who was a pompous ass for a week is ridiculous when the waiters can't even get who ordered what correct anyway.

I forgot to mention in my earlier review that there was a miscommunication re where to pick up our bikes in Lubeck. The hotel rep at Jahreszeiten, and the notice she handed us with our documents, stated that we needed to go to the Radisson Blu to pick up our bikes. (Tripsite booked us at a hotel outside the Alstadt.) After much back and forth with the Radisson reception and our local tour rep, we discovered that our bikes were not at the Radisson but were waiting for us at our hotel. This error cost us time and cab money, as well as an hour of anxiety at 10pm at night as we tried to figure out where our bikes were.
Nonetheless, we'd like to thank the local rep and the transporter who delivered our bags from hotel to hotel.

We loved most of the locations, esp. Lubeck, Wismar, Zingst. Rerik, which was swapped out for the destination promoted on your website (Kuhlungsborn), was a nice alternative, small and relaxing.
On Day 4, we would have liked to stay in Warnemunde, but were lodged in a large, noisy, ugly youth hostel/low income -type place in Rostock had a long line at check-in and was a 20-minute walk to the nearest Sban station. The room wasn't bad; however the location, building, and breakfast did not meet our expectations. (The staff at Reception was nice.)
We chose Level 1 accommodations because we wanted quaint, quiet BandB type places - not big chains - in lovely locations.
Also missable is Ribnitz. We had a nice seafood dinner at the port, but otherwise not much of interest here. And the town had a strange vibe -
I would recommend an alternative that skips Ribnitz and includes Binz, a lovely seaside resort town on Rugen.
The bikes were solid even on cobblestones and dirt roads but a bit heavy, esp. on the many hills between Lubeck and Wismar.
Overall we had lovely rides and enjoyed our route very much.

The boat/barge Merlijn. We have done more than a dozen bike barge boats and the Merlijn is by far the premier of the lot. The service and cuisine on board was superb as well.

Boat, bikes, Crew, food, cabins, and service were fantastic. Memorable was the villages visited. I just wish we had more focus on the history of the places visited as well as the wines of the region. We had to do that by ourselves, I was glad the GPS app used work great and we could ride on our own.

All very enjoyable but particularly spectacular from Grein and through Wachau Valley. Durnstein ruins and abbey particularly memorable. Last night (Vienna) had been cancelled by mistake by Tripsite so some worries and no communication from Tripsite but eventually sorted out by the hotel.

Due to flooding, it was cancelled. We were put on similar boat and trip. Is there a price difference between the two trips ? Mainz to Heidelberg on Olympia was the substitute trip

The staff and guides were very committed to everyone having a good time. Although the weather posed some problems for us, the guides pivoted quickly to make sure each day had something special to offer.

This has been a great tour!
From the choice of route, the warm wellcoming boat & bike staff, the size of the group just everything.
Highly recccomended.

The buildings in the towns, castles, and fortresses along the way were marvelous.

Almost missing it! You failed to keep in contact with Rad and Reisen - plans were shifting due to flooding and you did not keep us informed! Thanks to our hotel manager, we discovered the changes and got on the tour. Your lack of communication was unacceptable to me.

Cycling through the Wachau area was incredible! The quaint villages were beautiful. The Danube was unfortunately in flood so we missed out on parts, but the staff did what they could to allow us to cycle and see various sites.

The villages we biked through., the people we met & the city tours we did.

The entire crew was exceptional! The only complaint, and it’s a big one, was lack of communication from headquarters when unexpected flooding altered the itinerary. The boat was not able to land where planned and there should have been an email sent out to inform us that they were working on it and to stand by for more information when they knew more. We had friends on the previous cruise and they knew Saturday morning that they were not going to land in Passau. No messages were sent from headquarters to inform us that things were in flux and we had passengers on our cruise that went to an empty dock in Passau and this could have been easily avoided had headquarters been set up for group emails.

We really enjoyed cycling along the Danube. The nine days went by quickly and some of the overnight stay locations were in such interesting towns that we explored in the evening. Although it is rated "Easy", be prepared for some days of cycling into strong headwinds and a few days of 65-70 km of cycling. Accommodations were very good and the breakfasts provided set us up for the ride. The GPX tracks were sometimes out of sync with the printed tour book on the portion of the trip in Germany. In a few locations the tracks shown did not exist, or were out-of-date due to new construction. This tour would benefit from an option to stay an extra day in one of the towns to provide a cycling break as well as an opportunity to explore, e.g. Linz.

Visiting the Dome and biking along the river. The food was excellent and the boat was beautiful.

The scenic views were the most beautiful I experienced in our 5 bike trips.
The hotels were great as well as breakfast.
In my opinion this ride was more challenging then lead on to believe. The hills were steep.
We had a oroblem day one with hotel.
Left 2 hours late dud nit have the combination to the bike. Did kit have any maps, any welcome package.nothing.
Also we had mostly rain , would have needed a map peotector for our bikes. The maps were useless in the rain.

Great hotels which were distinct from each other. Quality bikes with comfortable seats and smooth gear changing.
The bikes were all locked when we arrived. It took far too long for someone to find the lock codes. There were no welcome packets/route maps and general information for the group of 12 and little help from the hotel who had apparently, all the information we needed. Unfortunate and unprofessional. The local people were apologetic but it should never have happened.

This was a good tour , the hotels selections were great, but we had a terrible start as there was no one on site to provide maps and to unlock the bikes . Very frustrating. Our weather was wet, for 2.5 days, so check out the rainy season. Also there were no front panniers for the bikes to hold the maps, a problem especially in wet weather.we finally received our maps on day 3 of 5. Poor planning on Tripsites behalf.
It’s a good thing some of us had the electronic maps or we would have been totally lost.

The 3 day tour was a great introduction to bicycle touring. Day 3 was the most memorable day as most of the path was next to the river riding into Passau. Next time I would consider an E bike to make sure I had enough energy for sightseeing at the end of the day.
Hotel stays were comfortable and the breakfasts were tasty.

Barge staff were excellent--great chef and friendly hostess. Dinners were great but breakfast and lunch were very repetitive. The staff needs better training in safety. We had 20 guests in our group with 2 bike guides. We were divided into 2 groups and rode with our group each day. Our guide was not friendly. Other than that, the bikes were new 7-speed bikes which were adequate for the mostly flat rides. The scenery was beautiful and the museums and city stops were interesting. I didn't enjoy having to ride with the group at a pace set by the bike guide and the slowest riders, and I don't trust Ride with GPS enough to ride on my own.

This is a beautiful region and accessing it from the river trails is wonderful . The boat was very comfortable and the wonderful staff met our every need with a smile . We had rainy days , and closures due to local holidays which impacted our visits to small town restaurants and shops . I would avoid national holiday weeks in future .
My suggestions to improve this already wonderful trip :
- have bike storage racks that allow a little more deck space for sitting out .
-eliminate the hot tub , it’s only used by a few and takes up too much deck space .
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I really liked the first city, Lubeck, and also the contact with nature along the way, passing through parks on the sea coast.

It could be beneficial to avoid starting boat bike tours the day after a large celebration in the country/city from which we are departing. Our tour started the day after a massive celebration in Amsterdam called Kings Day. This required that we enter the city on the day of celebration which was not only more expensive but also precluded the possibility of visiting any of the sights as they were closed. Perhaps scheduling these trips several days after or before might be beneficial.

Staying at the Renaissance Raffelsberger Hof was amazing. Hearing about the history of the home turned hotel was interesting. The other memory is of an Austrian band playing in the restaurant at Gasthof zur Traube in Grein. Lastly, the Hotel Widhof left a lot to be desired!! The “sister hotel” Hotel Nibelungenhof looked much nicer and more convenient.