Germany Tour Reviews — 1411 to 1440 of 1690

The wonderful people on the trip & excellent staff made this trip most memorable! Would highly recommend it to friends!

The most memorable part was Day 6 Rossatz - Pochlarn was the most scenic part of the trail. Magical small villages - wish the whole route could have been like this. Most of the trail was uneventful, some of the trail was in poor shape and rough riding.
Unfortunately, there was a language barrier between the Americans and the tour guide, so instructions were not always clear, and we needed to fend for ourselves most of the time. Certain sections of map were confusing and trail was not well marked. We made it though, and enjoyed the adventure!
Beautiful cities and villages to visit - wish we would have had more time to explore! All in all very good trail ride and good trip!

Overall a great trip and experience. The Mosel exceeded my expectations.
Collaborative and friendly staff; very good chef, very good captain and crew. Host was efficient but not overly friendly. Bike tour guide was ok but not very organized.

I feel our guide could have been a little more organised with our daily route but I also have to remember that the biking from Berlin to Malchin is a route that has not been done very often.
I am unable to pick one outstanding moment. Just being able to bike in eastern Germany & Poland was so outstanding & while biking to think of all the history of the area. It is also wonderful to think that efforts are being made to make a vast ecological area over the next few years in some of the region along canals where we were biking.

Very satisfied with Route, only comment the finish was not as clear a couple times to find the Hotel location.

The guide needed to be more clear on the final route to hotels .

The route (along the Danube) was excellent - all paved, mostly with a view of the river and away from traffic. Markings were great and easy to follow.

We were provided with a lot of information (maps, routes, suggestions), but they were in separate books and materials. It would be helpful if they could be integrated more, or if we could have received more of the information ahead of time. It took us a couple of days to sort through the various pieces.

The best hotel was in St. Agatha. The best meals were at our hotel in Melk. Grein was a very cool town, with lots of art and theater. It was also very picturesque as we approached. The most beautiful site was the Abbey in Melk; the most meaningful was the Mauthausen Memorial. The biggest surprise was the swimming pool at our hotel in Krems. We loved the Wachau Valley, where we had vouchers for a bottle of wine and a tasting of liqueur. We also loved having the bikes available to explore Vienna, on the last day of our magical week.

The owners of the barge are on board and are involved in daily running of the ship. They made me feel like a guest in their home!

This was my 4th cycling holiday but this year the quality of bikes was poor, only had 7 gears, had 21 gears every other year and did not like the back pedal brake.

Most memorable part was Stein am Rhein, and also liked the fact we could stop cycling and jump into the lake whenever we wanted.

Hotels varied. My daughter stayed at Hotel Krenn-- not great. Food in Rhein am Stein not good. Hotel St Leonard and Hotel Cholsteroff had the best food. The rides were fantastic, would say the last day was a bit boring and less scenic (especially the second half). Would have been nice to include the Rhine falls. Would love to do it again as there were many sights we didn't get to see! Loved the trip and have highly recommended it back home.

Fantastic dinners & wonderful guide, captain, staff!

The trip was an awesome experience! Loved everything!

EVERYTHING stands out! From the greeting & service by the staff, (Lydia/Denisa) the guide Jack, the Captain & Jontein who ran the whole enterprise, Merlijn. The food. Lovely ever-changing table settings, The ample, fresh cabins, fresh flowers, excellent bikes and super maintenance & care, knowledgeable, friendly guiding thru the towns, memorials, history of the area. Capable, expert, amazing,skill of the Captain thru the narrow canals & rivers. The homegrown entertainment. We are putting a deposit on '18. ('17 is BOOKED!)

Loved the Netherlands countryside. Beautiful flowers and farmland and great trails.
Also the friendly and professional staff.

The Merlijn is a terrific vessel and the owners, Jantien & Henk and their staff are first rate.
Highly recommended.

Everything was great but it was our crew that made it so special.

A good combination of biking and seeing the sites along the way. Plenty of time in the cities (Nancy, Metz) to wander around. This trip was not about putting on the miles every day on the bike but a good balance of biking and site seeing. Easy biking along canal paths mostly. Our guide got turned around a couple of times getting out of the cities. Els and Sander were great hosts on the barge. Very friendly. Els cooked me a birthday dessert one day that we enjoyed with our group after a day of biking. It was very hot in July and the air movement in the rooms was limited. A small fan would have been very much appreciated. As it was we slept with our door open (as did the others) just to get more air circulation. The barge is in very good condition. The bikes were brand new this season. They are owned by Els and Sander and not leased through a secondary company so they were in good working order.

6 of us did this tour and pretty much have only good things to say about it. The scenery was breathtaking, the sightseeing good, although we didn't always have enough time to see everything recommended. The last day was a bit boring as we seemed to ride alongside the railway a large amount of the time. Our luggage was always at the hotel on arrival. Booking the dinner option was well worth it as after a long day one doesn't feel like having to find somewhere to eat that is agreeable to all. All in all the hotels were good. My daughter and niece had to stay in a different hotel on one occasion and it was not good. Breakfasts were generally good. Our hotel in Kressbonn was actually a little before the town and wasn't well described in the directions but 10km later we got there! We would like to do the trip again as we felt there is so much to see. I think one could spend an extra day in some places if time permits.

We found the boat comfortable and the staff really helpful and friendly. The trip was most relaxing and a good insight into the Danube countryside.

Janine was the ultimate host and an excellent chef. She worked very hard to assure guests were satisfied with the trip.

We had a lovely time. The barge and entire crew were wonderful. We were very disappointed with the bike guide though. She was not at all knowledgeable with her directions and we many times retraced steps on the bike. We feel we could have seen much more but her choices for stops were terrible. We would spend way too much time at a stop when we could have been seeing a lovely park nearby. Her choices for stops were not well planned out and some were just very disappointing. The captain, in our opinion should consider another guide for this trip. There is much to see in this area and easily done so on a bike. The guide was not good with directions and perhaps a bit more planning on her part would have made it a far more enjoyable trip. Berlin and the surrounding ares are beautiful and offer a wealth of history to be seen. We have taken other bike and barge trips and honestly, the guide truly is the person that makes or breaks the trip.

The most memorable part: The staff on board the ship, our guide, the beautiful sights and most importantly the people we met in the countries we visited. They were warm, welcoming and really made you feel like a special visitor.

Started our tour July 17th. Things went smoothly after they had gotten the engine fixed which caused a change in our first days agenda. They really came through in making up for the inconvenience. Staff on the ship and Stephan our Rad and Reisen rep were great.

All in all it was an excellent vacation, very well organized. All the ships staff were friendly and willing to go that extra step to make it a great experience. The food was wonderful, accommodations great.

I thought our Rad and Reisen biking guide Hugo did an excellent job navigating our group from spot to spot. Despite having quite a large group( English, German and Dutch speaking) he was able to spend time with all of us making sure we had a great experience. He was very personable and got our group from point A to B safely, making sure we had time to see and experience the many special places communities along the Danube.

He even went above and beyond to make my experience extra special. Having MS meant that I could not participate in the walking tours. He took it upon himself to make sure I was included by providing me with my own tour using bicycles. This would have been a night off for him and he knew that I would not be able to take part due to my limited ability to walk any distance due to my MS. It was one of my more memorable experiences thanks to Hugo.

He certainly looked after all of us and was accessible day and night to answer any questions and assist to make our trip an experience of a lifetime.

Boat: My Story

Was a great trip. Boat and tour guide were outstanding. Some of the staff were a bit stand-offish, but within reason. Just didn't make you feel 100% welcomed all the time (made you feel more of a guest than family) but again, well within reason. Got lost a few times so perhaps the maps could be a bit more directed, but again, not bad. Overall, it was a great experience and I would highly recommend it. Thanks - Larry

The boat staff were outstanding! The boat dinners were outstanding! The boat breakfasts and lunches were just okay.

The biggest downside to the trip were the totally inadequate route guides. They were not written for new-to-the-route riders. On one hand, they assumed the user was familiar with the route and knew where they were going. On the other hand, they seemed to have been written by someone who had never ridden the route, who just looked at a paper (or electronic) map to write the guide.

Finally, the on-boat guides were of minimal help. While they seem to have ridden the route, they did not explain the complexities a new rider would encounter along the way. They did, however, explain the highlights to look for on each route.

With those two exceptions, the trip was wonderful! As for the most memorable, being dog people, we really liked having the captain's dogs on board.

The scenery between Passau and Vienna was the most memorable part of the trip, even when we were away from the Danube. Beautiful.

The reason I gave the first question a 4 out of 5 is because the daily rides were long enough that it was hard (tiring) to get back out in the evenings to see the local sites or to see some of the sites along the way. That was probably also a result of trying to coordinate and corral too many people (9 on our trip) to get things done in a timely manner. I suspect the 10-day option for this trip might have been better for us.

Regarding route and description guides, sometimes it was a little too much to remember to coordinate the route book, the additional instructions in the travel documents (voucher) book, and Rad & Reisen's Travel Information book, not to mention the daily itinerary in the literature advertising this trip. In fact, the worst mistake we made was the worst one we could have made: ignoring the instructions to take the van transfer from Grein to Gasthof zum Aigner Kreuz, Bad Kreuzen to avoid very steep inclines. However, some of the literature given to us suggested we go to Klam Castle (a good way up the incline to Bad Kreuzen), which was not on the way to Grein, and that is what we did.

I've now taken 5 bike trips in Europe: 2 using hotels, 3 using boats/barges. Barges are easier: you only have to unpack and repack once while riding.

Thank you for all your help putting this trip together. Overall, it was a great experience.

The trip was enjoyable. Only drawback was that follow along Moselle River, some of the scenery of the vineyards became boring after a while. On previous trips we traveled more inland, seeing sights and then meeting up with barge at next destination.

Only bad was some hills and a very long bridge (wife is afraid of heights and had to walk the over mile long bridge).

Had a wonderful time. The staff was very accommodating in making modifications due to the previous heavy rains and high water. The last day bike tour of Metz was disappointing in that it is a very difficult city to navigate on bikes with a number of people.

We sailed on the Iris, from Cochem to Metz, 18-25 June. It was a most delightful and joyful experience. Even with initial high water from unseasonal flooding and occasional detour from the bike paths, it was an incredibly memorable experience -- the crew, the tour guides, the food were all top notch, and the camaraderie among the other bikers was phenomenal. Special thanks to our two bike leaders and guides, Roelie and Wouter, who were fantastic in making the rides safe and mostly easy, and with an in-depth knowledge of historical sites. A special treat was having the ship's owner on board, Lenny was very engaging and most pleasant. Aline, the chef, served delicious meals, especially the final banquet was a true feast! Again, our thanks to Lenny and the entire Iris crew.

The boat was not in location we were told it would be. But once there the boat was good. The tour guide didn't seem to know the route as well as he should have. The directions on the maps could have been a lot better But we did have a great time but would recommend a different route next time.

Tripsite was great. Would highly recommend booking with them.