3 Star Istria to the Adriatic Tour Reviews — 1 to 2 of 2

This was our third self-guided bike tour with Tripsite. The local operator did a great job. We had a pre-meeting about a week prior to the tour where they overviewed the tour and helped us set up the RideWithGPS app on our phones. They met us at the hotel in Muggia with our bikes, panniers, chargers (we upgraded to ebikes which I would recommend), bike locks, spare tubes, etc. The bikes were in excellent condition and the GPS navigation worked well. I purchased a handlebar phone holder on Amazon which was convenient for following the route on RideWithGPS.

Why only three stars for this review? We did not think the route along the rail trail was very interesting. Much of it was through scrubby forest and fields. Very few villages. Parts of the trail were quite rough gravel. The last couple of days up the coast were more interesting. We felt that the other two self guided bike tours we have booked through Tripsite (Around Lake Constance and Camino de Santiago E-Bike Tour) were much more interesting. Lake Constance was almost entirely paved bike trails and The Camino tour passed through many beautiful villages. While we were quite happy with the service provided by the local partner. I would not recommend this particular tour.

The local tour operator did a great job. We had our pre-trip meeting via Zoom a few days prior to our trip where Andrej overviewed the trip and answered all of our questions. The nine e-bikes for our group (we paid the small upgrade fee for e-bikes) were delivered to our hotel in Muggia on the second morning of the tour. They also provided chargers, locks, spare tubes, pumps, tire irons, and large Topeak trunk bags with expandable panniers. They were very organized and the equipment was in great condition. We had all installed RideWithGPS on our phones and downloaded the route. The logistics of the trip worked out well.
Why only three stars? The route along the Parenzana rail trail is not very interesting. It does not go through many villages and many parts of the trail consist of coarse and/or loose gravel. The last two days when we left the rail trail and rode along the coast were much more interesting. We have done two other self-guided bike tours with TripSite (Lake Constance and the Camino de Santiago E-Bike Tour) and found them to be much more interesting.