3 Star Italy Tour Reviews — 1 to 30 of 40

I loved the cycling, our accommodations were excellent especially the farm guest homes, and our guides were very friendly. It was great to have swimming pools at several hotels. I especially liked Lucca and Sienna. What would have made this trip better was having more participants. There were only four of us. Our guide, Antonio, was very nice especially towards the end of our trip when he shared information about the farms and vineyards, etc. and at our final dinner. However, I think our pace was too fast and it left me and others struggling to keep up. I think a slower pace and more frequent stops to talk about the environment and maybe take photos would have made the tour better. I also thought the bikes were not of the same quality as in previous tours. Mine had very squeaky brakes.

I loved having breakfast while we were moving upriver and enjoyed being on the deck after a day of riding while the boat was sailing. I would have loved more of that.

It was a fantastic trip, but the group was too small, which left us without a sweeper, which put undue pressure on me to keep up the pace, for fear of losing the group.

This is my third self-guided cycling tour in Europe.

Cycling Puglia – The Heel of Italy: A Mixed Experience

I was thrilled about this cycling tour of the Heel of Italy after seeing the beautiful pictures and descriptions from the cycling agency. However, my expectations were a bit too high, and the experience had its ups and downs.

Accommodation: We were told our accommodations had been upgraded. Two of the properties, Putignano and Ostuni, were four-star establishments in terms of comfort, location, service, and food. Atrevana was equally comfortable, though the location was a bit of a challenge to reach. The scenery was spectacular, and the service was amazing, but the quality and quantity of meals served deserved only three stars. Monopoli accommodations got two stars because of limited space and a sketchy staircase to the downstairs bathroom with a rope handrail. On the positive side, all the accommodations, except Atrevana, were conveniently located near town centres, attractions, restaurants, and other amenities, making exploring the area easy and enjoyable.

Cycling Routes and Scenery: The cycling routes were quite challenging, especially since many of the paved roads were old and damaged, making for an uneven and sometimes uncomfortable ride. I had hoped to enjoy more of Puglia’s stunning coastline, as shown on the website, but unfortunately, most days took us inland. The olive groves were beautiful and impressive, with ancient olive trees that were truly spectacular. Their age, character, and history were remarkable, and I appreciated their significance to the region. However, after three or four days of cycling through olive groves, the scenery started to feel repetitive. I would have loved more variety, especially more opportunities to cycle along the coast and enjoy the beautiful Adriatic landscape.

One of the trip’s highlights was Sophie’s exceptional service. She promptly answered our questions and consistently helped throughout the process, making her a pleasure to work with.

While there were certainly memorable moments, the tour didn’t quite meet my expectations. More comfortable and consistently maintained accommodations, a wider variety of cycling routes, and particularly scenic coastal views could greatly enhance the experience.

The destination cities were very memorable as well as the ancient olive trees. The seashore was lovely. The wine tasting couple were delightful.

Worst; wine tasting dinner, sleeping hotel duchi and sleeping hotel bontadosi
best; wine tour lungarotti, hotel grappolo d'oro
good; bicycles, service ecologico tours
Already sent extended comment to them, in Dutch.

The navigation app was great, cycling tour was a nice variety through country side and villages. Breakfasts were great, one of the rooms in accommodation was too small for two people and bags.

The biggest disappointment was our ferry trip across lake Garda was cancelled as our bikes could not be taken, we all had to go in the van, we couldn’t go on ferry and bikes be transported, this was to be the highlight of the trip for us so we were very disappointed. We had booked this trip months in advance so could not understand how our bikes could not be taken. No compensation offered.

We’ve just completed our cycling trip and would like to sincerely thank you for the well-organized experience. We appreciated the smooth handling of all administrative and logistical aspects.

We’d also like to share a few points for your consideration, which we believe could help improve future trips:

Bike type: The bikes provided lacked suspension, which made them less suitable for some of the terrain we encountered. We recommend offering bikes with suspension for increased comfort and safety.
Route updates: On three riding days (departing from Trento, from Verona and Vicenza), we encountered unmarked detours due to construction. These detours enforced us to navigate on our own and substantially prolonged the routes. The maps and navigation materials should be updated to reflect these changes to avoid confusion.
Hotel feedback: The Doge Hotel did not meet the standard of the other accommodations and fell short of expectations. We suggest reconsidering its inclusion in future itineraries.

Thank you again for a memorable trip.

Amir and the Cycling Group

The easy beautiful long rides through the country side and the GPS.
Didn’t actually stay in Venice, which was odd, no gondolas …
Very few water stops and very few places to find food between 12-5.

Using e-bikes made it easier. We had some detours which we should have being alerted. The hotels met our expectations. Biking through the bigger towns was difficult as cars don’t stop even though we had the right away.
Next time I want to try the bike and barge.

The trip was well organized. I met with the tour staff in Italy before I started as well as at the end of the tour. I appreciated the GPX tracks which made navigation easier. The materials were well organized, train tickets included with schedules, and I enjoyed the hotels where I stayed. The luggage transfer was efficient and my suitcase was always waiting for me when I arrived at the hotel. I enjoyed visiting the major cities on the tour: Lecce, Otranto and Gallipoli.

As I mentioned to the staff, the final day of walking in the nature park needs a major improvement. I got very lost in the woods and the GPX tracks failed to give helpful directions. It was stressful as I was traveling alone. I also suggested that the food and wine portion of the trip be improved or just dropped from the tour. I never located the wine tasting shop (nor could the local folks that I asked for assistance) and the sampling of local products at a bakery was a slice of pizza. 4 dinners were included but it was unclear what was included in the dinner which was confusing.
I was happy to visit southern Italy and see so many historic locations

Our guide Ernesto was great. The size of our group and lack of support from tour company was the source of most issues!
I loved the locations we were taken. The food was amazing and again our guide Ernesto was great.

Food was good, but I would of liked more vegetables at dinners.
It would of been nice to have some organized group activities ( especially the first night) so people could get to know each other better . Just standing up and saying your name and where you were from was definitely not enough. After dinner, so many people just went to their rooms . If there was an organized fun event to do, then people would of stayed in the main room and participated.

The Italian inter structure does not support SAFE bicycle travel………

The barge crew were very helpful and friendly and the group of people on the bike trip were fantastic. The barge rooms were bad - very wet and humid. The beds were wet with humidity. All clothing were wet with humidity and the rooms smelled very badly. We turned on the A/C but it didn’t help with the humidity and smell. If we opened the portholes, condensation dripped down on the bed. 4 of us got sick and I think it was due to the bacteria in the rooms.

The scenery through the Adige River valley is fabulous. The biking is not too strenuous since most of the days are generally downhill. The climb to the view over Lake Garda is beautiful. Really fun to cycle through so many small towns along the way and interesting to cycle along the shores of Lake Garda too.

Day One Bolzano to Trento, hilly wine route, was excellent.
All routes are ( with very few exceptions) paved and in good shape.
Most difficult was navigating into and through large cities.
The night at the Terme was wonderful!
And finally, we would have preferred to be located in 3 star hotels in more central zones of Verona and Vicenza.
We added the 2 extra nights at end of trip in Mestre, which afforded easy bus access to Venice.

Lovely towns. Nice roads. Very little traffic. Wonderful way to see Italy.

The accommodations were unfortunately, the worst part. This was our second Tripsite trip and we found it much more expensive than out last one, while several of the hotels were shockingly dirty and uncomfortable.

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.

The boat was high class, the crew & chef were excellent, the guides were fine, although their strong accent made it a little difficult to understand. The last 3 days were what I expected, learning the history of that area of Italy and interacting with the people and viewing their beautiful architecture. The first part of the tour had us going thru farm land, over paved and gravel roads and not so charming small towns. It was not what I expected and I would not recommend it to my friends. There are better trips to take in Europe.
I did get to visit and tour the beautiful cities in the Venetian isles, and that made the trip worth it.

The food on board was outstanding. The chefs made every dinner like it was a high end restaurant. We spent days before and after the trip trying several mid range restaurants with top reviews, and none of them were even close to the food levels on the boat.

This was a decent trip. The crew was FANTASTIC and the food was much better than typical- very good. The barge itself is okay, not the nicest we've been on, but fine. No sundeck to lay and relax, just an upstairs area, undercover, with some tables and a lot of plastic chairs. The rooms and bathroom are small but nice. Towels and garbage are changed mid-week. The ride itself takes you through a lot of farmland with few sites. Mantova is nice, Lido is nice and the "tour" of Venice is a walk to the top of a department store for a nice view of Venice. If you want to really see Venice, spend an extra day or two and book tours in advance because Venice is VERY crowded. We booked an extra day in front for Mantova- not really necessary aside from time adjustment- and 4 days on the backend for Venice (3 would have been fine). We spent the last day on Murano and Burano islands followed by a catamaran ride around some islands. That made for a nice relaxing way to end our time there.

The most memorable part was trying to find the ship at the first day. When I receive at home the "How to reach the starting point", I already had doubts and wrote to you about it.
Trying to call the number you mention several time with no answer all did not contribute to a the starting of the journey.

The boat itself, bike quality, the food and friendliness, professionalism and energy of the crew were top notch. The level of cycling is very easy.
Unusual for a Tripsite barge/bike tour, there were young children on this trip which had negative impact. It altered the adult vibe, caused extended wait times for that group to catch up and created very significant safety problems for the guides during highway crossings. Also, the breaks/stops were far too long (incl. a lunch break of over 4 hours in one case).

Great ride in Comacchio with very friendly staff in the hotel!
Palestrina is a short unworthy ride, and limitations on the ferry for bikes was a nightmare!
Road conditions were bad, and with some dangerous spots!

The district was very interesting and there were many scenic and historic areas of interest to me

Dinners on the boat. The pace of biking was not to my liking. Not enough time for pictures. I felt pressured to keep up with the group. Planned stops were longer than needed. Would have liked a slower pace with more, shorter stops. Many of the roads were rough, and roads through cities were scary with traffic.

Appreciated that all on the trip were from USA. Trip leaders and crew were very nice.

Making it up the hills. Make sure to pack extra water and snacks for yourself

The boat breaking down (and the way the crew accommodated the changes).