5 Star Italy Tour Reviews — 391 to 420 of 444

It was a wonderful trip! I liked that we got to be on the barge when it moved (one time at the end of the day and another in the morning). The food was outstanding and I liked that the chefs described dinner and suggested wine pairings. The barge was very comfortable - even with 3 in a cabin.

Our son (22 years old) was outnumbered by the over 50 crowd but Hein made him feel welcome. Only suggestion - mirrors on the bikes (although I realize that makes them difficult to store and move) and a brief intro on riding in groups.

This trip gets a +10!! The staff (Tamy, Ilena, Luciano, Enrico, Guilio & Alberto) were amazing - fun, personable, knowledgable, friendly and engaging. They were truly a team and clearly enjoyed each other which ripples out to the experience of the guests. I loved that they gave a 'brief' the night before to let us know what to expect the next day. The food was creative, fresh and lovingly prepared. The accommodations on the AveMarie were great -- the cabins were well thought out with lots of storage so that the room felt spacious. The dining room was lovely with plenty of space to relax. The price of wine/beer was very reasonable and loved that we could keep a tab and pay it at the end, so easy.

Oh yea the bikes --- a good ride and comfy enough for the distances ridden. The routes were well planned, even the few times we had to ride in traffic. The trip leaders were excellent at managing the group and making it fun, no matter what we were doing.

For the whole week I felt well cared for :)
I am already dreaming of my next trip.
Kindly -- Victoria

P.S. The bad and the ugly -- honestly I don't have anything to contribute for improvement.

The crew were AMAZing! Every single one of them. Tami is an amazing guide - super friendly and helpful. All of the crew helpful and a delight. I would definitely go on this type of trip again because of my experience on this trip.

Estamos super-satisfeitos com voces e a Giro Libero. Tudo transcorreu muito bem de forma profissional e organizada, superando ate nossas expectativas.
O material distribuido (mapas e guias) foi otimo; as bikes todas aguentaram bem sem darem qq problema, em otimo estado de manutencao e apropriadas ao trajeto; o percurso muito bem marcado; o funcionario da reuniao inicial foi pontual e nos atendeu muito bem e orientou sobre tudo; os hoteis super de acordo com o contratado, bem localizados e confortaveis; enfim, um passeio que nos alegrou em muito com paisagens lindas e repleto de experiencias culturais.

This was my first bike & barge. The bar has been set very high!

All hotels were great except Hotel Magione. We were the only guests and I don't think they wanted us there. The breakfast was not up to snuff and there was NO English station on the TV. Given the level of difficulty of the hills, the bikes were very heavy (steel) especially when we had to walk up hills. Ok for flat but not hilly. We loved the restaurant near the hotel in Togiano and went twice. Unfortunately, we did have rain......

The entire bike-barge trip on the Ave Maria far exceeded our expectations. I would highly recommend this trip.

We have just arrived from our trip. It was amazing! We strongly recomend

The maps and route details were hard to follow at points, but the trip was very good: the ride, hotels and fellow cyclists.

Excellent trip. High quality, bikes, guides, lodging. No complaints. Very well organized. (except for the weather. :-).

This Bike and Barge tour was amazing, best holiday ever!

It seemed the first hotels during the trip were very nice, and declined as the week went. Might've been a coincidence but it was a bit disappointing. The guides were amazing, as was the route in northern Italy. Was very happy with the experience, and was very organized and went very smoothly.

We loved our Tripsite journey! We would love to do another ride one day, maybe next year! It was better than what we expected! Challenging and scenically! We trained hard beforehand and we're thankful that we did! I would recommend a Tripsite journey for anyone who is considering its! Thank you!

Crew and guides were friendly and extremely helpful. Meals and snacks were great! Good sense of comradery due to the small number of passengers. Good bikes, rides were interesting and manageable.

The crew aboard the Ave Maria was cheerful and helpful, especially Michaela, who went above and beyond in helping with departure plans. The food was wonderful.
A group of 30 is a lot of work for the cycling guides, but I would have liked a few more rest breaks along the way, especially on the day to Ferrara.

We have decided that this is the only way we now want to see other countries, up close and personal! What a wonderful experience!
Loved getting exercise every day while viewing the beautiful countryside. Even better was ending our ride with wine, a delicious dinner and new friends!

Our Guide, Rosita was excellent, friendly, pleasant and very knowledgeable. Would recommend her anytime.

Sometimes it would have been nice to stop for pictures of the scenery, but did not want to go to the back of the pack or be left behind. Helmut was an excellent guide and made sure everybody was safe. Food on board was the best I had in Italy. Staff very friendly and went the extra mile for our friends birthday.

This was our second Tripsite trip, last year Germany, this year Italy. I have highly recommended your trip to all my friends. We hope to have the opportunity to take another bike and barge.

Fourth trip with tripsite, all good and we keep coming back! Map books and directions have been the only things needing improvement, nothing we couldn't figure out but some confusion arose, eg getting out of Munich, some directions on the Resiapass Bolzano routes, to name two, otherwise no complaints.

Green Hills of Abruzzo should probably be listed as moderate rather than easy to moderate.

We've experienced three Bike and Boat Tour in the past 15 months, and have already booked another for 2016. We absolutely love this mode of travel and the fact that it offers an active holiday, and the best of both site-seeing and exploring the countryside in a way that most other tours simply can not. We love sharing our experience with like-minded international travelers, and find we are extremely well treated by boat staff and guides.Together with the Tripsite staff, the website is a fabulous tool for selecting a holiday in that it allows us to compare boats, distances and routes. As a secondary benefit we find the Bike and Boat Tours offered by Tripsite to be excellent "value for money". We have recommended Tripsite to several friends and acquaintances, some of whom will be joining us on our next tour as "first-timers".

Traveling from Venice through northeast Italy and Trieste into Slovenia and Croatia was beautiful and culturally rich.

The trip was great but the route was less than expected. The route was too much bike trails away from villages. We will definitely recommend Tripsite but not this trip. We look forward to our next trip with you guys.

We have done 8 trips with Tripsite. All trips were great.

Ave Maria, as well as 3 previous trips on the Merljin, superb. Some guides on Merjijn were mediocre, but Hein is incredible guide/person. Friends have recently taken B/B Red Hat?, bad experience. The above 4 trips speak highly of your program. Looking forward to next trip, F2017.

Garda Bike Hotel was terrific. The staff could not have been more friendly and accommodating. The rooms are quite nice and the hotel is very well maintained. The food at the hotel is prepared with athletes in mind: healthy, low sodium, and quite good. Not only would I recommend this trip, I am an evangelist of it.

A charming trip. Loved the experience. Hope to do more bike touring with Tripsite. My blog submission offers lots more positives. Thanks for publishing it! ; )

Now, if you really want some constructive criticism to share with Girolibero, here it is: Cue sheets were not up to date in a number of areas, which caused confusion and back-tracking. One of the days included a long stretch on a major highway, which was not too pleasant. The hotel in Belluno required that we haul our bikes up a long flight of stairs for overnight storage, and there was no elevator big enough or any staff available to help. ; { The tandem bike provided was bigger/heavier than what we have at home, or what we expected. We are experienced cyclists, and we wished that there was an option for pedal cages or clips to give us some leverage on the hills. The gears on the tandem slipped regularly during climbs and the chain got stuck a few times. The brakes failed one day on a steep downhill, but thankfully we were able to pull into an uphill driveway to avoid disaster! It took awhile to reach anyone about that, but when we did a mechanic was sent to the next hotel to fix the brakes on the evening of that failure so that was helpful. Overall, it was a wonderful experience, but these are just some ways it could have been a little better. Thanks for asking!

We have been on seven or eight bike and barge trips in the past and this one was, by far, the best. From the greeting upon arriving, to the spacious and comfortable accommodations and exquisite food. The guide was pleasant and very informative ( great sense of humor, too ) Our hotel reservations in Venice were cancelled at the last minute, but he was able to get us a room. The Ave Maria is a beautiful boat with everything you need. We can't say enough about every crew member. Part of the scenery was not as nice as on other trips, but that couldn't be helped. People at Tripsite were always very helpful and quick to respond. We had a wonderful time. We will highly recommend this Tripsite adventure!

My last trip cycling experience with the Dory Hotel in Riccioni Italy was splendid and one of the best ever!!