4 Star Italy Tour Reviews — 91 to 120 of 136

I truly enjoyed this tour that included daily rides through the picturesque Italian countryside. Each day we biked through a variety of landscapes, stopping in small towns along the way for cappuccino breaks, lunch and local tours. The bike tour staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. The boat crew was equally as wonderful, preparing wonderful meals each evening and serving them with a smile. Everyone bent over backwards to make this a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
As for suggestions, I think the last leg from Pellestrina Island to Venice could be improved. The morning was wasted in a small town that was not really open for business. Why not take an earlier Ferry to Lido and spend more time there before heading to Venice?

The Crew on the boat (Captain Eduardo, Sylvia, & Barb) and our biking guide Antonella were all PHENOMENAL. The service and the food are first class.

The cities of Noto, Syracuse, and Modica. The architecture, atmosphere, and food...

We loved the small roads and bike paths often used to take us in to the villages. The accommodations were well placed in the towns with easy access to restaurants.
Most memorable was the last day (finding the climb quite the challenge ) but the exhilarating run down worth it .

To mention more signage in busy areas would be appreciated to put one at ease.

The best part was the first three days self-guided tour near the Dolomites on our 10 day tour.

As professional as the staff were and as delicious the food, the most memorable part of the trip was interacting with fellow travelers. Since the boat can only berth around 40, I was able to get to know almost everyone and learn about their countries and personal histories.

The best trip i’ve ever done was through Danubio, from Passau to Vienna. It was perfect, the scenery, the route, the boat. It was my first time in a bike and tour trip. It was in 2016 and since then it,’s the only way i like to travel. A new world for me, I felt like a child recovering my childhood near from nature!

Our bike and barge from Venice was fantastic. The villages were quaint and the opportunity to swim in the Adriatic Sea was a great way to cool down and relax. Our trip aboard the Ave Maria was wonderful. Captain Connie, Enrico, Giuliano, Silvia and Helmut made our trip to be quite memorable! Giuliano and Silvia made fabulous gourmet dinners for us. Our only complaint would be that there were periods of riding on dikes/floodbanks but all the stops along the way were very interesting and full of character. The visit to a Grana Padano cheese plant was followed by a wine and cheese picnic and our ending destination, Mantua was beautifully surrounded by 3 lakes. We would definitely recommend this trip!

The tasting opportunities added a different perspective to just cycling.

We found the signage very poor on this tour especially getting out of Verona.We ended up out in the suburbs for 3 hours and wasted half a day,getting tired and frustrated.Please improve this ,it would make the trip more enjoyable.Green arrows need to be much more frequently placed.Sometimes we got to a T intersection and even with the instruction book had no clue which way to turn.
Bikes were great!
Hotel in Padua was not in a nice area,though close to the station.Did not feel safe at night given all the refugees hanging around outside the hotel
Generally the hotels would be better if they were closer to the town center in each city
Scenery lovely ,some great countryside and villages.Enjoyed the trip but stressed out looking for green arrows that we often could not find.Definitely need GPS.

We loved the varied scenery and warm and friendly Italian people.
The hotel accommodations were very comfortable and more than adequate. We would have been satisfied with a less luxurious hotel in Trento. We would have liked to explore the town and find a different restaurant, but there was no time. That is one of the drawbacks of cycling so many miles between towns; not enough time to explore.
The Ave Maria and the entire crew were first rate. We want to particularly thank our tirelessly helpful and fun-loving guides, Marinella and Stephania. In addition, the food was artfully created and inspired.
Our one complaint is about the poorly written instructions on the 3-day, self-guided part of the trip, which sometimes caused stress. The instructions were not only terribly written, we also had different editions of instructions among our group of 12. The most exasperating time was at Riva del Garda when we cycled back and forth through the town at least 3 times, looking for the correct ferry dock, after asking and being misled several times.

Overall the trip thru Italy's Piedmont was very well handled, breathtaking scenery, (lots of hills), friendly people nice hotels very well done. One item I would caution others of is the description of the hills as moderate. Some are but 4-5 kilometers of 11 percent grade is more than moderate the 16 percent grade on some short stretches started me thinking of Hors catégorie type climbs. A description of the grades and distances could help others decide to get ebikes or do more training. I did enjoy the ride it was difficult but doable even if a lot of whining did happen.

Mantova to Venice was wonderful. Very pretty scenery with lots of unique places to stop.

We loved the beautiful, amazing mountain scenery (with very few hills) of the first three days. The written instructions, though, are of a badness difficult to describe. We rated the tour 4/5, and the lost star were because of the extremely poor instructions. If we hadn't had maps and stickers on sign posts, we wouldn't have been able to make it through. The frustration really distracted from the overall enjoyment of the trip - an English speaker with an accurate odometer really needs to rewrite the directions. For example, they talked about "crossing a railway" (or maybe a "railway bridge"), so we spent about 20 minutes trying to find a way to cross the railway - but really it meant to pass underneath an elevated railway crossing. Also, the symbol used to indicate a warning (I think of a turn easy to miss) is a hand pointing to the right. One not unnaturally assumes that this means a right turn. It does not.

Otherwise the barge, scenery, activities, food, and guides are all exactly what we hoped for and have experienced on earlier trips. No problems with luggage transfers, and the hotels for the first part of the trip were all great.

I feel the bike should have been rated moderate-not easy moderate!

We went to Sicily in May 2018. Biking was beautiful especially along the sea. Inland there were some areas that had lots of trash. No problems with directions. One or two hills a day.

Most Memorable Part: Venice in the rain at midnight! Excellent food, great staff and guides.

Most memorable part was stopping for lunch in little Italian towns.

Most Memorable Part: Riding through vineyards and orchards.

Most memorable: The scenery in Venice, Lodi and Chiogga.

Scenic Coastal ride. The most memorable part was visiting and staying overnight in unique and incredible towns and sites.

No, I wouldn't recommend this trip. The hotels were not in the best areas of the city (even with paying extra for the nicer hotels) and there was much more biking on busy streets with cars than expected.

The guide, Hein, was very knowledgeable, entertaining and helpful. A real asset to the trip.
Food on the Ava Maria was the best! Loved the three days from Bolzano through the mountains.

Everything was great. I really enjoyed our guides, Tammy and Ronnie. The staff on the boat were great. Our bikes were top notch. The tour and countryside were scenic. I loved biking on the sea wall. I thought the other bikers were friendly and easy to get along with.

I loved the small villages. The international mixture of the group made for excellent discussion among the group. Food on the barge was excellent!

The Aeolian Archipelago Trip was sold as easy/moderate and as a result there were several people that probably should not have been there. As a consequence the guide was indecisive most days how to deal with the itinerary and as a consequence kept adjusting and shortening the rides. As for my wife and I we traveled all the way from Canada to enjoy the boat, scenery and riding as a total experience.

Because of the constant changing of the daily itinerary and shortened rides we became somewhat dissatisfied with the total experience.

The trip itself was amazing! Spectacular scenery and just the right amount of cycling every day. We loved the fact that it was self-guided so we could go at our own pace. The description of easy to moderate was accurate, but I know it would have been much harder had we not had electric bikes. I have 2 specific complaints: First, the quality of the hotels was not up to par. A friend described one as exactly like his dorm room in college...small, smelly, run down, not properly air-conditioned, out of the way, and generally unsatisfactory. Secondly, the directions and the maps need to be updated. More than once we found ourselves at a dead-end or could not find a turn we were supposed to take. We wasted a lot to time going back and forth trying to find the supposed route. Thankfully we speak Italian, so we could stop and ask locals for directions. At other times we just ended up relying on the GPS on our phone to find a proper route. Overall, if these two things were improved this would be a perfect trip. I highly recommend the trip.

The Guide gave us very little information about either the equipment or route before he left us. Just simple things would have helped significantly. He was abrupt, especially with women and certainly less than helpful. The guidebook was good for the most part, but some sections were completely useless. Some of this may have been due to translation, but improvements are needed. When we entered cities, we always had to ask for assistance.
We have taken about 10 European bike trips and expect some difficulties finding our way, but have never encountered the degree of problems we had on this trip.

Loved our guide, the food quality and variety was the only disappointment.

We had the time of our life and look forward to our next bike and boat tour. Thanks so much for everything!