Italy Tour Reviews — 151 to 180 of 686

The entire trip was an insightful and delightful experience, providing access to the heart and soul of everyday-life in "working Italy", versus an antiseptic highlight-reel tour of famous monuments and churches. That said, the overwhelming uniqueness and timelessness of Venice couldn't help but be a highlight. I wouldn't have minded a somewhat more strenuous cycling experience; however, that was more than offset by the enjoyment of the comaraderie of a relatively small tour group (20), forged both on the cycling paths and over fabulous gourmet meals provided by the two young chefs aboard the Vita Pugna.

Once again, we just came back from a memorable experience with this tour. We began with the self-guided section from Balzano to Mantova which was very well laid out with our GPS, then was welcomed aboard the Vita Pugna to continue the tour all the way to Venice with the most interesting and amiable Hugo, our guide for the week. Life aboard the Vita Pugna was excellent… friendly crew and excellent food! I would not change a thing.

We ar booked for the Best of Tuscany bike tour on Sept 16,2024. Our daughter Carly booked it for my husband, myself, and her. I’m just curious how many are you up to now on that week. We are so looking forward to coming to Italy.

Our tour guides, Hein and Irene made the tour so special! The chefs, Alberto and Francesco were amazing. Captain "Van Gogh" was great. The tour was a blast from start to finish!

Fabulous trip!! We did this same trip 8 years ago
and returned again this summer with friends as it was our favorite trip… it did not disappoint!
Highly recommend….from the great scenery to the fabulous meals and amazing tour guides!

It’s awfully hard to pick out “the most memorable” part of the trip. The whole experience was great: the biking, the connections made with fellow riders, the crew, the food, the boat. It was all top rate. I guess I’d have to pick out the biking as the most memorable. The points of interest along the way were great. I loved the cheese factory, the glass blowing place, the carnival museum and the distillery. I probably wouldn’t have chosen to visit those places if on my own, but in the end I truly enjoyed them. The Ave Maria is a beautiful boat. The bikes were almost new and in excellent condition. The crew (and guides) made everything go smoothly. The chefs took my food intolerances seriously and made it easy for me to enjoy the food on board.

The general organization of the trip, and the great staff aboard!
Disappointed with the scenery along the routes - often quite monotonous

We cycled through some lovely countryside and saw some very lovely towns. Assisi was wonderful, but understandably busy given its historical importance. We had some very memorable events booked.

This trip was a perfect couple tour with spectacular scenery, safe well maintained bike paths on a gently descending route and great hotels each night.

It was our first trip on a smaller boat and we enjoyed getting to know all the other bikers and also the crew. It was also our first trip with a guide(s) and it was nice to not be concerned with navigating. The guides were excellent and the mini tours we interesting. My only suggestion is it would be nice to know more about the lunch stop ahead of time so we could decide whether we wanted to bring a lunch or eat at the restaurant.

Biking by river Po, the visits to the distillery and cheese factory

The guides and staff were fantastic.

The trip was a wonderful way to see Italy minus the crowds.

Beautiful scenery
Staying at the Silla Hotel in Florence was a highlight of the tour. I’m glad I had an extra day to spend in Florence

This was our seventh bike trip with tripsite, but our first self guided bike trip on our own! We really enjoyed the experience! The Aberobello / Locorotondo area was our favourite stop on the tour, but we also really enjoyed the extra days spent in Matera and Lecce at the start and end of our tour. My wife took an E-Bike and I took a hybrid regular bike and both were great. My bike had a minor mechanical issue on day three, but a quick stop at a local bike shop arranged by our host resolved the issue completely! We thought the description of the tour in terms of difficulty was just about right, with some tougher challenges but primarily fair easy riding. Some of the gravel sections are quite rough but we did not find it difficult as we had ample time and travelled slowly throughout these areas. Great and varied scenery. Was not a fan of a few short sections on highways, as traffic was heavier due to a national holiday, but we managed. Lovely accommodations along the way.

The excellent crew, good food and beautiful bike rides and scenery.

The trip was well organized, our boat was comfortable and the food was incredible! The tour took us through quaint little villages and the arranged stops were all informative and enjoyable. My favourite was Grana Parma. We chose self-guided, and enjoyed the flexibility that gave. Sylvie took time each day to explain any potential areas of concern. Overall, a great experience!

Beautiful bike trails and amazing food! The boat staff were amazing and very friendly. The tour guide Sylvia was so very helpful to our group who did our own tour.

The staff was amazing, so friendly and very helpful. It was nice to see how they all worked so closely. The food was amazing. Great job.

The crew worked very well together, supporting each other.
Also, the fact that the number of guests was not large, contributed to a sense of community.
For suggestions: I couldn't get wifi in my lower deck room - as was true for others I spoke with, and had to go to the dinning room for service.

The most memorable moment of my trip was the guided tours through special viewings of Venice and surrounding islands to capture the true essence of the Italian culture is our expert tour leaders, Silvia and Marco. My favorite part was stopping through one of the smallest villages and see an elderly man raising the flag at noon, as he has done daily for many decades.

The crew was wonderful and made everythingspecial. The food was amazing. Would highly recommend this trip.

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.

This was my first trip to Italy and a Bike and Barge. I loved it!! The staff were amazing, the food was delicious, Sylvia and Helmet were so fantastic at guiding us through beautiful cities and helping when needed, the crew on the barge were always friendly. I'm ready to go back and travel with Sylvia again! Five Stars!

This was my first Bike and Barge and it was fabulous! The staff went above and beyond all expectations to make this event even more wonderful than I could have imagined. What a beautiful way to see Italy. A huge thank you to Sylvia and Helmet and ALL the crew!!!

We booked this trip for September, 2023 and had numerous issues with this company. We are experienced cyclists both on regular and e-bikes, and have cycled in Europe previously. With Tripsite, on the first day, the bikes were delivered to us without helmets and even without a seat. On Cycling Day 1, one of the apps on our phones was blank and it took a while to get that reinstalled. Halfway through the route, we found ourselves stuck on the side of the road, as our bikes no longer had a charge. They were transported to our final destination for the day by van/shuttle. On Cycling Day 2, only one of the two chargers was working, so one bike was still dead. We used the only working charger to charge the second bike - which takes 3-4 hours. After an obviously late start, again the bikes were just not what was needed for this route. It is not "Easy-Moderate" as stated and we found ourselves pushing very heavy bikes up very steep hills. Again the bikes were not functioning properly. No support from Tripsite, mainly due to time differences between Italy and the US, and although we were in touch with the European company, they were located 4 hours away and were not able to help much either. After only two days of cycling and realizing that the bikes were faulty compared to what we needed, we turned in our bikes and canceled the rest of the 8-day tour. It is now over 3 months later and our numerous requests for a reasonable refund have been disregarded by the company. We are not impressed with Carla (Manager/Owner), at all. Her responses are not only slow, but quite rude and she tends to blame us for the bike problems.
If considering a European cycling tour, we would suggest using a European company that is available to provide support when their bikes are not working properly. Tripsite does not stand behind their promises.

Wonderful bicycling along rural roads without much traffic. The tour operator was welcoming and attentive. The accommodations were splendid! There was absolutely nothing negative about this trip!

Excellent tour operator, very clear instructions, excellent communication and all of the included amenities met or were better than expected. Routes were great with minimal gravel or traffic and sites along the way well marked on the gps program . The included food was exceptional.
Highly recommend.

We took this tour in mid-October and thoroughly enjoyed the hotels, towns, and special dinners included. Petra and Paolo gave us an arrival-night orientation which was very helpful and reassuring. This was our first self-guided tour with Tripsite. The hotels were truly lovely with hosts who were welcoming and accommodating. Their breakfasts were substantial. The three towns were new to us which was a delight.

Our walking directions were excellent. We did not take all the planned walks, choosing to walk other places that were particularly appealing to us.

We found Spello to be our favorite of these three towns and enjoyed immensely the wine-tasting dinner at Enoteco Properzio.

Spoleto was special for us because of the sister arts festival in our home town of Charleston, SC, selected by Menotti himself.

Any time we visit Umbria again, we will check in with Umbria & Ecologico Tours for guidance.

Many thanks to them and Tripsite for this self-guided tour of the region of Umbria.

My favorite part of the trip was touring Montova. This was our 3rd bike barge trip and I'm sorry to say that the scenery we saw while riding 3 of the 5 days was a bit disappointing. The barge and the food was the best of the 3 trips. We also rode a little too much along some busy roads without much of a shoulder.

The Sicily trip was wonderful. The route, the cities and towns, the countryside, and coast were beautiful. I loved the ancient history and architecture. Best of all we’re our two guides, Fillipio and Claudio. They know their Island and shared their knowledge and love of Sicily with us.