3 Star Bike Tour Reviews — 331 to 340 of 340

I was pleased with the points of interest on the tour (Strasbourg, Heidelberg, Colmar, Breisach), however, the route was very industrial at times and there was just nothing special about it. The maps and route descriptions were terrible and I'd say that was the number one complaint of fellow passengers. I talked to the guide and he said they will redo the route for next year so hopefully with some changes, it will be much better.

There was some disconnect in passing along information. For example the barge had to leave earlier than 6:30 but info was not passed on. Fortunately my friends and I arrived and boarded the sister ship and got the info that the Angela Esmee was instructed to leave the port due to some Dutch holiday celebration. Good thing we took the initiative. There was no one waiting on the dock to give us this info.
Info about running a tab for drinks was false. We had to purchase tokens from a machine to use at bar. Bikes were somewhat rickety, having seen their 2nd season (according to a mechanic I talked to). Mine and some others made a grinding noise the entire time. The mechanic tried to fix it, but eventually I just tolerated it. I heard one mech say the bikes had a couple more trips this season. Good luck to the next owner.
Food was very good and the staff were very friendly. I would recommend a Bike and Barge trip to friends, but we ran into another group on a similar tour riding green bikes...they LOVED their bikes. We couldn't come close to saying that about ours. The green bike tour paid similar costs.

Main reasons for not recommending: Too many people. I would prefer a smaller group especially for lunches and stops along the way. Too much time needed for logistics with such a large group. (That being said, Leslie and the crew did a great job being as efficient as possible with this given the numbers involved.) The trip was marketed as meals all included. However, it was clear that we were "expected" to eat lunch at restaurants during our biking days. That would have been okay except we were always at the same place as dozens of other people (mostly people from our own boat who had not elected to take the guided trip option) so that the experience was not at all enjoyable. The restaurant staff were obviously harried at having to deal with such a large group at one time.
We always seemed to be in a rush to get back to the boat before its departure. I hadn't realized that the boat would have such a tight schedule to get from one docking point to another. I would have paid slightly more to have better food. There was way too much pork served; I felt starved for good quality, fresh vegetables by the time the tour ended.

We were to have 1 rest day in Vienna but had 2 rest days. The second being Budapest. We liked the city but would have preferred to see more of Hungary from our bikes. My husband is not an historic buff so was bored with sight seeing.

Information provided by tour guide about towns and attractions very limited, and sometimes inaccurate, compromising planning and enjoyment of the daily ride.

The Konstanz trip and bikes were very good. The Danube trip bikes were not as good and the scenery needed to be varied more since riding alongside the Danube got a touch boring after a while. (Review from Around Lake Constance and Danube Bike Path - Passau to Vienna)

I brought my own bike, but my friends rented. I was not impressed with the fitting of the bikes. The measurements requested by the site were insufficient to get an accurate fit and we had to request a new bike (inseam should be required). If I hadn't been there to fit the bikes nobody from the tour company would have been. Also, I had to replace a bolt on one of the bike's chain guard half way through the tour. At least check that everything is torqued down before renting them.

It's not that I don't recommend this trip, it's that I would recommend it with caveats. The guides were great, the cycling adequate. By this I mean, I found that on some days we started out and then, 25 minutes later, stopped in a city center for maybe 20 minutes. Why? To experience what, in 20 minutes? It would have been better to simply keep cycling. The first day of cycling I found, in particular, to be needlessly short. The barge in general was OK. The seats on the lounge chairs became uncomfortable after a while. Too thin.

The least satisfactory part of this trip was the food - I thought there would be more fish options, considering we were on the sea. The 2 fish dishes that were served were not good - one was very dry, and the other was smothered in a too-salty sauce. The desserts were memorable - for their lack of taste. The breakfasts were fine. The salads that preceded each main course were also fine. Someone mentioned that it might be worth your charging a bit more and offering better quality food. I was not the only one disappointed in the food offerings. More opportunities to swim would also have been appreciated, at least by me.
Actually, upon thinking about this, I probably wouldn't recommend this program, and would encourage others to look for better options.

The Rhine from Mainz to Basel, for the most part, is industrial and not as picturesque as other European bike and barge routes we've enjoyed. There were a few cities (Heidelberg, Germany and Strausbourg, France) which were beautiful and offered much to do, but we were expecting the scenic bike routes with quaint towns for cake and coffee, or beer stops along the way and were sorely disappointed. But the most disappointing aspect of this trip was the inability of the on-board guide to give proper instructions nor enlighten us of things to see or visit. We found out about popular sites from all channels except the guides. In Strausbourg, while chatting with tourists, we heard of an amazing evening light show projected onto an enormous cathedral - huge crowds gathered to enjoy this historic presentation, yet nothing was mentioned of it by our guide. We have needed so little guidance to enjoy our bike and barge trips, but this one missed the mark. Based on previous trips that we've done, we'd convinced 2 other couples to join us and they were underwhelmed and disappointed as well. The barge and accommodations were adequate, though rooms were random sizes no matter which deck you choose. One couple paid extra for the upper deck, but their room was much smaller than another couple's on the lower level. The staff and meals on this barge were top notch and we can't say enough about the gourmet chef and tireless staff.

Not my favorite part of France. 6th bike tour there and the least scenic and inviting.