4 Star Bike Tour Reviews — 511 to 540 of 1207

The wonderful paved cycle paths

Walking through the Keukenhof Gardens and seeing the blooming fields of tulips, and smelling the fragrant fields of hyacinths as we were riding was amazing, especially as the pouring rain held off until almost the end of the day! But walking around Ghent, and Bruges were equally delightful, if for a different reason. Of course the fabulous meals Christina prepared for us on the Merlijn were memorable. For future riders on this trip, know that the tulip experience is only one day of the entire trip so that you aren’t terribly disappointed, and be sure to have rain gear at that time of year!!

The crew on the boat was very accommodating; any issues with our cabins was readily addressed. The chef was excellent; one of the best we've experienced on the many bike tours we've been on. The menus included regional favorites and we all received a cookbook that included recipe favorites from several chefs.

Scenery was terrific and accommodation was very good. When arriving at each town or city don’t continue all the way to central point as per Ride With GPS, as you may be well past your hotel already. Switch to google maps as you enter the city and search your hotel.

This was a river cruise with a biking contingent of 19 people out of 100 people. I would have enjoyed more biking. I especially enjoyed our picnic at Castello Rodrigo, the food and views were fantastic. Later that same day we stopped for a break in a small town where the local townspeople invited us to see their church. Truly magical!

Vineyards and villages

The staff and guide were wonderful. My only criticism is regarding the food: put out some snacks when returning to the barge after riding. One small bowl of chips for 22 people is insufficient. Secondly, the time from start to finish dinner talked too long ( 1 1/2 hours). While of course the staff must eat as well, they shouldn’t be eating after putting our plates down. Our dirty plates sit in front of us for 30 minutes while they eat. The food is very good though.

There were many memorable parts of the trip, all enjoyable. The barge, the guests and the crew were all great. I used an e-bike which was not great. I am barely 5’ 1” and the bike was a “small” and too big/heavy for me. It should have been an X-small. Another woman of similar size had a small and fell numerous times. I was disappointed that there was no alternative offered. I am an experienced rider and the heavy weight of the bike affected balance especially on curves. I’ve been on a number of bike trips and quality bikes and safety was a number one concern. Also there were no rear view mirrors. This was a safety concern. The answer I received was that the rear view mirrors are not used in the Netherland. This does not make sense as we got helmets and the people in the Netherlands don’t wear helmets. Why would we not be provided with rear mirrors.

Visiting historical towns. I would build in some rest days to explore the towns.
I also enjoyed trying to navigate and stay on track. Some of the dirt tracks were a bit much, however. I think the routes should stay on more well-used tracks, even if they are dirt.

Most memorable was pushing our bikes thru ankle deep mud and meeting over 100 cows on a path we were suppose to be on. Also changing a flat tire with a pump that didn’t work. Even with the negatives, this was an incredible trip. Scenery was outstanding, hotels were lovely, gps directions were easy to use, and Carter company was responsive to our needs. We were scheduled to take a train from Morton on Marsh to Oxford but the trains were on strike when we got to the train station. Within minutes a car arrived to take us to Oxford and we were allowed to leave our bikes at a hotel that had been arranged by the company. The Carter company provided a phone charger so the gps would work for an extended time as well as a phone attachment for the bike. We were allowed to keep both.

Great trip. I was hurt on the first day and had to ride to my destinations with my luggage in the van. The van drivers were kind and helpful. I appreciate Tripsite making this possible for me.

One suggestion: travelers are required to pay the city tax when they check out. If would be good if this were included in the cost of the trip.

Wonderful
Company, attentive crew, and delicious food. I enjoyed the comfort of the common area for visiting and the deck for the sailing. The cabins were very. Lean, but the small windows made it somewhat claustrophobic by the 6th night. Other than that, all was very satisfactory.

Kuekenhof
There was no place at the Prominent Hotel to safely lock the bikes. One Ebike had its control box torn off. Seems the bike store has to bear that cost. We did not ask for but thought one repair kit would have been provided. Panniers, though promised were not available. Bike store was closed on Sunday so had there been a break down no support would have been available that day. Bikes were OK but gearing on one were rough and catchy. Otherwise most were happy with the bikes though very heavy.

It was an active adventure where you got to see so much of the country not just the tourist attractions.

Riding through the countryside and seeing all the baby animals and, of course, the tulips! The Keukenhof Gardens was absolutely spectacular. There is so much to see in Amsterdam, I'd suggest spending a few extra days there either before or after the barge trip-you just might want to avoid Kings Day! I also recommend using an electric assist bike-more enjoyable and less stressful.

Overall the trip was great! The boat was nice, the rooms had more space than I expected, and the boat staff were superb! My only "opportunity for improvement" comment is that for a group of 25, the cycle tour company needs to provide more than one guide. Though our guide was very nice and knowledgeable, he was not good at making sure all 25 of us stayed together, made it through red lights, knew where the rest of the group was, etc. On more than one occasion, we had multiple people get far enough behind that they got lost and didn't know where they were supposed to go.

The crew was absolutely the best and this was my 4th barge trip. Amazing chef, 5 star food. Cleanest boat and everyone had a great time.
Our guide, Michela was the best and worked so hard everyday.

The barge, service, crew, meals & hospitality all exceeded my expectations. This was a very well planned itinerary and was implemented seamlessly. Riding past tulip fields and the amazing day at Keukenhof Garden is something I will never forget!

Boat and crew were great! Food was very good and overall I would recommend this trip especially if you are a skilled/avid biker. For me I only biked one day of the five, I had trouble managing the e-bike with the number of other bikers, people walking and cars especially in the cities. I would agree that the biking was easy because it was flat, but there are a ton of other people biking and there was lots of starting a stopping and others people, bikes and cars to watch out for. I also think there needs to be two guides, 25 riders is a lot for one person to keep track of and manage. On Multiple days riders got lost.

The barge, the crew, the service, the hospitality were exceptional. The itinerary was well planned. The thrill of cycling by tulip fields and the amazing day at Kuekenhof Garden is something I will never forget.

We thought the crew were wonderful. Very engaging and helpful. Michaela was awesome and did a great job.
Got tired of the same items for lunch daily .
A variety of items would be my choice. This was 5 th or 6 th trip with Tripsite for me.
Great job . Joanie Farina

So many memorable moments. Beautiful ship, quite luxurious, wonderful food, spectacular towns and villages along the Danube and Vienna! What a place. I loved the classical concert in L’Orangerie at Schönbrunn Castle and the scenery between Krems and Melk. I had to pinch myself several times as I was cycling through Austria along the Danube. I had done the tulip tour on the Iris the previous week which was great too but harder cycling and not such good weather. I also didn’t use an e-bike in the Netherlands and had some pretty strong winds and long days cycling. So the Swiss Crown tour was a more relaxed week and totally different. The e-bike made it pretty easy too and the self guided tours made it easy to stop at more places along the way.
I know the Swiss Crown tour director, Jurgens, aka Ding Dong!, had to deal with some staffing issues during my week on board but he made everything so easy in spite of working lots of extra hours. There was a much bigger group of German speaking passengers than English speaking and I felt that they got more attention than we did at times and so I’d suggest being a little more outgoing towards the non German passengers. But overall the whole thing lived up to and beyond my expectations. A trip of a lifetime!

The elected rout of the tour was the best we can think of . The views, the panoram, the environment... Everything was very beautiful and enjoyable.
Most of the hotels were very good including the breakfasts. The best of all was the one in St Gallen, but the others were more than sufficient.
In regards to the bikes... Well we are used to Carbon or even Aluminum bikes with full suspension. The bikes we got were Irone ones, very heavy and with no shock absorbers, nor in the front neither in the tail. It caused the biking to be uncomfortable in spite of the fact that 95% of the roads were padded...
Regarding the OFF ROAD GPS SOFTWARE.. It quite Allright But it didn't guide us to the hotels so in order to get there we needed to use Google map

Food/staff were AMAZING!!!
I felt that the difficulty rating may have been slightly off. But the trip was overall fantastic!!

Cycling along the River, crossing on the small ferries, stopping for coffee, kuchens or farmhouse meals was such fun.
We thoroughly enjoyed, probably more than the city, the cycling route through the wine valley and small villages. Absolutely breathtaking and the history! Small cobblestone streets that you push your bike through whilst checking out the local offerings. Spectacular.

My memorable part of the trip was seeing the colourful tulips, cycling through the quiet farm land. Perfect weather for me to cycle in, some may think it's too chilly.

Wished we had stopped over each city/ town longer, had a guided walking tour each evening after dinner. Dinner was too long, need to trim down on the dining time.

Biking the islands, exploring the countryside and small villages.

The boat, crew, food were wonderful. It was apparent that a second cycling guide would have been an advantage as it was difficult for some riders to keep the pace.

It was a great time of year in the Netherlands. Caught the flower parade, 4-20 day, Kings day and the tulips in bloom!

The most memorable part of our trip was keukenhof gardens. It was amazing. We also liked Aalsmeer which was fascinating and the North Sea. The bike ride there was beautiful and different from any of the other biking we did. The neighborhoods and homes were beautiful as well as the forests we rode through. Then it was just a treat to be on a beach when we got there. Our week was cool windy and rainy at times. My best suggestion would be to have layers to dress in. The panniers for the bikes are very spacious to hold layers and jackets if you need to remove any. Gloves were very helpful as well as gators for our heads/necks. Another suggestion would be to be practiced up on your bikes in some crowded conditions as Amsterdam biking was brief but a little hairy. Use an Ebike if you’re out of shape. The wind was brutal.