Bike Tour Reviews — 5881 to 5910 of 6801

The staff on the Zwaantje made the trip!

Great trip. Some of the accommodations were a bit shabby but other than that is was great.

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.

It was a great bicycle trip. Beautiful countryside, bike paths were excellent and the guide "Hugo" was exceptional. Barge was perfect. We were able to see the real Holland, not the typical tourist city Holland. Communication and arrangement of the tour with Tripsite was very good. Thanks.

The boat staff were outstanding! The boat dinners were outstanding! The boat breakfasts and lunches were just okay.

The biggest downside to the trip were the totally inadequate route guides. They were not written for new-to-the-route riders. On one hand, they assumed the user was familiar with the route and knew where they were going. On the other hand, they seemed to have been written by someone who had never ridden the route, who just looked at a paper (or electronic) map to write the guide.

Finally, the on-boat guides were of minimal help. While they seem to have ridden the route, they did not explain the complexities a new rider would encounter along the way. They did, however, explain the highlights to look for on each route.

With those two exceptions, the trip was wonderful! As for the most memorable, being dog people, we really liked having the captain's dogs on board.

We loved the entire cycling experience! Our stay in Umbertide was especially memorable- the hotel was amazing and the restaurant was some of the best food we ate in Italy!

Holland has such fabulous bike routes and a tradition of bicycling. We left the boat by 9 am and reconnected with it by 4 at a new location. The cities that we rode to and through were old, small and quaint. The many stops along the way we're interesting and the people everywhere were wonderful. I highly recommend this trip.

The trip was really terrific. Super accommodations (especially Torre de Rio), abundant, delicious food ( and a real bonus that it was included in the trip price), varied and interesting scenery. However we feel that the Ebike was most useful (fantastic, really!!!) when there were no rocks or gravel. Fortunately our guides were kind enough to push the very heavy bike up some of the steeper rocky paths when the bike had traction problems. In general, the "moderate" designation for the trip should be explained in more detail, as beginning cyclists think that word means hills - when in fact, for this trip, it means surface. As Pedro said, "this is not a road trip." This is not a good trip for an inexperienced rider (which I'm not, but first time Ebike). Since we've been on many road trips, we didn't quite have the vision of what we were signing up for...although in looking back at the reviews, I now see that others did mention the road conditions but they should be described more clearly in the promotional materials.

The guides and the bike shop owners were extremely caring and knowledgeable, and well organized and accommodating. Our contentment was clearly a priority as was safety. Dealing with the U.S. Office was very efficient and pleasant. We actually used their after hours contact phone for a flight pickup change and they were very responsive.

This was our second Tripsite tour and we are highly impressed with quality and value!

A fabulous experience. We will seriously consider further barge/bike holidays with you.

We loved the trip. Hank, Jantien, & staff were super as usual. The electric bike was a bit heavy. My(Anita) electric bike at home feels much lighter--it's smaller. Look forward to another trip on Merlijn & with Jantien & Hank. --Anita & Duncan

The staff of the Merlijn were delightful and very personable. Enjoyed them thoroughly.

Travel aboard the Merlijn is always a wonderful experience. Our guide, Felix, was excellent. This was our fourth trip and we will return for more.

Our first day was quite rocky… The directions were not good and the routes were not well marked. Everyone was frustrated. The guide promised to bike out again from Prague and redo it--hopefully that happened.

The scenery between Passau and Vienna was the most memorable part of the trip, even when we were away from the Danube. Beautiful.

The reason I gave the first question a 4 out of 5 is because the daily rides were long enough that it was hard (tiring) to get back out in the evenings to see the local sites or to see some of the sites along the way. That was probably also a result of trying to coordinate and corral too many people (9 on our trip) to get things done in a timely manner. I suspect the 10-day option for this trip might have been better for us.

Regarding route and description guides, sometimes it was a little too much to remember to coordinate the route book, the additional instructions in the travel documents (voucher) book, and Rad & Reisen's Travel Information book, not to mention the daily itinerary in the literature advertising this trip. In fact, the worst mistake we made was the worst one we could have made: ignoring the instructions to take the van transfer from Grein to Gasthof zum Aigner Kreuz, Bad Kreuzen to avoid very steep inclines. However, some of the literature given to us suggested we go to Klam Castle (a good way up the incline to Bad Kreuzen), which was not on the way to Grein, and that is what we did.

I've now taken 5 bike trips in Europe: 2 using hotels, 3 using boats/barges. Barges are easier: you only have to unpack and repack once while riding.

Thank you for all your help putting this trip together. Overall, it was a great experience.

The most memorable part was the scenic route along the Burren and the Wild Atlantic Way. It was 22 km of beautiful ocean views and incredible landscape. It was also amazing to see the Cliffs of Moher.

The most memorable part of my trip were the small towns and villages that we visited. These are places where tourists rarely venture. The people are friendly and open for conversations; willing to share their lives and experiences with us. And curious to know about us as well. I have so many wonderful memories.

A fantastic tour. Really well organised and the guides had great local knowledge. One of our guides even spoke 5 languages so he made everyone feel welcome. The scenery was amazing especially the island of Brac with the most wonderful early morning reflections of the beautiful village in the bay. The food was tasty and plentiful rivaling the odd episode of "Masterchef"
At the Captains dinner we also learnt that the boat was built by the captains family over 4 years with no design drawings. Amazing. We met some great people on board from Brazil and Germany. A fantastic adventure. We enjoyed the Croatian undulations!!! There are a few hills but it is worth it!!!! Enjoy

The small tour group was perfect for my 12 year old son and I. The biking was awesome - we both loved cycling through the farms and along the canals. Although it was rainy and windy for majority of the time - we still enjoyed it very much. The food was fantastic!!

At the start there was mix-up with our believing we were in Option A (written on receipt) but placed in Option B. Small issue but a surprise. Otherwise, maps worked fine once more used to the + or - aspect figured in to almost all mileage. We had a wonderful time!

Having the map to tryi to not get lost was so much fun. Thank you to all the staff for making the bike barge a great activity vacation.

Great trip BUT.. We decided to cycle with 6 others because we are experienced riders. We were counting on the signage being much more complete and easier to follow. At times, there was no indication of where to go. Our path just ended! Also, the bigger group, of about 18, had some inexperienced riders and we felt that riding in this large a group could be dangerous...which proved to be the case.
In one case, a previous rider had taken the liberty to use a marker to write our path number on a sign. Thanks to him/her we were able to continue on without taking out the GPS. Had this been done on several other signs, we would not have had to find our way ...using GPS..on many occasions. There were also 4 other Europeans, who cycled as a group, who experienced the same sense of frustration as us.
We will forward a photo to the Tripsite website. Thanks for providing a most enjoyable and memorable 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.

I would recommend it, but with reservations. I think there should have been two guides, one to take a faster group and one for a beginner group. A few people on the trip should not have been. They were not comfortable on their bikes, and were a daily danger to whomever they were near. Something should have been done about it.
I also would have liked to ride faster, and spend more free time in the little towns.

Had so much fun. Looking forward to doing it again. Been telling everyone they need to try it. Just riding your bike through the towns over cobble stone or brick. Just a great way to see a country.

The trip was enjoyable. Only drawback was that follow along Moselle River, some of the scenery of the vineyards became boring after a while. On previous trips we traveled more inland, seeing sights and then meeting up with barge at next destination.

Really impressed by the effort and kindness of the staff on the boat.

Only bad was some hills and a very long bridge (wife is afraid of heights and had to walk the over mile long bridge).

Had a wonderful time. The staff was very accommodating in making modifications due to the previous heavy rains and high water. The last day bike tour of Metz was disappointing in that it is a very difficult city to navigate on bikes with a number of people.

The barge - The Merlijn was unbelievably wonderful with huge cabins and wonderful big bathrooms with large showers.- very nice big dining room and bar area. All super clean! Wonderful hosts! The biking I found a bit disappointing mostly biking along the canals where there were trees on each side and not being able to see the countryside. Our last day we biked thru small villages and farms and I found that great!

My e-bike was great and I was used to it in a day or so. They are much heavier than a normal bike and if a bit off balance they are harder to right. They are a great help on the hills.

Our guide Lia was lots of fun. Very sharp map reader and knowledgeable regarding the history. The passengers were mostly German and very friendly.