4 Star Bike Tour Reviews — 661 to 690 of 1207

Our guide, Michaela, started each beautiful ride through the country side with such a positive attitudes and great information!
Loved the trip up to Le Baux!

The tour is amazing. It's the best way of knowing the north coast of Portugal. The villages are really nice, the landscape is beautiful, the hotels were good. The route was really easy to follow. We didn't have any trouble at all. The only thing that would have been better is if could have ridden over less national roads.

Bicycling to Chenonceau, going through vineyards, stopping to taste wines at a small private chateau with terraced gardens.

Nice route, much of it on dedicated bicycle paths. The gravel bikes we rented were good - no mechanical issues of any kind. The biggest problem was that when we arrived at Perouges, a beautifully preserved medieval town, we found that ALL of the restaurants in town were closed that (Wednesday) night,. The tour required a Sunday start, thereby guaranteeing a frustrating visit to Perouges on Wednesday.
One other suggestion. It was pretty hot and it would have been nice if there had been 2 bottle cages on each bike.
We did enjoy this tour.

Pedaling through the fields of France was magnificent. Loved hooping off for a quick wine tasting or a leisurely tour through a chateau.

The lovely countryside and friendliness of the polish people.
We had opted for e- bikes. And one had a faulty brake but with the help of an outstanding helpful driver (Pawel) it was fixed and we could use it on the second day. He also bought holders for phones which was an absolute must.
Generally the hotels met our expectations. Jóhanna the guide in Krakow was wonderful.
The maps and the description of the route were useless for us. Too detailed and impossible to follow. We were not able to use the mapme app partly because we got the GPS too late. Instead we used Google maps.
All things considered it was a great trip that we sincerely recommend.

Crew Competence and friendliness. Cruising on the portions of bike baths through tunnels of trees on stretches, immediately next to the river, especially in the morning.
Suggestions:
--Bike guides should wear helmets. They're role models for the guests, some of whom aren't fully aware of the frequency with which helmets save lives. The silent message from our bare-headed guides was that it's perfectly fine, and maybe more 'cool,' to go without helmets.
-- Move to earlier starts in very hot weather. Riding in the morning was heaven. Riding in mid-afternoon was unpleasant.
--Getting left at the end of the trip at a barren concrete outpost far from town was not elegant. It would leave a better last impression to spring 100 Euro for a van to take us the 5 miles to the town center or train station.

The cycling trip is most enjoyable amid stunning scenery and charming towns.
Please be transparent about your costs. I booked the chateau experience and paid more than I expected for the trip only to discover the Tripsite did not include the chateau experience in my vouchers. I received several emails in response to my queries re cost only to be given different answers re bank charges, currency conversion and hidden credit card charges, despite the fact I paid with a debit card. This is an American company that uses the dollar to suit it figures. I urge anyone using this company to get a detailed invoice before starting out. We were over charged for our trip but the company was not willing to accept this.

Favorite Part: The fantastic landscapes of Connemara.

The beauty of the countryside. The combination of sea and country. The quiet towns with an old world fee.

Biking through the country side in Belgium and the Netherlands. Very beautiful villages, and the open fields in the countryside. And of course the people we shared the trip. with.

The enthusiasm of our tour guides was excellent. They helped the family (our group of 6) a couple of times by sacrifice of their personal time and attention.
Some better orientation on ebike and gears would have been helpful. The "sore-butt" syndrome for inexperienced riders was worth it.

Bob W

Kinderdijk was amazing.

We had a wonderful time, and will go again on yet another (our third) Tripsite tour! The staff was Friendly, creative, and responsive. . . There were so many interesting people from all over, which enriched our travel experience. The scenery was uniformly beautiful and full of history, whether watching it as we sailed, biking through it, or taking a tour of one of the cities. . Our room was very comfortable -- we enjoyed sitting on our "balcony" and watching the Danube flow by . . . The chefs did an outstanding job in terms of quality, variety, and presentation and we enjoyed every meal.
I would advise future travelers to read the itinerary carefully and to plot it on a map so they would be clear how much time is available for sightseeing in certain cities. We spent longer traveling on the boat than we realized. The upside is that we did a lot of reading!

Although we enjoyed the trip, there is no one thing that stands out as the most memorable. However, there are some things that need improvement:
- The food. This was a top-rated boat but some of the food was sub-par. For instance, you do not serve vegetables from a can!
- Having electric bikes and regular bikes in the same guided groups is a mistake. The regular bikes do not have a chance and the pace keeps getting quicker and quicker, pushing the ordinary bikes aside. There should be separate guides for the two types of bikes.
- Riding through the cities was terrifying, particularly in The Netherlands where everyone rides bikes. We have been on another boat/bike tour down the Danube (with RadReisen) and our tours of the cities were by bus with riding only on the fringes. It was much safer and you saw and learned about so much more.

Crete is a fabulous place - breathtaking beaches, a rich and ancient history, wonderful food, warm, welcoming people. However, the island is rugged and mountainous, and presents some serious challenges for the cyclist. While we were dropped off each morning high in the mountains, there were still many steep sections that were challenging to navigate, and at times the winds at the summits were quite serious. The trip is listed as "easy to moderate", but our experience suggests that it should be in the moderate to difficult category, and - certainly for less experienced cyclists - we would highly recommend renting an electric bike to help with the steeper slopes. In any case, the tour was a great experience - the cycling was rigorous and exhilarating. We enjoyed the chance to ride through remote mountain areas, stopping in small villages, visiting historic sites along the way, breaking for lunch at small taverns with stunning views to the coast. The beaches on the south coast were stunningly beautiful, with crystal clear water and long, sandy stretches of coastline. And the food - indescribably delicious!

Ease of living on the boat including meals, rooms, drinks, comfort etc.
Did not like hybrid bikes as I usually ride a road bike.
Would have liked to have biked or sailed into the wine region

Biking town to town is a great way to get to know a country; you see places off-the-beaten trail, ride through tiny towns, national forests and coastal cities, sample local specialties from seafood to wine to dessert. The comradeship, meeting new people was also great.

Suggestions? Drink water and wear lots of sunscreen!

Riding along beautiful fields of wheat and sunflowers. Enjoying outside. A stress free vacation in nature.
Wine tours: there was not any information/education about the grapes. A missed opportunity I thought.
The first chef on our boat was not very good. Food is a big part of a vacation. That area needs attention we all felt.

Our tour guide Corrie was the best!

Beautiful countryside, wonderful chateau’s. We stayed at the Hotel la Breche which is 2 blocks from the train in a quiet residential area and a short 10 minute walk to town. Included was an unbelievable 8 course meal. It was very fancy and fun to try French cuisine. Breakfasts were wonderful also. Hosts are very hospitable. We enjoyed sitting in the gardens when not in use for the restaurant.
The bike routes were great in that we were mostly on bike trails. It was great to have a focus for the days ride. We found the directions co fusing and had a hard time figuring out which voucher for chateaus went with which day tour. The bikes were also very cumbersome. They had a deep V and there was no room between the V and the water bottle so it was hard to get on and off and to stand. Once on them they did work well.

Most Memorable Part: The castles, garden, beautiful paths for biking.

The food on the barge was excellent, much better than I anticipated. The staff was friendly, very hard working and seemed to enjoy working together to make our trip special. The accommodations on the barge were very comfortable. We biked through the countryside, past farms, and small villages, places a tourist wouldn't normally see. Even though this tour was rated "easy" it did require a certain amount of biking skill as the terrain on the bike paths varied from cobblestones, brick, gravel, dirt, narrow and sometimes crowded with other bikers.

The windmills and the cheese farm were the most memorable. We found the cafeteria style dining to be at least unromantic and that the portions could have been bigger. The crew was awesome. The ship gorgeous, the weather incredible. But it was always odd on the boat - not enough camaraderie among the passengers with no encouraged social interaction outside of forced togetherness at meals which with Covid rampant was a concern. I think it was a shame that the boat didn’t include the windmill tour as part of the activity because we felt it a fabulous understanding of what we were traveling through and by. Thank you for a wonderful vacation! Fredda and Derek

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Offer a less congested route out of Amsterdam. The route we were given took us through the areas with the most traffic and a lot of confusing turns. An alternative route could easily be offered and would have made the first day's ride a lot less stressful.
2. Several of our bikes had problems with shifting and other things. My bike often would shift down and up with no input from me other than pedaling. Two other bikes in our group of four had shifting issues. Also, my seat kept tilting forward on the seat post, despite the fact that I had a multi-tool and would crank the Allen bolt as tight as I could. Unbelievably, there was no interest from Dutch Bike Tours in identifying which bikes had problems.
3. Although most hotels were nice (we had the upgraded package), a few were very disappointing. In particular, the Woerten Best Western and the Vlissingen Hotel Piccard were quite bad and depressing, with tiny rooms and no charm at all. These were unacceptable.
4. The ride was scenic and very pleasant-- the bikes themselves and a few bad hotels were the only bummers.

Just returned from this cycle tour and had a wonderful experience. The castles just kept getting better each day. Our favourite was the Leonardo portion. We stayed at Le Breche which was very comfortable. Our one dinner there was amazing and have never eaten like that before! The court yard was beautiful, large and private and the owner allowed us to being our own wine and snacks to enjoy before the restaurant opened. Our only complaint was the bikes! They were extremely heavy and way to large for our lady group. The water bottle holder caused a lot of leg bruising and after the first day we had to remove it. Once we were able to get up in the saddle they rode ok. Countryside was lovely with all sorts of crops and vineyards. The instructions were ok and only had a couple hick-ups. The roads wondered through small villages and roads with very little traffic. Over all a good trip.

The Camino itself since the scenery was exceptional and picture perfect! Living on a small island, greenery is lacking so seeing all the lovely meadows, rolling fills and forests was breathtaking. The final ceremony at the Cathedral in Santiago was amazing as we witnessed the botafumeiro swing and we all felt a special emotion which we will never forget! Thank you Tripsite for materialising our dream and for the professional way you have led this journey. Now on to the next one ☺️

This is a very beautiful and historic area of Spain. We were enchanted by the scenery and the antiquities. The people are very friendly and helpful. We certainly needed that friendly help several times as the information provided by Cycle Catalonia was not accurate, often mixing left and right, or direction to turn but there were two or more possible turns in that direction.

The excursion cycling around Budapest was very memorable and our tour guide was excellent! The park on the island was definitely the highlight. We made some wonderful new English speaking friends and really enjoyed meal times with them.

The final night's celebration party was super fun and everyone enjoyed the 70's theme. Dinner on the upper deck was amazing! The restaurant manger was so kind and helpful at every meal. He made the dining experience top notch. Hopefully, the air-conditioning in the dining room is fixed for next time.

Another suggestion would be to streamline the briefings for the cycling routes by using prerecorded media and then allow Leslie to answer questions in person at a later time.

Leslie the cruise director was awesome. He was always at the ready to help out with any questions or problems.

Everything on the boat was great except the smoking policies were not enforced. People smoked everywhere on the top deck and took away from the experience. No one stopped them and as a result my wife's asthma was triggered.

Loved the great bike paths