5 Star Bike Tour Reviews — 871 to 900 of 4571

Travelling through the countryside of France and the champagne house tur

the tour guide and her wealth of knowledge and her surprises.

The first few days of unguided biking Bolzano to Mantova because of the beautiful surrounding mountains.

The scenery on this trip is absolutely stunning, and the e-bikes make it accessible to anyone. I am 65+ and not a regular cyclist, yet I had no problems at all conquering the hills. I would suggest bringing water shoes -- the beaches in Croatia are rocky, and there are often sea urchins underfoot.

We just got off the Magnifique III today. What a wonderful trip despite some inclimate weather. Our biking guides Peter and Edith were fun, knowledgeable, encouraging and brought us to some very interesting local places on our very scenic ride through countryside, fields, forests and towns. We had very full days eating breakfast at 8, on the road by 9:30 and back on the boat by 5 ish, depending on how many miles were covered , or if you took the long or short routes offered. The meals cooked by Chef Steven were magnificent-steak, seafood, fish and lots of veggie option- way beyond what I expected. Meike and Annika kept us very happy on board and took care of rooms and provisions. Captain Hank and first mate Jarre were experts at what they do, made themselves available for questions and occasional tours of the boat and kept us informed of our routes and sights along the way.
We had morning and nightly briefings, and Peter gave lots of history, tours and background info.
I was wowed by how first class this operation is. There were only 20 cabins, with a total of less than 40 in our group-perfect size.i chose an electric bike, with the option of choosing no, low, or high assist.
The terrain was flat, so assist was only needed in strong headwinds. I had wanted a top deck cabin with full length glass doors, but was too late booking to get one. It ended up that those cabins were sometimes blocked by a dock or another boat when docke so I am glad I did not spend the extra-unless you spent time in the rooms while sailing.
We went with a group of 6 and enjoyed our time together as everything was provided for. Lots of options for our athletic to laid back group. I will be booking another trip with them. Highly recommend

The beautiful boat, the excellent cook and crew.
I would suggest that the bike tour leaders would take a tiny bit more time to allow the bikers to stop at scenic sites to take photos.

We had a great time! As a bike guide in the US myself, I know how these things work. You cannot foresee every situation. And as a guide, we know to be flexible. And because of that we thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

Here are some thoughts for improvements for your next guests. These by no means took away from our enjoyment and are meant for future trips.
-- The hotels in general were nice. A few issues here and there (mostly normal stuff).
-- In Hainburg - Altes Kloster - there was no individually controlled AC. It was fine for us because the night was cool.
-- The breakfasts at all the hotels were excellent
-- In Esztergom, the Portobello Hotel was not so great. The hotel room actually smelled bad. My wife says it smelled like old shrimp. They sent someone up with a spray can which they left for us. That "hid" the smell for a while, and you got used to it. But when you stepped back in the room from outside you could clearly smell the mustiness. Also there was no coffee maker in the room (which is always a nice thing to have). We did OK there, but I'd recommend a different hotel for future guests.
-- Traveling by train from Gyor to Komarom was interesting. No elevators and no escalators. We had to carry bikes up and over (or down and under) the tracks to get to the platform. This is the kind of thing it would have been nice to know ahead of time.
-- There was no ferry service from Szentendre to Budapest. We ended up taking the train. While the docs say you might have to take the train, I think it would have been nice to have been told ahead of time that there would not be a boat.
-- Perhaps too, a little more heads up about possible river flooding and the need for detours (honestly, the guy we met with the bikes may have mentioned this. I'm just bring it up as a "nice to know" tip for future guests.

Again, none of these took away from *our* trip (except maybe the Portobello Hotel). As a bike guide these are the kinds of thing we like to look for and inform our guests about ahead of time.

And yes... we will see you on another adventure soon! We had a blast!

Thanks
-Philip & Caroline

Hard to list one thing - many museums in Copenhagen and the canal boat ride; maritime museum in Helsingor, Viking ship village in Roskilde, riding along the sea, fine breakfasts, friendly and helpful Danish people. It was a bit hillier than I expected on a couple of days. Printed and phone app instructions were excellent.

The hotels were wonderful, we navigated better with ride with gps app. We had an amazing experience

What a fun filled, adventurous week! Our guide, was wonderful-I would highly recommend doing this trip with a guide-having someone to explain the history and the customs of the area was invaluable.

The loveliness and peacefulness of biking by the canal. The GPS tracks were spot on as was the support from Robert. The bikes were outstanding and the accommodations were perfect!

The food was incredible. The guides were friendly and helpful!

I very much enjoyed my self-guided Prague-Krakow bicycle tour. I traveled solo and chose upgraded accomodations and extra nights in Prague, Auschwitz and Krakow, which I would recommend. Unfortunately due to a canceled United Airlines flight, I was only able to spend 1 night in Prague. All of the personnel were quite helpful. The itinerary was clear and managable. W the exception of my last day in Krakow, my bags always arrived before I did (usually between 12-1). Two hotels charged me an additional city tax (Hotels Clement and Trinity). Be aware that there is a significant amount of off road gravel, dirt and rough riding, which for me added to the adventurous quality of the trip. I also chose an upgraded gravel bike, which I highly recommend. I don't know if I would upgrade the hotels again, in that there were at least 2 nights I was in 3 star hotels when 4 star options were listed on the itinerary. The Ride w GPS ap was at times confusing. For example, multiple times it indicated I was off course, when I doubled back to look for a missed turn, it then indicated that in fact I was going the correct way. The ap guided to the city center and not to the final hotel destination. Therefore, it is essential to get a sim card and have internet access to map to your individual hotel. Definitely bring a back up phone battery and a method for attaching it to your phone on the handlebar. I was also informed that the contract w the luggage carrier was to deliver the bag by 5 pm. Therefore, you may want to carry a change of clothes in your pannier. As mentioned, that only occurred one time (Krakow) where I had to wait a couple of hours to change out of my sweaty bike clothes. I especially enjoyed Olomouc and Krakow (go to the Schlinder museum). Overall, I would recommend Tripsite and I'm already looking for my next self guided bicycle adventure.

The scenery was spectacular and the barge crew was excellent

The tour was very well organized. Pieter was waiting for us at the Abcoude train station when we arrived and he took the time to thoroughly explain everything about the bikes, the equipment, safety rules and tips, hotels, etc. Most of the pedalling is through the country side and small and quaint villages. The scenery was beautiful and relaxing. All hotels were excellent, with well appointed rooms although a few were on the smaller side. Nevertheless, all hotels had their own unique charm and all breakfasts were excellent.

Before starting, we thought we could average around 18 km/h but in reality, we were closer to the 15-16 km/ average pretty much every day. Main reasons for that were :
1. Head winds (sometimes quite strong) more than half of the time which slow you down
2. Stopping/starting to take pictures, admire the scenery. Every time you stop, you have to get back up to speed.
3. Cycling through towns and villages, you can't go very fast as there are pedestrians and you are cycling on (sometimes very) uneven coblestones.
4. Getting lost. The GPS worked quite well in the country side but not as well once in larger cities. Not all wrong detours were the GPS fault though!

Some tips :
- Leave early if you would like to make some stops along the way (take a coffee, visit a windmill, etc.) and not arrive at your destination at 6 PM. This is especially true if you want to visit something at your end destination for the day as most attractions close around 5 PM.
- Plan your next day's itinerary the night before. Some days there aren't many lunch options along the way so make sure your timing is right. On day 3, we ended up doing a little more than 40 kms before lunch and ate around 2:30 PM because the area where we wanted to stop turned out to be a commercial area with no place to eat.
- Expect to do a few more kms every day because of wrong turns, things to visit, etc.
- Have a data plan. For us, because the GPS didn't always work so well in town, that's what we used to get to the hotels 4 of the 6 days.
- As mentioned in the documentation on how to prepare, make sure you are saddle ready. Based on our experience, the most difficult/painful day was the second one. After that, it got better every day.

Overall, we loved our experience and we highly recommend this tour without hesitation.

This boat and bike trip was really an ideal combination accessible cycling for all in our party (with a mix of e-bikes and gravel bikes), fantastic gourmet food onboard the Andela Lora and great way to experience getting to know Isteria. The boat was well-appointed and comfortable for the 34 guests and we all felt very well looked-after!

The director and crew were very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the ride through the scenic landscape and quaint towns. The tours were very good too!

We had a wonderful experience on the tour. The boat exceeded our expectations in terms of accommodation and the food was delicious. Our tour guides were knowledgeable and very organized - clear about bike directions and safety conscious. Biking was a mix of roads and gravel trails. E bike recommended unless you are a strong cyclist.

We had an amazing time on our Istrian bike/barge trip in May/June 2024. We loved the guides and the crew and the food was amazing! The scenery and bike routes were spectacular and we really enjoyed the extras (Croatian language lesson, Croatian history/geography lecture and city guides) ! Would recommend and hope to do again.

A note and not a review. Some colleagues returned to the Fluvius a few minutes after midnight and the sliding glass doors on either side of the main deck were locked. These doors were locked with a key on both the outside and the inside. My concern is that if there were an emergency and crew were not available, passengers could not open the sliding glass doors from the inside. I think this is a safety issue and those doors should have an emergency inside lock that can be opened by any passenger or crew without a key or without specific training.

Overall, a great trip. Excellent meals - thanks to Mirka and her staff. Carla and Laura were great tour guides and I hope Carla recovers from her accident soon.

Another suggestion - review mirrors on the bikes would make keeping groups together a bit easier.

Great group, amazing food!!, beautiful surroundings, well chosen routes, catered to a variety of capability and fitness levels. We all could do it. The e-bikes were reliable and made the trip doable for all.
The ship was clean and comfortable and the crew super congenial. We were grateful to have an above deck cabin.

The excellent food, for me, was the most memorable. The biking and the guides were great but the quality of the food stood out for me

Crew was amazing! Food was gourmet. Itinerary was perfect. Bike rides were the perfect combination of scenic and challenge. Boat was comfortable.

Food and service, cleanliness was excellent. The Staff was fantastic also. Only drawback was charging for coffee and water during non- meal times.

The whole trip was amazing. The people, the food, the beauty of Italy. Illenia our tour guide took great care of us, along with Eunice. I am ready to do it again!!!

We were on the boat "Sailing Home" and we went from Bruges to Amsterdam. We've never done a Bike & Barge trip before and this trip far exceeded our expectations. From the moment we stepped on board, there was a warm welcome from the 5 fantastic crew members. These 5 could not do enough for you to make your trip a trip to remember. There were 22 travelers on board and having breakfast and dinners with them was so much fun. The food was 5 star every night, the captain was awesome with our boat... smooth and easy travel. Our bike guide was outstanding. We went to so many different places, learned about the history in the villages, she personalized the trip by taking us to a cheese farm and was calm under pressure! The biking was incredible... it was so beautiful everywhere! The rooms were cozy and it was so nice having a bathroom in each room! I highly recommend this trip. It was spectacular!

The route is carefully planned to include as much rural bike paths and beautiful country side. As someone who grew up in the Netherlands, I am very impressed in the careful planning of green and agricultural area versus urbanization. The route led us via these green parts of the Netherland I hadn't experienced before. The cultural aspect in the selection of stop=over cities is also noteworthy and admirable.

All in all a great trip and highly recommendable.

Our bike guides, Luka and Luka were amazing. They were friendly, informative, and very helpful. We look forward to biking with them again! The tour of the Southern Dalmatia islands was fantastic; Solta and Korcula being two of our favourite islands.
The Magellan, was very comfortable and clean, with an air conditioned cabin and great bathroom facilities. Personally, I loved the bathroom, with a separate, good sized shower. Ivan, our captain, docked us in the most perfect spots. We also must say the chef onboard, Bojan, was amazing! All the crew and staff were very friendly.

The Vivienne and its crew were all exceptional! I would not change anything. Our guide, Leslie went above and beyond.

The staff aboard the Magnifique IV were fabulous. We had great bike tour guides. The people we met on the ship were from all over the world and we all became friends. I would highly recommend this tour and we will be doing this again