Bike Tour Reviews — 1681 to 1710 of 6495

This was my first bike & barge trip, any type of bicycling tour, and it definitely will not be my last! The Clair de Lune was more than comfortable, from the beds to the dining area. The food our chef Chris put out exceeded my expectations, every single dinner was plentiful and tasty. Most memorable was his Thai soup! Bicycling through all the ancient, small towns and along the canals was absolutely beautiful- a memorable trip in EVERY way. Ed, our bicycling guide, always gave us enough time to tour each area we stopped at, which was most appreciated. I am already looking to find a tour to do with my husband, as this one was a girl's trip - 13 of us!
My only recommendation would be to change the wording on the application, instead of calling the bicycle a "HYBRID" perhaps change it to "MANUAL with gears"... as I honestly thought a hybrid could do both, electric & manual.
Thank you for a wonderful trip!

Everything was great! Exceeded my expectations. I would recommend a GoPro !

Everything was great! Exceeded my expectations. I would recommend a GoPro !

Our group of 4 friends (2 couples) enjoyed the chateaux that we visited, the French countryside, cuisine, wine tasting, accommodations, and friendliness of the French people. We would likely not have found the hotels selected if we planned the trip ourselves and several were very unusual and enjoyable. The hotel locations were typically near a variety of restaurants. In Tours we found a very interesting museum housing journeyman crafted works in all trades that were exquisite. We also encountered a "self-service" ferry boat that was fun to operate. Angers had a chateau housing the Apocalypse tapestry that we found worthwhile.
This ride was a mix of flat and hilly days with the last day longer and hillier than the rest. One of our riders was "fit" and in his 60's and had no difficulties; I, fortunately, upgraded to an e-bike and managed fine but struggled the week before on several of the Amboise based rides (I am 74 and a lifetime rider). In addition to the subjective difficulty rating, it would be helpful to include the total elevation change in the tour listing so one can better decide between a regular bike and e-bike.
The other complaint was the quality of the maps and instructions. They are not adequate without the app that was provided though I was told the maps and ride instructions would be sufficient. (I've seen some comments on other tours about app problems, too.) I was expecting maps and instructions of the quality provided on rides in the past and these were dissimilar. Sign posting was generally good but not always. The app did manage to keep us on track, however. The app also routed us to the destination city but not to the hotel so we had to use google to find the hotel. All part of the adventure, I suppose.
The bikes were flawless and appropriate for the roads and the support from Tripsite before and during the tour, especially with my last minute request for an e-bike upgrade was excellent and greatly appreciated - a big shout out to the Tripsite team. This was our 4th Tripsite trip and we look forward to our next one.

Loved this tour. The scenery was beautiful , the historic sights amazing and our guides Sarina and Fabien were wonderful. They prepared delicious picnic lunches each day, so pretty they were worthy of a food magazine cover. The winery tour was really fun but I think my favorite part was the last days ride through the Ardeche canyon. We met up with a herd of goats who were completely unpreturbed by our presence or that of the several vehicles they blocked!

Dinner/wine tasting with Luca and Roberto.

The written route directions could be made a bit clearer. I would suggest you have a native English speaker try riding the routes and make changes as (s)he goes. They were okay but there were a few places where they were difficult to follow. The GPS is definitely helpful but sometimes it lagged so the written directions are needed.

The places you suggested to go to were all great along with the vouchers … and you definitely needed someone to read the GPS correctly since it could be tricky. I would also suggest an electric bike if people are thinking about it all since there are a lot of hills but all doable and needs to be see on the trails.

The most awesome part of the trip was the whole staff!! They definitely made the trip memorable and fun!

Cycling through the stunningly beautiful and varied landscapes. Not to be rushed and stop for coffee breaks to enjoy watching the locals .

Don't miss this unique and intimate opportunity. Traveling the Flora is not for the high maintenance, needy and demanding. This is like very fancy camping on a magnificent boat that also serves as someone’s home. You are in someone’s home, being welcomed to their dining room, their living room and their hearts.

The ship is efficiently run! The captain is friendly and kind but gives the air (as any good captain should) that this is his boat and his rules. If you are familiar with small boat life you get it. It is a busy life with many parts and pieces. The chef! Junna, what can I say except you can taste her commitment and passion for cooking. My husband and I love variety and flavors and the Flora delivers! Quaint, rustic and nutrient packed dishes were a lovely surprise every day. I was fortunate to spend time with her and wish I had more time. She could easily become a great friend.
Berthus, Junna and Christiana were wonderfully kind, generous and great hosts.
Hetty, our guide, is the picture of loveliness. She is genuine in her interest of your holiday and eager to help you settle in to your desire for your own holiday expectation. She was helpful and hard working, kind and efficient. I would love to travel with her again.

The Flora is cozy and unique. Cabins are clean and well cared for. If you expect all the comforts of a massive cruise this is not your boat, but if you truly want a family home experiencing small boat life in a intimate setting, then Flora and it’s crew are it! We will definitely travel with them again in the future.

This morning on our departure as our taxi pulled away, Berthus, Junna, Hetty and Christiana were there behind us waiving good bye. I did not have a tissue for my tears.

My only complaint. If the crew makes you fall in love with the country you are visiting, the boat you are traveling on and them, they should make sure you have a tissue for your tears when you depart.

Love you all Flora! Thank you so much.

The scenery was spectacular, especially between Passau and Linz and later through the wine region. Flat bike path almost all the way from Passau to Vienna. The booklet with directions that was given to us at orientation was extremely well organized, very clear, and useful. We enjoyed very much the freedom of the self-guided tour, stopping in villages for a cappuccino and pastries. Our luggage was always there when we arrived at our hotel. The hotels were nice, except for the one in Linz, (Shwarzer Bar) which was right above a noisy bar, and with poor service. I would recommend a different hotel. A major highlight of the trip was Hotel Kirchenwirt in the lovely village of Weissenkichen, in the one region. In fact, I would recommend staying two nights there to enjoy the spectacular biking through the vineyards and resting bit in the middle of the trip. The two 70+km days were a bit long but very doable. Overall a memorable vacation, very well organized by Tripsite.

This itinerary was a perfect combination of good bike rides on excellent pathways, interesting towns and villages and stunning scenery at every bend in the Mosel river.
The daily plan allowed for ample time to visit and explore towns along the route and the overnight stops. The fact that harvest was in full swing added an interesting insight into the central industry of the Mosel.

Being a part of the Touaventur family at their farm near Evora

This trip is a unique combination of bike adventure, safari, and cultural appreciation of a complex country that richly deserves our attention, understanding, and affection. Highly recommend!
Our family of 2 parents and 2 adult children had the trip of a lifetime: biking through breathtaking African scenery and local villages, coming face to face with some of the most majestic animals on the planet, and enjoying time with our lively, informative, and excellent guides who have deep roots in the provinces we visited: Limpopo and Mpumalanga. It is unusual to find a guided bike ride in these places - many roads are unpaved or hard to access - but the guides’ resources and knowledge of the area makes this special trip possible.
Lizélle is the tour director, and she has created an amazing itinerary that allows guests to experience the warm hospitality of private game reserves, delicious home-cooked meals on the “braai,” and unique personal encounters (e.g., we toured her family’s avocado and macadamia farms), all while being a first-rate cyclist herself. She bikes all the rides with the group, and she can change a flat tire in record time.
Lizélle’s right-hand is Wendel, a delightful and extremely knowledgeable naturalist and environmentalist who also serves as van driver, chef, storyteller, troubleshooter, and historian. Wendel can expound on everything from the mating habits of hippos and giraffes, to the traits of countless birds, insects, and plants, to the history, politics, and race relations of South Africa, with appreciation for all of its complexities. Together, these two were not only engaging and fun, but also meticulous and attentive in their preparation and delivery of a high-quality experience for their guests. We loved it!

I thought the whole trip was fantastic, the scenery so beautiful.
The length of the rides could have been a little longer - which a few of us took advantage on a couple of occasions to ride extra kilometres..
The guide’s first on this Trip, and the bikes were not in expected condition hence my 4..

It was a very pleasant experience to visit Croatia with Tripsite handling most of the logistics. The days were well planned and our tour guides, Ivan and Mario, not only explained what we were going to be doing each day, they also led the rides. It was not unusual for them to stop from time to time along the ride to point out interesting information and facts about the areas that we were riding in that day. The food menu on the boat was well planned out each day and there was a variety different main courses each evening. The cabins and bathrooms were clean, adequate and comfortable. If you are or have been thinking about a bike and boat trip, this would certainly be one to add to your list of considerations.

Riding up Restonica Gorge outside of Corte really showcased the rugged beauty of this island. The pedal-assist bikes were necessary and very good quality. We appreciated our guide Georg who had encyclopedic knowledge of the history and geography of Corsica, among many other things. As the only Americans in this all-German group, we still still achieved a lively camaraderie by the end of the week. Two of the hotels were wonderful, charming and stylish; two other hotels were disappointing in their setting and service level (from someone who is picky about hotels!). Bring layers for cycling - even in hot weather there were shady downhills that got very chilly!

We had a wonderful time on our trip. The Boat ,room, staff, and meals were excellent. All the staff work very hard to make sure all have a great trip.
One thing I would recommend to others is to bring light rain gear and gloves for riding

The fall weather made for a beautiful ride along the Danube. The GPS was excellent at guiding us down the bike lanes and thru the lovely villages and cities. The route has impressive paved off road trails most of the way with occasional packed gravel trails. The hotels were excellent and our bags were always awaiting are arrival. We have taken other trips with Tripsite and they have all been well organized and fun.

Climbing the very steep road through the vineyards to the view point.

The inland parts: more hilly and definitely a more rocky tandscape.We were disappointed with the Trpsite information we did not receive prior to arriving: no water bottles provided; use of an app on our phone that we barely managed to get to function before heading out. Again Solentobihpkes was fine. They just didn't know what Tripsite had not told us. For navigation we had no reason to not expect a freestanding Garment like device like friends on other trips had. "And, by the way, did you bring a battery pack since the phone will quickly run out of power?" Luckily the tour company had an extra pack for us. Others seemed to have been told about the navigation system and the need for battery pack. They probably books with a different agency.

The white villages were beautiful. The hotels were excellent and our guides were so kind and attentive. Great trip and we had e-bikes which we needed for elevation changes.

Crew was engaging and friendly.
Hats off to Chris the food was delicious.
Bike maintenance was sub par. My front bikes never worked. Some riders had Saddle issues, chains/derailers not shifting correctly. One of the e-bikes was broken and the guest was forced to ride hybrid bike. Another ebike should have been offered to her.
Ed, our guide did the best he could regarding the route since he was not familiar with the area. Most of the ladies were under the impression there was going to be more wine tastings along the way. I was there to cycle and easily could’ve done 60 miles a day or more. I realize there was many different cycling levels in the group. I personally own Mtn ebike and an analog mountain bike. I wasn’t too impressed with the e-bikes provided.

The daily rides supported by the bike and boat guide Wilma on the de Holland , was excellent! Each city and countryside we rode through was that much better with the detail of information provided by her. Loved each day.
Be prepared for wind and a little rain in October month.

Most memorable was the excellent guiding from Wilma who gave us so much information about the routes.

It was wonderful visiting the cities and small towns each day in addition to the countryside.

Road cycling in and between small villages in the Loire Valley countryside is a great experience that we will remember for a lifetime. The air was fresh and clean; the farm roads and paths quiet and almost entirely car-free; and the locals we encountered along the way were delighted to attempt conversation with us. We often stopped along the way at small local patisseries, boulangeries, and ice cream shops for sustenance, which was heavenly and inexpensive by American standards. We traveled by train from Paris to the start of our tour in Orleans and again by train from the end of our tour in Le Croisic back to Paris. The trains conveniently ran frequently, quickly and on-time.

We bookended our self-guided cycling tour with a few days in Paris at both ends of the tour. We were glad that we gave ourselves time to adjust to the nine-hour time difference and the attendant rigors of travel before getting on our rental bikes in Orleans. Taking a few days at the end before returning home gave us an opportunity to visit the Palace at Versailles, the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, as well as learning how to navigate the Paris Metro and RER transit systems without the pressure of catching a flight or a train.

Our tour was customized at our request to include the routes of three six-day tours offered by Tripsite, run back-to-back. If we were to do this tour again, we'd include some extra overnight stays in the tour to give us a chance to spend more time doing activities off the bike.

We elected to purchase a dinner package. This was helpful as it made sure we had reservations at suitable restaurants where we sampled French haut cuisine that we likely would have missed had we not bought the package. In France, many smaller towns have limited dinner service on Sunday and Monday evenings, so having reservations in advance saved us from going hungry a couple of times. We also elected to purchase a château tours package, as we anticipated long lines at the ticket windows for château tours.

Our accommodations were excellent. All of them were well suited to cycle tourists, providing safe and secure places to park our bicycles overnight.

The rental bikes we used were very suitable for touring and well-maintained, and came with repair kits that came in handy when we experienced a couple of flat tires. The rental service was very accomodating when we wanted to change our pedals to SPD-style pedals and replace a non e-bike with an e-bike during the tour. The e-bike had a removable battery so we could charge it in our hotel room.

Tripsite provided an app for our smartphones, “Roadbook for Discovery.” The app proved to be useful for navigating the trip stages as it would notify us when we were off-course, provide use with descriptive information for places of interest and the availability of food and picnic areas along and near the route. It also includes an “SOS” feature that we did not need to use. Having the routes on our GARMIN GPS devices with European cycling maps would have been an improvement in navigating the routes. We learned to rely on the Loire Vélo road signs for most of our journey. Having a GPS is helpful when the "official" route is blocked or detoured.  SHOW MORE 

The Mosel valley is a wonderful cycling locale. There are few hills, endless "cute" (ie scenic) storybook towns and villages, and of course vineyards climbing every hill in a patchwork quilt. There are hills on both sides of the valley, so it is protected from strong winds and the climate is very mild - after all, that's why the Romans lived there for hundreds of years and even moved their capital from Rome to Trier. As a North American I had never heard of the starting and ending towns, but they turned out to be easily accessible by rail from major cities. Being there the first week of September coincided with the wine festivals in pretty much every town. This was my second time cycling along the Mosel; there was little overlap between the two cycling holidays as the itinerary was quite different. And the boats were very different too. Even when we visited the same towns we saw different things. And we cycled one day from a volcano caldera down a rail-to-bike-path trail that descended 1000' in 55km, including almost-one-kilometre long stone tunnels through mountains. It is such a relaxing trip I would consider doing it again.

Overall, this is a lovely trip, with beautiful sites and numerous delightful stops along the way. We chose category A hotels, modified the 7 day trip by adding a 2nd night in Lindau, and spent the last 2 nights in Arbon, where we ended the trip, without returning to Konstanz (this is our 9th trip, about 50% bike and barge). It appears the daily destinations change depending on the length of trip and availability(or best rate for booking company??).
Pros: Lots to do in Konstanz, including swimming in the lake. Enjoyed Hotel Halm very much - central location, nice rooms and good breakfasts. We adored Hotel Rheingold - rooms were new, with patio or deck, and restaurant was delicious, with a gorgeous hilltop view. Lindau was the perfect 2 night stop with lots to see and quaint restaurants. The upgraded Bayerischer in Lindau was super with much appreciated sauna and two wonderful pools, delicious breakfast - highly recommend the A+ upgrade. Parkhotel in Uberlingen also had lovely amenities. We had super Sept/October weather and towns were very charming all along the way. Stein am Rhein is worth a short stop, if that’s on your route.
Cons: The tour operator requires you to get your bikes from their location - every other trip we’ve done, the bikes were waiting for us at the hotel - not a big deal, but just FYI. Although we loved Hotel Rheingold in Gailingen, we question why bike to Gailingen - there are so many other towns that are actually around Lake Constance we would have preferred to spend time in. The route was mostly farmland all along the way and not great - then bike back the same way, about 60k, to Parkhotel in Uberlingen which is straight up a difficult hill, with no restaurant options other than the pricey hotel restaurant. Because of the long day, we missed sites in/around Uberlingen. We found Arbon sweet (be sure to see the MOMO cider museum), but the Frohsinn hotel rooms, although clean and efficient, seemed just above hostel grade.
Overall, we can recommend this trip, but if you’re looking for a truly scenic, seamless route without large climbs, we’d suggest a trip along the Mosel…spectacular!

The most memorable part was sailing through the small islands and riding our bikes with the beautiful sea as a back drop.
I think I would not make a s many stops. I had trouble with my bike, so I would suggest newer bikes.
The guides were great.

Excellent itinerary with great paths and trails. Love the Merlijn and all that it has to offer. Coen and Christina along with the crew are 5star! Thomas was a terrific guide and fun to travel with.