Provence - Wilderness of Camargue Tour Reviews — 31 to 60 of 148

The food, the staff, and the perfect mix of strangers from around the world exceeded our expectations. The cookbook also a nice surprise souvenir that we now keep on our coffee table. Mikky is an excellent guide, for many reasons! The bikes are solid!
Suggestions, nothing major, simply notes to help things out:
1) a reminder in the morning to bring money for entrance fees. No problem with them not being included in the trip cost, I simply could have used a reminder. The situation was handled fine, but would prefer to avoid asking people for a loan.
2) please consider making and showing a short video RE how to be a “corner”; corner positioning, what/who to look for, when to leave your post. perhaps consider a longer video that covers all the biking etiquette, such as safe distance between bikes, traffic signals, etc.
To explain my 4 rating; I simply didn’t come to understand how small the room was until entering it. I looked at room pictures and measurements and considered them. When we entered our room it our new reality became obvious. This is not our first bike and barge trip. The largest boat we have been on held 24 guests. However, this is the smallest room we have stayed in. Going forward we now know what we are considering when seeing these room measurements and layouts, and we will likely avoid them going forward. We understand the rooms cannot be changed, simply explaining our 4 rating.

I have been on five bike and barge trips before, and this one was very special due to the crew on the Estello… Georgio, Our bike guide was full of history, fun and knowledge of the area. Sarah, our chef was absolutely amazing… We rode our bikes through some beautiful countryside as well as on many well paved paths…. Met so many nice people. Highly recommend this trip… I prefer the small or intimate bike and barge trips in this certainly met that criteria!

This trip was so well organized, plus the boat and crew were perfect. The food was based on local specialties and ingredients, cooked perfectly! (The cook did a great job with vegetarian options too!) I loved seeing the quieter rural areas of southern France via bike and boat, it was perfect!

We really enjoyed this trip! The crew of the boat was wonderful and the meals were excellent! The landscape for biking was primarily flat and beautiful. I found the times we encountered motorists on our trail to be very safe. Our guide was experienced, energetic and made this trip so memorable!

The trip was a lot of fun. The day trips were well planned and with fun stops to eat and see attractions. The food was excellent every day! Our guide Helmut was great. It is all about the people you meet and the trip you enjoy together.

This tour was a 10 out of 10 from the crew to the food. The routes were spectacular with a lot of variety and levels for all. I am an experienced rider, but not long distance. Since this was my first bike vacation, I rented an e-bike. By the end of the trip a few others switched over to e-bikes. I wanted to enjoy the tour and also be able to walk at the end of the day. From seeing the white horses of Provence to the wine and olive oil tastings, every day was memorable.

The site that inspired van gogh’s stary night.
We didn’t see as many lavender fields as thought

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

We love this region and this trip so we decided to do the trip again with friends and ride from Avignon this time .... It is a pretty easy ride except for a few huge hills - but so worth the effort to get to the top and see the town the quarry and the show - so worth the effort....just saying ....This trip takes you through many little villages filled with jasmine - stopped for quite a few pastries and beers and coffees and pain au chocolat.... besides all these sensory overloads of jasmine and and fields of poppies - you are riding through so much history ...... the camaque - Aiges mortes - the crusaders - the roman ruins everywhere - and then the marshes the salt flats and flamingos - great ride - great barges - the food always amazing

Great Crew
Group
Guide
Bikes
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

1. The excellent, cheerful leadership by Helmut
2. The meals
3. The many fine trails, especially around Avignon. Wonderful biking.

This was our first experience on a bike and barge tour and it left us looking at more in the future. We enjoyed everything about the trip- the most memorable part? The friendships formed and our absolutely spectacular meals. The crew [Claudia, Lyla, Stephania, and Didi) worked so well together and provided us with memories we will cherish. We opted for E-bikes although we would have been ok without them- it provided a more relaxing pace. The only suggestion I would make is to have the free dinner on your own to be a day other than Sunday. I had planned ahead when first notified and made reservations at a nice place in Avignon but many struggled to find a place open on a Sunday night. Midweek would have been better, possibly in Arles. All in all, it wonderful and everything we hoped it would be.

So many to choose from, but the routes were amazing. Beautiful towns, lovely scenery.

Our guide Hugo was amazing! So knowledgeable and just a great person to cycle with. We loved the history of the area and the number of things we were able to see on the trip was really great. The bicycle was great and we moved efficiently together as a group. We were fortunate to have good weather despite the forecasts. Note that cabins are very small, but that they are also very efficient with lots of storage. Food by Nadia our chef was fantastic, and overall we loved the crew on this ship.

Provence’s history is very interesting & our guide, Alex showed us some less touristy archaeological sites. Loved cycling down shaded country lanes especially as the 90-95 degree heat in Sep was a struggle at times. Be prepared for potholes and gravel on many of those scenic backroads. Add a visor to your bike helmet to ward of some of the heat & keep your energy up. The L’ Estello had a lovely upper deck lounge & eating area. The cabins are small & do not all have the same amenities (hooks, storage). The bathrooms are quite small & for anyone over 5’7” hard to move around in. There is no separate shower stall therefore everything in the bathroom gets wet; you must remember to remove anything that you don’t want to get wet which is a daily task when cycling. Instead of a train from Paris to Provence, consider a flight to Montpellier; it is a 30 min taxi ride to Aigues Mortes. Good connections from/to your North American flight make it possible for you to avoid a layover in Paris or a 4 hr train (with transfers) ride.

Trip was good, food was good, routes were good, the condition on the roads / trails chosen were not the best but that is really out of the control of Tripsite. A bit disappointed that there were no cycling jersey's on the boat for sale as well as we did not receive a Tripsite pre trip gift as we had in the past for being a repeat customer.

We have done four cycle trips in Europe using Tripsite and we loved this one the best. Our cycling tour guide Alex was so familiar with the tiny lanes, quaint villages and back country roads and we saw southern France through a lens that would not have been available to us if we had driven ourselves. She was passionate and knowledgeable about all the history that we were witnessing and there were many additional tours along the way. The Estello boat was compact, clean and well-run with delicious meals. I would highly recommend this Provence, Wilderness of Camargue tour to anyone wanting to experience the rural beauty of southern France. PS Bring your own water bottles as they are no longer provided.

The chef! The crew were fantastic and made the trip. The barge is basic and aging, but clean and well equipped. The cycling routes were full of history and beauty. A few of the back roads and bike paths were rough but manageable. The rest were fantastic.

The crew were fabulous and provided a wonderful experience. Beautiful scenery and Alex our guide explained the history of each area during our cycling adventures which was an added bonus.

Pack lightly. Rooms are extremely small but well air conditioned.
I really don't have a favorite part. It was not a relaxing trip as the bruge to Amsterdam tour was. This took us through more crowded towns that were difficult to navigate due to traffic. It was extremely hot which added to the difficulty. Food on the boat was great but breakfast and lunch were repetitive. Crew was awesome and very accommodating.

Beautiful French countryside with amazing staff aboard the L'Estello. A special shout-out to our outstanding chef, Josef;steward, Alice; tour leader, Alessandra, and Captain Filippo. The daily rides were fun! There were interesting places to visit everyday.

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.

Overall it was a wonderful trip and experience. It was well organized and the 4 person crew was just fantastic. Food and ambience above expectations. All went smoothly for us. Note some headwinds which may be seasonal.

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.

3rd Barge trip. All have been excellent. The barge, crew, food, bicycles and tours all very very good. We all had a great time!! Such a fun and simple way to travel and enjoy your own group of friends!!

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

What a beautiful and interesting region of France to travel through. We loved the historic towns and monuments we visited and once again doing it with a small group of lovely travellers and cyclists was most enjoyable.
The crew were fantastic and our guide went above and beyond to keep us all safe and have a wonderful trip.
Would easily recommend this trip for anyone who loves France, history and beautiful French countryside.

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

The Captain and crew were outstanding especially our daily tour guide Machiela who was extraordinary with kindness, Knowledge, and very eager to please everyone
Tip to others would be to expect about 20% riding on ruff gravel and ruff tarmac

The most memorable part of our tour? Impossible to limit to one thing! This trip has it all: miles of gorgeous countryside roads and trails, small villages that look plucked from a travel brochure, access to castles and fortresses that are beautifully frozen in time... and experiencing all of it in springtime glory was tremendous. Being able to see Carrieres des Lumieres -- the Van Gogh immersive exhibit -- was such an unexpected treat. Perfect biking weather. It was our first bike and barge with electric bikes and it was fantastic... SO easy to manage the headwinds and longer uphill climbs with the pedal-assist. Really, we can't say enough about this tour... so wonderful on every level!

(** If you print this review, can you please just list me as "Kristine S"? Thanks so much!)