Slovakia Tour Reviews — 1 to 30 of 750

Magical, is the ideal word to describe this bike and boat tour. We arrived in Passau the day prior to departure, seeing where our shuttle would pick us up, strolling the little town and savoring the local dishes.
The Primadonna, is one of the larger boats cruising the Danube, having a comfortable sitting area where the daily orientations would occur. A dining room providing full views of the river while enjoying our elevated 4 course dinners that highlighted each region we visited accompanied with choice of beverages to purchase. Average wine or beer prices were around 5 euros.
The breakfasts had a very diverse menu with many options to consider, and each day we were provided a bottle of water for our daily ride, accompanied with containers for packing our lunch, (some brought their own reusable containers) from the breakfast menu, of meats, cheeses and breads. The cruise staff also would have a few options to consider daily for lunch as well, from Focaccia bread, quiche and cheese pinwheels to name a few.
The upstairs deck offered a place to unwind with a drink after our day of cycling or if a bit too hot or breezy outside, the bar / lounge inside where the afternoon coffee and deserts were served was another option to consider.
Our 2 twin bed main deck cabin was more spacious than we anticipated, providing us ample space to put our suitcases and backpacks. While our round window offered natural light and equally surreal to look out and be only inches above the water line as we cruised along.
Our first day of cycling had us get used to our bikes which were well maintained, she rode an E bike and I rode a standard touring bike along the flat terrain. keep in mind that with a turn here or there to see things you will average 38-40+ miles a day except for the day spent in Budapest.
The 1st ride from Schlogen – Linz had us pedaling with the river on our side, treelined paved roads, and mountains rising above, made this start of our trip to be one of the most enjoyable amongst nature.
The 2nd day cycling into Vienna, was effortless with directions to keep the canal along our left, and follow the signs towards the center. The ringstrassua was easy enough to follow, around the city and would provide us with a user-friendly route of all the sites. A bonus was Milos recommendation of the park to enjoy our packed lunch. A must was locking up the bike and walking to the center and seeing the spectacular St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
The ride to Sturovo would lead us on a few mistaken turns, yet easy enough to once again get back on track. During today’s ride we would go around a bend and be greeted by thousands of sunflowers. We must have taken collectively a hundred photos marveling in the burst of yellows and golds. Even with the rains later in the day that may have dampened our ride, it did not dampen the joyful smiles from earlier. It was quite humorous seeing our fellow riders clumped under a small group of trees as the heavy rains passed.
As we cycled from Slovakia into Hungry, our dinner would conclude timed with arriving into Budapest a glow in the night sky. Everyone went to the upper deck, and awws and ahhhs could be endlessly heard. This part of the trip was magical.
Our day in Budapest was cut short, an announcement was made that based on low water levels, that it was best for us to cruise back towards Vienna where the levels were better suited. We made amazing use of the time, and explored the city easily managed on bikes.
The lower water levels had a change in our itinerary for the following day, offering us a choice for a bike ride into Vienna, or take the provided bus into Bratslavia then onto Vienna. We chose to bike into the city having some familiarity from our earlier visit and went to see things missed. We chose the Belvedere museum, known for housing Gustav Klimts “Kiss”.
Our last day of cycling would be a highlight shared with so many friends and family as our ride weaved through vineyards of the Wachau region. The only suggestion to the cruise, would be during the briefing to provide some locations to stop for a tasting. We spent quite a bit of time searching, and was by sheer luck we would stumble across the amazing Wagner winery.
The last night was festive with the crew parading through the dining room, and all of us applauding for a wonderful time.
This was our 3rd Bike and Boat trip booked via Tripsite, they are great with correspondences. This experience was nothing short of a magical trip. There were only 4 people out of 160 that spoke English, 2 of which were us which was shocking. The majority spoke German and a lot of people were more than willing to try and talk with us and were quite friendly. The majority of the cruise staff spoke English which was quite comforting. They provided us with separate English orientations, updates with itinerary changes and made us more than feel welcome. Milos, who gave our briefings was great, and even though we took a few wrong turns here and there and let him know, he took notes for future cruises to ensure it was clarified for them. Drogen our server was brilliant; he went above and beyond to ensure our cruise was memorable and even had a cake made for my birthday as a surprise.
This was a wonderful cycling trip, very user friendly for all ages and levels of cycling experience.  SHOW MORE 

The Vivienne was very clean, and for a smaller river boat, it felt very spacious. Our cabin was very comfortable with plenty of storage. The crew, and food were also great! We opted to have a guide ( Hamish Lucas) and he was exceptional! We didn't have to worry about the route and Hamish gave us so much history. Highly recommend Hamish. Loved all the bike rides through historic cities, small town and countryside.

The service on board was superb, all staff was extremely helpful and kind. Information regarding the biking routes was very detailed and precise - we appreciated Leslie's markings along the way!

The tour director and the entire staff onboard the Vivienne were outstanding, so welcoming, warm and helpful, as well as very professional. The boat facilities are great, very clean and well maintained. The Danube River is beautiful, and the bike route is top notch. Very well marked, lovely countryside and small towns. Exceychoise of stopping points.

This bike and boat tour was excellent. We chose a guide and ebikes for the biking portion which made us really enjoy the day as we did not have to worry about getting lost and/or making it back to the boat on time.
The ship itself was smaller, so you got to know people and felt like a big family.
The service from meals, to housrkeeping to daily tour briefings was top notch.
This was our first bike and boat tour and we would definately do it again.

Good cycling, food, staff and experience. What fun to meet and make friends with our neighbors from Canada and Europe.

We recently returned from a memorable bike tour through four countries, and for the most part, it delivered on its promises. The e-bikes were well-maintained, the routes scenic and well-suited to the difficulty level described, and the new navigation app made wayfinding effortless. On board, the service was attentive and the meals were genuinely delicious.
Unfortunately, the experience ended on a sour note. The disembarkation the process was slow and ill-suited to the ship's passenger capacity. More frustrating, our large backpack — correctly tagged for delivery to the parking garage 5 km away — never arrived. We had to return to the ship to locate it ourselves. When we did, staff declined to take responsibility, attributing the error to other passengers. The bag was eventually returned to us still bearing the original garage tag, and with its contents inside, wet.
It's a shame, because the tour itself was excellent. With better handling of the final logistics, this would have been an easy five stars.

The entire trip was well organised with a great route. The path was exceptional albeit a bit flat at times which allowed the daily distances to be covered very easily. The route was punctuated by historic towns and natural beauty around every corner.

I would recommend this trip to anyone, even people with limited fitness.

This is the second trip on the Danube we have done. The first was in 2019. The rest days were nice as we had the opportunity to explore some of the cities we didn't have time for the last trip. The weather was outstanding, actually quite warm which unfortunately exposed a weakness in the ships air conditioning. It was quite warm in the bar for the briefings and in the dining room as well. We didn't find the briefing sessions as informative as in past trips, partly because the guide's English was not easy to understand. Some PPT presentations would have helped. As usual the staff was very helpful and professional. The entertainment night was a hit.

Everything was top notch! The people. the crew, the food...everything!
One suggestion...when serving dinner entrees from whatever country the boat is currently in, please include the type of meat in English (ie: chicken or pork, etc.)

Wonderful scenery , small villages , the Danube River, the accommodations on the Vivienne were satisfactory .
The staff were friendly and accommodating, our dining room waiter Canon made us feel welcomed and looked after all our needs.Dietary requests were not completely met compared to previous tours.
If we were to compare this tour to a tour on a smaller barge ,as opposed to a larger barge we would definitely opt for a smaller vessel after this experience .

Excellent trip we enjoyed the rides each day and the towns that we rode through.

I totally enjoyed our trip. The biking was wonderful and I appreciate Leslie taking time to brief us before each ride, it was so helpful.

Biking the wonderful trails along the Danube. The quality of the e-bikes was superb. breakfast was always great. Plenty of variety. Dinner was 3-4 stars. Fish was the most consistent as far as preparation and flavor. I did like the option of ordering more or less quantity. I didn’t appreciate being charged for water - especially when dining. Overload of information prior to next days ride. KISS. ALL IN ALL AN ENJOYABLE VACATION.

Beautiful cities, villages and swans along the Danube. Made a lot new friends, especially our three Denmark table mates at table7. We might visit each other in the future.

Nice enjoyable trip. The crew was knowledgable, friendly and helpful. Beautiful sites to see. Con's... BRING YOUR OWN WATER! you get one .5 L bottle a day for free, and free water with breakfast. Make sure and don't go cheap with a lower level cabin. The room was very warm and their air conditioner didn't really work. It would have been ok to be upstairs where you could open a window and get fresh air.

Bratislava was most memorable, as well as the scenery along the way.

Loved every part of the trip. We are not cruise trip people, but this was an excellent experience and would do it again. The number of passengers was just right. The staff was outstanding. Thank you.

We loved the entire experience! Boarding the boat and unpacking once was wonderful. We’ve done many bike rides and the daily grind of packing, unpacking and being down at the tour vehicle gets a bit exhausting.

We had the junior suite and it was great. Plenty of storage space and the large windows were fantastic ! The food was excellent and we were able to gather a group of eight other friends to join us so every night and every day at breakfast we had a table of 10.

Probably our only suggestion would be that we would’ve liked to have spent more time in Vienna. We could’ve skipped the day before and it would’ve been nice to arrive in Vienna first thing in the morning and have a full day there.

We are ready to book another bike and barge in the near future.

The entire barge experience…including raw ambiance, the food presentation, the planning on behalf of the staff, and even the boat itself.

Discovering the Danube and surrounding countries and the extensive history leading up to their current status. I wish you had more time in Vienna.. like maybe an overnight since the barge was parked so far away from the center of town and it was a holiday (May 1), our visit was less than satisfying.

The most memorable part of the trip was seeing new and amazing places, biking along the Danube River was magnificent, meeting new people from all over the world, and feeling like we accomplished something and not feeling lazy and sitting around all day.

The trip was great. Very organized, staff was friendly and helpful. Food was good, biking was exceptional. Loved this trip!

We had a wonderful time for a first bike and barge. Would highly recommend this trip.
The staff were incredible and of course the biking. For couple of days there was strong head winds so had the work really hard as we had regular bikes..well worth the effort and sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.

The friendships made on the trip were wonderful. The organising of the bikes was excellent. The waiters and waitresses were lovely and all so professional.

Budapest
Cycling through Wachau Valley
Service and food on Vivienne

This trip was excellent from its start to finish. The staff made everyone feel welcome and communicated each day’s plan very thoroughly. We enjoyed making new friends and our guide, Thomas, helped make our experience so positive. What a great way to explore the four countries and cities such as Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava. The final biking day through the UNESCO valley was outstanding.

This trip was excellent from its start to finish. The staff made everyone feel welcome and communicated each day’s plan very thoroughly. We enjoyed making new friends and our guide, Thomas, helped make our experience so positive. What a great way to explore the four countries and cities such as Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava. The final biking day through the UNESCO valley was outstanding.

i loved biking through the country side and small towns. We would stop for ice cream and even visited a winery. It was nice having the guide, didn't have to think about where we had to go each day. Visiting all of the towns along the way tasting their food and beer and shopping in the small shops was fun. The boat had a good vibe and relaxing atmosphere.

The service, food and the beautiful boat. It was a wonderful trip.