Tulip Tour - Amsterdam to Bruges - 11 day Tour Reviews — 1 to 30 of 42

Walking through the Keukenhof Gardens and seeing the blooming fields of tulips, and smelling the fragrant fields of hyacinths as we were riding was amazing, especially as the pouring rain held off until almost the end of the day! But walking around Ghent, and Bruges were equally delightful, if for a different reason. Of course the fabulous meals Christina prepared for us on the Merlijn were memorable. For future riders on this trip, know that the tulip experience is only one day of the entire trip so that you aren’t terribly disappointed, and be sure to have rain gear at that time of year!!

There were many memorable parts of the trip, all enjoyable. The barge, the guests and the crew were all great. I used an e-bike which was not great. I am barely 5’ 1” and the bike was a “small” and too big/heavy for me. It should have been an X-small. Another woman of similar size had a small and fell numerous times. I was disappointed that there was no alternative offered. I am an experienced rider and the heavy weight of the bike affected balance especially on curves. I’ve been on a number of bike trips and quality bikes and safety was a number one concern. Also there were no rear view mirrors. This was a safety concern. The answer I received was that the rear view mirrors are not used in the Netherland. This does not make sense as we got helmets and the people in the Netherlands don’t wear helmets. Why would we not be provided with rear mirrors.

enjoying the beautiful countryside on bikes with friends .

I cannot say enough great things about our trip from Brugge to Amsterdam! The Captain and Crew of the Merlijn were awesome, and our intrepid tour guide, Francien was great!
What a wonderful way to experience Belgium and the Nederlands; riding through the countryside, towns, polders, and along the canals on every manner of bike path.
We were spoiled by the food provided by Christina; a delicious breakfast buffet, tasty sandwiches in our packed lunches for the ride, and gourmet meals for dinner with a little bit of history about the dishes.
Our cabin was comfortable and cozy, and the dining room and lounge were always adorned with fresh flowers.
If you want to experience travel in a unique way, then this is the way to go:)

The guides and crew were all wonderful and did everything within their power to make the trip as enjoyable as possible. The Iris was a very comfortable boat. The cycling took us through varied landscapes. Helmets waterbottles and panniers are provided so no need to bring with you.

The cycling was the highlight of the trip for us, we thoroughly enjoyed the pace and travel through small towns and villages along the way. Of course the tulips fields are also quite a sight! Although the weather did not always cooperate - we like the motto “there is no bad weather - only poor clothing choices”. Be prepared.

Great trip. The guides where wonderful.

It was all perfect, a great experience and the Captain along with his wife and crew were superb

The Keukenhof gardens were spectacular. The food was also far above expectations.

Seeing fields of tulips and hyacinths in full bloom and in full fragrance was amazing as was the Keukenhof Gardens. Disappointingly, however, was that tulips were only one day of the entire trip. Ghent and Bruges were also definite highlights. The cuisine presented by Christina each evening on board the Merlijn was gourmet and delicious. Our guide was excellent and very knowledgeable. We were very pleased to have many layers of clothing as we had days of rain, wind, and or cold temps. A few mornings it was only 4C when we started out but did get up to 10C. Although the countryside is flat for easy riding, there were many bridges to cross requiring some decent hill climbing to get up and over! Belgium however was all flat and the much easier portion of the trip. Another tip to keep in mind is that the third week in the Netherlands is a school holiday as it is the King’s birthday. The KG was packed with people.

Coan & Christina own and operate the 50 meter 1930 converted cargo ship Merlijn along with a crew of 3 and a bike guide. The attention to detail , ,new equipment and bikes. The difference is other tour vessels are owned by larger companies and hire a captain a crew with older bikes.
Our guide Francien was very good, had 20 years experience and took us places that you would not see on a self guided tour. In the evenings after our on board gourmet dinner she would take who wanted to go on a tour of the city or town.
The scenery was amazing and a boat canal side tour in Gent was arranged. Our groups average was between 55 and 73 and everyone was able able to keep up a good pass on regular and e bikes.
We will be taking another tour they offer in Germany next year

The staff on the Merjlin were fantastic
The bike seats were a bit uncomfortable but overall the trip was great. The tour guides were were great unfortunately they did not explain the route prior each day

Outstanding trip. The Merlijn is a first class ship. The owners and the crew were just out of this world accommodating. The food was delicious, maybe too delicious. My bike was fantastic. Can’t say enough good things about the ship and the people that own it. Liked it so much, I’m going back on it for three weeks next year in Germany.

The Merlijn and their staff were excellent! The food was fabulous too! The only reason I am giving this trip a 4 out of 5 stars is the tulips were on somewhat dying on May 11th. We booked this trip in 2019 for April 2020 and then COVID took over all of our lives. Then we rebooked for 2021 and had to change 1 week later. Then 2021 was still not safe to travel so when booking again for 2022, we had to switch to start May 3 in Bruges with the tulip part at the end of the trip. I loved Bruges and thoroughly enjoyed biking in Belgium. I developed a cough so unfortunately I missed a lot of biking in The Netherlands. But I did enjoy the river views while on the boat and got to experience locks also. When cruising into Rotterdam, I saw one of the super yacht builders' ship yard (Oceanco) and that was exciting for me as we sell to the super yachts.

Great meals, excellent organization.
More substantial lunches would be good.
The tulips were finished by the time we got to the fields. I don’t think the May 2 trip should be advertised as a tulip tour.

The attentiveness of Christina and Koen and all the rest of the staff on the boat. The only comment i have is that with 24 riders and quite a varying degree of riding abilities, I think two guides and divide the group into two would have been better.

The Merlijn, the captain, chef, crew and guides were absolutely fantastic - our third bike and barge with Tripsite and by far the best. The most memorable part for us was riding into Ghent where we lived 15 years ago as a family for a year - spent the afternoon with the group showing off our home away from home.

What a great trip. Would like to do another.

Everything was fantastic. It was the whole experience altogether.

The staff, food and barge accommodations were perfect.

The entire trip was memorable. The boat staff was terrific, the meals from Frank our chef, were gourmet quality, the weather sunny tho a bit chilly first days, the tulips were in full bloom, our bike leader had contacts in many cities and we had private evening tours from local guides, the boat was comfortable and always well maintained. I think the only caution I might offer is we started the tour in downtown Amsterdam at the train station and for those of us with limited bike experience going thru the city was a challenge keeping the group together thru traffic, turns, bridges, stop lights. A more rural start would have been better was the general consensus, but that aside virtually everything well received.

Whether it was the “barge”, the food or the bikes or the bike routes.....everything was thoughtfully planned for the best customer experience possible. Friendly family type atmosphere with a “flair”! Truly enjoyable!

The tulips and the windmills were awesome. Eight of us were on a bike barge trip from Bruges to Amsterdam. I would recommend you put it on our bucket list. We had a blast!

I did a Brugge to Amsterdam, bike and barge trip. It was fabulous. Definitely one of my favorite Europe trips. Riding through the tulip fields during the height of the season was amazing. I love the windmills. The staff was perfect. Thank you for a wonderful trip.

The Tulip Tour was overall a great experience. The staff on the Quo Vadis did an excellent job and the accommodations were very comfortable. The 24 passengers was a nice size group.

A lengthy bike trip through the Netherlands gives you an opportunity to drill down into their culture on a wider scale. It helps that they all speak English. The Dutch really seem to have figured it (life) out. We have much to learn from them and bring back their best practices...such as their capability to get anywhere in the country safely on a bike. How cool is that?

The people who we met in the trip made it memorable. Cornel was a wonderful guide who made everything fun and interesting as we were biking. Everyone on the Quo Vadis made us feel so welcome. Food was fantastic. Loved meeting all the other bikers and had lots of great times together.

Memorable parts: The other guests, the scenery, and the barge experience. The Tulip time is also the rain time, so be prepared with proper clothing. Even though the weather may not be ideal, the experience more than makes up for it.