Bike Tour Reviews page 2
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★★★★★ Molly Troop 1 week agoMust be an expert
· San Sebastian E-MTB Tour
1. The guide really didn't provide much information about San sebastian which I thought we would get some history about the area or basque culture
2. The guide brought a friend and neither of them wanted to accommodate my entry experience. I had researched the biking area and knew there were paved roads to go up if I thought the off reading was too much but they continued to push what they wanted to do, not what I was comfortable with
3. The guide did no introduction to our bikes. There was zero instruction given on how to use the electric nor a review on any part of the bike
4. Only take this tour if you are a very experienced mountain biker and only want to mountain bike.- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
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★★★★★ Dixon Leavitt 1 week agoGreat Way to Experience a Country and Culture
· Swiss Lakes by E-bike: Lake Geneva to Lake Lucerne
We had a great time on this tour! The hotels were top notch, with great food and amazing spas. The routing was right on point, we really liked the EuroTrek app and the routes in there. That app along with Apple Maps got us everywhere we needed to go. We were lucky and did not have to use any of the tools or pump included. Bikes are a huge part of Swiss Culture. Travel on the roads, or on public transportation, was seamless.
The funicular in Vevey on day 1 saved a lot of climbing. I would highly suggest taking it! Same with the train over the Brunig Pass. The cycling demands were very manageable. There was some walking up hills, but the last 3 days were almost all flat or downhill. If you stay in Spiez, after your ride, I suggest taking the Nielsen Funicular to the peak. From there, you see the valley you ride down from Gstaad to Spiez.
Luggage transfer was seamless. The first day, our bags showed up at 5:30 pm. The rest of our days, the bags were already in our room when we arrived at the hotels.
Bike Tours and EuroTrek were great to work with. We will definitely do another trip like this one day! If you are interested in the tour and have questions, I am happy to answer them. Dwade39 at gmail dot com
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Switzerland
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★★★★★ Mark F 1 week agoCycling around Bruges
· Bruges City Bike Tour
Joost was our tour guide. He's local and speaks English very well. Joost used stories to tell us about the history of Bruges. The ride is on cobblestone, but the bicycle seats are very comfortable so I did not notice any discomfort. We traveled about 7 or 8 km. It was an easy ride with many stops. We never felt rushed and was free to ask any questions. We had time to take photos at each stop. A very nice tour.
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 29, 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Kat McDonald 1 week agoGreat scenery, great towns, very steep hills
· Portugal's Atlantic Coast
Overall, an excellent vacation. Of the four bike tours I've done, it's #1 for scenery, #1 for food, tied for hotel quality, #1 for quality of bikes, #1 for travel partner service (documents, pickup/drop off, timeliness), and #4 for route finding. There are some times on busy roads but the drivers were exceptionally courteous. Travelers should note how hilly it is -- very difficult on a road bike and still quite challenging on an electric bike. Route finding is a problem. I understand the local partner is adding step by step navigation, but I believe additional steps (such as stickers on signs) will also be necessary.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Portugal
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★★★★★ Francisco Averhoff 1 week agoGreat location- tour operator lacking
· Cycling Paradise of Provence - to and from Avignon
Recommend the trip, with another tour company, not Walk Inn. Service and access to assistance was very poor
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Brett Wilson 1 week agoTrip of a lifetime
· Split to Dubrovnik: The Islands and Coastline of Croatia
Highly recommend. The islands are stunning - beautiful natural harbors, wineries, picturesque towns, charming local restaurants, cafes and ice cream shops. The rides were beautiful and very manageable (over the course of a day). Hotels were quite nice and transfers were flawless. We upgraded to carbon fiber bikes which was nice.
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2022
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Croatia
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★★★★★ Ian Bailie 1 week agoDanube biking adventure
· Danube Bike Path 8 Nights (Upscale Lodging)
Riding along the Danube river through Austria to Vienna was a wonderful experience. Everything was very well organised, from bike collection, through route guidance, accommodation and support. The riding is easy, though on our ride we did encounter some strong head winds. There is spectacular scenery and interesting villages to keep interest up. We thoroughly recommend the bike tour.
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★★★★★ Beth Alcorn 1 week agoCycling the south of France
· South of France: UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Excellent trip and experience. Every detail was covered from the first pick up and orientation to the drop off of our bikes. Route instructions were spot on, accommodations amazing and overall route beautiful. Highly recommend this trip!
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Andrew Lindsay 1 week agoDisappointing Tour - Did Not Meet Expectations
· Cycling the West Balkan Triangle
Positives:
1) The e-bikes were very good and well maintained; the routes were generally excellent if a little short for e-bikes (rides often finished early afternoon whereas on most other organised cycle trips I've been on they were spread out over most of the day).
The rides from Herceg Novi to Kotor; Ravno to Ston and Ston to Kun were particularly enjoyable - brilliant scenery and quiet roads.2) Accomodation - Hotels were all very good apart from Marija 2. This hotel was a good 20 minute walk from Kotor; room was clean but rather dark and miserable (no view; no balcony but lots of signs instructing occupants what not to do). Fried eggs at breakfast were cold). By contrast the Hotel Stancia in Ravno was a delight.
3) Food - This was an enjoyable part of the tour. The 'included' lunches and evening meals were very good. The lunches at Ravno, Ston and Kun were especially enjoyable - offering liquor tasting; olive grove visit and locally produced food respectively. The local restaurants we chose for our evening meals were also excellent.Areas To Improve: As a guided introduction to the West Balkans this trip has nothing to recommend it. The guide, while perfectly charming and an excellent cycle tour leader, had next to nothing to say about the countries we visited (their history; their customs and culture; their flora and fauna). I suspect his Company has never provided any training on how to be a tour guide.
This tour makes it very easy to miss exploring the old town of Herceg Novi; the walls of Kotor and Cavtat Old Town (indeed most of the group did) because they were never recommended or even mentioned; nor did we cycle to them). Dubrovnik is the jewel (albeit a very busy jewel) of the West Balkans and it would be very easy to book this tour and never see it (the old town is a 40 minute walk from the Hotel Adria).
I've cycled many times with Explore and Exodus on group guided tours and their delivered experience is vastly superior to that of BikeTours.com.
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- I've been on well over 20 bike tours. The West Balkan tour is bottom quartile. Your guides need training. Happy to provide more feedback.
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro
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★★★★★ Francisco Averhoff 1 week ago
Great location- tour operator lacking
· Cycling Paradise of Provence - to and from Avignon
Recommend the trip, with another tour company, not Walk Inn. Service and access to assistance was very poor
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Heather Reynolds 1 week agoFun time
· · Holland’s Super Tulip Tour
The tour was fun but the company had one of our main itinerary items (the flower auction) scheduled during a time that it was closed so it just was not part of our tour even though it was on the itinerary. Our guide made the best of it for us by finding a substitute activity (once we complained that it was being skipped and was a huge part of our overall trip)but the company should be accountable for its agreed upon itinerary.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Francisco Averhoff 1 week ago
beautiful countryside
· Cycling Paradise of Provence - to and from Avignon
the hotels were very nice (we upgraded) and the bike riding was very doable and the countryside was beautiful. we have done 5 self guided bike tours through biketours.com and have been very satisfied, however for this trip the actual travel agency in France (Walk Inn) was unsatisfactory: 1. they did not meet with us and did not go over the routes; 2.did not meet with us to go over the bike equipment; 3. we had trouble with the GPS system on our phones and they provided no assistance; 4. the written maps/routes did not match the routes on the GPS (once we were able to get it on our phone); 5. the GPS routes that we finally downloaded were often for the trip going in the opposite direction which made the navigation more challenging; 6. Finally, the hotel transfers and bike provider were subcontracted by Walk Inn making coordination difficult and furthermore, Walk Inn did not answer our calls using the phone number provider for emergency contact. Overall because of the in country travel agency , Walk Inn, this trip was only fair and could have been excellent.
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Michael Coulson 2 weeks ago
Terrific time, on and off the bikes!
· Portugal's Atlantic Coast
Great way to see the country, and the people, food, hotels, was all fantastic.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Portugal
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★★★★★ Sue Larson 2 weeks agoFabulous Way t Experience Beautiful Catalonia
· Medieval Villages of Catalonia
This tour was a magical way to see the sights and sounds of beautiful Catalonia. The bikes were of a superior quality and shifted easily - which was a good thing because there was a lot of shifting involved along the way. The accommodations were top-notch and the GPS perfectly directed us along the way. Daniel was an exceptional vendor and his positive nature and encouragement were welcome and valued. He checked-in during the tour to make sure that all was well. This trip was a dream come true and comes highly recommended!
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Spain
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★★★★★ AMY COOK 2 weeks agoA lovely tour
· Emerald Tour of Slovenia’s Gems
This tour was lovely, so much beautiful countryside and fascinating historical sites.
It was quite a bit more mountainous than the promotion description lead me to believe and on of the hotels was considerably less nice than the rest. But overall it was a great trip.- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Slovenia
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★★★★★ Max Peterson 2 weeks agoGreat, Balanced Bike Trip in the Spring Season
· Danube Bike Path 7 Nights (Classic)
My wife and I had a great time on this bike trip, our first of this kind. The first 2 days took some adjusting - we ran into some unexpected detours the first day due to some unreliable info (seemed to be incorrect info from the trail authority/agency, not the tour company at fault), but it was easy enough to sort out on the fly. The 2nd day was full of rain and difficult biking conditions, but we knew the chance we were taking when we chose mid-April for our trip. Almost everything's else on our trip was great after that! The sites, towns, and views along the way were enjoyable and often beautiful. Some of our stops were suggested in our itinerary, and others we found on our own. The suggestions overall were good, but alternative options were always easy to find as well. The hotels were all nice and seemed well-placed along our route, for the most part. The Steigenberger Hotel & Spa in Krems was the one outlier for us on that front - to get there, we had to go up a road with fairly high traffic on a very steep hill that didn't have a bike lane, which we did not find mentioned in our documents. It was a small issue that probably would not matter much with an e-bike, but for an itinerary rated as 1-Easy, we feel it should have at least been noted in our documents. This hotel also seemed the least-oriented toward bicycle traffic/guests, but again these are small things we hope might help people taking this tour in the future, not major problems or complaints. All of the hotels had good bike storage, breakfasts, and friendly, helpful service. The rooms varied in size and quality of view from place to place, but all were clean, well maintained, and never lacked anything you'd expect in a hotel room. We didn't have dinner at every hotel (and not all had their own restaurant), but we did at Faustschlössl Hotel in Aschach and Hotel Rose in Maria Taferl, both of which were excellent. The bikes, bags, and other equipment all worked well, and pickup/dropoff was fairly easy at the first and last hotels. Overall, this was a great experience and everything from the tour company met our expectations. We would definitely recommend this trip to others, and look forward to doing more like it in the future!
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★★★★★ robert harrison 2 weeks ago
enjoyable interesting trip
· Cycling the West Balkan Triangle
Overall the trip was good.Alex and Emir as the main tour guides were efficient and the organisation of the luggage and the bikes was excellent.The cycling and the routes were good.Where the tour could have improved was giving us some basic information about the places we were visiting.For example at Kotor most of us were not aware that you could walk up the city walls to the top of the hill.We don,t expect an hours lecture but some local knowledge would further enhance the trip and perhaps training for the tour leaders would be appropriate.Finally there was some confusion on the final day we were leaving re airport transfers and it seemed that drivers had other duties which reduce their availability.Biketours need to ensure the transport is available as this is specified on the tour information
Idespite these points I would certainly recommend this cycling trip to friends who might like to go.- Countries included in this tour?
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro
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★★★★★ Josée 2 weeks agoNot our dream trip
· Vienna to Budapest 5-nights (Active)
We booked the active tour because we did not have time to do the classic. 80-100 km per day were too much, specially when 1 day/4 was 100% rain. We cannot control temperature on a cycling trip, but to cycle 50-60 km in the rain would have been much better than 100km that day. On top of that, our hotel was booked at 130km instead of 100 by mistake. The hotel was nice enough to send a van and a trailer to pick us up. We were soaked!!! Out of 5 hotels, I would consider that 3 nights were more 3.5 stars than 4 and the 2 other nights were 4 to 5 stars. In some small towns, where nobody speak English, it would have nice have more guidance to know where to go to buy the ferry tickets and to know that not all countries use Euros and where to change money for cash only situation. Also, the ferry schedule was not clear, and found out that they take breaks in the morning and can cause a delay.
We were 3 (1 road bike + 2 e-bikes). The roads were rough in some areas with deep puddles of water during the rain. Of course, a flat happened and we struggled to find a pump for the road bike. The pumps that were given to us were for the e-bikes and did not fit. In a small town with no English speaking around, we managed to resolve the situation. Also, the first morning we started the trip, we had to go to a bike store to ask for extra tires in case of a flat. There were not given to us at the beginning. Thank god we went! Having done 2 cycling trips (Portugal and Croatia) in the past year, we found that the Vienna to Budapest was a bit boring. The landscape was not very different from start to beginning and the distances were long in between the little cities we visited.
Minimum information were given to us and it would have been nice to have suggestions for restaurants and more details, etc, etc. We received that info with the other companies we used for the other trips.
A water bottle or a shirt from your company would have been also a nice surprise.
The trip was OK, but can be improved in many ways for the price we paid.
We were happy for the quick response when we had the issue with the hotel at 130km instead of 100
The NH Danube or NH Budapest (We had to change room at 11h00 pm because there was a heating problem that made the room like a sauna and the window handle was broken, so we could not open it….) are more 3 stars hotels. The loft in Bratislava was VERY VERY Nice and the Barok in Gyor was great also. We expected more at the to pass on Esztergom, because we could not come back the next day to visit. I heard that the 30km we missed were worth the views and cycling.
I would recommend the trip to people that did not cycle in Portugal, Croatia and want a flat route.
4 days were a lot concerning the distances, but 6 days would have make it long for the lack of change of scenery. This is my opinion! -
★★★★★ Lisa Luyckx 2 weeks agoA Don’t Miss Tour
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
We just completed the ten day Albania UNESCO self-guided tour and I can’t say enough good things about it. Our tour guide Aldo made our experience in Albania all the more richer. He was available always for any help we needed, from servicing our bikes, to serving food, to making sure we were all set with our hotels to answering any questions we had. He did all of the above with a smile on his face. Our sag driver Fitim, who also helped keep the bikes clean and serviced, was always at the ready with water and a smile. We were in awe of the beautiful countryside and the friendliness of the hard working people of Albania. We truly felt like we saw the real
Albania on this beautiful route. I would recommend this tour whole heartedly.- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Jean-Pierre Eugster 2 weeks agoVery nice trip across the some of the Dalmatien islands in Croatia
· · South Dalmatia Bike/E-bike and Boat, Magellan
We have spent a magnificent a week on board the Magellan.
The cycling was very well organized with the help of our 3 skilled guides.
The crew made our stay on board very pleasant, the cabins where kept clean every day and the cooks nicely surprised us at every meal.The booking phase went on well as did the follow up.
There where no surprises and all the information given to us was accurate.- What was the date of your tour?
- April 19, 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Croatia
