E-Bikes Available Tour Reviews page 163
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★★★★★ Dad and sons
Biking the Camino with my sons
Camino de Santiago: A Pilgrim’s Route From Astorga to Santiago
A real biking adventure. The biking camino was much more mountainous than we imagined. It was beautiful scenery, thrilling, strenuous, dangerous, rewarding and memorable. We hiked the first half and stayed in hostels. From Astorga we biked and stayed in hotels. Hiking and hostels were much more conducive to meeting incredible new friends. The price of the biking tour seemed a bit expensive for what you recieve.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- I've done many bike rides
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Spain
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★★★★★ Anne Temple
Beautiful but given bike with defective wheel and inadequate spares/pump
Innsbruck to Salzburg: Through the Alps Along River Cycle Trails
The ride is beautiful, hotels very comfortable with pleasant employees and great breakfast. Our rating would be higher except for our experience with one bike and the repair kit provided by the operator in Innsbruck. Also, if you are not familiar with Garmin, be sure you have a good alternative.
We had two flats in the same place on the inner seam of the back tire. We understand that tire changes were our responsibility and were prepared to handle them. We were provided with only one spare, no co2 cartridge because the operator was out of the attachment needed to use them, and a small inefficient pump. The advice given to us if we were to get a flat was to change the tire, pump it up as best we could with the inefficient pump and then go to a service station where we could then fill the tire up to its required PSI. This is a rural route with few service stations and much time was wasted.
The morning after the first flat we spent a couple of hours locating a bike shop that was open (tried 3) that had the right size spares. In addition we purchased a better pump which we were very glad to have with the second flat. That second flat occurred on the ride to Lofer. A biker who helped us noted that we didn’t have enough tread (profile) on the tires and we were lucky we hadn’t had rain.
Helmut was unable to provide a different bike for the last leg into Salzburg. Rather than spending the time finding a new back tire to buy and thus getting a much later start that we were comfortable with, we elected to take transport to Salzburg.
A special thanks to Helmut for his responsiveness and assistance.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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★★★★★ Chris MacMillan
Spectacular scenery, poor bike maintenance
Dolomites to Venice Along the Old Dolomites Railway Track
The scenery was spectacular and memorable. The hotels were good. However in the middle of the trip my bike handlebars came loose and the bike was very difficult to steer towards the hotel. Also I found the Funtastic navigation app to be unreliable.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ Mungo
Nice not to have to pack every day
Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Princesse Royal
Flat terrain, mostly bike paths and not having to pack and unpack are great advantages of this trip. The food and accommodations were better than expected. However, it is not recommended as a self-guided tour as the directions are not complete. Also, as a group tour with 35 people in a large pack makes it too cumbersome.
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★★★★★ Sequoia
Not quite the Danube River Trip we expected
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
Too much of the trip was off the river, and off trails. Going through corn fields was not our favorite. Dams should be called levees. The route through Budapest on sidewalks was difficult, too busy with trucks and traffic. It is not a bicycle friendly city. Hotel could have been closer to the river. We would recommend 2 nights in Bratislava, there is so much to see there. Add another day to sleep over in Hainburg. We loved the hotel in Vienna. We recommend the lower trail through the National Park on day one, to go swimming!!! The day one detour was difficult because of traffic, maybe there's a walk around the detour on bike path instead of so much road. We loved Gyur. Three days were totally off the river. We enjoyed the ferry rides very much. The last two days were on the river and were the best days.
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★★★★★ Carol Bly
Not what hoped for. Poor directions. Unsafe routes and not well marked.
Tauern Bike Path (Krimml-Passau)
Loved quiet rides in country and thru villages but dangerous conditions were not marked due to recent storms. We should have been notified and got onto dangerous routes.
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★★★★★ Ronald Schwarcz
Extremely disappointing.
Sail & Bike to Picturesque Villages and Nature Reserves
The ship was terrible. Our cabin was so small that it could not accommodate two people comfortably. Also, the ventilation was poor and it was always warm and muggy. There was inadequate seating on the deck. No comfortable chaises or stairs. The Captain did not communicate well or do anything help the travelers meet and mingle. It was especially frustrating as my friend and I were the only Americans and there were no native born English speaking traveling. Unlike all other trips we were on, nothing was done to provide us information about the villages we docked at. The captain or crew did not offer to take us into towns and show us around or even recommend bars or other places to visit. There were no daily information sheets, recommendation or even maps. We were completely on our own. The food was marginal at best. The dinner portions were small. Must dinner wasn’t an”event”, everyone was in and out in around 40 minutes. In general the amenities were totally lacking. We believe that the most Americans would not be satisfied with the Sail and Bike tours offered by Bike Boat Tours. On our ship, the crew were friendly and worked hard, but it seemed that they were understaffed. As it seems that they were working a very tight budget. We only had meat was the dinner entree one night and that was at the BBQ. Two nights we had vegetarian main course. We were never taught anything about sailing except helping pulling ropes to raise and lower sails. I could go on and on, but, I will end by saying that the ship was not comfortable and nothing was done to help the travelers fully enjoy the experience.
- What was the date of your tour?
- August 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
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★★★★★ Ron S
Classic
Vienna to Budapest (Classic)
Nice hotels. Great company rep. (Joseph ) Lousy route. Too many dirt trails including one which may have been a garbage dump.l Less than twenty five percent of the route was along the Danube. The signage was not good. I have run four trips thru Bike Tours but this one is not a winner. All the others were great. One participant who had a patellar injury rented an electric assist bike but the battery pack did not hold charge very long. We had additional niggling bike problems.
- What was the date of your tour?
- 9/2/2017
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4 thru Bike Tours
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria, Hungary
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Jim Johnson, Founder and president
Ron,
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your experience on the Vienna to Budapest tour and for the issues you faced. While most feedback we've received on the tour has actually been quite positive, it's sometimes the negative feedback that's most instructive to us--so we will definitely look into the issues you mentioned. So we thank you very much for your feedback!
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★★★★★ Richard Rogers
Not as I had expected
Provence by Bike and Boat
Not expecting to ride as a group. The riding involved more road riding and realize that a leader was necessary. The riding in Southern France is not as developed as Central Europe.
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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★★★★★ Jim Brewer
Mainz to Cologne
Rhine Bike Path: Mainz to Cologne
The Rhine Valley was beautiful. The hybird bikes were very good. Maps and directions for the tour were very poor at best. Extremely difficult to find Hotels and the key sights mentioned by the tour. We experienced extremely high temperatures but had A/C most nights. The night without A/C resulted in very little sleep and NO biking the next day. The night that they shut off the A/C in the middle of the night resulted into a lot of lost sleep. Bottom line even with average high temperatures you need A/C every night and all night long.
Others on the same tour with the same maps etc also had difficulties finding the Hotels each evening.- What was the date of your tour?
- 22 Jul 18--28 Jul 18
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Germany
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★★★★★ Mark Abzug
meh
Florence to Rome
great cycling, but eurotours was terrible. no orientation, routed us on some busy roads, no customer service at all. I've done 5 of these, and this group was the worst support outfit by far
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ diane g
Salzburg to Salzburg has fantastic scenery but directions provided are unbelievably poorly developed
Tauern Bike Path (Salzburg-Salzburg)
Salzburg to Salzburg over 6 days is higher than a level 2. The terrain is hilly. I do not recommend this self guided tour because the german-speaking outfits they contract with provide totally inadequate self-guiding instructions. They do not know what a cue sheet is. They do not provide any directions as to north, south, east, west; they do not provide any street names. AND, the directions in English are very obviously translated very poorly from the German. In addition, there is no way to find your hotel once off the bike path. You have to depend upon good route finding skills for this hotel finding as well as the entire trip. We had this same experience with bike tours.com 7 years ago and thought they might have gotten better at directions. We gave bike tours feedback at that time, and our friends gave feedback on their german-speaking directions on their self-guided tour, and nothing changed. Hence I am writing this review without making a customer complaint becaue I do not believe bike tours will fix this problem. AND, THIS TOUR REQUIRES ONE TO CONSULT 3 SETS OF INSTRUCTIONS THROUGHOUT THE TRIP. 2 sets of friends had exactly the same experience. 2 stars are for getting our luggage to each hotel before we arrived; and the hotels were gracious and accommodating.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Austria
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Jim Johnson
This is a tour with one of our most popular operators—we send hundreds of clients with them each year—and they get routinely positive reviews. The Tauern Bike Path is also one of our more popular and long-standing tours.However, this is a new routing of a long-standing tour (that had also received good reviews), and it’s obvious they cut some corners on the directions and tour materials. We apologize for this.
I’ve actually ridden the Tauern Bike Path three times since its opening about 20 years ago. In fact, my first tour on it was before I started BikeTours.com, and it was part of my inspiration for starting the company. So it saddens me when anyone has a negative experience on it.
We also apologize for the level of difficulty, which should have been a level 3. In its previous form (the tour actually went mostly in the opposite direction), the tour was a level 2.
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★★★★★ ontherun
Great country to visit but maybe not with BikeBoatTours
Amsterdam – Bruges by Bike and Boat – Fluvius (and reverse)
We certainly enjoyed the country and the flat bike trails (lol!) but the company that provided our tour was mediocre at best. They had no concern for safety - did not require helmets, nor did the guides wear them. The bikes had no water bottle holder and the lights on the bikes did not work. Also, after strongly encouraging us to download Ride with GPS, they sent us the daily route but then: did NOT have holders on the bikes to put our phone on and it's illegal there to ride with a phone in your hand! Also, they did not follow the routes as stated in the Ride with GPS so the app was constantly beeping that we were off track and was, essentially useless. The guides seemed to be suffering from burnout. They were nice but did not offer any information unless asked and were extremely disorganized throughout the trip. The food on the boat was adequate but repetitive - same breakfast every day and we had to make our own lunch from the same food every day....unless it ran out and then we were stuck with prosciutto and bread that day. The boat itself was nice and the cabins were nice. Cleaning was not done during the trip unless asked.
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★★★★★ Rebecca Norman
Was lovely. Nice country.
Holland’s Super Tulip Tour
Boat, Food, Captain, Chef, First Mate… Wonderful…. Now the tour guide.. hum not so much… First my bike was not the right size for me!! Way to tall!! First day I did ask for some help on getting a safer bike.. Did change but still to tall. I didn’t ride many days not feeling safe!! One’s feet should not be 6 inches off the pavement. I would hop loft to stop. I did fall twice. She didn’t know the route. Turned around afew times.. Always a problem finding a toilet to stop at… Would I go on another tour? Up in the air. Can’t say I would.
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 29
- How many tours have you completed?
- First
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Holland
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Jan
Rebecca,
We truly appreciate your honest feedback and sincerely apologize for the issues you experienced with your bike and the guidance during your tour. We are committed to enhancing our services for a more comfortable and safe adventure, and we'll take your comments into consideration for future improvements. We hope that despite these challenges, we'll have the opportunity to welcome you back on another tour and provide a better experience.
Jan
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★★★★★ John Parsons
Can't recommend it
Aare Cycle Route: Along the Jura, Aare, and Rhine Rivers
Food organization poor. Rhine River portion very industrial
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Switzerland
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★★★★★ kirbymom
Great Effort but we were frequently lost
A Taste of Italy: Emilia-Romagna
We had titanium bikes and a very intro. Unfortunately we were lost so often that instead of enjoying time at q location, we were biking around asking locals and using our compass. I think Bike Tour tried too hard to use route with less traffic or a bicycle trail. This made it very hard to get in and out of cities. We had both a bike gps with the routes inputted and the written instructions. Just give us the most direct route out of the cities.
The hotels were nice and mostly well located. Sometimes they weren't well located like the one on the farm. We very much enjoyed the cooking class, the visit to the balsamic vinegar producer, and the gelato machine making -- that ws great. Also the dinners and breakfasts were very good to excellent.
I would recommend this tour IF the routes were adjusted and the visit to the farm was eliminated- What was the date of your tour?
- 10-4-16
- How many tours have you completed?
- thousands of miles w/o guides
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Italy
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★★★★★ pmcmanamon
Tour instructions were outdated, and hard to follow
Strasbourg to Mainz: Imperial Cities and Charming Landscapes Along the Rhine
The cities we visited were great, and so were the hotels. I was warm, so air conditions would have been nice, but not a big deal. The tour instructions consisted of a generic book with instructions, and a generic set of maps. The maps were not that detailed. When the maps disagreed with the instructions the maps were right. The signage along the routes changed since they made the instructions . We were told to look for a large E along European bike paths, but it appears to have been replaced by a circle with 15 inside it, i guess for the # of countries in the EU. The bikes were great. The luggage was always delivered on time. I downloaded a Eurobike app to help with the directions, but it did not work well. In order to update my positions I had to quit the app, and restart it. The Biketours people did suggest a new app, RidewithGPS, that worked much better. Because they did not have cues the pass could not tell me ahead of a turn, but it did tell me if we go off course.
I think the local tour company, Eurobike, needs to update their instructions. I also would appreciate if they made unique instructions for each tour. The instructions start and end at a city center. When we got close I would use google maps to find the hotel directly, rather than going to the city center and then to the hotel. My ideal would be a unique set of instructions for a tour, with small maps above or below each instruction. We have had that with other tours, but different providers. On this tour I could not mount my instructions and maps so I could see both while riding, I picked the instructions. In some cases they recommend stopping at a certain place for lunch, but you cannot see if from the tour route, and there is no map to locate it.
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★★★★★ David Anderson
Pretty location, ok organization
Highlights of the Highlands: Donegal by E-bike
In general, it was a great experience. I'd never been on a bike tour, and this was a load of fun. My wife and I plan to do more bike tours. However, if I had to choose between bike tours, I wouldn't recommend this specific one.
Going over this bike tour's organization.
GPS / Directions.
A few things here to complain about.
1. The printed directions were inconsistent between people on the tour. Some printed directions said left at an intersection, others said right. They were simply out of date, and the tour didn't re-print everything. Old printouts = old directions.
2. The printed directions were inconsistent with the web directions. We were sent PDFs of directions. Those didn't match up with the printouts. Again, likely because they were older or newer (we couldn't figure out which). Different roads sometimes, different turns.
3. The printed and web directions were inconsistent with the GPS tracks. This was super annoying, because we were biking along listening to the GPS directions (on the unit provided), and the GPS would say "turn here!" and the printed directions indicated we should go another few blocks.
4. The printed / web / GPS directions were out of date for actual road conditions. In two different locations, the road was literally closed, and we had to detour around an area using Google maps. In one place, the GPS road literally had grass growing on it, and had obviously moved at least 5+ years before. These directions are *very* out of date at times.
These direction inconsistencies didn't mean we got lost, but it did mean *daily* stops to consult our map, Google maps, GPS directions, and try to figure out where the tour intended us to go, regardless of all the inconsistencies. I'd highly suggest having offline Google maps if you're going to take the tour.
Lodging.
Some places were outstanding and high quality. Other places were lower quality. One place in particular stank heavily of peat smoke, with smoke literally billowing in through our windows. I don't know how often the tour company inspects the places they're sending people.
Food.
The tour included breakfast. It was sometimes great, mostly fine, but sometimes a bit low quality. Again, perhaps a lack of inspection on exactly what they're paying for.
While the tour didn't provide dinner, we sometimes had trouble finding any place which was open. In one town, we got *lucky* that there was a food truck open, because otherwise every single restaurant in town was closed down. The locals all said that it made no sense that we hadn't planned on dinner, because their town didn't have restaurants open in this season. Many locations only had a single restaurant option. I think if you're going to operate a tour this late in the season, you need to scout out restaurants which will actually be open. SHOW MORE
Bikes.
The bikes on average worked fine. Few specific issues.
1. The batteries were inconsistent power. Both in size (different models) and in age we suspect (as the power ran down more quickly). We absolutely used full power rarely, and most often had it at 1 or 2 out of 4 power. Still, on the longer days, we ran quite low on power. We had a battery die once, which was annoying. Thankfully we had young people on our tour who were able to power their way the last distance without a battery. For the distances available, I think the bike batteries are inadequate for anyone who isn't in good shape. When the tour operator was asked about this before the tour started, he insisted that the batteries "never" run out. Can't be true, we heard from other people on the tour that they also ran out of batteries.
2. We had a bike which repeatedly had the chain fall off. Looking at the chain, it was *covered* in grease. Looked like it hadn't been cleaned in years / forever. Thankfully we could put the chain back on ourselves, but if we were older / less competent with a bike, this would have been an issue.
General interactions.
In general, the tour operator was nice, but didn't seem overly concerned with the feedback we provided him.
1. "The GPS tracks are out of date." - "Well yeah that happens."
2. "There were no restaurants available." - "Yeah, it's late in the season"
3. "The bike kept losing the chain." - "Yup, bikes do that sometimes."
In general, we didn't feel like our concerns were being heard.
Again, overall it was a fun place to go, and we liked bike touring in general. The operator just could have done better.
SHOW LESS- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Ireland
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Bike Tours Team Member
Hi David,
Thank you for taking the time to leave us feedback - we really appreciate it! For future bike tours, I do recommend following GPS tracks OR printed instructions. They can sometimes vary depending on updates but do not necessarily mean one or the other is wrong (I recommend GPS over printed instructions). It's a fair assessment that all hotels are not equal (i.e. breakfasts, amenities), sometimes our options are limited in certain towns. Unfortunately the same goes for restaurant options in certain towns. I would agree that an e-bike battery should never run out if it is properly charged. However, if the battery is being heavily used or is getting too old, it can run out and should be replaced. Although we know you can't fully inspect the ebike battery, we do recommend you do a good inspection of your bicycle before starting the tour, so we can try to address any issues before you get cycling. In the 2023 season we will offer 24/7 hotline to our local office so that we may be able to assist you immediately when any issues arise. I hope you had a great trip despite the the issues.
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★★★★★ shea214
too much is too much
Three Lakes Tour: From Geneva to Annecy
This tour is quite lovely, but not at the level we expected. This is our 8th tour so we feel we get them by now. We like the unguided aspect, but they completely outsourced the work of actual directions to a machine. It is not an adequate substitution. The machine added at least 15 miles on the first day and was most frustrating. Please, give us actual directions AND MAPS. A silly little device is certainly helpful but should not be a substitute. And the distance and hills were definitely not Medium. This was proven out the first night by the guy who biked to the hotel (he likes extreme and he thought it was tough).
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept2016
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- France, Switzerland
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BikeTours.com staff reply from Lindsay Nash
Hi! Thanks for your review. We're glad to hear that the tour was lovely despite the tour level not meeting your expectations. We're taking your review to our products team and to the local tour operator to re-assess the tour level. Thank you for sharing your experience and helping us to better advise other travelers in the future.
-----
I wanted to follow up once more on your review after following up with the local tour operator. They've never received complaints about the GPS before, and they did provide maps, a profile, and a large marked map in the roadbook on your tour. Also, to clarify, the client you mentioned who said it was a tough route was doing the more challenging version of the tour, not the version you went on. I'm sorry if that was confusing.
Again, we apologize the tour level did not match your expectations, but we do state clearly in the Surface and Terrain details about the daily climbing.
Thank you again for sharing your experience.
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★★★★★ Bluenose
Alsace in September
Alsace Wine Country
Great time of year to do this trip as the vineyards are being harvested. The weather is perfect for cycling! Much of the trip is on dedicated cycle paths which reduces the amount of riding in traffic.
We took the dinner package which saved us the hassle of trying to find dinner each night. A couple of the meals were terrific but most were average.- What was the date of your tour?
- September 9, 2018
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much easier
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- France
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