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If you’ve ever been on a Boat and Bike Tour, you’ve enjoyed some amazing meals on board. Generally there are three courses and, while you don’t get much choice as to what is served (except if you have dietary restrictions), it’s always excellent food, and beautifully presented as well. After a day of biking and a refreshing shower, you look forward eagerly to finding out what the on-board chef will come up with next. At the same time, if you’ve taken the time to think about it and perhaps to…

When people think about visiting the Netherlands, they often picture colorful tulip fields in full bloom under the spring sun. And that’s absolutely true! However, many hesitate to book a trip in March, believing that the weather might still be cold or the flowers not yet blooming. In reality, March is an excellent time to experience the Netherlands and its famous tulip fields, but without the crowds! Here’s why March is the perfect time to embark on a tulip tour and why these flowers are truly special: Our Tulip Tours…

The former island of Schokland is located in the middle of the province of Flevoland, an area that’s been reclaimed from the sea. Where the inhabitants once fought against the power of the sea, today it’s a beautiful landscape. This is, of course, because part of the former Zuiderzee was diked in and then drained back in the 1930s. The sea floor dried out and the current Noordoostpolder was created. You can still clearly see that Schokland used to be an island: it’s now a hill surrounded by meadows, which…

The Moselle is not only the oldest wine region in Germany, but also one of the most charming. Over 2,000 years ago, the Romans recognized the potential of this unique landscape: protected slopes made of slate offer the perfect conditions for growing wine. A wine tradition was born that is still alive today.   There is hardly a more romantic way to explore this picturesque river landscape with its rolling hills, historic castles, idyllic wine villages and historic towns than by bike and boat. Along the Moselle there are numerous…

Ready for an island vacation? Then Greece is your absolute dream destination! In the azure waters of the Aegean and Ionian Seas, around 3,000 islands await you, of which only about 115 are inhabited. Even the Greeks themselves don’t know exactly how many islands there really are and how many of them are actually inhabited. But one thing is for sure: there are too many to visit them all! Catharina’s top 5 islands in Greece If you don’t know where to start planning your Greek island vacation, be sure to…

Another great review! Brigitte and Jake took our Metz-Cochem tour recently and loved it! They wrote about it on their blog, in a post called 7 Days Cycling From France to Germany On Boat Bike Tours, and they also sent us their top ten reasons to travel with Boat Bike Tours:   1. Sailing on the cozy premium ship Magnifique I When you think of a traditional river cruise, you might imagine a large ship with hundreds of other passengers. Well, this wasn’t the case at all on the Magnifique I!…

And where to find them! France is known for its food, and no trip to France would be complete without trying the best food that the country has to offer. Fortunately, it’s easy to eat the best French food without spending a fortune; it’s a matter of knowing where to find it! Before the advent of supermarkets and hypermarchés, the French – French women, to be specific – did the shopping every day for that day’s meals, buying only enough for one day. Each town had shops that sold the…

When Kit Parks interviewed veteran Boat Bike Tours guests Penny and Jim for her Active Travel Adventures podcast, a theme emerged: the ease of traveling this way. Penny and Jim hail from Texas originally, but now live in Colorado. They took a bicycling tour once in the San Juan islands off of S eattle and enjoyed it, but what turned them off was the fact that they had to pack and unpack every day. This is why they first chose to travel with Boat Bike Tours: the ship serves as…

When it comes to immersing yourself in the wonder of Dutch tulip fields, we all know of the spectacular destination of Keukenhof. With seven million bulbs on display each spring, it’s one of the world’s largest flower gardens. But there are many other magical hidden hotspots that are often overlooked. In this blog we take a peek at four corners of the Netherlands where floral magic happens.   1. The living bulb archive Hortus Bulborum is a foundation that manages a unique collection of tulips, narcissus and hyacinths. Based in…

Why do we see so many people come back to our trips? There’s something about our cycling and boating vacations that keeps calling them back. Janneke Wallin – a Dutch woman who has lived in Sweden since 2010 – is one of these return visitors. Along with her Swedish husband she has taken two trips with Boat Bike Tours: the Northern Tour of Holland route and the Discover Friesland route. “I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t go on a trip with Boat Bike Tours!”   Getting to…