Reviews

First time sailing / biking in the Croatia islands. This is our second Boat Bike Tour. We were sailing on the “Kvarner Bay and Islands” tour on the Andela Lora ship. Late July 2024. Technically, apparently this was an “IslandHopping” tour, which Boat Bike Tours recently acquired… The ship is a nicer larger ship — 17 cabins and up to 34 people. In late July, this cruise was only half full — 4 English speaking couples – 3 German speaking couples and a local Croatian couple. Turns out this time of year is pretty warm so not as popular perhaps for boating / biking. If we had had all 17 cabins filled, that would’ve been a bit more crowded on the ship. The rooms on the ship struggled to keep cool during the day and at night with the room A/C units — so some degree of difficulty to fall asleep. Not awful, but definitely notice’able. The ship crew was friendly, albeit most did not speak with the passengers much. The waiter for each day was also friendly and talked with us – but seemed more “alone” on the ship. Interesting interactions. The two bike tour guides were super funny and approach’able. All of the days announcements were done in the two languages – English and German – which of course wasn’t a big deal at all – but there were definitely “two separate groups” on the ship. The meals on the ship were good – served either buffet style or family style. The bar was “ok” — limited space on the ship / bar area so we often would purchase personal drinks on shore (silly things like ice tea or coke zero…). Wine was available on the ship for purchase and was good to have at dinner each night. The Adriatic Sea was amazing — crystal clear and not cold at all. Many days ended with a swim off the back of the boat to cool off and relax. I wish they had told us to bring easy small floatation devices so we could float around longer. The bike tours on the islands were very well selected. Most everyone was using an electric assist bike since many of the islands had some big uphills to navigate. Some of the biking was on roads with cars zooming by, but in general the locals knew how to give the bikers space. The islands themselves were fascinating — with little pockets of towns or beach areas for vacationers. This trip avoided most of the really big cities which was very nice. Sometimes we felt like we were just speeding through the country-side and the islands. There were a number of cool spots along the way which we would have liked to have stopped to learn more about them. Course, the two bike guides did say “stop if you want to stop!”. :- ) All in all, a good tour. We would go back for another different Croatia islands tour in the future.

The boat was very nice with great guides (Ivan and Tony) and a great crew. Istria was gorgeous with many postcard perfect towns along the Adriatic coast. There were many opportunities to swim off the back of the boat. The shuttle that was provided made getting to and from the boat from Zagreb very simple and easy. On the downside, many of the rides were off road and some had serious gravel sections on steep climbs. Several riders fell during the week and many were unhappy with the amount of gravel. Also, other than two walking tours there was little off-boat enrichment that we have experienced on other boat-bike tours.

Bicycle in Istria, Croatia. Good guides, especially Kristoffer, very helpful and well-informed. The food onboard was OK but not excellent.

Good experience overall! Great guides, excellent service, good accommodations, good food, interesting cultural experience. Staff was easy to talk to and some of the guides had good knowledge of the local history. Did not seem to know much about local wildlife. Maintenance staff responded promptly to cabin problems, and kept a clean ship. Food was really good, but a bit much at times. Might be less waste if done in a smorgasbord style, although putting bowls of food on the table worked well, could do the same with meat maybe. Breakfast – Enough crescents for everyone with a note, 1/person. The trails with rocky gravel not fun, too rough, too stressful, too focused on trail to enjoy the scenery, trail gravel bed needs serious improvements. I did the bike and boat experience out of Split in 2019 and enjoyed it more, (actual island hoping), better roads, less traffic, and gorgeous scenery. But I did enjoy seeing more of Croatia and learning more of its history. Experience Oct 6 – 13th, Barb Hamilton

The Andela Lora is a beautiful boat, quite new. Our lower deck cabin was spacious (bigger than upper deck cabins) and comfortable. The food was excellent, and lots of it. Crew and guides were friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. E-bikes were in good condition, and on Croatia’s climbs are well advised for all but the most serious riders. Early October weather was superb, warm but not hot.

The Captain and Guides did an amazing job working around the bad weather to make sure we were able to enjoy the trip and the planned activities. We had poor weather but Captain adapted the schedule to get us into sheltered ports. The Guides also adapted the ride routes and schedules. We never missed a day of riding thanks to them.

Our tour was provided by Island Hopping and the ship was great and the hybrid and e-bikes were in good shape and easy to ride.

The trip was fabulous in every way. Lovely boat, good food, great bikes, terrific and well organized rides, superb guides, and likeable travelling companions.

We travelled as a group of four Girls. This trip was beyond our expectations, We really had the most amazing trip. We couldn’t have dreamt of anything more perfect. The boat was fabulous, the food delicious and plenty of it it, the staff and organisers where absolutely amazing and very professional. Special thanks to Kristofor, Kreso,Mario & Aron you all worked so hard to make our holiday perfect, thank you so much. We really couldn’t have wished for anymore. Just one negative……..The bar bill. Wish you had listed the price of a glass of wine, it came as a big shock at the end of the week. We learnt from others when it was too late that we could have paid for a bottle and stored it in your fridge.