Reviews

Everything was good and even very gooD, except my E-bike. The first day I have seen that the breaks were not in order and I inform the guide of this fact. I’ve got the answer that it would be fixed. The second and third day it was absolutely the same, what I said to the guide again. The fourth day the front wheel bloqued completely on a downhill ride !!! The guide gaveme his bike to finish the journey. It was supposed to be fixed on the evening but the fiftth day, the breaks were a bit better but not repared. I’m not satisfied with the E-bikes and the bad response of the Company that has provided the E-bikes and its bad after-sales service.

loved the crew and the tour, food was very good. lower cabin was very good but upper rooms don’t have air conditioning and no window screens! dining room also had no air conditioning and got very hot. if you want to go into museums, castles and churches and bier gardens you need an ebike…otherwise you will be only bicycling and not have time for touring.there was a mistake about the bikes but the tour corrected it and gave a decent refund.bikes were well fitted with great front and side bags. trip of a lifetime! beautiful rhine and nekkar rivers…

We had an excellent tour from Bruges to Amsterdam. The Tour guides were excellent and there were options each day for a shorter or longer bike ride. The food was amazing with 3 course meals at dinner time that were exceptional. The cabins were very comfortable with air conditioning and ensuite shower and toilet. I would highly recommend this tour.

The boat, staff and food were excellent. Sandra and Hester did a great job of guiding us across Belgium and the Netherlands. Gourmet food each night and an air conditioned room topped off the list. Definitely exceeded my expectations.

I’ve just come back from the May 26th to June 2nd sailing of the Mare Fan Fryslan….the circle route from Enkhuizen to Texel/Terschelling, down the opposite coast of the the Ijssel Meer and back to Enkhuizen. This tour is a really good deal when compared with the same tour with a well-known American firm, VBT. It’s a full 60% less- about $1500 vs $3545 for the identical itinerary and the same sailboat! VBT does include train tickets for Amsterdam/Enkhuizen/Amsterdam ($30) and has some home visits. Also VBT will have a van to trail after bikers for any repairs or fatigued biker recovery. The Netherlands, however, is totally bike friendly with (no-car) dedicated bike paths, flat-flat countryside and villiages spaced out at 5 miles intervals; so Mother Hens to shepard you around are really not necessary. My son and I were totally happy touring independently. The company gave us an excellent detailed map of the area of the tour with all bike paths clearly marked. We opted for electric bikes, sturdy Gazelle Bikes, manufactured in the Netherlands with a Bosch Power system. The electric option cost an extra $200 (included in the $1500 price). The electric bike was wonderful, worked beautifully, even during the one afternoon’s rain deluge. I’d recommend the electric option because it totally prevents fatigue even when you’re doing more than 40 miles per day. Going up hills (yeah, there are hills in the Netherlands when you’re approaching bridges or sand dunes). My son called the electric power boost up hills, “the hand of God”. The electric option gives you a read out of miles(kms) and time travelled plus estimated travel kms remaining. Our maximum mileage day from Makkum to Stavoren was about 60Kms and I still had about 20% battery left after liberally using the battery along the way. The Boat-Bike bicycles come with a massive rear side pannier which easily accomodates raincoat, extra clothing, and battery charger in case you need to boost the charge at a friendly resturant along the way. The Sailboat offered half day sailings every day when we weren’t on the islands. All hands, that wanted to, were recruited into raising and lowering sails by the owner’s ( Jorin de Wit) enthusiastic, friendly wife, Rindske. The sailing experience was wonderful since we had 75F, blue sky days for almost all of the trip. The sailboat experience really set this tour apart from other tours that offer motorcoach transfers or puttering along on a barge. The Mare Fan Fryslan is a 3-masted historical flat bottomed boat, well suited to coastal cruising. There are 12 double bed cabins and 2 triples on board. All have a private bath with shower, sink, and toilet. Our cabin was spacious with 2 portholes and 7 feet of headroom. Beds were comfortable. Having a travelling home base that required only one unpack and repack is a real time-saver compared to the 3-4 different hotel stays on a typical 8-day bike tour. The sailboat has a dedicated dining room with 4 and 6 place tables..no assigned seating. Sit where you want. There’s dedicated bar area with a good selection of wine and bottled and draft beer, fairly priced. The mostly German tour participants put quite a daily dent in the beer supply! Food was good. Full European breakfast with fresh cooked eggs- fried, hard-boiled, omelettes offered every day. Delicious fresh bread was delivered to the boat every morning. The cheese and cold-cuts were available for making sandwiches to carry along on the bike tours. But we generally took advantage of cafes and beachfront restaurants along the way. Dinners offered fresh seafood and Dutch specialties. I was totally thrilled with this tour and will certainly consider this and other tours with Boat-Bike again. The price is a real bargain. In the future I’ll consider taking along my Grandson when he gets a bit more secure with his bicycle skills.

The people looking after us were amazing! We perhaps were very lucky with staffing….as Carlos was a very competent, accomodating and friendly bike tour guide; Max was an outstanding chef and provided an amazing varied menu which we all appreciated after a hard days bike ride; Dita was a very welcoming and endearing hostess and Christian was a friendly captain and even though many of us didn’t speak his language we still could communicate! We believe we were so lucky to have these people look after us and provide such an enjoyable experience. Thank you so much Mandy & Tony (Australia)

The trip was great and we’ll organised my only criticism was central parking although pre-booked we were to be meet.at 9am by a driver who would help with our luggage nobody was there we had to phone several times until finally someone did turn up , because the unfortunate rearrangements they were told the day before they still went to the wrong place and arrived approximately 1 hrs late. This did not for me reflect on the wonderful time we had however this may not be the same for others

What a wonderful trip we had on the l’estello from Avignon to Aigues-Mortes bike and barge tour last week. Dita, Max & Christian really looked after us on board. Special mention to Max for the varied and delightful meals he prepared for us each day – the food was delicious and plentiful. Max and Dita are such delightful young people with a great attitude to their job and so easy to get along with. Carlos helped us with our daily biking adventures. We chose to break away from the cycling group on a couple of days as our group of 7 Aussies travelling together found it a bit easier getting around in a smaller group. Some wonderful sights to see and a truly memorable holiday. We had so much fun.

Wonderful food! Excellent accommodations on the Magnifique II ! Great crew who went out of their way to make everything perfect! Highly recommend this tour!

We had a great trip in Holland and Belgium on the Boat Bike Tour. The staff was very helpful and friendly and the boat was very comfortable. The meals were also very good. We would have preferred a self guided option with some longer routes if possible. Also, before the trip we had not received some of the information about downloading the GPS system. This was our second Boat Bike Tour and we will definitely plan a third.