Belgium Tour Reviews — 61 to 90 of 1018

The Magnifique III was great. It is a barge, so don’t expect The Ritz, but for instance, It’s much nicer than most chartered Catamarans in the British Virgin Isles.
Meals were delicious and plentiful. The chef did an amazing job feeding us a great variety of tasty meals.
Most importantly, the guides were great. They had a great sense of humor and managed the various personalities, skill levels, expectations and behaviors diplomatically and graciously.

The barge was super deluxe with an excellent chef and our Bicycle guides were spectacular explaining historic sites and interesting cultural info.

The most memorable city in the trip was Gourda, with brilliant , centrally located accommodation.
Bike very good, sturdy and easy to operate.
Accommodation of a very mixed standard, 1] the Brugges accomodation being totally unacceptable for both the price and the city location. Room very small and pokey, with stairs and no place for bags, toilet in a cupboard! Exceptionally disappointing end to our trip. Reception staff obsessed with the Voucher system [unlike other locations!], and quite disinterested in cyclists. We arrived after a days riding in the rain and had to wait whilst she discussed a menu intem for about five minutes with a local!, 2] the accommodation out of town, about 3 kilometers, on about night 5 was totally inappropriate for cyclists, with again the hotel owner only interested in his up-market restaurant guests and barely tolerating cyclists, we asked if we could have a drink in the front lounge at about 5.30 and was told it was fully booked for dinner, on checking at 7.15 still no guests had arrived!, and 3] the Hotel Piccard was impossible to find from the maps and number given.
The route itself was excellent for 95% of the time, on possibly three [3] occassions the numbers were inadequate or incorrect, and required us to ask locals for directions back to the track, it would be good if a Company staff member had actually ridden the track at some stage and corrected this situation.
And finally, when paying for the A tour, it is not unreasonable to expect that the maps and instructions be personalized as to the days that ferries are and are-not available - this small detail was hidden in the notes and if one was not particularly pedantic in preparing for the next days travel could easily have been missed and spent a very frustrating, and tiring day cycling.

The most memorable part of our trip from Amsterdam to Bruges was that my husband and I experienced the adventure with our son and daughter in law. As far as suggestions go, I would suggest that the local operator needs to step up their game on support and maintenance of their bikes. Initially, there was no representative to fit the bikes, nor did they provide any tools for adjustments to be made. My husband is 5’10” and a medium size bike was provided instead of a large. His first 2 days of biking was so very uncomfortable necessitating that he resort to an e-bike for the remainder of the trip.

The crew was amazing. The boat very comfortable. The scenery outstanding. The food excellent. Even the weather behaved. Our Guides Andre and Franklin provided historic information in addition to keeping us all safe. It was great to be on a trip with people of the same interests. One suggestion would be if you are sensitive to insect bites bring repellant!
A great experience overall. So glad we checked it off of our to do list!

We loved this trip! The boat is lovely and the state rooms were a good size with excellent storage, a comfortable bed and nice private bathroom. The crew was very friendly, extremely attentive and accommodating. The Captain was very fun. The food was solid and plentiful with a good amount of choices. The dining room was lovely and comfortable. We did think it odd that we had to pay for water at dinner but other than that we felt it was a very good value.

The biking is absolutely beautiful! I can't say enough about how lovely the scenery was. We used regular bikes but would recommend e-bikes to future customers because of the high winds that you can experience. The bikes were in good shape and had 7 gears which was enough since the majority of the trip is flat biking. The e-bikes can be shut off and used as a regular bike if you want more exercise, but can be turned on to go up hills and fight the wind. I borrowed and e- bike for a while and found it easy to ride when the power was off, so I only used it going up hills. Plus having an e-bike gives you more time to do sight seeing.
The tour was self guided but there was a guide on the route available for problems. Jan was very responsive to calls and had a great sense of humor. He gave a daily route briefings and the GPS app was quite good. Just be sure you know how to use it before you start biking. Between the GPS and the written route instructions, we always found our way with only a couple short hick-ups. We also got tips on places to stop for coffee, snacks and sight seeing.
I would recommend this tour to anyone who enjoys biking. I would warn some people that although you are usually on a bike path, it is often a designated shoulder of the road. You do need to be able to get off and on your bike quickly sometimes at intersections, so it can be intimidating for older folks who aren't as nimble as they once were. The car drivers are very used to cyclers and in general are very courteous, but you do need to stay aware of the many other people cycling on the roads and some are very fast. Having said all that, we had a wonderful trip despite rain off and on. You can always stay on the ship if the weather is too bad!

The tour itself was fantastic.

My interaction with tripsite was confusing and not reassuring. I’ve never encountered such a strange and needlessly cumbersome and costly process to book a trip.

A fantastic trip. There were so many great town and villages along the way. The bike routes and hotels were very good. Unfortunately there was a strong prevailing wind from west to east. If we were to do this trip again we would go from Bruges to Amsterdam.

We enjoyed our trip from Bruges to Amsterdam. The Magnifique IV was very comfortable. The food and service was terrific.

Our tour guides (Corrie and Mariah) lead us through the countryside and small towns. The gave us history lessons and local insight on our rides and after dinner walks, making the journey much more enjoyable.

Over the week we rode each date for a total of 278km. There was very little elevation change and we were fortunate to have the wind at our backs for much of the trip. Be sure to pack a raincoat. The weather conditions were variable, affected by the proximity to the ocean.

We can't wait until we do this again.

Tour leaders were great.
Always very helpful and knowledgeable.
They knew the territory and landscape and brought us to the most beautiful sights.

We have done many biking trips in Europe, most self guided. We did find the pace a little slow, but got into the groove with the group on the very good hybrid bikes-thanks Coene. Cristina's hospitality and food was wonderful and both her and Coene are very good hosts. Their staff were also extremely good.
The boat was very comfortable, cabins big enough to not feel claustrophobic, beds comfy, appreciated the heated towel rail to dry washing.
For us the best part of a trip is seeing the countryside, smelling the roses and taking time to look at the scenery.

Our bicycle tours led us through beautiful countryside, small seaside towns, farm land, medieval fortified towns, and city centers, all on designated bicycle paths. I loved the custom, belt-driven bikes, the cultural tours, the scenery, and back on the boat, the food was amazing! Co-captain and chef extraordinaire Christina fed us a wide variety of gourmet dinners, complete with a reasonably-sized, fabulous dessert. People with birthdays received whole, hand-made cakes to share. I felt thoroughly well-taken care of at all times. Also, the new bathrooms were quite nice— and the entire ship was cleaned to a fastidious degree every day!

Bikes allow a good level of immersion into local culture. The Netherlands provides a great example of a prosperous, healthy and environmentally aware society. My observations are purely anecdotal but we in the US could learn a lot by following the example set by these kind and thoughtful people. I would recommend the Tripsite unguided bike tour from Bruges to Amsterdam to anyone. All arrangements and accommodations were fabulous.

We just got off the Magnifique III today. What a wonderful trip despite some inclimate weather. Our biking guides Peter and Edith were fun, knowledgeable, encouraging and brought us to some very interesting local places on our very scenic ride through countryside, fields, forests and towns. We had very full days eating breakfast at 8, on the road by 9:30 and back on the boat by 5 ish, depending on how many miles were covered , or if you took the long or short routes offered. The meals cooked by Chef Steven were magnificent-steak, seafood, fish and lots of veggie option- way beyond what I expected. Meike and Annika kept us very happy on board and took care of rooms and provisions. Captain Hank and first mate Jarre were experts at what they do, made themselves available for questions and occasional tours of the boat and kept us informed of our routes and sights along the way.
We had morning and nightly briefings, and Peter gave lots of history, tours and background info.
I was wowed by how first class this operation is. There were only 20 cabins, with a total of less than 40 in our group-perfect size.i chose an electric bike, with the option of choosing no, low, or high assist.
The terrain was flat, so assist was only needed in strong headwinds. I had wanted a top deck cabin with full length glass doors, but was too late booking to get one. It ended up that those cabins were sometimes blocked by a dock or another boat when docke so I am glad I did not spend the extra-unless you spent time in the rooms while sailing.
We went with a group of 6 and enjoyed our time together as everything was provided for. Lots of options for our athletic to laid back group. I will be booking another trip with them. Highly recommend

The crew was great and the food was excellent. The bikes were good.

The route, due to detours had its challenges

Loved the Merlijn boat , Coen & Cristina were wonderful hosts , Cristina was a fabulous cook & hostess, so accomodating. Coen very knowledgeable & helpful.
Might be helpful to have 2 cycling guides as we found the pace very slow at times , even though we were on the hybrid bikes. Francine did let us go ahead at times. Bedrooms were very comfortable, heated towel rails great for drying biking shorts overnight.
We would consider going again but probably a week trip.

The tour was very well organized. Pieter was waiting for us at the Abcoude train station when we arrived and he took the time to thoroughly explain everything about the bikes, the equipment, safety rules and tips, hotels, etc. Most of the pedalling is through the country side and small and quaint villages. The scenery was beautiful and relaxing. All hotels were excellent, with well appointed rooms although a few were on the smaller side. Nevertheless, all hotels had their own unique charm and all breakfasts were excellent.

Before starting, we thought we could average around 18 km/h but in reality, we were closer to the 15-16 km/ average pretty much every day. Main reasons for that were :
1. Head winds (sometimes quite strong) more than half of the time which slow you down
2. Stopping/starting to take pictures, admire the scenery. Every time you stop, you have to get back up to speed.
3. Cycling through towns and villages, you can't go very fast as there are pedestrians and you are cycling on (sometimes very) uneven coblestones.
4. Getting lost. The GPS worked quite well in the country side but not as well once in larger cities. Not all wrong detours were the GPS fault though!

Some tips :
- Leave early if you would like to make some stops along the way (take a coffee, visit a windmill, etc.) and not arrive at your destination at 6 PM. This is especially true if you want to visit something at your end destination for the day as most attractions close around 5 PM.
- Plan your next day's itinerary the night before. Some days there aren't many lunch options along the way so make sure your timing is right. On day 3, we ended up doing a little more than 40 kms before lunch and ate around 2:30 PM because the area where we wanted to stop turned out to be a commercial area with no place to eat.
- Expect to do a few more kms every day because of wrong turns, things to visit, etc.
- Have a data plan. For us, because the GPS didn't always work so well in town, that's what we used to get to the hotels 4 of the 6 days.
- As mentioned in the documentation on how to prepare, make sure you are saddle ready. Based on our experience, the most difficult/painful day was the second one. After that, it got better every day.

Overall, we loved our experience and we highly recommend this tour without hesitation.

A note and not a review. Some colleagues returned to the Fluvius a few minutes after midnight and the sliding glass doors on either side of the main deck were locked. These doors were locked with a key on both the outside and the inside. My concern is that if there were an emergency and crew were not available, passengers could not open the sliding glass doors from the inside. I think this is a safety issue and those doors should have an emergency inside lock that can be opened by any passenger or crew without a key or without specific training.

Overall, a great trip. Excellent meals - thanks to Mirka and her staff. Carla and Laura were great tour guides and I hope Carla recovers from her accident soon.

Another suggestion - review mirrors on the bikes would make keeping groups together a bit easier.

We were on the boat "Sailing Home" and we went from Bruges to Amsterdam. We've never done a Bike & Barge trip before and this trip far exceeded our expectations. From the moment we stepped on board, there was a warm welcome from the 5 fantastic crew members. These 5 could not do enough for you to make your trip a trip to remember. There were 22 travelers on board and having breakfast and dinners with them was so much fun. The food was 5 star every night, the captain was awesome with our boat... smooth and easy travel. Our bike guide was outstanding. We went to so many different places, learned about the history in the villages, she personalized the trip by taking us to a cheese farm and was calm under pressure! The biking was incredible... it was so beautiful everywhere! The rooms were cozy and it was so nice having a bathroom in each room! I highly recommend this trip. It was spectacular!

The route is carefully planned to include as much rural bike paths and beautiful country side. As someone who grew up in the Netherlands, I am very impressed in the careful planning of green and agricultural area versus urbanization. The route led us via these green parts of the Netherland I hadn't experienced before. The cultural aspect in the selection of stop=over cities is also noteworthy and admirable.

All in all a great trip and highly recommendable.

The staff aboard the Magnifique IV were fabulous. We had great bike tour guides. The people we met on the ship were from all over the world and we all became friends. I would highly recommend this tour and we will be doing this again

The biking routes were excellent! The recommended paths of the self-guided tour were well chosen, easy to follow, gorgeous and fun.

The itinerary for this trip was very scenic with a good mix of countryside and small towns. The hotels were nicely located and appointed.

Route: nice combination of countryside and small towns. The GPS tracks that were provided worked great on our Garmin device. Getting into Amsterdam was a bit unnerving so not sure if there would have been a little less busy route to the hotel.

Hotels: all were located near city center and within walking distance of town sites and restaurants. The Hotel Mondragon in Zierikzee was wonderful; the host at Hotel Loskade was very helpful and accommodating. The NH Bruges was an ‘upgrade’ and while the location was very good, the hotel itself was worn and in need of maintenance and upgrade. All hotels provided nice buffet breakfasts.

Bikes : the hybrid bike was comfortable and well maintained. The e-bike was comfortable and the battery had a very long charge time. The hybrid bike came with handlebars that adjusted with a lever however the e-bike did not. The e-bike required a multi-tool to make this adjustment. A crank arm and pedal fell off the e-bike while riding and the thread was stripped taking some expertise to repair. Thankfully, our travel companion brought a multi-tool otherwise we would have been unable to fix these two issues in the field. Our travel companions had a couple mechanical issues and were told to find a bike shop for repair. That is fine if you are in a large town during the week, but on the road there were very few. Highly suggest including a multi-tool in the repair kit that is provided.

We had a pleasant week exploring!

Your website should warn people if they choose a tandem bike, that only one pannier is provided for two people. No handle bar bag is provided.
An additional very low cost tool that should be included in every pannier is a bike multitool. You are riding a bike in the countryside and most times not near a bike store, let alone one that is actually opened when you need it. We had parts fall off bikes (e-bikes and tandem) that were not able to be fixed unless you had a multitool. A pedal fell off while riding, and of course no town in site for miles. We happened to have a bike multitool so we could continue on our ride.
The hotel provided in Willemstad was not satisfactory. We had low angled ceilings that you can easily bump your head on when turning around. The sky light leaked. The room had a bad smell.
The tour instructions for Amsterdam could have been updated to reflect all the bike path closures in the city. These paths had been closed for a long time, so alternate instructions to maneuver around the city would have been very helpful.

Its May; pack for all weather, it'll happen within your 4 hour ride, yes there are hills - spend the money, get an ebike! Such great guides McEel & Marcel. So glad to be lead by them, their knowledge, trail guidance was reassuring, you felt safe with them knowing where the group was going and looking out for you. Stopping to enjoy coffees and "should see" items. Steffie; owner of the boat and also our chef made such delicious dishes; duck, salmon, sea bass and lovely bought the day of vegetables...did I mention the the morning cheeses and breads, yum, yum. It would be nice to know the name of the cheeses...sadly, can't remember them now.
We hesitated taking a smaller boat but thoroughly enjoyed learning how canals work, river tunnels, felt like we part of the water system way, not knowing where the Fleur was going to park added to the excitement of finding her.
Absolutely loved it. Great way to experience the waterways of Europe as they did hundreds of years ago, though with a shower and warm bed...

Food on boat (ship ) as they refer to it was wonderful. Chef was full of energy and very creative

Another biking trip of a lifetime and this time on the beautiful Magnifique III. What a beautiful ship, terrific crew, great chef and awesome bike guides. Biking from Bruges, Belgium to Amsterdam was just fantastic.

Cycling through farmland and so many small towns and villages, stopping at a bar/cafe, this is a great way to see a place. The other cyclists were kind and friendly, the staff was attentive and lighthearted.

Although the guided tour had its frustrations and the rainy - windy weather didn’t help, the experience was worth the trip. However, it was frustrating that more attention/instruction was not given to novice bikers. Firstly, they needed to understand the e-bike, specifically to understand the function of gearing down and powering up when needed. Secondly novice bikers didn’t understand NOT to crowd other bikers and to keep a safe distance. Also your marketing should be clear state that they shoukd be experienced bikers. Some areas were highly trafficked - bike auto and train - therefore novice bikers are at great risk. The guides were unfamiliar with the trail and particularly in the first days were getting lost. Your selection for lunch stops were poor. We ate our sandwiches (which got really boring after the second day) outside in the rain. Suggest you add some lunch stops at some local sheltered restaurants with enough time to enjoy and experience the local fare.

My most memorable part of the trip was the barge and crew. It was a pleasure to be on the barge.