Reviews

A big shout out to the Captain of the boat and Salah the restaurant manager. Both were excellent. Maps for the bike riding need more detail in the written description and someone should have been directing us as we approached the boat on our last day across a very busy highway.

We had a great time. Cabins were comfortable. Food was excellent. The crew and guides were friendly and always helpful.

Great breakfasts! Beautiful boat with gracious, friendly hosts.

I’ve now taken two tours with Boat Bike Tours, on the two-masted schooner Wapen fan Fryslan sailing and biking the Frisian islands and coast near the Wadden Sea and Ijsselmeer, and most recently on the barge Magnifique, biking from Amsterdam to Bruges–the first with my wife and the second on my own. I cannot say enough about the great joy I experienced on each of these trips. The ships and bicycles and well maintained, the crews are professionals, yet friendly, real people, the meals outstanding, the moorings in the towns and cities convenient and providing a vast diversity of experiences, and the tranquility of the Dutch and Belgian countrysides is soothing. I will definitely do this again.

I am an artist and wanted a special trip for my husband and I now that we are retired. I wanted to see a lot of the great Dutch art and also have time to capture scenes by painting along the way. My husband and I traveled on the boat Flora on the Green Heart of Holland Tour. It was by far the best trip we have ever taken. Berthuis and Jonne were amazing hosts and Elles was a delightful person and fantastic chef. They recently purchased the boat 6 months before our trip and updated everything! There were 20 passengers on our trip and it was terrific to be able to get to know everyone, even though we were the only Americans (everyone was so nice and we crossed language boundaries!). A new fleet of bikes and the exceptional maps and daily itineraries as well as the audible app on our phone made traveling unguided each day a pleasure! Our meals were delicious and there was plenty and great variety of food. I am lactose intolerant and Elles made me special desserts every day! Each day when we got back from our biking there were fresh cookies and treats! We had never taken such a trip. Now we are hooked! This is an amazing way to see a country! We have been on group tours before and spent most of our time in a tour bus. With the bike tour, we left the boat at 9:00 am each day and had time to explore many different sites along the route at our own pace and still have plenty of time to make it back to the boat for dinner. I painted almost every day! Each day we made our lunch from the expansive breakfast. The reusable containers that were provided helped store it safely until we ate. Water bottles were provided as well as a super cool strap to hold our phones to the handle bars and a pump and bike repair kits (that we never used). Every detail was taken care of. The captain was able to answer all our questions and provided exceptional local knowledge – he spoke Dutch, German, and English and provided announcements and directions in multiple languages. Our state room was clean and comfortable. We could help ourselves from a basket of extra toiletries as needed. There was delicious coffee, teas of all types, decaf, and water available at all times. An abundance of other beverages were available for a price, on an honor system. We didn’t use them much, but I saw that the captain accommodated special requests from other passengers and stocked the bar as requested. We loved the fact that the boat was docked for the night. We got a chance to take a nice relaxing exploratory walk before or after dinner. I booked this trip 8 months in advance and it far exceeded our expectations. While we used regular bikes and had no problem with the daily mileage, other passengers chose the e-bike option. We are already planning which bike trip we can take next year! The Boat Bike Tours Company is great. Petra, who handled our reservation was terrific and in regular e-mail communication answering my many questions. The itinerary on the website was precisely what we encountered on the trip. The pre-trip information package detailed every aspect of the trip and was so helpful. It even included a suggested packing list. We feel like we have made new friends in Berthuis and Jonne. We have awesome memories that will last a lifetime!

Fabulous trip , great food, fantastic cabin, good bikes, great company.

Exceptionally well organized by caring, approachable staff. Remarkably comfortable accommodations, delicious food (the chef was easily willing to handle vegetarian and other requests). My only reservation is what could have been a better explanation of expectations for an e-bike (they are heavy and cumbersome; we changed to traditional bicycles after the first day). The various daily stops at interesting sites, and the walking tours of the cities after dinner were appreciated; the countryside was beautiful.

This trip was a retirement present to ourselves as both Wanda and I had recently retired. We did this trip with 4 family members. Everything was great and exactly as advertised. We met many great people and enjoyed lots of laughs and conversations. We would like to do more trips like this in the future.

We had a great time – biking was very easy – 25-30 miles/day, flat. The routes were well-chosen and with the app, very easy to follow. We enjoyed that we were essentially free to do whatever we wanted and didn’t need to wait around, or feel pushed to keep up. The tour guide clearly explained all the options for each day. The cabins were comfortable with plenty of storage room, and were cleaned each day. We highly recommend this tour!

We sailed for 7 days / 8 nights on the beautiful Magnifique II. The Captains and all crew were very friendly and genuinely keen to make sure all the guests had a great time; nothing was too much trouble. The Chef and food were also magnificent; every single meal!. The Tour Guides were both warm and friendly, very helpful and knowledgeable which really made our daily riding and evening town walks experiences brilliant. Boat Bike Tours were very helpful to deal with and deliver a fantastic holiday.