Reviews

Just finished the Bruges to Amsterdam ride on the Fluvius. I can wholeheartedly recommend it – Fred our guide did an excellent job of shepherding 30 odd people of varying cycling abilities with humour and patience. Scenery was great and the flat country meant the kms passed quickly. Food on board the Fluvius was wonderful and there was plenty of it. A broken boiler for a couple of days meant some lukewarm showers but it was fixed and the berths, although cosy, are comfortable and have everything you need. A great experience that left us wanting to try some other boat/bike trips.

It was a wonderful experience and a great guide. We will book again.

Good bikes. Staff friendly and helpful. Toilet and showers were good. The little wash basins were too small and made hard to use by the shelf above it. The routes are well chosen through beautiful country. The directions were sometimes unclear. The meals were adequate, but uninspiring. We expected some of the Dutch talents and specialities.

The itinerary, guide, bicycle was excellent but the Fluvius ship was very dated and not up to safety standards. Some of the wait staff were less than enthusiastic and the food quality only adequate. Having just taken a trip on the Magnifique II which was outstanding this ship and the service paled in comparison

Excellent, great food, lovely boat, fantastic staff. Would have given 5 stars if we had visited a Sauterne winery.

The week from Brugge to Amsterdam exceeded all our expectations. The meals were gourmet, the bikes were super and the guide was outstanding.

We first experienced a Boat Bike Tours trip last year from Bruges to Amsterdam on the Magnifique. The trip for 999 Euro included a guide for all rides and tours in the towns we docked in each night. The food was excellent and the cabins small but comfortable. The very flat rides were a joy. We booked the Bordeaux trip based on the descriptions on the BBT website. This trip is 30% more expensive and does not include guided rides unless you pay 200 euro extra per person. The rides are described as: “Cycling during this tour in the Bordeaux area can be rated easy to moderate, with daily cycling distances from 30 to 50 km. The terrain is relatively flat with some short climbs out of the river valleys onto the intervening vineyard areas and is suitable for cyclists with some (recent) practice and basic to moderate fitness levels”. We found the rides MUCH hillier than described with 4 of the days involving some very long climbs as well as short steep climbs. We are experienced cyclists and walked the bikes up many hills. The on board “guide” stated that he has told BBT for three years that the rides need to be described as moderate and not easy to moderate. He gets a lot of negative feedback about this from customers. That said, the rides were very pretty and went by many famous Chateaus. The lower cabins were smaller than on the Magnifique and the description indicates two twin beds but does not mention that they are fold down beds. When folded down, two adults can barely move in the cabin. All the guests we heard from agreed that the food on board was just “okay”. Nothing special. We had one meal that no one liked. The crew was very good and provided great service making the trip enjoyable despite the issues described. We were provided with maps and ride books. The ride books were very detailed and provided turn by turn instructions with kilometers ridden. Unfortunately the bikes do not have computers on them so you have no way to keep track of the distance ridden making the books almost useless. We were told on board that we could get a GPS for a 100 Euro deposit with the routes for each day highlighted on them. In my opinion, these made the rides doable as long as you got a GPS with a battery that held the charge long enough to get through the day. I had to turn one in and get a better one. If we had done this trip before the Bruges –Amsterdam trip I am sure it would have been a better experience. By comparison, it was a letdown, especially at the much higher price.

This tour was excellent, we enjoyed ourselves very much.The cabins were comfortable and clean.The crew was attentive to all our needs.The food was excellent and well presented.Our guide Rikko was well prepared,attentive and flexible.Although we managed and enjoyed to cycle the average of 45Kms a day with the guide, we feel that there was little time to take advantage of some of the sightseeing opportunities (ie.museums) in the towns and villages we encountered.If we had chosen the option of a shorter route on our own,we would have missed the information and history provided by our guide.Maybe 35 Kms a day with the guide would have been perfect! The country side is so beautiful! We are very happy we chose this trip and barge! Thank you Rikko and the crew of the Sarah for a wonderful trip!

Well organised, good food, comfortable accommodation, friendly helpful crew and leader. Our second time with Boat Bike tours. We’ll be looking for another one!

Fantastic! Great food, accommodation, staff, bikes,trails and maps.