Reviews

“The team (captain Jean Marie, chef Steffie, sailor Maikel, Hostess Franziska and tour guides Carol & Valérie) on the Fleur is good: Cheerful, attentive and hardworking. Every meal was delicious. The barge is small. It has to be in order to fit the narrow locks. It is CLEAN and well appointed. The scenery was very nice. Our tour guides seemed new to this particular tour. We got  lost briefly at least twice a day. This is understandable since, in France, there isn t a great network of bike paths like there is in Belgium, Germany and Holland. Carol shared interesting facts of history about the places we stopped. Both guides were enthusiastic and kind. We all adopted a wry attitude when, almost daily, the promised café or pub was closed. It was good to meet up with the barge in the afternoon instead of stopping once again. The guides and sailor were vigilant in maintaining the bicycles. The e-bikes had been ridden many kilometres and it showed. There were a few repairs done enroute as well. We especially enjoyed: -The Apiculture s Living Museum -Jardin Bourdelle -Saint Séverin (the wash house) -Ville de Grez-dur-Loing -Visiting the bridge of the ship (rainy trip to Melun) -FONTAINEBLEAU Tips -Pack light. We avoided long lineups at every airport because we had only carry-on luggage. -Unless you are cycling outside this tour, don’t bring a bike helmet. They are provided. -Rent one of the e-bikes. This tour is definitely level 2 in difficulty. There were a few long hills to go up. Those with regular bikes struggled. -Keep a good distance between your bike and the one ahead. Not everyone will be experienced with cycling in groups and hand signals. On this tour the guides lacked experience with the route. Some sudden stops or turns lead to issues for those who hadn t left enough space. -Do bring a gel seat cover. The seats on the bikes are just okay. They were much more comfortable with an additional squishy layer. -Do bring water-PROOF raingear, top and bottom including good quality shoe covers. Bring an extra pair of shoes. -Do bring a few Ziploc bags. – Do get a data package (eSim). This was so easy and useful on the whole tour. Note: -It s only a 1-hour train ride from Paris (Gare de Bercy) to Montargis (118 km). Therefore, this tour is meandering. One doesn t go from one large centre to another. The longer daily routes are out in the country. Much of the tour, cyclists share the road with motorized vehicles. It can get hectic in some spots. -Since the barge is on the small side, there is a maximum of 20 guests. On ours, everyone opted for the long route each day. Therefore, we were 1 large group cycling together. -For those with pet allergies: Steffie, who owns the barge, has a dog. “”Bas”” is well behaved and friendly and most of the guests loved having him aboard. -There is not much to do in Montargis. It is beautiful, but 1 full day is enough. The start/end of the tour, the barge stays put for 2 nights. We wished we had spent an extra day in Paris instead. We really appreciated that Boat Bike tours provided a bus from Melun to Paris. The Paralympics were just finishing, so docking at the usual final location wasn’t permitted. If we had known this, we might have chosen a different tour. But it worked out just fine. Suggestions: &Let passengers know if there is a change in the mooring locations as soon as possible. We didn’t find out about our final destination (Melun and not Paris) until after we booked. One couple could not make use of the bus provided. They had to pay for a taxi to the train station. They would have booked a different flight had they learned of this change in time. &The tripsite website mentions the dog but this is missing from the boat bike website. My husband is allergic to dogs and cats. We would have chosen a different tour (barge) had we known. &There didn’t seem to be much in terms of snacks waiting for us on our return after cycling. One guest grabbed the bowl of chips for himself everyday. Perhaps another bowl or 2 would be a good idea. &As a person who abstains from alcohol, I appreciated having the choices offered. Heineken zero would have been nice! A de-alcoholized wine as well. The coffee machine on the barge is AWESOME. &The guides were very leary of meeting up with the barge too early. I suggest that they send a quick message to barge to obtain a thumbs up to return. Most of us were tired near the end of the ride. We just wanted a shower and a beverage on the boat, not a smoky café or pub. And the mixture of fatigue, age and alcohol may not have been a good idea. Another visit to Paris is in our future. But next time (2026?), we will cycle with Boat Bike tours in the Netherlands and/or Germany. Date of experience: Aug 31 to Sept 7″

We loved the crew, they did everything possible to make us comfortable and helped us play some silly group games. There was a bit of difficulty with food supplies not arriving and our chef Micheal had to quickly shop and prepare our meal and also there was some confusion about where we docked one night. We were docked and had to leave that dock and travel to a different dock. So maybe for our trip some details were missed but the crew made up for them

Great trip, well organized, beautiful areas biking, very good crew and tour leader.

This trip was so unique! No better way to see the cities, countryside and historical sites than on a bike, with rides led by most experienced tour/ride guides, and to retire at the end of the day to a beautiful ship with the BEST crew! Our meals were all so delicious and beautifully presented throughout the tour- the crew were helpful, and FUN. I will be recommending this experience to everyone! Many thanks to our Captain Matt, Chef Andreas, and crew She’, Jurre, and Mika for a very memorable trip.

My week on the Elizabeth couldn’t have been much better. My wife and I were with close friends, so that by itself was remarkable. But, the crew couldn’t have been more courteous and helpful. They were attentive but didn’t hover, they appreciated help hoisting the sails but didn’t badger, and they kept the running well. The boat is beautiful. The captain gave a nice overview of what to expect on the day’s ride, but gave riders full autonomy on the various routes. The food was outrageously good. Just a fantastic week.

Just back and still on Cloud 9 from our phenomenal adventure on the Zwaantje through the Burgundy Valley. Boat Bike Tours is a first rate organization and the Zwaantje, Willie and his amazing crew & competent guides did not disappoint! Every detail was covered and executed and despite some last minute changes to the plans, things flowed seamlessly. The chef, Frank, started our day and ended our day with healthy and delicious food! Being foodies and wine lovers, we could not have been happier with the selection and variety and quality of the food and drinks. Milton warmly greeted us and attended to any of our needs. The guides, Els and Wieger kept us informed and educated each day and helped to bring the groups together in a fantastic and meaningful way. Any issue we encountered was handled promptly and efficiently. We know we will be jumping on another Boat Bike Tour! Cannot imagine it being any better than this!

Having been on the Magnifique lV and lll, we were so looking to be on the Magnifique I. It was wonderful to see familiar faces, such as Chef Extraordinaire Michael, who was the chef in our two previous trips, and Captain Henk, the Captain on the last day of our Tulip tour last year. The tour guides, Frans and Niels were awesome! The hosts Liza and Lineke were outstanding and Denise, our sailor was as good as they come.

Out of three Boat Bike tours we ve taken, this was the best crew! This was on the Zwaantje! Many thanks to: Willy (Captain), Milton, and Brando. A special shout out to the best Chef,  ever (Frank)! And then the guides: (Weiger and Els): they were helpful, knowledgeable and a bunch of fun! This group made for a memorable trip! Thank you! Reed and Debbie

We loved the scenery along the way. This is our third Bike and Boat and it was my favorite bike rides. Using the Ride GPS made navigating our rides very easy. The crew was very kind & helpful. My only suggestion is that it’d be nice to have more variety for breakfasts and lunches. Snacks too for the rides would have been nice (like granola bars, chips, candy bars, etc)

Good accommodations, food, staff, bikes. Guide was not good. One guy was even left behind. He contacted me and was able to rejoin us after 25 minutes and she never even knew. She was hard to understand, not because her English was poor but because she made so many unnecessary sounds it was hard to glean what was important.

the mattress was terrible and the smell down in the cabin at times was very bad (septic smell). The last 3 nights the A/C was broken and from day 1 the internet was not working. Now the good stuff, the boat was magnificent, the food was great, the staff super, the guides very personable, the bikes perfectly maintained, the biking amazing,

Amazing trip! Really loved biking through the countryside of Belgium and the Netherlands.