Europe

Our favorite VBT trip to date. The cultural experience rivaled the well planned cycling routes. Time spent on and off the bicycle created lasting memories for joyful reflection.

This was a perfect trip...Seamless. My 8th VBT bicycling trip and all were good but this one was exceptional because our leaders were exceptional. Great biking, great cultural events and guided tours, wonderful food, very cohesive group of 22 guests who really liked each other every single day. Bravo Javi and Andrea..I hope we meet again!

Great trip! Our guides were great hosts and made sure everyone was safe, comfortable, and getting the most out of each day. Gorgeous part of the world.

Bike routes were beautiful and enjoyable! Loved the town of St. Remy and the location of our hotel. Really enjoyed Avignon and again, the location of the hotel made exploring the city very easy.

This was our first VBT vacation. We were very impressed with the planning, accommodations, and route. It was a wonderful experience to bike along country roads with guides who knew the area. The hotels were lovely and the meals were delicious. Everything was top-notch.

Enjoyed this trip to Portugal. Good mix of easy and moderate riding to work off the fantastic food/beverages.

I have wanted to visit the Nordic countries since 1974 when I was an exchange student in Europe. Thank you, VBT, for finally making it an affordable destination! As always, the travel arrangements were seamless, the leaders were phenomenal, and the experience was second to none!

VBT has done it again. For over 20 years, my wife and I have been taking bicycle trips. We had long been hoping that VBT, our favorite tour company, would add a trip to Scandinavia. When we found out about this new trip last year, we signed up within days. It did not disappoint. Our leaders were friendly, knowledgeable and always ready to help. We had nice weather. Our mid-September departure had temperatures in the mid to upper 60s, and occasionally in the 70s. The rides were beautiful. We usually ride road bikes, but were glad to be on hybrids because there were some gravel surfaces and even a few miles of dirt road. The local people were a bit reserved, but quite friendly when approached. English is widely understood and spoken in Scandinavia. We chose to do both the pre trip in Copenhagen and post trip in Helsinki. We are glad we did. The evening cruise to Helsinki through the Stockholm archipelago was stunningly beautiful.

We had great hotels and guides and interesting cities and towns to explore. The big negative is that the roads and country lanes had roads covered in potholes, loose gravel at the bottom of the hills and drivers who at high-speed drove by leaving not much room. We had 15 riders and eleven falls of the bikes. I had one when a person knocked me off my bike by putting his elbow out to hit my mirror when I rode by with no room to move over. All the other trips I have rode on had safer roads. The biggest complaint we had was when we landed at Heathrow, Terminal 2, we saw no driver to pick us up. We came out from baggage claim and no one with a VBT sign. We looked around for 15 minutes and then went to The Currency Exchange Kiosk as noted in our travel paperwork. After 10 minutes standing there, a man offered his help and called the Company on our paperwork. They said someone was on the way and to stay there. It took them a couple minutes to recognize our name and pickup information. After 30 more minutes waiting at the Kiosk, my wife walked around again and spotted a man holding a VBT sign and he told us that he had been there for 50 minutes. We knew that wasn't true and we both had searched for anyone with a VBT sign. The second incident with ground transportation came when we were scheduled to leave our hotel in Dublin. We were supposed to be picked up at 11:00am for a two-hour ride to Heathrow. At 11:10, our hotel desk person called APL Cars London and they said they would be there at 11:20am. At 11:30, the desk lady called again for up and they Company told her the driver was almost there and not to worry as our plane was taking off late. Our desk person to her that she checked, and our flight was on time, so we knew the ride person was lying. Our ride finally showed up at 11:50 am, 50 minutes late. We did get to the airport in time for our flight nut we were nervous with the rushed ride, worrying about checking in our bag, and finding our gate. We would have been more comfortable if we had started on time. VBT should reconsider using this ride company and they were late both coming and going on our trip.

Our guides, Jeremy and Lucy, went above and beyond to make our trip fun and pleasurable even on the rainy days. Accommodations were excellent. Food was great, bicycle equipment was like new. A very memorable trip of cycling the Cotswolds.

Great trip, fantastic views, perfectly organized and exciting

this was an all-around exceptional trip. The beauty of the surrounding snow capped mountains, and the stunning lakes were just breathtaking. The riding was mainly on dedicated back paths without much interference from traffic. we rode along the Rhône River, through fields of cows with their cowbells clanging and agricultural fields with beautiful poppies.The hotels were beautiful, comfortable and so unique, including the 1000-year-old Abbey-turned hotel on Lake Annecy. The presence of hang gliders as well as gliders added to the whole experience. The guides were knowledgeable, helpful and made the trip a lot of fun. We had a good variety of experiences and the food was very good. This was my fifth bike trip with VBT and right at the top for beauty.

This VBT trip does not disappoint! The attention to detail for every visit and experience was remarkable. I live in the mid-west and don't have many hills to train on so these rides were challenging for me, but doable and once I was done I felt very satisfied. The accommodations were all different and great in their own way. The guides were energetic and informative. I highly recommend this tour - it's a great way to see Greece!

The experience with VBT went beyond expectations as did the part of Greece where we cycled. The Peloponnesian Peninsula is a relatively undiscovered biking jewel, I enjoyed it far more than biking various Greek Islands. Accommodations were excellent and Greek food speaks for itself. VBT and the guides went out of their way in providing a 5 star experience. The bikes were new and top quality, the routes were varied and interesting. The guides bent over backwards to please us and provide a great biking as well as cultural experience.

This was the first VBT trip my husband and I took so I can't compare it to other trips. We very much liked the VBT experience and this particular trip to the Italian Lake District. The scenery was spectacular and the guides, Elena and Roberto, were wonderful. Both were attentive and went the extra mile to assist members of the group. My husband and I opted for the e-bikes. While we kept them in the "off" mode most of the rides it was nice to have it as a backup for some of those uphill climbs since most of our training has been on flat trails. I did a count and half and exactly half of our group used e-bikes and the other half were mixed road and hybrid. My husband's bike had a little bit of trouble with its chain (the chain came off 7 times during the trip) but didn't have any trouble with mine. A few others in the group with e-bikes also had trouble with their chain so I wonder if it's a problem with that particular e-bike model. The Ride with GPS app worked well. I cannot imagine doing a ride with paper maps and directions. The instructions were clear and precise and if you did go off course the app quickly let you know. It also warned you if there was things you need to pay attention too like loose gravel or cobblestone streets. The only thing that I was not ecstatic about was the pre-arranged dinners. I realize that because it's a large group you probably have to have a limited menu but a better selection with more than two options would have helped. The restaurants on our free nights that the guides recommended were delicious. The hotels on this trip were about what I expected - not over the top luxurious but all were clean, comfortable, and well located. The staff was very accommodating at all four hotels. All in all we very much enjoyed the trip and will be doing more VBT trips in the future. It was great to be off the beaten path and see the countryside.

This was my fifth VBT ride in Italy and certainly one of the most pretty rides anywhere. Sometimes new rides like this have growing pains, this one did not. There were no hiccups, everything worked as planned and was well thought out and the variety of terrain and cycling vistas a true delight. I have two rides that were labeled as moderate to challenging when listed which are no longer done in a way that is challenging and there is no fear of that on this ride. A relatively small section of hard packed dirt is a climb and at over 7,000 feet after a train ride the altitude is an adjustment but the rating it has is just about right in my view --it is mostly easy with a moderate section or two on a couple days with a regular bicycle as I use. A signature feature of VBT is its hotels and they are terrific on this one. And the ride leaders are among the most knowledgeable and likeabile I have had the pleasure to ride with. Of all five this was the first time we had a full compliment of riders yet to always seemed to me to have that even small group quality

Great trip would recommend to others. Sights were awesome!

I did the Germany, Austria, Danube River, VBT tour in August 2024. It was a self guided tour and I was the only one that had signed up for it for the month of August. I was a little concerned doing a self guided trip by myself, but it turned out great. Despite being August, the heat was not bad most of my riding was in the morning but it was still in the 70s mid and upper. Didn't turn 80° until around 1:30 2 o'clock in the afternoon. As usual VBT did a great job with the hotels, they were all excellent. The ride was easy going down river, no big hills. VBT also had shuttles to carry me past the less scenic parts of the ride. VBT also. did. an excellent job booking all of my travel even the travel after the bike tour. It was a great adventure. I totally enjoyed it.