France

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 and we have already registered for a second trip. Provence and the Alpilles is a beautiful region of France with abundant fruits, vegetables and other agriculture. The bicycle travel through the French countryside gives an up-close and personal travel experience.

This trip was better than anticipated. We expected a great time, but this was outstanding in service, leadership and bike friendliness.

I LOVED this vacation. I am an avid biker; my husband is not; and we both enjoyed the levels of activity and flexibility. The vineyards and villages were amazing to see, especially by bicycle. Jean and Jean Francois took care of our every need, and the accommodations were wonderful. What's not to like?

We had a wonderful experience. The itinerary, guides and bike routes couldn’t have been any better. Everything was planned the minute we landed in Paris. Would definitely recommend to anyone with an interest in the Normandy history.

Biking in Normandy and Brittany was recommended to us by a fellow VBT biker on our previous trip and we are so happy that we listened to him. The daily parade of classic French villages, farms, gardens, and estates were simply beautiful. Our guides Sophie and Jean were The Best, and we learned more about French culture, history, and language than we could have hoped for. We recommend this trip to everyone!

The Burgundy Wine Route trip was an exceptional vacation...it was a great mix of activity, leisure, learning and sightseeing. The trip leaders were personable, knowledgeable, and fun-loving, our fellow travelers were all interesting and friendly people, and the food, accommodations, and scenery were all first class. The daily route length choices ensured that everyone would be happy with their activity level, too. I’d highly recommend this trip to anyone who loves good food, wine, and outdoor activity. The pre and post trip extensions are also well worth it...especially the pre-trip in Lyon...there was so much to explore there!

This was our first Vermont Bike vacation but it certainly will not be our last! What a great time .For us it was a perfect mix of activity,culture ,wine and food. The countryside is just delightful and beautiful. The guides were excellent and our fellow travelers were wonderful .

Excellent trip. Our guides Matilda and Felix were excellent and went above and beyond. Very well organized trip. We felt taken care of from arriving at the airport at the beginning to arriving back home at the end. River cruise was excellent with wonderful staff and food. Cabins were also more spacious than expected. Rides were great. Thanks for a wonderful time

We throughly enjoyed our first VBT bike trip. Our leaders (Marijn and Mathilde) were amazing and quite knowledgeable of all four countries we visited. We both used the E-bikes which made the biking super easy. (We do not bike much at home.) The Bike with GPS app was fantastic and you didn’t need to be on cellular to use it. The Emerald Luna ship that we sailed on was great. (Though, don’t worry about which side of the ship to pick your cabin, we mostly sailed at night and during the day when at port there was usually another ship tied up next to us. We were not on the ship much during the day)

Easy cycling on smooth towpaths to build up appetite for excellent food. Don’t bring many party clothes as storage space in cabins is limited.

Lovely countryside, incredible food on the Barge, the crew and bike guides were the best ever (this our 9th VBT trip). We loved it!

The boat part of this trip was wonderful. As usual, VBT leaders were excellent. The scenery along the Mosel was gorgeous. Our difficulties were with the pre-trip to Munich, and the post-trip to Berliin. The hotel in Munich was very small, we couldn't unpack our clothes because there was no where to put them, the shower was small and the water temperature went from hot to cold in an instant. There was no elevator - we had to climb 2 flights of stairs with heavy bags, others had to climb 4! Since many of VBT's travelers are 60, 70 and up, it's not as easy as it used to be! The location was far from the Old Town, and we had to take trams or the U-Bahn or taxis to get there. Not the worst thing, just not very convenient. We didn't find out about details for our transfer for the boat trip until late the night before, which isn't very good communication. The hotel in Luxembourg was FABULOUS! We all wished we could have spent more than just one evening there. Gorgeous hotel, spacious, near sites to visit, etc. The boat trip was great all around with great staff, excellent food and beautiful views. If only we could have had more time to visit the small towns to shop and explore...and maybe at least one day to sleep in would have been appreciated without having to miss a ride. But it was still awesome. The hotel in Koblenz was fine. The bus transported us the next morning o the train station, and just dropped us off with tickets, but only 15 minutes to catch our train. There was no representative from VBT to tell us where to go or what to do. Some of us have traveled the trains in Europe before, so we were able to get to our train just in time. However, it was such a mad dash, that some of our group just jumped on a car and we didn't even know if they had made it. We had to call on cell phones to tell them what to do and which car to go to. This was an awful oversight from VBT, and very surprising/disappointing. We were also verbally told by one of our bike leaders that Berlin was the train's last stop, when in fact, our station was the next to the last stop. I had to go around and tell everyone and make sure they were ready to hop off with bags, as loading and unloading goes very fast. The last hotel in Berlin was very nice, bedrooms and baths were spacious, but again, no place to put unpacked clothes except on the floor and some hooks! I don't want to sound like an ugly American, because we're really not. Even the boat did have some shelves for us to organize our clothes! But the breakfast buffet and bar were very nice with very pleasant staff. And VBT's communication for airport transfers for everyone's different venues and schedules was very good. Overall, my take -away for this trip was that VBT needed better communication with the shuttles, transfer times and help at the train station. Hotels with closet space or shelf/dresser space would be very much appreciated. A little more free time in Luxembourg and along the Mosel towns would be ideal.

Beautiful scenery! Our guides, Axel, Aernoud, and Werner were wonderful, Chef Jules' food was very fine cuisine, and the biking was easy as rated. The Princess Royal barge was lovely inside and the perfect size for our group to get to know one another. We really liked staying put for the week and not having to repack every day or two. This was our 6th VBT trip but our first bike & boat, and we would do a bike & boat again! We always do the pre- & post-trips - they help with jet lag beforehand and can provide relaxing downtime afterward.

The self-guided Beaujolais tour is a reasonable value and can be enjoyed without the guide (although the VBT guides are always great).  We appreciated the excellent lodging and quality bikes, per usual with VBT.  Locals in this region are very friendly but fewer folks speak English than in the big cities. The Beaujolais tour has a few really nice views, but the views and scenery aren't as good as other VBT tours. Twice on our tour, the hotels said they didn't have our luggage (not a great thing to hear when you arrive bedraggled after a day of riding) but eventually the hotel found it after some haggling. This tour includes a miserable hilly detour around what appeared to be a perpetually closed tunnel, and it was hard (for us and other riders) to find our way back on the route once we slogged the unplanned hills. The "Ride with GPS App" was okay in general but gave confusing and contradictory directions more often than I'd think...but it wasn't much of a problem.

This was our first self guided trip, and I really enjoyed it. Biking in the French countryside seemed ideal for a self guided trip where we may want to stop longer in town, or enjoy a more leisurely lunch. The routes were challenging, since all the longer options went to the must see places (how can you not have a Chardonnay in Chardonnay??). I still enjoy the non-electric bikes, and found this to be the most challenging of my VBT tours, but it was still do-able, and I felt great at the end of each day. Just be prepared for some longer routes and hills. The infamous tunnel was open and a highlight to bike through. The guide said it's closed mid-October through March to allow bats to roost over the winter. Our restaurant stops on the route were fantastic, and it was nice to see how proud the waiters were about the local wine.

I had an excellent time. The hotels were wonderful. The food was great. The trails picked for excursions. Were EYE popping?

The accommodations were sub standard..first trip with VBT-probably last. Done many trips with competitor-much higher standards

It was a pleasure from beginning to end. I particularly enjoyed the help of the staff with routes, things to see in local areas, their good humor and their ability to handle individual changes and preferences.

Guides were great. Riverboat was better than expected. Be sure to upgrade to a balcony cabin. Rides were a little monotonous- flat and windy. Excursion to chocolate store was a waste of time.