Read what the participants of Ave cycling tours think about their experience.
My wife and I came from New York to do an exploration of the Elbe River, really not knowing what we were going to get. We were blown away by this "self-guided" trip - the excellent communication with the company, the reasonable price, the quality of the equipment, the quality of the bike trails and the sites! The company was always available on Whatsapp and very generous with their time. When our flight was cancelled and we missed a day, they were able to get our bikes to the day location and schedule a taxi from the airport to the day 2 start. Thank you Vlastimil!
Harris, Prague to Dresden, Self Guided
Thank you Vlastimil - we had a great trip. The e-bikes were great. We appreciate all the routes in the GPS. We will recommend you to our friends.
Sara & Alan, Prague to Dresden, Self Guided
This is something I should have done long ago and I am embarrassed it took me so long to write a review of the individual who made our ride from Vienna to Budapest so enjoyable. In a word, Vlastimil Kotyk was OUTSTANDING. Always cheerful, extremely helpful with any bike issues, and always willing “to go the extra mile” to make our bike ride as enjoyable as possible. He would ride our next day ride to make sure there were no surprises and would make changes to the GPS’s if needed. He made our experience on this bike ride great and we hope to see him again on future rides. He is a big reason we will continue to book trips with AVE.
Brian and a family, Colorado, USA
Just wishing you and Henry and families a very "Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe 2020"
We had such a wonderful time on your bike ride and will have lots of happy memories, even those "little hills!!". We are all back safe and sound and back into riding. The weather here is a lot more than when we left you.
Thank you once again and all the very best to all of you
Linda and Kevin (The Aussie 7), Private Guided Group tour Prague to Vienna
Dobry den Vlastimil. Thank you for your help in making our Czech bike trip a success and so enjoyable.
The bikes were good and we found drivers here and in Poland to be very considerate of cyclists.
It wasn’t all flat, but we managed!
The train reservations were fine.
Thanks again, and best regards.
Peter and Gayle, Self-guided a tailor-made tour
We wanted to let you know that we thoroughly enjoyed our experience on the Greenways Trail. Thank you for your excellent organization.
Our only complaint is that you were not able to turn off the strong headwind on the last day, slowing our progress to Mistelbach 😊.
Here is a link to some of our photos. Feel free to use them as you like.
Cheers,
Lyse & Bob, Prague to Vienna Self Guided
We are ready to book our biking trip with AVE in june 2017, The Unesco-tour with extra days.
We are requesting your services because we have now used four different biking companies organisining our trips hte last four years - in your country, Ireland, from Vienna to Budapest and another trip in Tsjekkia. AVE is the best biking organizer we have encountered so far! Best regards
Øyvind Glosvik and Marta Strandos, Norway
Alex arrived back in New Zealand and was very happy with the tour. In his words "some of the best cycling I have ever enjoyed ...anywhere in the world."That is a very impressive complement coming from someone with his international cycling experience and New Zealand cycling knowledge.
We also received some excellent comments about how successful was the tour and how wonderful were the guides and the driver. I like to thank you for all your efforts pre and during the tour. Please also pass on my thanks to your team for excellent work.
Uzi, Tailor made Prague to Vienna Guided Group tour, 2016
Please visit John's Basically Boring Bicycling Blog about the Tailor made Prague to Vienna Guided Group tour,
We have just returned from two consecutive bike tours in the Czech Republic and Germany, the second tour being your Prague-to-Dresden self-guided tour. I thought you would enjoy seeing our album of photos taken during our most excellent adventure. The Prague-to-Dresden tour photos start around photo #147.
Julane, Prague to Dresden Self Guided
We had fabulous time on the trip. The hotels were all great and food was as well! Thank you for a great vacation.
Peggy, Passau to Vienna Self Guided tour
The tour was very nice. We enjoyed the company of the guides. We certainly noticed that many of the hotels were an upgrade from our previous time. I think perhaps the hills have grown higher as well!!
Thank you for the many favours you have done for us. We will continue to recommend AVE. Regards
Ursula & Larry, Prague to Vienna Guided Group
I want to say thank you for this excellent travel that we did last week between Cesky Krumlov and Vienna. All was perfect: hotels very nice and with good situations in the towns (nice towns to visit). The way by bicycle was some times difficult for me but in the end it was possible! Thank for all and have a good summer.
[/I]Catherine, Prague to Vienna Self Guided[I]
This is a long delayed thank you to you and your colleagues for providing us with an excellent cycling holiday! We enjoyed the accommodations and especially the bike routes/scenery. Thank you again for all your assistance. Sincerely,Diane
[/I]Diane, Prague to Dresden and SPA Triangle, Self Guided[I]
Thank you for all your help during our cycling holiday. Amanda and I had a great time and are very appreciative of your help in our first (but not last now) longer cycling trip. We were able to leave our bikes in Hrensko as suggested and enjoyed our hike up to the rock arch. This gave us confidence and we asked a hotel to store our bikes so we could walk up to Rathen.
Mimy, Prague to Dresden Self Guided
We were travelling on a self-guided cycle tour from Prague to Vienna and my husband fell off his bike and broke his clavicle. Partners AVE tours were amazing. They picked up our bikes from a remote town and our luggage and took them to our previous hotel. Each day they checked on my husband's progress and canceled hotels. When he was well enough they organized our transfer to Vienna in under 2 hours and booked hotels for us in Vienna. The tour before the accident was excellent. The gps was fantastic.
Jenny, Self Guided, Prague to Vienna
You organized a self-guided trip for my wife and I and another couple in 2013, from Prague to Vienna. We recently spent some time with our friends and all of us agreed that it was one of our best trips together. Thank you again. The reason I am writing is to ask if you ever organize any cycling trips in France. I'm guessing not (I'm on your web site as I write this) but I wanted to ask simply because we felt so well taken care of by AVE.
Gary, Prague to Vienna Self Guided
Comment by AVE: Hi Gary, nice to hear from you and to read such a warm email. Although the tour in France is not on the website now we can already help you to arrange your holiday there now. We will have new website about the tours in others countries soon. AVE
Dad and I had a wonderful holiday, the highlight being the bike tour. The group size was ideal and the guides were great. The meals and accommodation were also very good. The tour was excellent value and we'll likely book another tour in the future.
Rhianna, Prague to Dresden Guided Group
We are safe back home after a wonderful bicycle-tour in your country - full with positive memories. Everything worked perfectly. The material for the tour was excellent processed and sorted accurately in the correct order. There was no question unanswered. I enjoyed it very much to follow the GPS. There was no need to look into the maps. The luggage transport was perfect and we were very satisfied with the hotels. Well, Hotel Koruna in Karlstejn was a little under the standard. The tour was more strenuous than expected but we enjoyed it anyway. The information about the tour should be clear that even gravel roads are to deal with.
[/I]Karin and Joachim, Germany, From Cesky Krumlov to Prague along Vltava River, Self Guide [/I]
I wanted to tell you how much I appreciated all that you did for our trip. You were a wonderful host and everything was planned perfectly; all the hotels and restaurants and water stops and cultural sites were perfect. I know that you were the one who arranged all that, so thank you. It was truly one of the most fun weeks I’ve had in many, many years. The group of 8 was an interesting mix, but it was you and Vitek and Lukas that made it so fun (and of course, Astrid!) I really fell in love with your country; something about it felt very special to me. My goal is to get back and explore more of it. So thank you again for helping create so many wonderful memories for me.
Helen, Candada, Prague to Dresden Guided Group
Pavel, Henri and Martin were all wonderful. I felt like I was in good hand the entire time. All where friendly and considerate of my needs. They made the trip a success for me :) . I will recommend the tour to my friend for sure.
Cyndi, USA, Prague to Vienna Guided Group
I would like to let you know how happy I was with this tour. The route was great. More importantly, I was very happy with the guides and driver (ie Martin, Henry & Pavel). Sometimes, on tours, it feels like the guides are rushing through the day just to drop the guests at the hotel. I never felt like this on this tour. All three of them were always friendly and seemed to be enjoying themselves. All of them went out of their way to make us happy and did a great job of making sure no one got lost. It really makes a difference to have great guides/drivers. Those three are super! They all did a great job. If all of your tours are like this one, I would be happy to book again.
Thanks again!
Joanne, Canada, Prague to Vienna Guided Group
I have now returned home from our holiday, and I just want to let you know that we really enjoyed our trip. The hotels that you booked for use were all really excellent, and the breakfasts were also very good indeed. The maps you provided were very helpful, and the excel file of turns and places of interest were also extremely helpful. Personally, I am not familiar with a GPS, so I found that we did not use it at all. In my view, a more useful device would have been a simple bicycle computer which could measure the distance travelled.
So that is my only suggestion for improvement - change the GPS for a simple distance measure device. Other than that, everything was terrific. I hope that you found all your gear with the bikes in order when you picked up at the Dresden hotel (which was also a fantastic hotel, by the way). I'm happy to say that we had no punctures.
Best regards, and with our thanks.
Richard & Rashmi, USA, Prague to Dresden Self Guided
Comment by AVE. - GPS includes also computer. Depends on device you have to select diferente page or "comupter view" from the main menu. We will make sure that manual to each GPS describe this option. Thank you and we wish you tail wind on your next cycling. AVE
Caroline and I would like to thank you and AVE Travel very very much for the superb organisation of the trip. The satnav routes from hotel door to hotel door were superbly mapped and made life extremely easy for navigating. The luggage transfer worked perfectly. The hotels were all good. The only hotel that was slightly disappointing was the Czeska Koruna in Decin where the breakfast was poor and the staff not wonderful. In Decin, you might want to add Fabrika as a restaurant to eat at. We went there because it had good Tripadvisor reviews, and we also gave it a 5-star review.
Andrew, Prague to Dresden Self Guided
My 2 friends and I arranged for a private Cycling tour from Mikulov to Cesky Krumlov.
But before this happened I got in touch with about 5 travel agencies thru the internet asking them about the cycling tours they were offering.
It was only Ave Bicycle tours who would really take the time to answer all your questions within a day or 2. As well as being very flexible in the type of tours that they were offering. We went thru a couple of changes and Vlastimil was very patient and accommodating with the changes we requested.
They even helped us hire a tour guide for our first day in Prague which was very nice of them.
For the tour itself we really loved it. Vlastimil who was also our guide brought us to a lot of interesting places around the towns we passed thru.
This is one adventure I will never forget and would gladly do it again.
Rafael, Philippines, Tailor made tour
This was our 3rd European bike trip. This was the best organized. Milan and Henry knew their route, the hotels, timing, resources - superb team. Milan does an excellent job of explaining the history and holding the group together. We felt very well supported. Thank you.
Robin, Canada, Prague Vienna, Guided Group
Wonderful Tour - Guide Milada was excellent. Driver of support vehicle Henry was excellent with his assistance. Bikes were reliable. Accommodation was above normal except in Pribram where it was just normal - clean and OK. The route was challenging enough, very rewarding with great views. I have already AVE website on my computer :)
Peter and Anna, USA, Cesky Krumlov to Prague, Guided Group
Tour Leader Milada was excellent, patient, gave clear instruction and answered all questions completely. Mechanic support Henry was patient and competent. Thank you for a nice great time we will remember for a long time.
Kenneth and Matilda, USA, Prague to Vienna, Guided Group
We just returned to the US - we continued the vacation to Rome and a cruise to Italy, Greece and Turkey. Even throughout the latter part of the trip, the folks could not stop talking about how great the the first part was. Everyone loved the the Czech Republic and the people we met and interacted with. You did a fantastic job of making it happen for us. The lodging was excellent at every stop. The attendants in the Bishop's House were especially accommodating. The transfers were always on time. You did an excellent job with the reservations.
The bike trip was everything we could ask for - and more. Our guide, Milada, was the best - her patience in dealing with our diverse group was exemplary, as was her knowledge of the areas we visited. Jindrich, the driver, was super - his hard work and dedication to the job made the trip flow smoothly from start to finish. I don't think we could have had a better team than Milada and Jindrich - they worked well together and made the trip even more memorable for us.
Everyone in our group would not hesitate to recommend you and your company for any future cycling trips or just plain tours of the the Czech Republic. You and your colleagues made an impression on us the will last forever.
Thank you very much,
Roy, USA, Tailor made tour Group Guided
You can read experience of our client Rafael who published the article República Tcheca - De Praga até Viena através do Greenways Trail.
Rafael, Brasil, Prague Vienna, Self Guided
Hi! Another fantastic trip, everything went great, even better than last year! I liked the hotels better, and the routes were more challenging, which was great. Thank you for planning it so wonderfully!
Carl USA, Prague - Vienna Self Guided
I am writing to tell you how much we enjoyed our trip. We really appreciate all of your extra effort to make it a success. I would highly recommend AVE to anyone who asked.
Bicycles - The bicycles were fabulous, and much better than I ever expected. I have one minor suggestion. For some older riders, a little less air in the front shocks would lessen upper body discomfort from arthritis. It wasn't a problem for me, as I kept them locked out.
Short cuts - I mention this only because we enjoyed the Czech countryside so much. We took alternate routes between Znojmo/Miculov and Miculov/Mistlebach, in part to shorten the day but as importantly to stay out of the forest. It was so easy, and pleasureable. For your less adventurous self-guided clients, having an alternate route already pre-programmed into the GPS might be nice. ...
Gary W. Dunn, USA, Prague Vienna, Self Guided
Stunning sites and interesting cycling paths. We would not have made it without the GPS trekker. Bikes were excelent!
Jane, USA, Prague Vienna, Self Guided
Cannot give this tour enough praise. Our accommodations were excellent, food was always great. Bikes were exceptionally well maintained, had a great deal of rain on the tour and whenever we stopped they were checked out. Every day was great fun and interesting made so by the awesome tour guide Milan Smitka. He is what made the tour so wonderful for John and I. Would most definitely book again with this tour guide again as I said we feel he is what made this so much fun. It was well organized, we were treated kindly and with great respect and we came away feeling like we had made friends. We feel that is the most important aspect of a guided tour. So in closing we have not one single complaint regarding our tour it will remain a wonderful memory. We would highly recommend.
Steward, Prague - Dresden, Guided Group
The trip has been wonderful and all accommodation has been very good. The best was Solnice - these are great people with a very nice place.
Thanks for the excellent arrangements.
Murray Prague Vienna Self Guided
We had a fabulous time - certainly a great adventure + holiday to remember. Looking forward to planning next cycling holiday. Czech is extremely beautiful + we felt very welcomed. Thank you.
Alan and Julie Thomas, Australia, Prague - Vienna
We have been home for a few weeks and want to thank you for organizing a very good bike tour, Milada for an excellent job of guiding, and our driver Henru, for looking after is so well. You have chosen a lovely route through your beautiful country. If all goes as planned we will book directly with AVE for another Czech tour next year . Regards
Ursula, Canada. Prague Vienna
I had a great time on the cycling trip from Prague to Vienna.Vlasta, Vojta and Jindrich took such good care of me, and made me feel very welcome in each place I stayed. The accommodations were great, food was excellent, and I had no troubles with my bike.
Thank you again for all the arrangements and working out our requests.
Anh Vo Nguyen, Prague Vienna, Guided Tour
After the first day when we rode up Klet mountain at Český Krumlov we did not know what we got ourselves into. Vlastimil and Vojta, you really motivated us and believed we could do it. Jindrich, you did an excellent job of taking care of us, taking care of our luggage, refilling our water bottles, and providing us with snacks. Thank you so much for everything you did. You made our bicycle holiday a very enjoyable experience.
It was really nice meeting all of you and we fondly look at the pictures and reminisce about the big hills, fast down hills, and long days of riding. We are even thinking about another bicycle trip.
Margaret and Dale Kristof, Canada, Prague-Vienna, Guided Group
Overall the holiday was a really great experience. Everything was very well organised: the bikes, the rooms, the itenerary for the cycling. The guides were superb and were the one factor which made the trip really enjoyable as they had tremendous patience and were professional and kind to everyone... This meant there was no stress involved for us as the clients, so they are to be highly commended.
Based on my experience I would definately be interested in going on another cycling holiday in the future.
Many thanks for everything
Eileen, Prague Vienna, Guided Group
I wanted to write and tell you what an amazing trip Dario and I had. It was one of the best vacation we have ever taken. We have told our friends and family all about you company and Dario and I can not wait to plain the next one!
Thank you,
Kristy & Dario Garay
I just wanted to send a big thank you to you and Eddy for still running the cycle trip on Saturday Jun 1. The weather was perfect in the end. Eddy was a great guide and the 3 of us thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I will recommend your company to others and if I can get back to Europe for a cycle trip will definitely consider your company. Your service and professionalism was greatly appreciated.
Kathleen, Canada - One-Day Bicycle Trip To Karlstejn Castle
It was very easy. I have not ridden a bike in around 10 years and I am not very slim and still found it easy and very enjoyable!
Sarah, UK - One-Day Bicycle Trip To Karlstejn Castle
Difficulty was as advertised, "easy", It was a a great distance, and fun that we took a miniature side stop to see a bunker. I really enjoyed the trip, it was well organized.
Michael, USA- One-Day Bicycle Trip To Karlstejn Castle
I have decided to write now and send photos another time. We thoroughly enjoyed our week's ride with you - even the wet weather and the long days. As I'm sure David will have told you, our last days ride around Valtice was lovely.We were amazed by the numbers of people out riding the paths - it seems the pleasures of cycling are no secret to Czechs. Thank you for making it possible for us to finish this way.
We are telling all our friends what a great trip you gave us, and that they should sign on to try it for themselves.
Pam and Bryan
We enjoyed the tour. Tour leaders were very professional & entertaining. I will consider other tour with the company in the future.
Carlo, Australian[/I]
Great tour. Everything went very well. Great organizer.
Liz & Michael, Australian
We both very much enjoyed the trip. The variety of the roads and scenery and the beautiful towns was all that I was hoping for and more. From the description of the ride, I wasn't aware of how many unpaved road we would be on -- I really liked how we'd ride on some easy paved roads, go to dirt or uneven roads and paths, and then go back to paved roads. It made the day so much more interesting and fun than if we had stayed on paved roads all of the time. I would definitely seek out another ride that had that kind of variety.
I would also look for a ride that had a GPS. I was skeptical at first that it would be useful, but it saved a great deal of time since we didn't have to constantly stop and look at maps every time we came to an intersection.
Hotel in Mikulov: Ms. Persoon's room was quite nice. Mine was in a different part of the hotel and was much, much worse: thin walls, poor beds, and cheap furniture. The difference was so great, it was funny. The room I was put in was what I would expect of a 1* or 2* hotel. I strongly suggest you contact the hotel and make sure they don't put your clients in those rooms in the future.
I don't want to end this note negatively because I really enjoyed the trip quite a bit. Instead, let me end by saying once again that I was very happy with the tour and would be interested in doing another Ave Travel bike tour if I am fortunate enough to be able to return to Europe in the next few years.
Neil, USA
Thank you for organizing a wonderful trip for us, and being so flexible with changes. You made us feel like we had a friend here who was looking out for our safety and pleasure....
Stephanie and Wayne, USA
Hello,
We are having a wonderful time! The GPS is making the navigation easy so we don't need to worry about getting lost. I love the e-bike and could not have done this trip without it due to my knee injury. I use the motor to help me go uphill and turn it off on the flats and the downhills. I will send you some pictures tomorrow.
Donna wanted me to tell you she is glad she has the mountain bike.
Thank you for this wonderful experience. Your country is beautiful.
Louise, USA
We had a great tour with Katerina in that beautiful weather. I really enjoyed it. Yes I know Katerina from 2008 when she guided us to another tour. Katerina was very cooperative and very friendly. I look forward to take one of the big tours that last a week and I hope to bring friends with me this time. I want to thank you so much for all the arrangements and the cooperation.
Thrasos Ioannou, Cyprus
An excelent trip all the way around! Challenging but rewarding. Maybe a little more time at each hotel before dinner would be fine...
Erik M. Tower, USA
Prague Vienna tour was all I could have hoped for. Excelent.
Ed Dick, Canada, 2010
We just wanted to thank you for the lovely day trip to Karlstejn Castle today. Not only was the route well-chosen with good bikes, you also managed to provide perfect weather ! Kate was a delight as a guide: informative, enthousiastic and professional.
Thank you again,
Mark and Marilyn 2010
Trip to Karlstejn was deifnatelly the highlight of my trip to Prague. I had a great time.
Candale 2010
We have had a great time - the bikes have been very trusty, no flat tyres, no problems, and mostly the bike tacks and routes were really easy to find with great signposting, espeically in Czech republic. we were very impressed. Apart from a rainy day in Cesky Krumlov, the weather has been perfect for riding, and we've seen some fantastic countryside.
Carmel and Marian
Our guide was terrific. She was very nice, had a good sense of humor & personality. She was kind - like she brought gloves for us when we mentioned that our hands were cold..We really enjoyed that...
Rachel
I'm coming in Marianske Lazne on the 27th of March 2010, leaving on the 1st April. I and my friend joined the group in 2008 for the grand tour in Prague and the Karlstejn castle tour which we both enjoyed a lot. I want to know if you can arrange any tours in Marianske Lazne for this period. If you do please let me know. If you don't I would appreciate it if you introduced me to any other sources of cycling.
Thrasos
I had a wonderful trip from Czesky Krumlov to Dresden, and cannot think of a better way to see the region. Many thanks to you and your colleagues -- your maps, route descriptions, and services made it quite easy to get around, locate hotels, and identify interesting sites to visit en route. I'll definitely let the Biketours Direct folks how great your services were!
Nancy, USA
We truly enjoyed the tour. We could tell your company is very detailed oriented in the hotels you have selected for guests, the suggested lunch locations, and the overall service. We will certainly not hesitate to recommend you to friends should they consider a tour in the Czech republic which I think everyone should do at least once in their lifetime!
Lisa
I have just returned with 9 friends, from a trip to the Czech Republic on a cycling tour as arranged by AVE travel in Prague. I am hoping that you can pass this message on to the Minister of Toursim of the Czech Republic on my behalf. The trip we had was outstanding. I cannot compliment enough, accommodations, the excellent meals and the arrangements made by AVE Travel. Everyone on our trip had an awesome experience and would highly recommend this company and this tour to anyone we meet. Of special note, the tour guide and support personnel, Ondrej Burda and Jindrich Fryje were a pleasure to travel with. Upon the completion of our trip, it was as if we were leaving two close friends. These two men I must note are tremendous ambassadors to your country and if there is anyway to recognize them for their outstanding work and dedication to their jobs, their employer and most importantly their country, it should be done. They should make the Czech Republic proud.
Gary, Canada
This is a short note to let you know that we were hugely impressed by both the tour you organized and your country. Both Neasa and Myself found Barbaro and Henry to be fantastic company and wonderful guides for our cycling trip. Sometimes the people you meet on such trips either make them great or leave a bad taste. I can tell you in our case both Barbaro and Henry did make a difference and the difference was all good. It was for us a great experience and one which we will remember for the rest of our lives. I would like to thank you for your patience in helping organize the tour and for choosing such a lovely route. We will definitely do a cycling tour again and would recommend to our friends that tour with avetravel is well worth doing.
Rob, USA
Riding through the forests of Bohemia and beautiful countryside was a truly memorable experience. Tours of some beautiful castles were also included. Accommodation and meals were of a good standard, not to mention the excellent Czech beer. A support vehicle met us every 10kms or so to provide water and occasional snacks, and we had the option of riding in the vehicle to the next stop if it rained (it didn't) or we needed a rest (seldom). Morning and afternoon stops were made for coffee etc. (sometimes beer!) at taverns along the way. Good mountain bikes were provided at low cost, and I could not praise our tour director and his assistant enough.
Beverley Marshall, Brisbane; published in Sydney Morning Herald on Jan 19th 2007
Hello Barry, Jiri Drbohlav dropped me a note and asked me to verify AVE travel of Prague. Please be advised that my 20 year old son and I did a bike tour with AVE last summer (Prague to Vienna) and we had a most enjoyable tour. The accomdations were acceptable in all locations and although sometimes basic they were always clean, safe, and in working order. I can assure you my experience was that AVE was quite good and professional in their tour managment, preparation, and execution. We had a great trip and we will tour again with AVE sometime. Our tour guide (Jiri) was very knowledgeable and above board person with which we would highly recommend. He spoke fluent English and was very reliable and knowledgeable about history, language, biking,biking safety culture, etc. If you have any questions please let me know.
Dan
Dear Jiri, We wanted to let you know that we had a wonderful time on our bike trip with Milan, Henry and Lukas. Milan taught us so much about Czech history and became a good friend in our week together. He always had our best interests at heart. Henry was always waiting with a smile, a laugh and a good snack. Lukas was a delight and obviously a very intelligent young man. The three of them made a fantastic team. The bike trip allowed us to see a very special part of your country. We would ask for Milan to be our leader again, anytime.
Thank you for all your help and thank Renata for us.
(The Hotel Monastery is very lovely, the people so kind.)
(We wish we were still on our bikes!)
Sincerely,
Martha and Jay Markson
To whom it may concern,
I was a participant on the recent Exodus trip to the Czech Republic and would like to express my thanks for the fantastic tour and great holiday. I found the
tour guide, "George," to be very helpful and he often went out of his way to accomodate the requests of the majority of the group. There was a large variety
of fitness levels and differing personalities within the group and I found the day's activities set at an appropriate level to accomodate this. At no time did
I feel concerned at Geoge's driving or navigating ability and I had a fantastic holiday. I would not hesitate to recommend George as a tour guide or recommend
the trip to my friends.
Jenny
An excellent trip. Very well organized. Beautiful scenery and impressive „fairy tale“ villages. The only constructive criticism I’d give is that it should perhaps be graded “B” (and not “A”) as there were a lot more hills than the trip notes led us to believe. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it and very pleased to have taken part. Sheila Agnen
The bike tour was excellent, and the guide superb.
David M.
It was a very action packed holiday! Lots of cycling, lots of interesting sight-seeing, lots of good food, and even more good beer! The Czech Republic has many picturesque medieval towns and impressive castles, and the capital, Prague, is well worth a visit. Our Czech guides looked after us very well, and altogether the holiday was a great success.
Regards
Moya
Barbara was great, very easy to relate to and so helpful when any challenges arose, and great fun to hang out with. Really appreciated the use of rain coat and helmet.
Loved the small roads we rode on and the off-road experiences which challenged us. I was under the impression we would be cruising on flat roads but was glad for the physical uphill challenges. Bikes were great quality.
Hotels were of adequate standard with facilities to unwind at the end of the day.
Will recommend trip to friends.
Deb Sawtell
Simply stunning, was expecting to be just riding from village to village, I wasn´t expecting the castles the varying fields, the prancing deer in the fields we were riding beside, the bear and the other wonderful beer, the galloping horses, the bombshelters, the freshness of the fields, the joint effort of singing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, the freshness of the air and most importantly the opportunity to ride through plenty of mud.
One highlight was when Rob fell and grazed his knee, Barbara was quickly on hand to offer a pack of condoms, just in case.
Coney Sautell
My first experience of a bike holiday and I really enjoyed it. The guide was excellent and Martin was always there for us. The route was good and we saw many of the sites we would probably not have seen otherwise. The holiday was very enjoyable and I met a lovely group of people. anonymous
I had a really good holiday. More hills than I was expecting but not a problem. Perhaps the holiday should be graded B. One criticism is that I thought the lunch stops were too long on some days and the lunches were a bit too big. The guide was very good and really looked after us.
Dave
We love Barbara!
Despite the bad weather, we had a great time and missed the cycling today. A great route of easy touring and more testing hills. An excellent tour. Beautiful scenery. Good fun. JulienS.
Overall a good trip – mostly because of Barbara – she was great! Good motivator, personality and lots of “short-cuts” up her sleeve (which I´m convinced were long cuts!) The route was very scenic – only spoilt by the lousy weather. The standard was just right – not too challenging with lots of flat, down hills and the odd nightmare hill to test you. Great fun. Had a great trip.
Thanks.
Dean
I met some lovely people, a very friendly and supportive group. An excellent group leader, good-humoured and caring, she shepherded the whole group throughout the tour. Good vehicle support by Martin.
An all-round good activity holiday. anonymous
A truly excellent experience. An excellent leader (especially in the first aid department). Even though the trip was rated as a Grade A it was probably a B but, I was glad that it was tougher then expected. A big thank you to Barbara and Martin and to everyone on the team for making this such a memorable holiday.
Roberto Tirone
Friday 26/08/05
Day 1
Cycle, cycle, cycle ................ raining! Cycle, cycle, cycle through the rain. We saw Nova Pec – beautiful temperate forest, a man-made canal to float a transport logs. One of us got food poisoning but the efficient tour leader was prepared with Imodium on hand! The tour leader got lost but turned up in the pub.
Day 2
Another troop member fell! We tripped over the railway tracks. Cycle, cycle, cycle........... rest, rest. Wonderful food for morning tea, lunch and dinner on the trip – pork, beef stroganoff, fried dumplings. At last we reached Vissy Brod – an old monastery. Admired the architecture, toured the church, then more cycling for the strong. The weak ones were allowed to jump into the support vehicle.
Day 3
Up at 8 am – big breakfast as usual – Czech breads, pastries, ham, cheese, yoghurt. Then cycle, cycle, cycle (uphill unfortunately) then downhills (wwwheeeeeeeee!!!!) of course it is beautiful countryside but the main difference between seeing it in pictures or in a car, and riding a bike is the wind-rushing part and that feeling that you are part of the landscape. It is very surreal. We rode into Rozemberg and toured the castle. Great hotel room 5*!! We had a 4 poster bed and chandeliers!
Day 4
Onwards to Cesky Krumlov! The tour was flexible so some of us rode directly via the road and arrived with more time to see the town. The true cycling fanatics weaved gracefully through the forest (Ha! more uphills and uphills again). George took us for a tour of the pubs in the evening – then looked mutinous when we went to bed at 9. He probably called as skivers in Czech.
Day 5
Cycle, cycle, cycle. It was a nice wind down ride today. Rewarded with a beautiful castle at the end of the day! Sleep, sleep, sleep in the van all the way back to Prague. Thanks! Mari and James
Trip 21-28th August 05
My best friend and I had never been to Czech Republic before nor cycled more than 7 miles at any one time! The country is beautiful and very undulating. We had a very friendly guide and got on well with everyone on the trip. A lot of stamina is required to complete the mileage from the Monday to Friday, - 150 miles, however the effort is always rewarded by good, cold beer and filling local dishes/specialities. It is important to remember that everyone is in the same boat and just as exhausted at the end of the day. Bed tended to be at ten and breakfast at eight, although if you have been training prior to the trip there is always the early morning swim at six and lots of late night discos with the enthusiastic, smiley and fantastic guide – George. I have really taken to the cycling and more importantly to the country. Everywhere we went to the Czechs were on hand to help with the language and the farmers in tractors to wave us on. I will be coming back to have lots more fun with my friends. Angela Thomas
George, send us the photos please!
James Warr
The tour
Staff
George .- very enthusiastic tour leader. Always interested in our welfare and ensuring we had a great time. Eager for us to try all the Czech delicacies and beer.
Tereza – extremely good cyclist giving us lots of help on how to improve. Very intelligent with lots of extra knowledge the sites on our trip.
Martin – great support guy – although he doesn’t speak English, he is very good at miming to be part of the group.
Equipment
Good bikes, helmets, water bottles, everything you need really. Be careful of the gorgeous service ponchos! I’d advise bringing a squishy gel seat to ease the love-hate relationship between the saddle and your derriére! Cycling gloves are handy but George can find a little backstreet shop that sells them for about 3 ₤.
Weather
tip: Layer your clothing. First few days it rained. Generally the weather was very variable. If you forget your waterproof you can sport a very fetching poncho.
Food
Great variety of Czech dishes. My favourite desserts were palačinka with zmrzlina or the sweet knedliky.
Route
4 of the 5 days we rode 50 km. The beginning of the week was more challenging, but your stamina soon improves, quickly! You must remind yourself the views would not be so beautiful if it was not rolling!
George always eased the trip with nice stops for good Czech beer.
Thank you for a fab tour, I leave tired, fitter, more tanned, fatter, cultured, improved Czech, and happier.
Bryony Robinson