Castles on the River Loire

Wonderful and unforgettable cycling tour! Everything was extremely well organized, and it all worked perfectly. The itinerary takes you through a wide variety of landscapes and settings: charming small villages, lively towns, beautiful castles, and plenty of stunning natural scenery. We had a flat tire on two consecutive days. After the second one, I no longer felt confident about the bike tire and decided to call the assistance number. In less than 30 minutes, a support van arrived, took us to our next nearby destination, and provided us with a replacement bike. That level of service made us feel very safe and well supported while traveling . We rented two e-bikes for this tour, and they were very good overall. The only feature I missed was front suspension. My suggestion is that, in a future fleet renewal, they consider offering bikes with front suspension, which would make the riding experience even more comfortable and safer for customers.

We had a great trip. In particular, the ability to easily incorporate individual rest days in advance has won us over for [the ground operator]. The selected hotels were all very good, you were almost always individually welcome as a guest, only in Tours did you notice the chain in the big city, but that did not detract from the very good accommodation. We enjoyed the e-bikes, so 50-80 km a day was very easy even for laymen. The season in April was favorable in terms of weather and number of visitors. The obligatory plate was easy to handle with the tool. Both before and during the trip, the [ground operator] team was always friendly, helpful and available! We have another suggestion for improvement: A note that the very good app does not lead to the hotel but to the city center would have been helpful. But it clears up when you first arrive... I'd love to go back!

Overall, we spent a great week on the Loire and its tributaries. More than 20 different white wines, 6 types of red wine, 10 castles and especially the small boutique and family hotels in the smaller towns have made up for the prevailing rainy weather. The sunny days were fantastic, the bike routes were good to ride and the best along the rivers, the French were considerate and very friendly, the food was excellent.

It was our first organized bike trip. Everything worked out well. App good, route very nice, luggage transport worked, hotels okay too, some very small rooms (couldn't even open the suitcase yet). But apart from the one in Chenonceaux, they were all good. The one in Chenonceaux was very old, had rooms like an attic and the place is also not recommended. Just a restaurant that looked good, but menu €120.00. But everything else is fine. It was definitely not our last bike trip. 

Thank you very much for the perfect organization of this unforgettable “Loire a velo” holiday! Everything worked perfectly with the luggage transport, the hotels were all in order, the bikes were perfect and the handing over of the bikes by the responsible lady was very friendly and helpful. The route is well chosen, not exhausting, very varied through forests, fields, vineyards, along various rivers (romantic) and through villages that invite you to take a break. The castles and their gardens were breathtaking!!!. Lots and lots of great impressions that you have to work through again at home. (I already forgot which castle was which 😂 but I will help you again based on the many photos). An unforgettable experience! By the way, the weather was great!!! Not too hot, perfect for cycling and we always kept our feet dry! PS: We also made nice acquaintances who booked via [the ground operator]! 😊 Thank you! Once again with [the ground operator]!!! 🥰

The tour was very well planned; overall, the route guidance using GPS data worked very well. We imported the data to Komot and did the navigation with Komot. However, the GPS data on the last stage did not match the directions in the documents, this regarding the shorter route. If we had driven according to the GPS data, we would not have seen one of the most beautiful castles (Chambord).