Four Countries in 10 days ! This was my 12th holiday with this tour company (my 9th cycle tour) and one of the best, so it is not often I feel that I wish to write a review, so here goes ! This tour is a great way to see four countries and four capital cities of central Europe, all in just 10 days. Our group comprised a friendly bunch - a mix of English, Australian & Americans and with me, the token Scot of the group !We were lead by a very professional team of Dana along with Hynek and driver Lubos.
If you like historical buildings/towns this is a brilliant trip The cities, towns etc we visited were amazing. We started in Prague which is a popular resort, so popular I was glad to get away. But then on the first day we arrived at Cesky Krumlov, (didn't he use to play for Chelsea?) which is an amazing Gothic town and a UNESCO site, I'd never previously heard of , but could easily return to and spend a long w/end there imbibing some of the excellent Czech beer. There is an optional walking tour of the town which is well worth going on.
The next town we reached , Trebon, was also very interesting, and well worth a walk around.
And then came another UNESCO , Telc with yet another fantastic cobbled town square.
A couple of days later we arrived in Vienna which just shouts opulence. Do go on the optional bike tour of the city as it gives you a good idea of where to head to when you get free time. A couple of us went to a classical concert (not usually my kind of thing) in one of the large churches where they played classical music's greatest hits (Vivaldi etc) and where the acoustics are simply amazing. Oh, and don't forget the cakes to die for or of !
We then got to Bratislava, another interesting place where the leader takes you on another optional walking tour; worth taking again.
Eventually we arrived in Budapest and by this time I was beginning to suffer from cultural overload but managed to squeeze in a visit to the parliament building and the basillica before retiring to the bar.
Oh , I nearly forgot the cycling bit of the trip; it's graded as 3 but could easily be a 2 as there were very few hills ; a considerable amount of the time is on cycle-only tracks which is great if you want to natter to your fellow cyclists but does mean there is only a limited amount of vehicle support. The trip notes say there is only 10% without vehicle support but it was considerably more than that .
Fortunately, the vehicle war around when we rode through an almighty thunderstorm when the hairs on your head stand up , then curl, and possibly smolder, even for the'follickly challenged' like myself .
Also, there was the fact that there was no "tail gunner" mechanic, which meant that if there was a mechanical, the whole group had to stop whilst running repairs took place. The bikes themselves, were more "upright" than I am used to but proved to be very good for my back ; unfortunately they seemed to be prone to the chain coming off and jamming ; couldn't possibly be anything to do with the ability of the cyclists themselves !
Great mix of Exercise and Culture! The trip was very much according to expectations and as the trip notes described. I was on an October departure and that was "out of season" for some places so some of the usual restaurants/stops that the guides would typically use were closed but they adapted accordingly... The guiding was excellent and as a pilot this trip had 2 guides based on previous comments/feedbacks that it was difficult for one guide to manage if group was fragmented. I was impressed by how they adapted the trip and listened to our feedback to make changes on the go. I was also positively impressed by the amount of history and information on the locations that the guides were sharing. The initial days were a bit hilly but very manageable for anyone cycling regularly. The bikes were hybrid/trek types which were ideal for the purpose as we had multiple terrain types but primarily road. The agenda was quite full so morning starts and new hotel every night... with typically 90mins to 2hours in the late afternoon between arriving back at the hotel and heading out again for a city tour and dinner. It was a wonderful trip with many varied experiences and locations!