My friend and I are interested in taking a bike tour of Tuscany. We are looking at two tour companies:
Iron Donkey and BikeTours.com. They provide rental bikes, a self guided itinerary, hotel accommodations, some meals, and luggage transfers. Has anyone used either or both of these companies? Are the rental bikes in good condition? How are the accommodations? Are there any "surprise fees"? Would you take another trip with them? Thank you
Posted by
Greeley, co, usa
2404 posts
A tandem bike shop in Denver, Tandem Cycle Works of Colorado, has used Iron Donkey for several tours. You might contact them for an opinion.
Posted by
Home_Sweet_Home :-)
507 posts
From reposted thread
Posted by Bruce
Whitefish, Montana
01/31/15 09:22 AM
775 posts
Self-guided bike tours are a great way to see Europe at your own pace and can deviate or supplement your trip as desired. I am quite familiar with BikeTours.com (Bike Tours Direct) as we've taken a number of their self-guided bicycle tours in Europe. It's a U.S. based firm and arranges tours through European bicycle touring companies. Their website is excellent and it's easy to find a tour of your liking. You pay a modest booking surcharge, but can gain a 5%. discount if you are members of the Adventure Cycling Association. BikeTours.com has a good reputation with me and is A+ rated with the Better Business Bureau. Bikes, maps, helmets (if you wish), GPS (sometimes), accommodations,. luggage transfers, are all provided/arranged by each European company. Tour descriptions are accurate including surfaces, traffic, sights, level of difficulty, etc. Rental bikes have ranged from well-used functional, to great. All bikes we've ridden are heavy, perfectly suited to the task at hand and more like what we'd call hybrids. Typically included are basic tools, patch kit, locks and a pannier. Some of the tours offer differing qualities/locations of accommodations, so you often have a choice. Staff are quite responsive in answering questions. There have been no surprises as to costs...just read the list of what's included and what's not included for each tour. Yes, we would take tours in the future with BikeTours.com. I have no experience with Iron Donkey tours.
Posted by
Gettysburg, PA
1589 posts
Hi Moma,
Try : www.jemisoncycling.com he does a great job!