Put together your self for a memorable journey down the notorious Danube River on a ship and bicycle touring journey via 4 magical European nations: Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary.
The Danube Waltz Boat & Bike Tour with Rad & Reisen is a novel biking/cruise ship vacation that, over the course of eight satisfying days, takes you from stunning Passau, Germany (within the north-west) to the historic metropolis of Budapest, Hungary (within the south-east). Alongside the best way you’ll journey via the cities of Linz and Vienna, Austria; Bratislava, Slovakia; and lots of extra charming cities and villages alongside the best way.
Whereas on tour, you’ll eat and sleep on board the MS My Story, a 105 meter-long ship with 87 whole cabins and a most passenger capability of 174. This spacious river cruiser additionally has a full restaurant/eating space, resort reception desk, bar, sauna, e book and journal library, and a panorama salon on the boat’s high deck.
Passengers who select to take part on this distinctive cycling-themed vacation come from a number of nations all around the globe, though German-speaking vacationers are most typical. Subsequently, the 2 languages spoken on board the ship are German (first) and English (second). The combination of cultures and backgrounds makes for an thrilling and satisfying expertise for everybody on board.
When you’re searching for a soothing, but memorable bicycle vacation to partake on this spring or summer season, contemplate a journey on the MS My Story and waltz your manner from Passau to Budapest on an unimaginable boat and bicycle touring vacation with Rad & Reisen.
Essential Tour Data:
Whole Variety of Days: 8
Worth: €598 Euros ($815 USD) and up per particular person
Tour Languages: German and English
Tour Contributors come primarily from: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland and Norway.
Age of the common tour participant: 60
Beginning location: Passau, Germany
Ending location: Passau, Germany
Whole days of biking: 4 (plus non-obligatory metropolis bike excursions in Budapest and Vienna)
Approximate distance cycled all through the tour: 235 km+ / 149 miles+
Common each day biking distance: 47 km / 30 miles
Who Is This Bike Tour Designed For?
The Danube Waltz Boat & Bike Tour with Rad & Reisen is a soothing bicycle-themed vacation designed for even probably the most inexperienced bicycle rider. With the common tour participant being across the age of 60, this tour is just not meant to be a tough or fast-paced dash alongside the Danube River, however is supposed to be a gradual, simple, and satisfying expertise for everybody concerned.
The sections of the river that you’ll be biking throughout the course of this tour are extremely flat, with just a few very gradual up or downhill sections. When you can journey a motorbike, you’ll be able to in all probability full this bicycle tour with little to no issue. The common each day distance of 30 miles per day could also be a little bit of problem for some, however because of lack of terrain on the chosen routes, and due to Europe’s unimaginable community of bicycle paths, it is a tour that even probably the most inexperienced bike riders can sort out with relative ease.
In case you are not a bicycle owner, otherwise you discover that you just aren’t as much as using at some point, that’s okay as properly. Most of the individuals who be part of the Danube Waltz boat and bike tour choose to remain on the ship all through the tour, or to solely get off the boat when it docks in a metropolis of explicit curiosity.
In case you are a bicycle owner with a great deal of expertise and are searching for a critical bike using journey, that is in all probability not the tour for you. However if you wish to have a peaceable, scenic and satisfying riverboat cruise whereas consuming scrumptious meals, interacting with pleasant individuals from all around the world and in addition spending a good period of time using your bike alongside one among Europe’s most iconic rivers, then this may simply be the cycling-themed vacation you’ve been dreaming about!
What Is Your Typical Day On Tour Like?
Breakfast begins round 7 AM every morning and runs till round 9 AM. The meal consists of a buffet-style breakfast with bread, deli meats, yogurt, fruit, orange juice, espresso, tea and a complete lot extra. You merely take what you need after which return to your desk to eat with those that have include you on the tour, and people you might have met on board the ship.
There are then two various kinds of days on board the Danube Waltz boat and bike tour. The primary sort of day is that by which the mail aim is to cycle alongside the sting of the Danube river. The second sort of day is whenever you take a relaxation from the bikes and as a substitute, cease to discover one of many main cities alongside the best way (Bratislava or Vienna).
On a biking day, you’ll eat breakfast after which be requested to make a sandwich to your packed lunch, which you’ll carry with you in your bicycle and eat at any level you want all through your bike journey. After packing you lunch, you’ll exit the ship and be given a bicycle, which is assigned to you during the tour.
After you’ve discovered and ready your bicycle for the day, you’ll then be free to journey the pre-designed path by yourself. You’ll be able to select who you journey with every day, how briskly you want to cycle, which explicit route you want to comply with, and whenever you’d wish to cease and relaxation or eat alongside the best way. Every day of biking on the tour is totally different and there’s a good mixture of surroundings on every of the bicycle rides.
You’ll have to be again on the ship in dinner time, so that you’ll have to be again on board the ship earlier than 4 or 5 PM every day. The boat employees will take your bicycle for you and cargo it again onto the ship. You’re then free to return to your cabin, take a bathe, and put together for dinner.
Round 7 PM every evening, dinner is served within the ship’s giant and spectacular eating corridor/restaurant. You’ll be assigned a specific desk to sit down at at first of the tour, and also you’ll be requested to remain at that desk during the week. When dinner begins, a three-course meal will probably be offered to you. You should have chosen your dinner the evening earlier than from three distinct choices, so you’ll have the selection of a meat, fish or vegetarian meal possibility, in addition to from two various kinds of desserts.
After dinner, you might have the selection to return to your cabin, hang around on the highest deck of the boat, or socialize within the ship’s leisure room, the place dwell music is performed and dancing is thought to often escape. Finally, nevertheless, everybody on board the ship quickly goes to mattress and also you get up the following morning to do it yet again!
On non-cycling days, the schedule could be very comparable, however ever-so-slightly totally different. On the 2 main relaxation days in Budapest, Hungary and Vienna, Austria, you’ll have the selection of taking part in a single or two of three further actions, chances are you’ll select to easily keep on the ship, or you might be free to roam across the metropolis by yourself.
In Budapest you might have the selection of taking part in a guided bike tour across the metropolis (€22), a hop on-hop off bus tour of town (€22), or a nighttime metropolis tour by bus with an included Hungarian folklore present. (€36)
In Vienna, you might have the selection of taking part in one other guided bike tour across the metropolis (€24), a metropolis tour by bus (€24), or a night Waltz and Operetta live performance (€40).
Extra excursions are additionally out there throughout the cease in Bratislava (an old-timer metropolis stroll for €15) and a wine tasting in Wachau, Austria (for €6).
When you select to take part in any of those further excursions, you’ll return to the boat every evening in dinner time and dessert, after which you’ll retire to your cabin on board the MS My Story on the finish of the day.
Highlights From The Tour
Through the course of the week, there are such a lot of fantastic recollections to remove from the expertise. For me, nevertheless, these are simply among the fantastic highlights from the boat and bicycle tour down the Danube River with Rad & Reisen:
Exploring Passau, Germany on foot at first of the tour.
Biking alongside the Danube’s Schlogen Loop.
Exploring the Devin Fortress in Slovakia.
Exploring previous city Bratislava.
Our relaxation day in Budapest, Hungary.
Bike rides and ferryboat crossings within the Hungarian Countryside.
Pirate evening within the dinning room.
Exploring the Ring Highway in Vienna, Austria.
Mountain climbing to the highest of the Kuenringer Fortress.
Biking via dozens of charming Austrian villages.
Assembly so many beautiful individuals all through the period of the tour.
What Are The Meals Like?
Whenever you return to your cabin every evening after dinner, you will see a chunk of paper has been left for you. On this piece of paper will probably be laid out the meal choices for the next day. In case you are staying on the boat for lunch (somewhat than taking a packed lunch with you), then you’ll be offered with three meal selections. Dinner as properly consists of three meal selections (a meat possibility, a fish possibility, and a vegetarian possibility). Lastly, two dessert selections are made out there.
Under, for instance, is an in depth breakdown of the meal choices on simply at some point of the Danube Waltz boat and bike tour:
Buffet Breakfast: Bread rolls, sliced bread, butter, jams, Nutella, cheese, sliced meat, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggs, varied juices, french toast, espresso, tea, granola, varied nuts, dehydrated fruits, croissants, yogurts and extra.
Packed Lunch: Sandwich of your personal making utilizing the components out there on the breakfast buffet (bread, sliced cheese, deli meats, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, butter), plus a granola bar and an orange or apple packed in a paper bag.
Lunch on board the boat: Wiener-Schnitzel with parsley potatoes and salad Triple… or Vegetable stuffed cabbage leaf in tomato sauce… or Pure polenta with Provincial greens.
Dinner: Tafelspitz with root greens… or Milled fish steak with herb couscous… or Tagliatelle with broccoli and blue cheese.
Dessert: Do-it-yourself apple strudel with vanilla-sauce and mint cream… or a cheese plate with grapes and crackers.
General, the meals on board the MS My Story is admittedly, actually good. Once I requested everybody at my desk, and varied different individuals on board the ship to charge the meals on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the perfect, I used to be given a constant score of 8 in response.
My favourite meals of the day had been breakfast, as a result of there was an amazing number of meals out there and you might decide and select no matter you favored.
The packed lunches labored properly once we had been biking. We obtained to make our personal sandwiches within the morning, utilizing the bread, cheese, greens and different gadgets that had been included with the breakfast buffet, and we mixed that sandwich with a granola bar and a chunk of fruit for the right on-the-road meal.
Lastly, dinners had been the biggest and most extravagant meals every day and certainly required probably the most preparation from the kitchen employees. With three totally different selections of meals every night, there was nearly all the time one thing to select from to make you content.
If in case you have an allergy or are merely unable to eat a sure meals, the kitchen employees went out of their approach to please you. One lady at our desk was unable to eat something with lactose in it, so she merely notified the kitchen employees upfront of her arrival and particular meals had been ready for her every evening. She was extraordinarily impressed with simply how properly the ship’s cook dinner and kitchen employees did in getting ready her meals every day.
As a vegetarian myself, I discovered the vegetarian meals on board the ship to be fairly scrumptious. Nonetheless, there are a number of various kinds of vegetarian (people who eat eggs, fish, hen, cheese, dairy merchandise… and naturally, people who don’t eat animal merchandise of any type). Most of the vegetarian meals on board the ship included eggs or cheese and had been due to this fact inedible for these with very particular dietary needs (For instance, I’ll eat cheese, however not eggs). I feel the vegetarian meal choices might be improved sooner or later in the event that they had been ready as a solely vegan meal, as this is able to preserve nearly each sort of “vegetarian” on board the ship glad. Plus, non-obligatory meals gadgets (akin to eggs and cheese) may simply be added to most vegan meals in the event that they had been really needed.
General, I too would give the meals a score of 8 out of 10. I’m a particularly choosy eater, however I by no means went hungry and I completely loved many of the meals I ate on board the ship.
What Are The Bicycles Like?
Whenever you take part within the Danube Waltz boat and bike tour with Rad & Reisen, you might have the selection of utilizing one among 4 various kinds of bicycles:
a 7-speed cruiser bike
a 21-speed cruiser bike
an electrical help bicycle (that has a small motor in it)
or a bicycle of your personal that you just deliver with you on the tour
The bikes which are used on this tour might not be the kind or type of motorbike that you’ve got at residence, however the bicycles that Rad & Reisen makes out there on this tour are completely designed for the kind of using that you’ll be doing over the course of the week. The bikes are designed to be comfy in your again, neck and physique, however to not get you to your vacation spot in any sort of file setting time. And since the routes which have been chosen for this bicycle tour are nearly totally flat, these bicycles are all you actually need to get you over the quick distances which are coated on any such bicycle tour.
The bicycles that Rad & Reisen offers are in good situation, however my solely criticism with these bikes is that that seats are extremely uncomfortable after a full day of using… and I do know that different tour individuals had been complaining in regards to the seats as properly. The massive, comfortable seats which are mounted on these bicycles could also be comfy to older people happening simply very quick, native bike rides. However on longer rides (just like the 30 mile rides you might be required to do on this bike tour), your butt will probably be fairly sore on the finish of the day. Subsequently, in case you are involved in regards to the consolation of your bicycle when you are on tour, I counsel you contemplate packing your personal bicycle saddle. It’s a simple factor to pack and, if positioned appropriately in your supplied tour bicycle, will make sure you get pleasure from each minute of your biking expertise alongside the Danube River.
Different Essential Issues To Know About This Bike Tour
Along with the price of the bike tour itself, you’ll need to get your self to and from Passau, Germany for the beginning and end of the tour. This implies paying to your flight, prepare, bus, meals and/or resort reservations alongside the best way.
Navigating the routes on this bike tour by way of GPS is just not needed, though the corporate will give you that data if you need it.
Firstly of the tour you’ll be given a well-designed booklet containing all the data you might want to know during the tour. This booklet incorporates maps of the routes you’ll be biking every day, data on the sights you’ll be able to count on to see all through the tour, and particulars on the non-obligatory excursions that the corporate has made out there.
The excursions which are provided all through the bicycle tour do value further. When you had been to do all of the non-obligatory excursions, you’d find yourself paying roughly €143 Euro ($192 USD) further per particular person. That being stated, there are tour packages out there (€57 and €127) that make it barely inexpensive must you select to take part in all or many of the doable excursions.
The cabins on board the ship are small, however comfy. Within the cabins on the principle deck there’s one mattress that folds out of the wall and one other mattress that folds out from beneath the sofa. A small closet, sink and toilet with a rest room and bathe can also be present in every cabin. The bigger rooms on the higher deck of the boat function a barely bigger room with bigger beds and storage areas.
You’ll have to pay further for any drinks that you just devour on board the ship whenever you eat lunch or dinner on board the ship. Wine, soda, and even nonetheless water are billed to your room over the course of the cruise. (Personally, I feel nonetheless water ought to all the time be free, and I do know a number of others on board the ship discovered discovering water to be fairly tough.)
You will have to pay for nearly all the things in Euros on this bike tour. Solely when you’re in Hungary will you might want to pay for issues in Hungarian Forints – however even in Hungary you may get away with Euros more often than not. Acquiring the native currencies is straightforward, as ATMs can be found at a number of places alongside the Danube.
There’s a full cleansing employees on board the ship. These employees members usually are not solely accountable for cleansing your towels and linens, however will enter your room when you’re at breakfast in an effort to make up your beds and clear your rooms. They are going to enter your room once more on the finish of the day, when you’re at dinner, and put together your beds for the night. When you want to do your laundry when you are on board the ship, this may also be executed for you, at a further value.
There isn’t a smoking on board the ship (in your cabin, the restaurant, bar or lounge areas), though smoking is allowed on the open sundeck on the high of the boat. As a non-smoker, I solely as soon as noticed (or smelled) somebody smoking on the highest deck of the boat.
Telephone and Web entry is out there on board the ship in sure places – at a further payment (about €2.50 per hour).
In case you are a vegetarian, vegan, or have every other particular dietary wants, it’s best that you just notify the corporate no less than 14 days earlier than the beginning of the tour, in order that they’ve the time essential to make the wanted changes to their common meal plan.
A tip/gratuity will probably be collected for the complete boat employees on the finish of the cruise. It’s recommended by the corporate that an quantity of €5-6 Euros ($7-8 USD) per particular person, per day, be gifted on the finish of the tour. This quantities to roughly €40-48 Euros ($55-65 USD) per tour participant. The cruise director is just not included on this tipping system, nevertheless, so a further tip/gratuity might also be needed.
If in case you have any further questions on taking part on this distinctive and memorable bicycle-themed vacation alongside the notorious Danube river, simply get in contact with the Rad & Reisen bike tour firm straight. They’re very fast to reply to any messages that you just ship them they usually exit of their manner that will help you in any manner that they will.
Would I Advocate The Danube Waltz Boat & Bike Tour?
Completely! The Danube Waltz boat and bike tour with Rad & Reisen is a superb bicycle touring expertise. An outstanding mixture of luxurious and journey, this week-long vacation will will let you journey via 4 totally different European nations whereas eating like a King or Queen, making new associates from all around the globe, and having the time of your life!
Whether or not you’re a biking fanatic or somebody with little or no biking expertise, it is a enjoyable, stress-free and satisfying bicycle touring journey that nearly anybody can get pleasure from.
To be taught extra in regards to the Danube Waltz boat and bike tour with Rad & Reisen, or any of the opposite bicycle excursions that the corporate has on provide, remember to go to the official Rad & Reisen web site at: www.radreisen.at or contact the corporate straight via their European hotline at: 0043-1-405-3873
Click on right here to see extra pictures from my expertise on the Danube Waltz boat and bike tour.
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