CYCLING THE DANUBE - PASSAU TO VIENNA

Our Clients’ Reviews

• 

  Francis Somerset

  CYCLING THE DANUBE - PASSAU TO VIENNA

  

  Written July 2008

  Beautiful surroundings and an amazing experience.  Not as supported as our previous exodus trip though, which was a little disappointing. 

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  What was the most inspirational moment of your trip?

  The tranquility of cycling down the danube surrounded by green lush land!

  Do you have any advice for potential travellers?

  Take a German translation book!

  Is there anything else you would like to add?

  We had arranged our flights ourself, and transferring to the first hotel was easy, but on arrival at our first hotel the information we had been given about the pick up of our bags, and transfer to the bikes was sparse and what was relayed to us ended up being inaccurate and therefore detrimental.  The receptionist had told us we would have to be downstairs at 9am to leave our bags, have a welcome meeting and be collected to pick up our bikes. Unfortunately this was inaccurate and  we were actually supposed to be downstairs at 830am for collection to be taken to our bikes.  As we were late we had to wait for the hotel driver to come back and pick us up again.   Other than our welcome pack, we had no official welcoming from Rad and Reissen. The pack was surely self explanatory but a lot of the information was in German, so it would have been helpful to have had a rep on arrival just to clarify some points.

  At the end of the trip it was not clear where we would leave our bikes. When we called the Rad and Reissen reps, they were happy for us to leave our bikes in the parking of the hotel without our locks on, which we did not feel was the safest option, as if anything happened to the bikes after leaving them, we did not want to be held liable. 

  The hotels at the beginning of the week were great ie St Agatha and Linz, but unfortunately the quality of them seemed to deteriorate towards the end of the week.  They were definitely adequate but as the standard in the aforementioned places was so high it was slightly disappointing.  In Grein although the hotel was lovely, it was a shame it was so far up a steep hill from Grein, making visiting Grein in the evening impracticable- it may have been helpful to mntio the hotel would no provide transport down to the town in the evening-so make the mst of it in the afternoon, before retiring to the hotel.

  Overall, despite the above issues we had a wonderful time, as it was a beautiful part of the country.   We were just disappointed the organisation was not what we had come to expect from Exodus.

  Exodus Response

  Dear Mr Somerset,

  I'm glad you enjoyed the trip and i completely agree the Danube and it's surroundings have some spectacular scenery to offer. I cycled the route myself last year and had an excellent time - although i crammed 2 days into 1 going into Vienna which was a little tiring!

  Apologies for the couple of glitches you had along the way. With regards to our self-guided trips, they are different to our group trips in that the support we give you comes through our comprehensive route notes and maps and the ease of having your luggage transferred daily. On certain trips we do have a local representative meet our clients and discuss the trip ahead if it is a particularly complicated route.

  I'm sorry you were given the wrong time for the meeting at the bike station by the hotel staff (we do state 0830hrs in our route notes) and i will make sure they are aware of the correct timings. The reason that it is unnecessary to lock the bikes up in Vienna at the hotel is simply that our operator Rad and Reisen sends many people along the route daily and there wouldn't be enough spaces to lock every bike therefore the hotel security looks after them.

  The hotels along the route do vary depending upon the size of a town or village however i completely accept your point about Grein and will be taking note of this for future departures.

  Hope to see you on the second leg of the Danube next year!

  Andy Buswell (Trip Manager)

  
  

  - Exodus Staff