Freedom Treks

Wie schon erwähnt, war der erste Teil der Reise - Ljubliana nach Piran - super. Gute Hotels, exzellente Karten und Beschreibungen. Insgesamt kann man das nur weiterempfehlen.
Leider war dann bei der Reise in Istrien das Kartenmaterial mäßig bis falsch. an einem Tag passte Karte und Beschreibung überhaupt nicht zusammen und auch fehlten an entscheidenden Stellen (Weggabelung, Verzweigung) Kleber oder Anweisungen (rechts oder links). Wir haben uns mit GPS geholfen.
Das Hotel Vila Lili war leider sehr schlecht. Die Leute waren unfreundlich, sprachen weder Englisch noch Deutsch. Die Armaturen im Bad waren sanierungsbedürftig, das Fernsehen funktionierte nicht.....
Das Gepäck kam immer rechtzeitig an.

Overall I thought the Prague to Dresden cycle tour was not as spectacular as other European cycle tours I have done. There are many industrial sites bordering the Elbe River - not so attractive. On the positive side the maps provided with the route highlighted by textacolour were very good. The detailed maps showing the exact route to the hotel at the end of the day's cycling were excellent - better than any other tour I have done. Two of the accommodations were one person bands - the same person was at reception, cleaned your room and also served breakfast in the morning. On both occasions, I could not gain entrance to the accommodation when I arrived because that one person was either not available or was doing something else. At Litomerice I arrived at 12:37 pm but could not gain admittance until 3:20pm. I filled in time by having lunch in the main square. It was a fine day so this did not matter too much. But if the weather had been bad on this day I could not think of anything worse - being tired and in wet clothing not being able to have a hot shower immediately on arrival and being able to change into dry clothes.
The actual accommodation at Litomerice was very good. By comparision the hotel at Decin had reception manned all day up to late at night.

We booked a 4 day biking and bubbly trek in France which for reasons behind Freedom Trek didn’t work out for us due to having a sick child.
I am giving 3 stars as our first issue was how much information was provided st the last minute to our group. We were met by our host in France quite late the evening before. We were not told when she would arrive and I had to make calls back to the UK to find this out. When she did arrive it was to provide a lot of Information and maps etc that could have been given at an earlier stage so we would have has time to adequately read it. We were travelling with small children so were very time poor.
The bikes and equipment provided were of very good quality and we had no problem using them. We thoroughly enjoyed the cycling component but as mentioned we only got to cycle one day out of 3 as one of our children ended up in hospital in Epernay.
Our one other major issue was with the accomodation in Epernay. We had enjoyed a lovely nights stay in reims and the hotel was to standard however the hotel used by Freedom Treks in Epernay is of a poor standard. It has a good restaurant and breakfast was fine but the rooms were absolutely terrible. We had 2 rooms and our room was marginally better then that which our children stayed in. The bathrooms had a terrible odour which I complained about and despite them just using an air conditioner the smell returned within an hour. The rooms were damp and mouldy and had no air conditioning. We believe this contributed to our son having an asthma attack.
I intend to write an email to Freedom Treks about this.
Any contact we had with Freedom Treks prior to and during our trip was fantastic and the consultants were most helpful and friendly.

Service from Sarah Deane was exceptional - she could not do enough to make everything run smoothly and returned phone calls and emails promptly and gave good advice where required.

these people(1) followed up and (2)responded to all the questions I had. I dealt with an exceptional person

The staff I dealt with, mainly Andy and Hannah, were very helpful, especially when we had to change the dates for the boat trips.

We had detailed queries about car parking in Holland, hair driers and the fact that our ship had been altered to a different one. All queries were answered thoroughly

From our first contact with Freedom Trek, with the trip in a “sold out” status”, the agent was extremely professional in finding us the last booking (one cancellation) and notifying us the following morning. From that point on we were highly satisfied with every aspect of the trip they administered for us. Every Freedom Trek agent we had contact during the entire booking process was very knowledgeable and pleasant in helping make this one our best adventures ever. For that we are truly appreciative.

Freedom Treks Regensburg to Passau – 12/May/2017 to 15/May/2019
The overall review for this holiday is 3 Stars, reasons are given bellow.
First, the Excellent:
The staff at Freedom Treks have been excellent. They are engaged and interested in the customer experience. I found them to be both helpful and professional. Could not ask for better.
Next , the Good:
The hotels chosen for the holiday are on the whole very good. They are centrally located and all provided good breakfast. The rooms on the whole were good. Some of them are in attractive historical buildings.
The only bad point was the Hotel-Gasthof Hottl in Deggendorf which seems to have paper thin walls and I was able to lie and listen to another guest snoring for most of the night.
The main towns on the route : Regensburg, Straubing, Doggendorf and Passau are all very attractive.
The Ok:
This section of the Danube cycle path, in my opinion, is not very scenic. The majority of the time the cycle route is to the side of an earth bank. There are some stretches where you are cycling with a view of the river but these are few. The attached photo is a good representation of what the scene looks like. Long sections are fair bit inland.
I thought the last day, Doggendorf to Passau, was the best day.
On the first two days I did not find many places on the route to stop for food or drink without leaving the route and going into nearby towns.
I think the Passau to Vienna section is far more scenic and has far more retail opportunities.
The Bad and reason for the 3 Stars:
Freedom Treks is the holiday broker, the holiday is actually supplied by German local partner. They provide the hotels, bikes and luggage transport.
German local partner supplied me with an incorrect bike. Not the 21 gear that I paid for but a 7 gear camber brake model that I found very difficult to ride.
Making a mistake is not in itself a problem; the problem was German local partner complete refusal to correct the problem. Every request to have the bike changed was met with a ‘not possible’.
I was astounded by the total lack of customer care from this company. The fact that it was their mistake cut no ice with the ‘not possible’.
Freedom Treks tried their best and the response remained ‘not possible’. Amazing that such a company has customers. Freedom Treks did refund me the bike hire cost and I spent 3 day struggling with a machine that I hated and I am sure clouded my enjoyment of the holiday.

Great effort to locate a last minute trip for 4

The representative, Andy Evans, was courteous, professional, and competent. He answered all my questions and provided me with accurate information. The boat was as described. The e-bikes were excellent.

Have used Freedom Treks for 4 cycling holidays now. Always attentive and helpful, I have never had any issues with them.

The customer service people all responded very quickly, even though there is an 8 hour tiime difference from where we live in Canada. All were very helpful and courteous and answered my many questions patiently and politely

We had a bespoke holiday, as some of our family arrived two days after others, and others left two days early. The company were happy to make these special arrangements, and all hotel bookings worked well. The bikes were all comfortable and easy to ride. As well as enjoying the cycling for several hours each day, we also had time to stop for swimming in the lake and visiting local attractions. We all enjoyed the holiday, and are keen to do something similar again.

Totally misunderstood the instructions and finished up doing 80 miles first day, but organisation was excellent and we had a great adventure.

From 14 to 84 years of age on this trip, everyone had an amazing time. Mateja was a phenomenal tour guide and Ganka was wonderful too. The captain and crew were stellar. Mateja’s connections and pride in his country, Croatia, was so full of love and awe. We saw so much more than advertised. The add on zip lining and rafting trips were so fun. Can’t go wrong on this trip. I want to go back!

Inventive itinerary on a lovely boat with excellent catering and a full, action-packed tour of Sicily's Aeolian Islands.

Excellent personal service from beginning to end, including a phone call a day or two before we left to ensure we were fully ready.

Had a really good week cycling round lake Constance. All hotels were good. Each day seemed like just the right amount of distance with options to extend or take in other sites. New bikes in good condition.
Would recommend this trip.

A well planned route through some lovely countryside and calling at some fascinating small towns (Italian/Aragonese), with excellent overnight accommodation.