Cycling tours Hungary Austria Italy - Frequently Asked Questions

We collected here few important questions, to provide you with some useful information about our bike tours. If you have any further questions, please never hesitate to Contact Us, we are always happy to help you! We will also send you some more useful information after your booking, before your arrival.


Booking, Tour Prices, Payments, Discounts

1. How to Book a Tour?

Please read the details of our Bike Tours, these FAQ and our Terms and Conditions carefully. If you decided which tour or date you would like to take, please Contact Us or send us the Booking Enquiry form of your selected Bike Tour to check availability, and we will answer you as soon as we can. If we have free places, we will send you our Booking Form that you have to complete, sign & send us back with your deposit (10% of the tour price), or with the full cost of your bike tour (if you book within 60 days of your departure), to make your reservation guaranteed. We’ll send you our confirmation-invoice as soon as we receive your booking form & deposit / full price. The balance of the cost of your holiday is due no later than 60 days before your cycling tour start. After we receive your final payment, we’ll send you our voucher-invoice, and all the useful travel, arrival and local information that you may need for your trip. Please make your bookings early, because later we might run out of places, and we also need to finalise our bookings with the hotels latest 60 days before the start of our tours

2. How can I pay the cost of a tour?

We are able to accept Bank Money Transfer, because this proved to be the best, cheapest, and safest solution so far. All the other ways would result an undesirable tour price increase. Please find all our Bank Details on our Booking Form

3. What’s included in the tour prices?

Practically everything, to make your cycling holidays in Hungary Austria & Italy absolutely enjoyable and comfortable. Only those parts are not included, which are easier to arrange from your country, and some optional possibilities. Please find here what’s included in our tour prices, and exact details at our Guided Bike Tours according to their tour itineraries.

  • Superb accommodation in very nice 4 or 3 star castles, mansions, or family hotels
  • Gourmet local food, buffet breakfasts, and 2-4 course dinners with some drinks and excellent wines
  • Delicious picnic lunches and cool mineral water during cycling
  • Wine tastings in old cellars of the best wine makers of our historic wine regions
  • Most beautiful sights and routes in nature reserves, with low or no car traffic
  • Full English speaking guiding throughout all the tours
  • 1st class service of 2 experienced tour guides
  • Full technical support during the bike rides
  • Air conditioned support bus available for your whole group any time
  • Your luggage & other transports throughout our tours
  • All the guided sight-seeings, boat trips, forest-train, ferry, museum, castle, church and thermal bath tickets, according to the details of our Bike Tours
  • Very comfortable & high quality hybrid bikes with 24 gears, and panniers
  • Souvenir TNS T-shirt and water-bottle
  • Optional possibilities (not included):

    • Extra nights in Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck / Lake Como & Venice before & after your tour
    • Hotel-Airport Transfers in Budapest & Vienna at the end of your tour
    • Airport-Hotel Transfers in Salzburg, Innsbruck, Lake Como & Venice at your tour start & end
    • Your other extra / private costs, souvenirs, gifts, telephone, minibar, etc

    What is not included in the tour prices?

    • Your trip between your home and the starting & finishing place of our bike tours
    • Your travel and health insurance

    4. Tour prices

    Please find our prices at the details of our Bike Tours, all in EUROS. If you prefer to pay in any other currencies, please Contact Us before you book or pay. In this case we can calculate an appr. price when you book, and the exact price just before you are paying your balance / total price of your tour, according to the current exchange rates of that time.

    5. Discounts

    If you have a group of 10 or more friends, and you join us on one of our regular tours together, we are happy to offer you 5% discount of the advertised tour price. We are also pleased to offer you 5% if you return on another tour with us. This offer will be available for as many years after your tour, as many of our tours you have already taken. This discount will be calculated and deducted from the price of the tour you take when you return. (We can only offer you any discounts if you book your tour directly with us, and only one kind of discount at the same time.

    6. Children

    We always welcome families with children on our cycling tours. We think that you as a parent know best your children’s capabilities, so you can decide what is suitable for them. We can also provide smaller child bikes, and offer child discounts depending on their age, the size of the room, and the other services of the tour required for them. So please let’s have a talk about all these details when you book, to find an optimal solution and price for you. We had 8-18 years young children on our tours, and all enjoyed the trips very much.


Extra Services

1. Airport - Hotel Transfers at the start & end of your bike tour

To make your trip absolutely comfortable, we can arrange your transport between the Airport / Station and our hotel in Budapest & Vienna at your tour start or at the tours end for Euro 60 / ride, in Salzburg appr Euro 50 / ride, or in Innsbruck, Lake Como & Venice for some extra cost too.

2. Extra nights before & after your cycling tour

If you want to spend additional nights in Budapest, Vienna or Salzburg before / after your tour, we are pleased to arrange rooms for you in our hotels with buffet breakfast for the prices below, just please let us know when you book your tour.

In Budapest our lovely 4* boutique hotel in a historic building has an excellent location on Buda side, right at the Danube, near the Chain Bridge, in walking distance from the Downtown on Pest and the historic Castle District on Buda, with a lovely view of the Royal Palace or the Danube. (Single room: Euro 139-179, Double room: Euro 149-189 / room / night) 

In Vienna, our nice small 4* family hotel is in a lovely typical old Austrian style building with a beautiful garden in the famous wine-region of Vienna, Neustift am Walde. (Single room: Euro 149, Double room: Euro 179 / room / night)

In Salzburg we have a nice 4* art-design hotel with a peaceful ambience, and it’s just a short walk from the centre and sights of the antique town. (Single room: Euro 178, Double room: Euro 208 / room / night)

If you take any of our tours in Italy, we can also arrange extra nights for you in Innsbruck in a nice design hotel / at Lake Como in a lovely family hotel, or in Venice too, just let us know when you book these tours.


General Information About Our Bike Tours

1. Do I need to take my passport with me?

You must have a valid passport to enter and leave Hungary, Austria and Italy. If you are a citizen of any countries of the European Union or Switzerland, your Identity Card is enough but only if your nationality is in your ID card. So, British, Irish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Icelandic citizens need to have a passport, as well as citizens from the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. (A Visa is required only for stays longer than 90 days. If you are from any other countries please check with the local Hungarian, Austrian and Italian Embassy or Consulate.

2. Do I need to have a travel insurance?

Yes, we strongly recommend you to obtain a comprehensive and adequate travel and medical insurance in your home country, to cover unexpected costs due to illness, accident, lost luggage, tour interruption or cancellation, etc., and ensure that your policy covers you for the sport activities you will do. (European residents should have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) when they travel, but it is not a substitute for medical and travel insurance!)

3. What if I can’t find any suitable dates of my preferred tours?

We are always happy to do any of our tours at any time, depending on the hotels and our availabilities. Please find more details at our Custom Tours, or Contact Us to discuss any questions and details.

4. Do you offer any custom tours, or self guided trips?

As we would like to provide our guests with a thoroughly enjoyable holiday and a total relaxation, we normally offer fully guided and supported tours. However, if you have a group, we are happy to organise a bespoke tour for you, or self guided tours as well. Please find details at our Custom Tours.

5. What’s our groups size?

Normally we have small groups of 2 - 7 guests, so you can enjoy a nice and friendly atmosphere on our tours. So we can offer you our best personal attention, and you can feel like a member of our small family. With our small groups we can use charming little hotels, cosy restaurants, and secret places where the crowd can’t get in. We are also happy to do tours even with 1 of you, or bigger groups up to appr 14 people, just please find more information at our Custom Tours, or Contact Us to discuss any details.

6. How easy / difficult are your bike tours?

Our tours are designed for everybody who would enjoy appr 16 - 65 km / 10 - 40 miles of  leisurely cycling a day. We selected mainly flat and sometimes slightly undulating routes where longer downhills outnumber short uphills. Cycling in Hungary is quite easy, as this is a rather flat country with some hilly areas. The highest point is ~1000m, and we call hills that are higher than 200m, mountains in Hungarian. Austria and Italy have higher mountains, but we always cycle along the rivers or lakes on easy & flat or downhill routes. When we occasionally have some longer or harder uphills, we take our bus.

7. Do I need to prepare myself before taking your cycle tours?

If you have a normal fitness level, and you do some regular sport activities, you won’t have any difficulties on our tours. If you never do any sport activity, you will also manage our tours, but we would recommend some gradual preparations before you come, to make your holiday more enjoyable. Our trips are not bike races, they are more about enjoying the nice landscapes and the beauties of the nature, as well as some sport activity in the fresh air!

8. What happens if I get tired?

Whenever you get exhausted, you can have a rest, or take our support bus which is always near, and available for your whole group. So you can always cycle as much of the daily distances as you wish.

9. Can I cycle more than the daily distances, if I would like to?

On many days of our tours we have several optional routes which we can use depending on the fitness level of our groups or the weather conditions, and when there is a possibility, we are also pleased to cycle a few extra miles with you.

10. Can I take a tour if I don’t cycle at all?

Yes, we are happy to take non cyclists as well on our tours. You can travel in our bus, and enjoy every part of the tours, except the cycling. We have some returning guests who come with their husband or wife who never cycles, just enjoy the scenery, sights, spas, and the food & wine.

11. What kind of hotels are we staying at?

You will stay in very nice 4 or 3 star small antique castles, mansions, monasteries, family or spa hotels in quiet location with beautiful surroundings, mostly in beautiful parks with ancient trees. All of them are selected for their unique atmosphere, high quality, friendly service, and good food. Please find more details at our Accommodation

12. Do our hotels have air-conditioning?

The 100-500 century old castles where we often stay, have a natural air-conditioning, provided by their 60-70 cm thick walls, or when we stay in newer buildings, most of them have AC, wall cooling, or they are in the woods, where the air is always fresh, so you can have a nice and cool room even if the weather is hot.

13. What will we eat and drink during the tours?

Every day you can have a buffet breakfast, a 2-4 course gourmet dinner with some wine and mineral water, and during the cycling you can have our home-made picnic lunches and cool mineral water. We selected the finest local specialities of the traditional Hungarian, Austrian and Italian cuisine, and excellent wines of our historic wine regions, in some of the nicest restaurants and wine cellars of Hungary, Austria and Italy. Please find more details at Food&Wine

14. What should I do if I’m vegetarian, or I have any food allergy?

We are happy to arrange vegetarian food for you, or delight any other special dietary requirements, if you let us know in advance, when you make your booking.

15. Is the tap water drinkable in Hungary, Austria and Italy?

Of course it is drinkable, and we have several kinds of very good mieral water, fruit juices, beer, and excellent wines, or schnapps. (But drinking alcohol is not allowed in Hungary, when you ride a bicycle, only afterwards.)

16. What kind of sights I can see on your tours?

We will show you our nicest historic towns, splendid palaces of famous noble families, medieval castles and churches, breath taking natural sights, wonderful national parks, lakes and rivers, relaxing thermal baths, interesting museums, and many hidden treasures of the countryside. Please find more info at our Bike Tours, Sights&Routes, or in our Blog

17. What if I’m not very much interested in museums and churches?

You’ll never be pushed into any, you can always do something else, walk around the streets or shops, try to find some souvenirs, or have a drink...

18. What kind of roads / routes we will cycle along?

We have selected the most scenic and quiet routes of the regions, where you can enjoy the beauties and peacefulness of the nature. If there are sometimes any busy roads, we take our bus. We mainly cycle on paved roads, cycle paths, or occasionally short distances on smooth gravel paths. Please find more details at our Sights&Routes.

19. Are your tours guided?

Yes, all our tours are fully guided. One of us cycles with you showing the way and the sights, and help if you have any troubles, and one of us drives our Support van to provide the catering service and technical background. Please find more details at Guiding. But we can also do most of our tours self guided and supported with you with pleasure, if you prefer so.

20. What kind of support do you have?

We have our air conditioned support minibus available for our whole groups throughout our tours. We provide full technical support, both have tools, spare parts, first-aid kits and mobile phones with us. Please find more details at our Support Van.

21. Will my luggage be transported during the tours?

Yes of course, this is a basic service throughout all our tours.

22. Do you provide bikes on your tours?

Yes, we have very comfortable hybrid bikes in 5 sizes, with 24 gears, panniers, and a water-bottle, and the use of them is in our tour prices. We can also provide child bikes, and for Euro 50 / day E-bikes. Please find more details at Bikes&Equipment.

23. Do I need to wear a helmet in Hungary, Austria or Italy?

It is not obligatory, but we would strongly recommend using one. It’s the best if you bring your own comfortable one, but if you don’t want to carry, we can also provide you with a helmet, just let us know when you book a tour.

24. Is it worth bringing my own saddle or pedal?

The seats on our bikes are rather comfortable, and we have softer gel seats too, but if you prefer bringing your own accustomed one, we can also put it on your bike with pleasure. We have regular pedals on our bikes, and we wouldn't recommend Spd pedals or toe clips, as sometimes they may cause accidents. However, if you prefer bringing your Spd, we will put them on your bike with pleasure, but on your own responsibility.

25. What happens if it is raining?

Normally the weather is nice and sunny in Hungary or Austria most of the time in the biking season, but sometimes the weather is quite unpredictable nowadays. Should we have any bad weather, the whole group can always take our bus, and visit a museum, a thermal bath, or get to our next hotel earlier, to enjoy its ambience!

26. What shall I bring and wear?

Any kind of comfortable cycling shorts and jerseys, or any sports- or casual wear for the cycling, and any leisure and comfortable clothes for the evenings and the rest days. Sun glasses, Helmet, or at least a hat are strongly recommended, and a swimming gear and a towel, and a sandal or a slipper for the baths. The weather is usually nice here, but it is also good to bring a breathable rain jacket, and being prepared for cool weather too. Although we often stay in 4 star hotels, you can leave your finest clothes at home, as all of them have a relaxed atmosphere, as most of their guests spend also their holidays there.

27. What if I have any health problems?

Cycling tours require people to be in good health. When you book you must inform us of any medical condition that may effect your ability on the tour (allergy, asthma, heart problems, etc.). In such cases, it is highly recommended to get your doctor’s advice before booking. 

28. What age your guests are?

Our guests we had so far were 8 - 80 years of age, most of our guests are between 30 - 70, and all of them enjoyed our tours very much.

29. Where are your guests from?

Actually we can say, from all over the world, mainly from Australia, USA, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, but also from Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, or Singapore, Dubai, etc.


Useful information about Hungary, Austria & Italy

1. What is the weather like in Hungary, Austria & Italy?

We have continental weather, which means that we usually have nice and sunny summers. In April it may be a bit cooler, but nice, in May it is usually nice and pleasant appr 20 ºC, in June 20-25 ºC, July and August are usually the sunniest and hottest months with 25-35 ºC, (we have our easy tours in these months, with lot of swimming opportunities) and September is again 20 ºC pleasantly warm and sunny. It is still quite nice in October, just a bit cooler again, appr 15-20 ºC. As the weather is rather unpredictable everywhere nowadays, it is always good to be prepared for all kind of circumstances.

2. What’s the Local time in Hungary, Austria and Italy?

We have Central European Time (GMT+1 hour), and CET+1 hour during summer-time.

3. How can I get to Hungary, Austria and Italy?

Hungary, Austria and Italy are in the middle of Europe, so whether you fly, take a train or a bus, or drive a car, it is easy to get here. It is rather easy to come by low cost airlines to Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Milan, Venice or several places of Europe. Some websites where you can find cheap tickets: from Europe: easyjet.com, wizzair.com, from Overseas: (Canada, USA, Australia or New Zealand) webjet.com, flightnetwork.com. Should you come by car, there are good motorways everywhere in Europe. We can give you detailed directions to find your Hotel, when you come.

4. Can I pay with Euros in Hungary, Austria and Italy?

In Hungary we use our local currency, the Hungarian Forint (HUF), but many of the restaurants or hotels in tourist areas accept Euro as well, just they calculate with a bit worse rate. In Austria and Italy Euro is the official currency.

5. Can I pay with my credit card in Hungary, Austria & Italy?

Yes, in most of the restaurants, hotels, and shops you can, but it is worth having some cash with you for the hidden places where we often cycle.

6. Where do you recommend changing money in Hungary Austria & Italy?

You can find change offices already at the airports, but they usually have bad rates, so it’s better using their ATM-s. There are also several ATM-s and exchange offices in the towns, or in most of the bigger hotels you can also change.

7. How much money should I change?

Not too much, because so many things are included in our tour price. But something for your extra drinks, ice creams, or souvenirs, depending on what would you like to buy of course. A large beer a day won’t cause you financial troubles, but if you want to buy a bottle of “6 puttonyos” Tokaj Aszú wine from 1972, (which has won the title of “The wine of the century”) it may cost you more than 100 beers...


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