Lake Constance Cycling

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Tracy Devo, 14/09/2023

The whole experience was excellent, Andrew Palmer from Headwater was very helpful and answered all my questions. There wasn't a rep to talk of bike the bike hire company was very good and didn't have any disasters so never had to call the helpline.

Already planning my next trip.

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Nicola Newman, 08/09/2023

Another great Headwater holiday. Cycling Lake Constance (on electric bikes) was very easy for these oldies with either dedicated cycle lanes or very quiet back roads . We haven’t cycled since last year’s holiday and managed the trip easily. The days off between cycling days were great to take advantage of the many swimming areas around the lake and to have more time to explore each area. We preferred the B&B this year (previous years have been half-board) as there were copious amounts of eateries to choose from in each location. Thank you!

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Phyllis Jenden, 04/09/2023

There was more riding on roads than we expected. The bicycles provided were excellent and well maintained. Staff at the bike shed in Bregenz were thorough and very friendly. Navigation app was a gem. Loved the organization of the tour with a day of riding and the next of touring. There is so much to see in the area and we wouldn’t have enjoyed ourselves riding every day. Travelers may wish to carry a small repair kit and perhaps first aid kit on the cycle. One of our group had a tumble and loosened his seat. We had to go quite a ways to find a bike repair stop.

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Katie Batchelor, 31/08/2023

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Ian Thomson, 29/08/2023

We all had an enjoyable holiday and were very lucky with the good weather.

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Johann Rowan, 15/08/2023

Very well organised, E-bike excellent standard, navigation app user friendly.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and very impressed with Headwaters hard work and efficiency.

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Frederick Howe, 15/08/2023

A very efficient service and a well-thought-out itinerary. We loved the holiday. As mentioned earlier in the feedback, there were one or two things that it would have been good to know in advance that weren't mentioned in the information pack, but in the overall context these were minor.

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Frederick Hadwick, 20/07/2023

An unbelievable experience. For two septuagenarians, for one of whom it was a first cycling holiday, it was superb. We could not have asked for more. When booking, Katie’s assurances on the cycle routes and bikes were spot on and gave us essential confidence.

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BENETT, 14/06/2023

Great holiday, easy cycling although it was very hot later in the day. Enjoyed exploring the area and managed to communicate with limited German. Cycle paths are mostly off road and when on the road, drivers are very aware of cyclists and pedestrians.

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GREENWOOD, 08/06/2023

Excellent itinerary, bicycles and hotels. Cycling a pleasure largely using dedicated cycle tracks with very little in the way of inclines. Cycling one day then having a day off to explore each location was well worth considering as there is a lot to see 'en-route'.

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BOLTON, 06/06/2023

We had an excellent holiday. Staying 2 nights in each hotel gave us the opportunity to explore more of the local area. The cycle paths were clearly signposted and the routes were easy to follow. Most of the cycling was on dedicated cycle paths, so there was minimum cycling on roads, therefore avoiding traffic.

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Ms DUTTON, 26/09/2022

Excellent holiday, great accommodation, good quality bikes and stunning scenery

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Mr Wilderspin, 06/09/2022

An excellent choice for a first cycle tour. With comfortable accommodation and plenty to do and see on the days we were not cycling.

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Mr Barnes, 06/09/2022

The staff at headwater were extremely helpful during the booking stage. They arranged an e bike at short notice a few days before we were due to travel. All hotels were comfortable with excellent breakfasts. The route was easy to follow although gps would have been helpful when going into the larger towns. Will definitely use Headwater again.

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Mr Newberry, 04/09/2022

Stunning views and wonderful small towns and villages to meander through. There are quite a few new roads and cycle ways which have been built since the route notes were last printed, and so a degree of deduction and use of the two Kompass maps is recommended.

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Mrs Holmes, 12/07/2022

We have traveled with Headwater on many occasions. Lake Konstance cycling is a well structured circular route generally following the lake. Hotels are generally 3-4 star, and fine for this type of tour. The holiday is pretty good, and the day cycling/ day rest works well for us; it is quite relaxed. Dinner was not included so can be a hassle after a day's cycling to find somewhere to eat. Some of the hotels have good dinner menus.



Switzerland (Arbon and Stein am Rhein) are in Switzerland and prices in bars and restaurants are very expensive.



The one significant negative point are the quality and detail of the maps/ route instructions. This had a huge impact on our holiday. The route instructions are very poor and maps are not detailed enough to follow the route.

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Mrs PIROUET, 22/06/2022

Wonderful itinerary with first class bikes & good hotels. . Hotel Seegarten & hotel Rheinfells had superb restaurants. Enjoyed having one day off between cycles.

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Roberts, 10/05/2022

My wife and I have travelled widely and with various other holiday companies but this, our first holiday with Headwater is probably the best one we have had. Certainly, the most enjoyable. Everything from the initial planning through to our return travel arrangements were all perfect. It has to be said that the bikes we used were excellent as were the support services around Lake Constance if you encountered any problems which we didn't. The weather was perfect. Only the isolated short shower otherwise wall to wall sunshine. My wife and I are in our 70s and only occasional cyclists. However, the cycle paths around the lake were of good quality and very flat. The scenery was magnificent and varied. Lots of wildlife and beautiful flowers. Pretty lakeside villages, harbours, cafes, beaches and toilets . In the distance were beautiful snow capped mountains. I cannot put into words just how good this holiday was. Thoroughly recommend it. Well done Headwater and thanks for everything.

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Mrs West, 28/09/2019

We have just come back from cycling around Lake Constanz. Really easy cycle routes and great, wide paths, which made it much more sociable than when you have to cycle on main roads. The notes were generally good to follow, though we got caught out a couple of times because the distances to the next set of directions weren't always stipulated and sometimes much further than we expected. I do think that the hotels could coordinate a bit on menus: each one gave us beef consomme with pancakes as a starter soup on one of the two nights we were there and there was a lot of pork and trout. A bit more choice would have been nice. Overall though, the scenery around the lake was stunning, the days off in St Gallen and visiting the Rhein falls were superb and we were incredibly fortunate with the weather considering we were cycling in October.

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Mrs Beckett, 14/09/2019

Excellent trip, great scenery and locations, overall hotels superb, bikes were fine and the itinerary worked really well. Having one day cycling, one day sightseeing is an excellent way to balance exercise and having the time to visit some of the excellent museums, buildings and scenery around the Lake.

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Miss Oates, 08/09/2019

A lovely holiday. Gentle cycling with lovely views and lots of interest. Excellent hotels and plenty to do on rest days. Highly recommended.

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Mr Turner, 06/09/2019

Journey to start of holiday not easy. Cycle route good for inexperienced cyclists. Interesting area.

Hotel meals seemed to be a little downmarket ie. special menu for Headwater clients.

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Mr Bascombe, 04/09/2019

Superb accommodation with good & food service — the cycling is fun with lively scenery

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Miss Creasey, 04/07/2019

We both thought this was the best holiday ever. Great bikes; cycle tracks, hotels; places to visit, and food. Not a cheap holiday; the way we did it; but what great fun; we really didn't want to go home to UK. So don't tell too many people how lovely and quiet and clean this was.

Best hotel in my mind was Hotel Rheinfels staff, food and room all were great; needs a special mention.

Headwater response:
Thank you for such a lovely review. We'll try not to share how lovely and quiet it was; 'Promise!'
We'll be sure to feedback your comments to the Hotel Rheinfels as its always nice to know that you are doing a good job .

Don't forget we've over 70 cycling holidays to choose from and we would love to be able to welcome you back to enjoy some more.

Kind regards
Customer Service

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Mrs Gorton, 06/06/2019

An easy to follow lovely and interesting holiday around Lake Constance enjoying the European lifestyle.

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Ms Dalgaard, 04/06/2019

Very interesting area with beautiful sights and and transfers of bags between hotel went seamless. Very good, would use again.

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Mr Skinner, 21/05/2019

Good journeys both ways without rushing. Lovely riding around Lake Constance with plenty to see on our days off.

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Mr Kerr, 12/09/2018

An excellent range of spectacular scenery around lake constance

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Mr Hughes, 12/09/2018

This is a good holiday and Insel Mainau is a must. Could not see much purpose of Friedrichshafen if you are not interested in the Zeppelin - arguable an extra day in Konstanz and a longer cycle on cycling day 4 as others recommended the other island nearby, Reichenau, which is a UNESCO world heritage site. My disappointment was how much of the cycle route was away from the lake - there were plenty of non-cycling footpaths nearer the lake and these would have been lovely - my love of suburban housing estates is limited. The Cycle providers were excellent and nothing was too much trouble. Nevertheless, some superb places to visit and interesting things to see - huge orchards laden with apples, storks, herons, red kites, large and small fish in the lake, grape picking to name but a few.

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Mrs Keenan, 29/08/2018

First class.! From the moment we spoke to staff at the London Destinations show in February, through to the first enquiry, booking and follow ups; it all went very smoothly and we had a great time including being upgraded in three hotel to Suites!!

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Mrs Atkinson, 17/08/2018

Fabulous holiday, beautiful scenery and towns, bikes were fab and transfer of luggage excellent. Trip notes were a little confusing in some places and we weren't the only ones that came across this problem, Google maps did come in handy on these occasions. A few more busier roads than I expected but none of these issues prevented me from such a wonderful holiday experience.. Having the extra night in each town enabled us to enjoy and explore the towns that much more than if we had only had 7 nights. All in all a wonderful holiday, would definitely travel with Headwater again and Donau Touristika.

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Ms Barbour, 17/08/2018

We would highly recommend this holiday. The cycling was easy and interesting, the hotels were comfortable and welcoming and the dinners were delicious. Cycling every second day gave us the opportunity to really explore the towns we were in and we appreciated the notes in the regional guides. The only criticism we have was that the route notes were confusing and usually unnecessary as the journey followed a well signposted cycle route around the lake that was very easy to follow.

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Mr Spiller, 07/08/2018

Headwater's Lake Konstanz cycling holidays offer two options, namely one with rest days and one without. As an occasional cyclist with a desire for travel and experiencing the scenery and culture of the route, we chose the option with rest days. We cycled on only one rest day (around Reichenau island) and often took ferry trips on other rest days. Ferry trips on the Lake offer a fabulous experience. Having seen airships on nearly very day of the trip it was a "must" to go to the Zeppelin museum in Friedreichshaven. Stand-out location - Stein am Rhein. It is absolutely beautiful, but also explore the back streets as well. Headwater provided a vast amount of pre-travel literature. Worth re-reading their location notes before each day's travel. The route notes were extremely detailed. We mostly used them to leave our hotel and find the marked route, and then find the hotel at the end of the day, and occasionally then as back-up. DONAU provided a more compact booklet, which combined maps, culture and route notes, and fits in the DONAU provided handlebar bag. However the route is so well marked (signposts and ground markings) and popular that you rarely need the Headwater route notes while cycling. The 4* hotels were air-conditioned, comfortable and well-located. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and completed the circuit with a sense of achievement and enjoyment, made all the more real by going up the Pfander cable-car in Bregenz at the end of the trip and looking back at the whole Lake and the places we had been!! All in all - a great trip.

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Mr Bohin, 30/07/2018

Enjoyable easy flat cycling, very scenic. Lovely hotels in Germany and Austria with air conditioning which was needed as temperatures were in the high 20's / low 30's.

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Mr Aspin, 28/07/2018

As this was our first cycling holiday we were apprehensive especially regarding the train transfers from Zurich airport to our destination but with the excellent information provided with train timetables and platform numbers from Headwater we were able to travel with confidence by train to our first destination of Bregenz at Lake Constance. We enjoyed a fabulous holiday and would highly recommend Headwater to make all travel arrangements.

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Mr Bascombe, 22/07/2018

Lake Constance cycling — super holiday excellent hotels and meals ... relatively easy cycling with option of electric bikes ... highly recommended

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Mr Lidstone, 04/06/2018

Our holiday run smoothly, hotels were good and the cycling was very enjoyable.

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Mr Pay, 04/09/2017

excellently located hotels good value for money and a delightful way to visit 3 countries.

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Mr Partridge, 31/08/2017

Enjoyable holiday in pleasant area using friendly hotels with meals. Impressed by knowledgable and flexible arrangements for bike provision and set up. Luggage transport worked well and trouble free. Cycling mostly on dedicated well maintained cycle paths or quiet roads. Navigation generally straight forward. Distance and terrain matched expectations of grading. Some interesting sites en route and at stayovers.

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Mr Pattison, 11/08/2017

The holiday in terms of the arrangements was fine. The bikes were handed over to us with no problems and were of excellent quality. Unfortunately one of my fellow bikers had a puncture. The process of dealing with getting a replacement bike was very easy, a phone call was all that was needed to achieve this. The itinerary was excellent. The amount of travelling time was about right bearing in mind that I am not a regular cyclist. I feel that the itinerary was a bit ambitious for the time we were there as we did not have time to explore some of the places we passed through. The other main thing is that the panniers on the bikes were not of the best quality, they were old and after we started the trip I found a small tear in mine. Perhaps you could look at more substantial panniers rather than the material ones we had. All in all a very good experience.

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Mr Coulter, 01/08/2017

A very enjoyable experience, beautiful scenery and amazing food.

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Mrs Smith, 24/07/2017

The cycle around Lake Constance was an opportunity to experience different weather situations from the comfort of your bike, to see lovely villages, local areas and explore to your hearts content.

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Mrs Hutchison, 02/07/2017

Lake Constance cycling is the ideal holiday -- exercise (though not too much), sunshine & warmth, nice scenery, variety (three countries), and excellent accommodation, food & drink.

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Mrs Snow, 26/06/2017

other than wrong hotel ..ACE

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Mrs Wainwright, 12/06/2017

Good balance of cycling and rest times creating a relaxing holiday.

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Mr Rees, 10/06/2017

Fabulous scenery, hotels, food. Cycling easy on days that had to cycle - slightly more challenging when on 'rest days' Up to St Gallen and the Rhine Falls but still easy to complete. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

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Mr Beeby, 23/05/2017

Rheine falls very busy. Should offer stop en-route for rail and more options for long journeys (over 300 miles). Make sure camera charged up every night. Allow time to explore en route on bike. All locals very friendly in every country and willing to talk. All to easy to eat and drink too much. Hotel staff less likely want to speak English.

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Mrs Davies, 26/09/2016

Have been on a few of your holidays and they have always been very very good.

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Mr Evans, 12/09/2016

Fairly trouble-free

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Mr Roberts, 17/08/2016

We were initially nervous about a holiday which was managed locally by an agency other than Headwater. Our previous experience had not been great. However we need not have worried. Donau Touristik were hugely well organised and the bikes were excellent. The cycling was just about the flattest we had ever experienced and, partly because of the excellent weather, partly because of the excellent food and accommodation, this was as enjoyable a holiday as we have ever had.

A couple of small blemishes. At Bregenz on the first night we were served only a three course meal instead of the advertised four. (We only realised subsequently about this when we returned on the final night).

Hotel Buchornerhof was not in the same league as the other accommodation. We were served the wrong food on one evening and the air/conditioning leaked. The staff's hearts did not seem to be in their work as it was in the other hotels.

One warning - wine in the hotel restaurants (especially the Swiss ones) is very expensive indeed.

These are small gripes. It was a great holiday and I'd do it all again anytime.

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Mrs Morris, 13/05/2016

This was our first organised cycling holiday and it exceeded our expectations, the quality of hotels were fabulous and we really liked that we had 2 nights in each hotel which gave us time to explore each area. On reflection we would prefer to have had dinner in the hotel halm included as finding somewhere to eat was a real hit or miss and compared to the meals we had in the hotels we didn't find anything better. From our first enquiry with headwater the whole holiday couldn't have gone smoother, Michelle (I think) tailored the holiday to fit our needs perfectly adding in 4 extra days and organising the hotel for two of them. I certainly can't recommend headwater highly enough and have already looking at where to go next. Thank you to the whole team as this has to be one of our best holidays and we have had many! A special thanks to the couple at the bike hire, they were extremely friendly and very helpful.

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Mr Wilson, 02/09/2015

It was a real fun adventure. The excellent support and hotels allowed for maximum enjoyment.

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Mrs McCormick, 29/08/2015

A thoroughly restful holiday through stunning countryside. Excellent cycle paths which take you away from the busy roads and where you can set your own pace. The option to shorten journeys using trains or ferries was useful. Our ninth headwater holiday and one we would take again in a few years time. Switzerland is an expensive place to visit but the half board basis of this holiday offsets some of that cost. Our group of eight ranged in age from 48 to 72 and everyone found it a comfortable and enjoyable cycle. Lots to see and do on the rest days which meant that we packed a lot into each day. The fabulous chocolate, kaffee und kuchen could be offset quite easily which was a bonus!

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Mis Ward, 22/07/2015

We didn't think this holiday was representative of Headwater cycling holidays in general. This was our fourth Headwater holiday, and compared to the others (Italy, Spain and France), it was disappointing. The cycling routes were not as pretty as on other holidays, and there weren't so many nice places to stop for lunch or to admire the scenery. This was partly to do with the different culture, of course, but it also had a lot to do with the cycling routes themselves and the hotels. We didn't feel that the usual Headwater support was there, and this was partly reflected in the route notes. Although they were OK, we thought they could have been more helpful and they were at times inaccurate. The cycling was more difficult than we expected it to be, so we were glad to have the option of cutting some days short by using the ferries or trains. Although there were a lot of cycle paths, they were often alongside (or on) quite busy roads.

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Mrs McLynn, 18/07/2015

Easy cycling, lovely scenery, excellent hotels. Cycles well maintained and maps and route notes easy to follow!

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Mr Hornby, 14/07/2015

This is just a wonderful part of the world for cyclists who like to immerse themselves in a beautiful, safe and friendly place. As you'd expect in Austria, Switzerland and Germany, everything works so well to give you a hassle-free holiday. Everyone was so welcoming, locals as well as people providing service and quite happy to use their excellent English in place of my stumbling schoolboy German.

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Mr McMorrin, 10/07/2015

The travel arrangements/organisation and detail excellent. Two of the hotels were not nearly as good as the rest . In fact the last hotel was way below standard but the food at that hotel was excellent. The rooms were far too small there was no air conditioning and it resembled the most basic accommodation. The middle two hotels were outstanding as was Bregenz but Seegarten again had no air conditioning is not well positioned.

Overall this is an excellent holiday well put together and if the two hotels were improved upon it would be almost the perfect break

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Dr Sadler, 18/06/2015

We enjoyed our visit to the area very much, and apart from the luggage problem, we had no real difficulties.



However, we did have one concern that troubled us. On previous headwater holidays, we always felt that we had the reassurance of a Headwater rep to contact in the event of any difficulty, e.g. in the event of an accident, buckled wheel etc.When we asked the Donnau lady what would happen in the event of such a situation arising, (expecting her to say we'd come out to you), we were most disconcerted to hear her say that 'you have a list of Donnau stations around the lake. If you have a problem you must go to them - they will not come to you'.

We had not realised the implication of the arrangement Headwater had with Donnau, that resulted in raising our anxiety levels if anything had gone wrong. We would certainly check with Headwater if booking a future holiday that we had a local rep at hand. If there wasn't , we would not book that particular holiday..



One last point. In places, the fine detail in the instructions was inaccurate and misleading. this delayed us on occasions.

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Mr Martin, 12/09/2014

The holiday satisfaction, accommodation and value would all have ranked 'excellent' had it not been for the experience on nights 4 & 5. We did not aloow that to impinge on our overall enjoyment, but it was annoying and frustrating at the time.

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Mrs Rance, 06/09/2014

Interesting and enjoyable. Pleasantly surprised by high standard of hotels and food!

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Ms Coffin, 06/09/2014

Lake Konstanz is a lovely location. The cycling is mostly very easy and having two-day stops provide an opportunity to explore around each town.

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Mr Crawley, 31/08/2014

The first couple of days was through fairly uninteresting landscape. Thereafter it was fine but not outstanding. The headwater format is generally constant, but on this occasion we had no representative. It didn't really matter, but first timers could find this difficult.

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Mrs McKay, 17/08/2014

Overall great holiday. Cycling excellent. Lovely scenery and great condition of cycle paths. Some of hotels were disappointing in certain aspects - no tea/coffee; old, tired bathrooms with no bath; small room however usually made up with friendly service and excellent food. Friedrichschafen is not a very attractive town - Lindhau might be a better option. Hotel Weisses Kreuz the favourite hotel - great sized room, comfortable bed and pillows and great bathroom.

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Mrs Williams, 26/07/2014

Good family fun

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Mr Higgins, 14/07/2014

The route notes were clearly wrong in places (I made this point two yearsago!) and gave the impression of being written by someone who had not cycled the whole route.

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Mr Owens, 10/07/2014

to start on a negative we did not like the evening meal voucher facillity, the food offered on this fixed 4 course meal option wasn,t to our liking,

we would have preferred an allowance for our evening meal to choose of the al a carte menu, the quality of the fixed four course meal was rather bland and most salad and main courses were heavily caked in sauces, we felt like second class guests when other guests not on a cycling holiday had the choice of other menus and were choosing more appetising dishes, although we read in your small print that we could have requested this option it was never offered at any of the hotels,

the welcome at the first hotel was poor, the girl who handed out the documents could speak very little english so communications were a problem leading to a mix up of when the bikes could be collected. also the manager on duty that day was very surly so our first day didn.t get off to the best of starts,

thank fully though there were plenty of plus points!!

the team who sorted the bikes and transfer of luggage were exellent, Lydia and Sylvester were superb and a credit to the company.



the route notes were ok but we found on the first day that we were having to stop too many times so from day two we found it much easier to just follow the bycycle signs which kept you more or less on the right route and allowed for more enjoyable touring without the stops.



We really enjoyed our holiday and would certainly book with you again.



It would be more enjoyable though if you could give some thought to the meal situation as we were not the only ones to raise the above point.



Overall though we would give the holiday 10/10

thank you paul and pam owens

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Mr Davis, 08/07/2014

Cycling this route was very easy. The paths were almost all off-road, or well separated from the traffic, on good quality cycle paths, even in the towns and cities we visited. Hardly any inclines on the whole route, with only one where we had to get off and push. The bikes were in excellent condition and ideally suited to the task. The hotels were all of a very good standard and well located. Lake Constance is very scenic and has a relaxed holiday feel to it, no matter where you are around its periphery, with countless places to stop and eat/drink/admire the view. Overall, a very enjoyable holiday and one of the best we have done with Headwater.

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Mrs Robertson, 26/06/2014

Absolutely perfect in every way. The office staff at Headwater recommended this holiday to us when we couldn't get the accommodation for our chosen holiday (Austrian Lakes). We are so grateful for her recommendation as it was a wonderful holiday. The bikes were superb and all the routes were incredibly safe and bike friendly with most of the cycling being on dedicated cycle tracks. Bliss!

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Mr Wragge, 20/06/2014

Thoroughly enjoyable adventure for all ages and the over 65s! Excellent organisation and help from travel arrangements tailored to our needs to hotel accommodation.



Excellent holiday - we look forward to coming again. Would like to see longer holidays offered - 14 days plus.

Enjoyed Blue Book comments but we were the first to make a comment this year. (Hotel Halm had never heard of the Blue Book!)

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Mrs Gambrill, 02/06/2014

We felt disappointed as there was no personal service, the Donnau company just gave us bikes without help and tried to palm of bald tyres and broken lights, luckily we insisted they change the bikes to our satisfaction but if this had been a couple who had never taken a Headwater bike holiday I would feel very sorry for them. We were very disappointed that we saw no one representing Headwater no welcome meeting as described in the literature. We enjoyed the holiday but certainly rated it as the least enjoyable out of the previous 3 trips. Cycling good, the free days poor, no suggestions of bike excursions no information found in english. No one to talk to about trips. St Gallons not that special the hand written medieval books in German advised in broshure not that exciting. The food described as 4 courses were very limited with minimal choice and 2 of the hotels were really poor.

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Mrs Alcock, 12/09/2013

I have completed your feedback form but you have got one of the hotels listed incorrect. We did not stay at Hotel Rheinfels as they did not have any available rooms. We stayed at Hotel Hoeri am Bodensee and my comments are obviously about that hotel. Apparently every year on that weekend there is a conference in Stein am Rhein which takes over all hotel rooms so this should be noted for future reference. My bike was stolen from outside Hotel Halm. The lock up arrangements for the bikes at that hotel were not adequate and these need to be improved. However the staff who helped me were brilliant and it was all sorted out very quickly.

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Mrs Khurana, 10/09/2013

We had a lovely, lovely holiday. The bikes were so good we wanted to run away with them, the food was universally very good and the hotels were pretty good at providing for our vegetarian diets. The breakfast buffets were wonderful - I'm converted to Bircher muesli now. It was easy cycling with excellent route description in a very beautiful part of the world. Who would believe you can have a cycling holiday in Switzerland, Austria, Germany with no hills!

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Mr Keeling, 11/08/2013

The cycling was very enjoyable with excellent cycle paths and easy to follow directions mostly. There were a couple of unclear directions towards end day at Konstanz and Steim um Rhein. Weather was very good and amenities for tennis and swimming great. No major problems with the bikes although back up was not that good according to other members of the party who had punctures etc.

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Mrs Noble, 11/08/2013

Really good fun and quite an adventure. Worked very well for my two children of 9 and 11 who loved the cycling and swimming.

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Mrs Day, 16/07/2013

Fabulously organised and a really different experience for us. We loved the independence, the superb scenery and the wonderful sense of adventure. Freewheeling down hills for 10 days was something neither of us had done since our teens. A brilliant holiday! Thank you so much!

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Mr Dunbabin, 16/06/2013

1) Particularly as viewed from the steamers, and from the clusters of old houses on the edge of the lake & esp. at some of the steamer landing places, the Bodensee was very beautiful; there were also a number of delightful and very old towns. BUT there has been very extensive recent building development (particularly, but not exclusively, on the southern side of the lake. So quite a lot of the bicycling was rather dull and suburban - inferior, we thought, to the Veneto Headwater holiday we took some years ago. Probably the best bit was the Rhine delta marshes on day 2 (where we also had the good fortune to see two storks gently grazing)

2) The bicycling stages were rather long. But, as the brochure said, it was easy to reduce distances by putting the bicycles on trains or steamers. Also almost all the cycle paths were well surfaced, marked, etc.

3) The conveyance of luggage between the hotels was VERY efficient

4) My wife had some difficulties with the Donau Touristik bicycles. These went, and stopped, well. BUT their - to us, unfamiliar - concentration of weight around the back wheel meant that, when suddenly checked, they could easily tip over to the left, & she fell off twice.

That said, the handing out & reception back of the bicycles in Bregenz was EXTREMELY well done. And Donau Touristik has an impressive network of hotels that would, if necessary, mend/exchange punctured or other bicycles - in Stein-am-Rhein they simply took off my punctured front wheel & substituted one from one of their own bicycles

5) a) The hotels were all of a high standard. But we personally felt the 4-course evening meals rather too much & too rich, & enjoyed the ability to secure our own simpler ones in Konstanz. (More generally, I think we preferred the 'agro-turismo' arrangements of our earlier Veneto Headwater cycling holiday.) The breakfasts were mostly very good.

b) The hotel in Stein-am-Rhein was splendidly sited, looking straight out onto the river. That I have marked the 'welcome' only as 'fair' is solely due to the fact that we arrived on its Wednesday day off, when it remains closed until 4 pm. In the event we simply went and had an iced coffee in the town's lovely market place. They also arranged for us to have our evening meal that day outside another hotel so situated in the market place, which took good care of us

6) We were, broadly, very lucky with the weather - & relished the ability usually to have our evening meal out of doors (though there were a couple of memorable storms

7) I don't know that better times could have been arranged (slightly better train ones were possible, but only by changing trains rather than travelling straight through to/from Bregenz). But we definitely had too long at the surprisingly unprepossessing Zurich airport/station

8) My guess is that, given our ages, we shall not take another Headwater holiday. But this does not indicate dissatisfaction

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Mrs Farrow, 13/06/2013

Thought the Lake Constance area was beautiful. The dedicated cycling paths made the cycling a pleasure and the mix of cycling and rest days really suited us.

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Mr Jones, 04/06/2013

Very enjoyable holiday, very good cycle routes, lovely scenery and some very pretty villages. Plenty of opportunities to use the train or boats to shorten cycle distances if necessary or preferred.