My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the Country of Tulips bike tour last April 2018 with Emma and Jan as our guides. Everything about the experience was first class from the guides (of course!) to the accommodations and meals, not to mention the exquisite Dutch scenery which we traveled through on very comfortable, well kept and properly sized bikes. Any concerns about safely biking in a new and different land were soon forgotten as we became comfortable with traveling alongside cars on very wide, dedicated bike paths. Dutch car drivers are extremely courteous to bikers. Emma and Jan took us to the most beautiful flower sites I have ever seen, and these sights could be better appreciated knowing Emma and Jan had the knowledge to get us to the best sites and vantage points. Twenty-, then 30- and finally up to over 40-mile days on bikes were easily attained and enjoyed by everyone in the group. Accommodations were superb! Emma found for us some of the best boutique hotels along our travel routes. And the meals! Breakfasts, lunches and dinners were delicious at every stop and venue. Nobody ever was hungry after a meal. There were many cultural stops along the way, including a visit to a pottery establishment in Delft. The whole pottery process was well explained and quite fascinating. Anyone wondering if biking is possible with little peddling experience should know this tour runs through areas of Holland that are pretty much dead flat, mile after mile. The value one receives from this tour is tremendous. The excellent sites, meals, accommodations and friendships made along the, as they say,...priceless! Don't miss this one. Kudos to Emma and her great staff! read more

I participated in a guided bicycle tour of Normandy and Brittany in September of 2018. There were a total of 11 of us on the tour including our guide who was Van Gogh Tours owner Emma, and a young Frenchman named Jacob that she hired as an assistant. Everything went flawlessly - the accommodations were great, the meals that were arranged were fabulous. We also had an additional local tour guide that was knowledgeable in WW II history for the WW II sites which was a definite bonus. Emma was a fabulous host as were all the folks of the region. I'd recommend Emma's tours to anyone - and in fact have encouraged some of my bicycling friends to sign up! This trip was a great value and I honestly don't know why anyone would book with a more expensive company. read more

We joined their "Super Tulip Tour" during May 6-12, 2017. We had a lovely time and felt that the experience was excellent and that our money was well spent. This was our first experience of a cycle tour, so this review is written from that perspective, with our "great" and "frustrating" items: Great: * This is a tour for casual bikers. The terrain in Holland is perfectly flat, with a few very gentle slopes (rarely encountered). The lengths of the rides were 25-35 km (15-22 mi) each day, but over the course of 5-6 hours with several stops it did not require one to be "in shape". The bikes are high quality, 24-speed, with water-resistant panniers and water bottles. Apparently for some extra you could get electrical assist bikes, but in our group of mostly 50-70-year-old people the exertion level was OK. * Our cycle guide was Paul, who was very experienced in leading tours, widely knowledgeable in Dutch history and customs, and spoke English and German fluently. The group universally felt he did an outstanding job. * After a few days, our group blended very well, finding all manner of things to talk about and some friendships blooming. This is apparently normal, per other tour members who have been on multiple cycle tours (unless there are language differences--the German quartet in our tour had very little English so was difficult to include). * Our barge (the Wending) had 12 cabins, which were reasonable accommodations for this kind of trip. The rooms had two single beds (we pushed ours together), a small set of shelves, a bath/shower and room for a very small table and chair. Don't bring a lot of stuff! I will say that they never ran out of hot water. Most of your time is spent cycling, touring the towns you are in, or socializing/eating in the dining area, so you don't need a large cabin. Several things you should consider bringing: shampoo/conditioner (soap was provided), a roll of duct tape (always useful--we taped the maps to our handlebars), a small carry bag or two, some plastic bags, and Aleve/Naproxen/Ibuprofen or whatever your low-dose pain pill is. If you forget anything, it was easy to find it in the towns where we visited each evening. * We were blessed with good weather for our trip. It was cloudy for 4 of the cycling days, sunny and quite warm for one, and had intermittent heavy showers on the last. It is really the luck of the draw. You should come prepared for bad weather (rain jacket and cycle "rain pants") and don't let it get you down if it happens. * You really get a good sense of Holland during this trip. The barge docked in a different small/medium towns every day, which were nice to explore in the evenings. In contrast, Amsterdam is a bustling city, where we started/ended (and biked through at one point). The tulip fields were spectacular--bright stripes of color encountered throughout the trip. They extend for hundreds of yards. By early/mid-May, some of the tulips have been "headed" so that they are stripes of green (they cut off the flowers in order for the bulbs to grow--the tulip fields are actually bulb farms, and it takes some 25 years for the bulbs to mature to the point where they can be sold). But plenty remained for us to see. Hyacinths were also in season, as were many natural wildflowers and trees. * There were several special tours along the way: Keukenhof (Flower Garden) and Flora Aalsmeer (the Flower Market). The Keukenhof was a garden park with the full variety of tulips and other flowers on display--we spent several hours here, and it was beautiful (the nearest thing I can compare it to in the States is Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA). The Flora Aalsmeer is the flower auction/distribution facility near the airport. It is a colossal warehouse where some 44% of the world's cut flowers are shipped in, auctioned, and shipped out again. You see the warehouse operations and auctions, and it is a fascinating display of logistics. * We split several quartets off the main group, generally the faster riders. We had been provided with maps, and the Dutch "knooppunkt" system is easy to follow if you are navigating on your own through the very well-maintained bicycle path system. The downside is that you don't have someone with you to call your attention to things you might otherwise overlook. * Our cook did a great job with dinner (lunches were generally the same), even integrating cheese or spices we gave him. Frustrating: * Paul was a great guide, but there was only one of him--one guide for 24 people. We had three groups of four that tended to split off, but then you were on your own. We feel another guide would have been helpful for a group this size. Apparently, it was unusual for groups to split off. Another alternative was to have a much better written packet to accommodate separate groups. * The wifi on the barge VERY limited, due to their satellite connection. You could buy more MB, but would burn even that quickly. read more

My first trip with Van Gogh Tours was in Spring 2010 when I joined Mike and Huibertha on their Country of Tulips Tour. I was lucky enough to join Emma on the Best of Provence Walking Tour in June 2017. From the moment I put in a request for more information about the trip, Susan and Emma were prompt and responsive to any questions I had. Van Gogh is one of the best values in tours. Many of the meals were included and fabulous! We ate at local restaurants for a nice flavor of the local culture; the wines were delicious also! I was so glad to have time to explore the market at St. Remy...so many different vendors with fruit, cheese, nougat and many dry goods! Blocks and blocks of fun things to discover and talk with locals! The hotels we stayed at were lovely, charming places with not too many rooms. Nothing against the big hotel chains but it was so nice to stay at a place where the front desk staff knew me and which room I was staying in and were attentive to my needs. Yummy breakfasts were enjoyed at sunny outside tables. Emma and her company clearly have good relationships with these places. The hikes were planned out well with varied terrain--hills, lavender fields, monasteries, ochre cliffs of Rousillon. Last year was particularly warm our travel week, and Emma was so accommodating to requests of starting a bit earlier to make for a more pleasant (cooler) hike. Great scenery, delicious food, comfortable hotels, and wonderful company...I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Van Gogh tours or to join them for another tour. read more