Santana Adventures Reviews 

Bill and Jan,
Judy and I want to thank you for 20 years of wonderful biking adventures all over the world. In the last 20 years Judy and I have biked on 5 continents, in numerous countries, and learned much about this great world we live in. We have cycled with Santana Adventures in exotic locals like Tasmania, New Zealand, Japan, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We have sailed on most of the rivers in Europe and seas around the world. Our first Santana adventure was in 2004 when we cycled on 3 Hawaiian Islands and our latest were this year cycling in Ireland and 4 countries in Great Britian and in Southern France and Corsica where we watched the last two stages of this year Tour de France from a great vantage point with our “Yacht” docked next to the Tour route. Between 2004 and 2024 we joined Santana Adventures on over 20 tours around the world.
During all these tours there were so many great adventures and interesting people and places to see. We knew that Jan and Bill would always work out any and all issues that can arise on bike tours especially on small Cruise ships at the mercy of the weather and port scheduling. There were always great biking routes available to meet all levels even if our planned port of call was not possible.
Thank you very much for all these grand adventures.
Bob and Judy Faulhaber

Santana trips are a great adventure!
There are so many options for everyone, whether you want to bike, explore or relax-
Everyone who works for Santana are great. They are supportive and manage to make everyone feel as though they are the most important person on the trip.
I highly recommend taking a Santana adventure.

We've been on 5 trips with Santana Adventures (SA) and we have several more planned. We are strong tandem riders and their trips offer good routes, challenging terrain and like minded cyclists. Overall, their trips fun, a great experience and a good value.

The best part of this cruise option is that it is an active trip. Cycling along coastlines, mountain ridges, through small European villages, past farms are the highlight of this cruise. We are cyclists who bike daily 8-18 miles and weekends 18-40 miles. We would not know where to begin to bike ride in Europe. Santana plans the bike routes through these scenic landscapes. Using their maps and Garmin we make our way each day, at our own pace, independently or with other passengers through these scenic towns and areas. Highly recommend them if this is a trip you would be interested in. They are well organized. They give great guidance on how to travel with your own bike or they have a bike rental option. Ship accommodations and food on board all excellent. We have also taken other river cruises that don’t have cycling and the land tours are walking based. While we enjoy both, we really enjoy Santana because of the cycling through European areas you don’t see with the other river cruise itineraries. Many passengers we met have taken more than one Santana cruise and several we met have taken over 7 because they love them so much. We have now finished our our third and loved it!

Our most recent Santana trip(Prague to Budapest on the Danube River) was our 20th Santana trip. Our trips have taken us to many destinations in Asia, North America and Europe. All have been wonderfully planned and orchestrated

Witnessing the end of the Tour de France in Nice was a once in a lifetime event. The cycling around Nice was painful, particularly going east to Monaco, but the Corsica cycling was incredible. The only downside was the heat and our intermittently malfunctioning DI-2.

Can't wait for our next Santana Adventure

My wife and I have been on three Santana Adventures - Dubrovnik to Venice, Columbia River, and just returned home from Prague to Budapest. Each trip has been wonderful. Days full of cycling, sightseeing and meeting new friends. Can't say everything went according to plan, but Bill and his team did their best to adjust and find an alternative. I think Bill's greatest joy in life is making sure his guests have the best possible experience.

We loved our British Isles bike trip...so many wonderful trails (many, many off road). Bill and his team (Dustin is great too) worked hard to find the best rides each day that the weather required the pre-planned rides be modified. The ship was fantastic and the ship crew was amazing. A great adventure!

They call it "Santana Adventures" for a reason. Weather and other events may cause a change in the itinerary, and we had that on the British Isles cruise. Participants need to be aware that the bicycle cruise may go to other locales (usually due to weather). While we expected to go to Portrush in Northern Ireland, it was not to be due to high swells, and unsafe to tender from the boat to shore. Santana Adventures rose to the occasion, however, finding alternative routes. While we expected to go to Isle of Man, again, events caused a change. A motorcycle race had been delayed earlier in the week, now causing our bicycling to conflict with the delayed motorcycle race. Again, unsafe, and beyond the control of Santana. Again, an alternative port and bicycle routes were created on the fly.
Highlight: sailing up the Thames to dock just upriver from Tower Bridge, tied up to the HMS Belfast.
If you expect a scripted experience that will not change, Santana Adventures is not for you.

We loved our recent cycling adventure on the Douro River with Santana Adventures. These cruises are extremely active and as the name implies, very adventurous. We love the Santana staff, they're interesting and funny. It's nice that if we encounter changes along the cruise route, the staff is ready to come together to update the adventure for the day. We hope to go on vacation with Santana again in 2025 or 2026

This was out 3rd adventure with the Santana. These are some of the best trips that we've experienced and are always looking at others to sign up for. Bill is a character in himself, always has great stories and is one the most concerned folks about these trips, he goes out of his way to help when needed. Be flexible as well things do change that are out of their control.

The Santana Adventures bicycle cruise visited seven islands of French Polynesia. The tour staff provided interesting bike routes, an excellent cruise experience, and unique off-the-bike activities every day.

Another amazing holiday with Santana

Cruises for cyclists by cyclists. All of the important details are addressed making for a very smooth and enjoyable experience. The daily rides are very manageable.

This was our first biking trip with Santana Adventures. We met lots of great people and had a fun time.
The staff with Santana were easy to work with and very friendly. We liked it so much we booked our next trip with them before we even finished this trip!

Wonderful trip for cyclist. Routes designed to provide beautiful scenic views typical of the country. Stops were at historical landmarks that allowed a rest as well as experiences in the local color. Tour directors were great at providing alternative rides and activities when the ship was unable to get up river due to problems with the locks. This our third experience with Santana and have more trips booked and planned.

This is the best way to do a cycling vacation. Stay on a small cruise ship that avoids day to day packing and unpacking. You will have great food, make new friends and have interesting destinations with low traffic for riding.

Great combination of activity, sight-seeing, relaxation, eating and drinking. We've done a dozen of these trips and have a blast each and every time.

Great adventures, great people, and well-managed. You can't ask for more!

Santana's Douro River cruise was awesome! In typical Santana fashion, ride routing provided us amazing views and exposure to the Douro region. Along the way, providing side trips to features most would miss. Santana is able to pivot quickly when conditions require a change of plans. The boat, crew and support were top notch too. One this particular trip I had a major bike component failure, which I left with the SAG crew, and by the next morning our bike was good to go. We never missed a mile of riding. We have been on 3 Santana trips and can't wait for our next one.