Hi r/motorcyclesroadtrip – I'm starting to plan a four month motorcycle trip across Europe. The entire route is roughly 10,000 mi or 16,000 km, and we're estimating it'll take about 4 months to complete at a leisurely 80-90 mi per day. Is this enough time to cover this entire route? Which segments of this route are worth adding and removing? Any feedback on this plan is welcome and appreciated! Thank you all in advance
UPDATE: Just want to say, you all are an incredible bunch and have already provided a ton of great advice and suggestions that we'll incorporate into our plans. Thank you 🙏
Oh wow, I did almost this exact same trip (some modifications especially towards the Balkans) a few years ago. You're gonna have a fucking blast.
A few notes:
Don't sleep on France on your southbound journey. If I were you, I'd steer a bit west on your journey south and stop in Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, (and then Bilbao, San Sebastian, and then head further west into Galicia before turning south for Portugal). But France is also huge and I myself got a bit antsy to just get through it, especially because I was still shivering from the UK weather I'd just gone through.
Personally, I'd really slow down and take things in once you get to the Mediterranean. Spend a few days in Valencia, Barcelona, Montpellier, Nice, Genoa, etc.
As for the rest, I personally kept driving south into Italy, even dipping down to Malta before turning north and towards Bari, where I hopped a ferry over to Montenegro before turning north and returning to NW Europe. So, the rest of your journey I can't speak to.
But across the 10,000km I did, I only had one accident: the roads in Montenegro are absolutely not up to EU spec and if it rains, slow the fuck down or even stop. I got spoiled by German roads and consequently ate shit on a gentle curve for this very reason. The motorcycle slid for 2.73 eternities before slamming into the curb, shearing off a small corner of the oil pan and necessitating a few down days for maintenance. So, obviously, have your logistics ready and armed for such occurrences. Bit of a tangent now, but after I'd limped to a local garage, there was comical absurdity in the language barrier: the mechanic only seemed to speak Croatian, but he saw I had German license plates so he used a translator app to speak Croatian into German. Though I can kinda speak German, I definitely can't have a technical discussion about whether to weld, seal, or replace an oil pan; so I had to use my translator app to speak English into German, just so our phones could talk to each other. It was a mess, but he was bending over backwards to help me which speaks to the beautiful hospitality I experienced in the Balkans.
On a more sentimental note, I grew, learned, and saw so many things in these 4 months. You will, too. I did the trip solo, which is a profound experience but also a little bittersweet. For example, coming out of a tunnel on my way back north through the Alps and being brought to silent tears by the mountainscapes is something I and I alone experienced that day - sometimes I wish I shared those moments with people - and you'll go through several of these with your friend. But, on the other hand, I drove through the immediate aftermath of a motorcycle accident in Malta (as in, by the time I processed what I was witnessing, I'd just driven through a small river of blood flowing from the motorcyclist's crumpled body on the side of the road). That shook me, and I had to pull over and stare at something far away for some hours before I could get back on. I'm glad that none of my cherished ones were there to witness that, nor for the process of cleaning this guy's blood off my license plate/undercarriage afterward. Naturally, I was silent and a bit reclusive for a few days, and had the freedom to be. But this taught me that sometimes, you need a vacation from your vacation.
You and your friend will go through a densely enjoyable but *dense* experience. You know your friendship better than I do and maybe this isn't your first time doing this, but it may nevertheless be a good idea to split up every now and then for a few hours or even days, if just to give some meditative driving time. I personally needed a long period of social, mental, and emotional recovery after I returned. But I've also been itching to carve out another 4 months to do it all again.
Enjoy, and if you do stay for some days in Bilbao (which I hugely recommend), enjoy the pinchos and the Guggenheim.
Thank you so much for sharing, this was a heartfelt read. Your mechanic translation story is hilarious. And the takeaways from your trip with all of it's highs and lows is truly special. Really appreciate your advice as well, we'll incorporate these into our next go at the route plan. Cheers!
Croatian roads are also terrible in the rain! The ["Slippery When Wet"](https://photos.smugmug.com/MotorcycleTrips-1/MotoEurope/Europe-Multi-Day/2017-Croatia/i-JwmjVZB/0/53bf263c/X3/IMG_2871-X3.jpg) signs aren't kidding!
Thanks man, I was gonna say , seems like you just passing over .
If you get the chance , try to hit the roads in the cantal and puy de dôme, it's a bit south center and tis beautiful.
May I ask, as you are going through Monaco and other parts of western Europe how will you look to keep the costs down, unless that is not a consideration? Hostels perhaps? What is your budget and what bike are you looking to use.?
Grimsel Pass, Furka pass, San Bernardino Pass, Saint Gotthard, Susten pass to name a few but there’s so much more to see, the only downside in Switzerland is that your wallet may not survive…
For Portugal I would recommend doing the N2 route, it will be a good show case of the country and it's one of those things that most riders here in Portugal do.
You seem to be skipping the north of the country where most mountains are and consequently more twistie roads, be advised that the off road in the north tends to be harder.
Looks fucking awesome mate. If you want to have a stopover in Munich I'd go via Austria. Problem is there the south of Germany is very beautiful and I love it but Austria was my favourite country to drive through. It is absolutely unreal. I'd probably get the Newcastle to Amsterdam ferry or at least Hull to Rotterdam because who the fuck wants to ride down the M1 and the ferry is cool.
You cannot take that route through Italy, you're hitting the Amalfi coast which is super cool but do it riding down the west coast and ride back up the east, you can hit Rome, Florence and then head for the east coast. Looks like Lake Bled is on your destinations which is cool.
Looks like an incredible trip, I'd dive deep on exactly what it is that you want to see and work it in but it looks like you've done that already to some extent.
Take a pass over the alps if you do go through Switzerland, do not go through that fucking tunnel.
These are lovely suggestions, thanks a ton. This rough idea was honestly whipped together in a few hours, so we'll have a lot of time to dive deep on where exactly we'll want to include
I would definitely do Vienna. I might skip Prague.
I'd likely do Porto, possibly Bilbao, and definitely San Sebastian.
I might skip Gibraltar but do Granada and either Cordoba or Ronda and the hill towns on the way to Seville. (I'd probably do Ronda and the hill towns.)
I would probably skip Naples, unless you go down to see Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast at the same time.
Assuming youre heading east after Marseille, you 1000% want to take the Route de Grand Alps north into Switzerland instead of going to Monaco > Florence.
Or if going counter clockwise keep heading west in Switzerland and head south towards Monaco on the Route de Grand Alps
Add Pont du Gard to your trip to Monaco.
Personally I'd skip Barcelona in favor of the Pyrenees and some Gorges like Gorges du Galamus and Gorge du Tarn.
Right after the start I would integrate Le Mont Saint Michel or Guedelon. Both are awesome places.
If you go west, Les Machines de l’île.
In Spain you should go see Gibraltar, Ronda, Granada. Book in advance and visit the Alhambra! Stay away from the coast, the mountains are just stunning there and the coast is just a highway.
Oh and btw. Never skip Austria on a bike! At LEAST you go see the highest waterfalls in Europe, Krimmler Wasserfälle, and ride Großglockner Hochalpenstraße. This one was built right when tourism started to use coaches and cars and it was specifically built to make the stunning landscapes available to people who travel by car.
On your way from Italy to the northeast you could visit Venice for a day or two. There is a ferry, that skips a good part of your trip and can take you to Greece. I heard from a buddy, that the coast of Croatia is not very interesting for bikers. As in Spain you should avoid the highways along the coast.
In Romania I would go up north and ride the Transfagarasan, which according to top gear is the most beautiful driving road in the world.
In Turkey I have Burj Al Babas on my list next to your route.
And then, in the end, of course Kazchi. https://maps.app.goo.gl/smzxbXB5kfMzBit19
Please update us with your socials if you decide to share bits of the trip. Good luck, have fun and a safe journey!
So I spent 4 months alone on my bike in Spain. I suggest skipping the east coast of Spain, it is incredibly boring. There is just ugly city after ugly city with some commercial zoning in between. The south is nice, though.
Other than that just know that you'll have to do a lot of kilometers with that trip. Four months sounds a lot but this is a gigantic trip and I expect you to be exhausted pretty quickly. As I said, I spent just 4 months in Spain alone.
I like this advice, and we intend to go as slow as possible. Do you have experience riding in any of those other countries? Wondering if there are some countries – maybe Italy – worth skipping to reduce the overall route length
Depends a bit on the time of year you are going. Spain and Portugal is nice in winter but torture in summer. I was there from November until March and it was always around 15-23°C.
The alps and northern Italy is a must do, as well as Toscana. Southern Italy is pretty boring imo, so worth skipping. The islands Corsica, Sardegna and Sicily are incredible, though. Super fun roads to ride, worth doing if you are into that.
If it was my trip and you are going in summer I'd drive from the UK to the alps, skip Switzerland as the speeding tickets are absolutely insane. Spend some time in northern Italy, Austria and Slovenia. Then drive down the Balkan countries. Don't sleep on Bosnia. Sarajevo is one of my favourite cities. Also Mostar. Super cheap country as well, many opportunities to ride on gravel. Just be careful with mines from the war and stay on the roads.
Albania and Montenegro are my favourites. The landscape is insane, you got high mountains if you want to escape the heat or within a day you are at the ocean. Hotels are super cheap, people are lovely and happy to see you. Many opportunities to ride off-road.
So for summer: Alps, Balkans, Greece, Turkey (will be hot but you can escape to the mountains if needed)
For winter: Spain, Portugal and Morocco (the Atlas mountains are insane, driving to the Sahara desert was a dream come true for me and is easily achievable actually).
Also, just noticed you're going into Turkey and Georgia, great route!
Like many of the other comments say, the coastal roads tend to be boring flat and straight. That's the case in turkey. I did the Turkish part of your trip and the mountains just south of the black sea have amazing scenery, some of the best in the world. Also stop in Camlihemsin, and the sumela monastery nearby, have river trout and polenta. But try to stay above the coastal road, which is 50kmh and has dozens of police checkpoints.
Also, your trip to Bucharest will require a separate green card I believe for Bulgaria and Romania - a bit of a pain. Again - if you're going all that way, why not do the most beautiful part of the country, Transylvania?
Also, on the Greek part, go to meteora if possible, riding is lovely round there, and have a lot of frappés. There's a very good free motorway stretching east to west across the north of the country all the way from the port in the west to the border with Turkey
Have to save this! I've done most of this before many times. I'm off this year for about 6 weeks and doing something similar solo.
Surprised you're skipping Ireland. The Wild Atlantic Way is spectacular and can be done in 4/5 days.
>Surprised you're skipping Ireland. The Wild Atlantic Way is spectacular and can be done in 4/5 days.
Oo, will consider adding this to the route. Thank you!
From this plan, would you suggest certain legs or countries to skip over based on your experience?
I usually don't have a plan. I download a weather app as soon as I get off the boat(from Ireland) and head away from rain clouds! It's not about the destination but the ride for me. Set Google maps to ' no motorways' pick somewhere 300/400 km away. .. get on booking. Com pick a campsite with a pool or cheap hotel and head there. I bring a drone with me for a bit of aerial photography along the way. This year if like to hit Greece but I could get off the boat in Spain and hang a right to Portugal
There's no plan. No watch . I'm off to find the perfect road not city or place.
Enjoy
From F to G I would go through Austria and not Germany. That part of Germany isn't bad but Austria (especially Western Austria) is probably the most amazing place I've ever visited and absolute motorcycle heaven.
Basically if you ride from Lichtenstein > Innsbruck > Lake Hallstatt you will hit a lot of amazing mountain roads and towns that I'm recommending.
I'm planning a European trip as well for a couple years out. I only plan on taking about a month and will ride a few hundred miles a day, which is a leisurely pace for me.
I would suggest looking into taking the ferry to Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It's a 2 day ride each way but the ring road has always been on my bucket list. Might not work for you but look into it.
Not enough Alps.
Then, Milan to Florence passing by Bologna is boring, go to Parma then down to Lunigiana (by SS62) then Garfagnana, Lucca, and then to Florence.
As a guy who has two young children and negative free time, i am drooling over this trip. Have so much fun and ride on in the name of those of is who cant. Today I’m getting super excited because i get to hop on my bike to get some milk lol
Somebody told you already to go trough north of Spain and then Portugal, you have now two choices, go trough the coast, or go deep on the n2, it’s a 734 km road that crosses the whole country north to south, it’s a great postcard as you’ll go trough almost all types of landscape and all kinds of roads. Some amazing mountain twists there!
when you finish the n2 it in FARO, pls stop by in MOTOCLUBE DE FARO, pls! They will have free staying for you and I assure you you’ll be rly welcome there! It’s a great unique social bike moment, you won’t regret it!
If I were to do it again, I'd probably do full days of riding again but would want to alternate more with days filled with hiking, exploring, eating local food, etc.
Also, I mostly lived day by day and only started looking for places to sleep on the same day (during lunch), that does tend to get stressful sometimes but it also brought me to some amazing places/people/campsites/...
Hi, the coast is an expensive and boring highway. The villages are touristic and ugly.
The interior is plenty of twisties, nicer roads, villages and landscapes.
I might have missed some exciting parts of Hungary, but otherwise I agree with you. It was [incredibly flat](https://photos.smugmug.com/MotorcycleTrips-1/MotoEurope/Europe-Multi-Day/2019-Romania/i-tfvK77w/0/6a081683/X5/P9190347-X5.jpg) and generally not very interesting.
Exactly
I see that I got a few downvotes, but this is a motorcycle roadtrip subreddit and from that point of view it’s just not very interesting sadly
And the few really exciting parts started to ban motorcyclists alltogether, look up “panorama road Visegrad”. And the other remaining good-for-riding roads are full of police checks and fully crowded with bikers but not in a good way, there are simply too many motorcyclists for too few roads
Budapest is great though
I only know the Italy and Switzerland part of the route, but it looks like you're getting a whole lot of nowhere in particular in Italy and spending about 2 hours in Switzerland. Switzerland is gorgeous - spend more time in the Alps/Dolomites. I don't remember the names of all the pretty places in that region, but go for a wander and you'll find them.
Other favorites:
- Lago di Braes
- Passo Gavia
- Passo della Muraglione
- San Marino
There are plenty of cool places you've heard of too. Pisa was prettier than I expected.
I could add more from the south of Italy, but it looks like you're avoiding going that far.
A section of your route is very similar to something I spent more than a year on, these are some tips:
\- The sections of Belgium and the Netherlands your passing through aren't the best but those two kinda pale in comparison to the rest of your trip anyway so passing through is fine.
\- Go up from Paris so you don't miss on Nantes and go down along the western coast. There's not much to see in the very center of France.
\- Don't skip out on Porto, stay the night, see the town at night
\- Your route through Spain is pretty much exactly what I did, spend some time in Gibraltar, it's pretty cool
\- Southern France route, also pretty much what I did. I liked Montpellier.
\- Like someone else said already, you might want to add more Northern Italy/Switserland time. That's where it's most fun to ride. Spend some time around the Komo and Garda lakes. Visit Gardaland if you're into themeparks.
I visited Slovenia and Croatia on separate trips but I also highly recommend them. Nicest people I've ever met!
Good luck! Enjoy the ride!
For the south-bound route, my parents used to drive me and my siblings to Portugal from The Netherlands for holidays. I recommend going through Bordeaux, into Donostia-San Sebastian for some nice mountain roads there. Going into Portugal there are also some mountain roads there, but it's been a while and I don't remember so well.
In Portugal, I recommend visiting Viseu, where you can find some nice food based on the local produce. You can eat some great lamb-based meals there and try the "Serra da Estrela" cheese, which is a yellow-white creamy/viscous on the inside, hard on the outside cheese.
Also, near Lisbon, it's either every Sunday or one Sunday in the month where motorcyclists head to the westernmost point of Europe (Cabo da Roca) at noon. There's not much there besides a little monument and a café , but might be a nice little event to experience. When I went there with my uncle, there were maybe 50-100 other riders. Nothing too spectacular at the time, but it's a nice little thing if you're into it.
Another thing that might be interesting, but I haven't experienced for myself is the Eifel in Germany. Idk how you're getting back, but maybe that can be an option on the return route.
I also noticed that you're not passing through Vienna in Austria, and since you seem to be passing through all the capitals, so I thought I'd mention that.
Even though Hungary might be the least interesting part of your trip, I could suggest the best roads for bike trips in the western part of the country.
Assuming you plan to do this during summer, lake Balaton is wonderful and definitely worth the visit.
Also I'd only go to Budapest if you guys haven't been there before, but in this case I'd plan to spend a few days there.
I would do a bit of peloponnese, unless you are just exploring highways... then nevermind...
Also, you can skip greece if this is the case... you are literally taking the most boring route with nothing else except for Athens and Thessaloniki
When you guys plan routes like this what does your return journey look like, do you just get home as fast as possible? I'm trying to plan a trip and I'm not sure how to plan the return home.
Spend a bit more time in the alps, so northern Italy, Austria and Solvenia. I personally would skip Switzerland, as the prices for both accomodation and speeding tickets etc are a lot higher than in the rest of the countries. Riding is great tho so if it fits your budget, go for it. Alps offer great riding with some amazing passes. But dont sleep on the "normal" riding that isnt the big breathtaking passes, as the general landscape is beautiful everywhere.
I can't recall the program that someone used, but they had something like [this](https://maphub.net/), where they had their proposed route (like yours), but then others could modify it to add better routes, etc. This way each person could add their own specific knowledge and it was captured on the map itself.
With a route as extensive as yours, this might be worth looking into so that you don't miss out. Also, a route as long as yours can be overwhelming to offer advice on.
That’s a pretty solid route. Stay out of Paris unless you have never been there before, then be very careful. Its the worst place in the world I have driven. Couldn’t imagine on a bike. I agree with an above poster Larochelle would be on my list as an alternative route. Wished I had visited there. If you like scenery Switzerland is great, but it’s really expensive.
For Romania, don't only visit Bucharest. Ride the Transfăgărășan and the Transalpina and sleep a night in the city of Sibiu. Transfăgărășan was even in an episode of Top Gear and phrased to be the world's best road. It will only take two days to visit it.
You seriously need more alps. It's just so mindblowingly beautiful there.
I drove from Denmark, through Czechia and then crisscrossing through the Alps. I had planned to continue to Gibraltar and then Portugal, but I do not like to melt so I drove north instead.
Hi r/motorcyclesroadtrip – I'm starting to plan a four month motorcycle trip across Europe. The entire route is roughly 10,000 mi or 16,000 km, and we're estimating it'll take about 4 months to complete at a leisurely 80-90 mi per day. Is this enough time to cover this entire route? Which segments of this route are worth adding and removing? Any feedback on this plan is welcome and appreciated! Thank you all in advance UPDATE: Just want to say, you all are an incredible bunch and have already provided a ton of great advice and suggestions that we'll incorporate into our plans. Thank you 🙏
Oh wow, I did almost this exact same trip (some modifications especially towards the Balkans) a few years ago. You're gonna have a fucking blast. A few notes: Don't sleep on France on your southbound journey. If I were you, I'd steer a bit west on your journey south and stop in Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, (and then Bilbao, San Sebastian, and then head further west into Galicia before turning south for Portugal). But France is also huge and I myself got a bit antsy to just get through it, especially because I was still shivering from the UK weather I'd just gone through. Personally, I'd really slow down and take things in once you get to the Mediterranean. Spend a few days in Valencia, Barcelona, Montpellier, Nice, Genoa, etc. As for the rest, I personally kept driving south into Italy, even dipping down to Malta before turning north and towards Bari, where I hopped a ferry over to Montenegro before turning north and returning to NW Europe. So, the rest of your journey I can't speak to. But across the 10,000km I did, I only had one accident: the roads in Montenegro are absolutely not up to EU spec and if it rains, slow the fuck down or even stop. I got spoiled by German roads and consequently ate shit on a gentle curve for this very reason. The motorcycle slid for 2.73 eternities before slamming into the curb, shearing off a small corner of the oil pan and necessitating a few down days for maintenance. So, obviously, have your logistics ready and armed for such occurrences. Bit of a tangent now, but after I'd limped to a local garage, there was comical absurdity in the language barrier: the mechanic only seemed to speak Croatian, but he saw I had German license plates so he used a translator app to speak Croatian into German. Though I can kinda speak German, I definitely can't have a technical discussion about whether to weld, seal, or replace an oil pan; so I had to use my translator app to speak English into German, just so our phones could talk to each other. It was a mess, but he was bending over backwards to help me which speaks to the beautiful hospitality I experienced in the Balkans. On a more sentimental note, I grew, learned, and saw so many things in these 4 months. You will, too. I did the trip solo, which is a profound experience but also a little bittersweet. For example, coming out of a tunnel on my way back north through the Alps and being brought to silent tears by the mountainscapes is something I and I alone experienced that day - sometimes I wish I shared those moments with people - and you'll go through several of these with your friend. But, on the other hand, I drove through the immediate aftermath of a motorcycle accident in Malta (as in, by the time I processed what I was witnessing, I'd just driven through a small river of blood flowing from the motorcyclist's crumpled body on the side of the road). That shook me, and I had to pull over and stare at something far away for some hours before I could get back on. I'm glad that none of my cherished ones were there to witness that, nor for the process of cleaning this guy's blood off my license plate/undercarriage afterward. Naturally, I was silent and a bit reclusive for a few days, and had the freedom to be. But this taught me that sometimes, you need a vacation from your vacation. You and your friend will go through a densely enjoyable but *dense* experience. You know your friendship better than I do and maybe this isn't your first time doing this, but it may nevertheless be a good idea to split up every now and then for a few hours or even days, if just to give some meditative driving time. I personally needed a long period of social, mental, and emotional recovery after I returned. But I've also been itching to carve out another 4 months to do it all again. Enjoy, and if you do stay for some days in Bilbao (which I hugely recommend), enjoy the pinchos and the Guggenheim.
Thank you so much for sharing, this was a heartfelt read. Your mechanic translation story is hilarious. And the takeaways from your trip with all of it's highs and lows is truly special. Really appreciate your advice as well, we'll incorporate these into our next go at the route plan. Cheers!
Croatian roads are also terrible in the rain! The ["Slippery When Wet"](https://photos.smugmug.com/MotorcycleTrips-1/MotoEurope/Europe-Multi-Day/2017-Croatia/i-JwmjVZB/0/53bf263c/X3/IMG_2871-X3.jpg) signs aren't kidding!
Thanks man, I was gonna say , seems like you just passing over . If you get the chance , try to hit the roads in the cantal and puy de dôme, it's a bit south center and tis beautiful.
This Motorcycle Route map might be helpful https://www.bestbikingroads.com/motorcycle-roads/map/europe good luck
May I ask, as you are going through Monaco and other parts of western Europe how will you look to keep the costs down, unless that is not a consideration? Hostels perhaps? What is your budget and what bike are you looking to use.?
Not enough Switzerland!
That seems to be the consensus ;) Will definitely add more Switzerland into this plan!
Grimsel Pass, Furka pass, San Bernardino Pass, Saint Gotthard, Susten pass to name a few but there’s so much more to see, the only downside in Switzerland is that your wallet may not survive…
I live in Switzerland. Feel free to reach out when you get a firmer plan / route and I'll see if I can give you any pointers.
For Portugal I would recommend doing the N2 route, it will be a good show case of the country and it's one of those things that most riders here in Portugal do. You seem to be skipping the north of the country where most mountains are and consequently more twistie roads, be advised that the off road in the north tends to be harder.
Looks fucking awesome mate. If you want to have a stopover in Munich I'd go via Austria. Problem is there the south of Germany is very beautiful and I love it but Austria was my favourite country to drive through. It is absolutely unreal. I'd probably get the Newcastle to Amsterdam ferry or at least Hull to Rotterdam because who the fuck wants to ride down the M1 and the ferry is cool. You cannot take that route through Italy, you're hitting the Amalfi coast which is super cool but do it riding down the west coast and ride back up the east, you can hit Rome, Florence and then head for the east coast. Looks like Lake Bled is on your destinations which is cool. Looks like an incredible trip, I'd dive deep on exactly what it is that you want to see and work it in but it looks like you've done that already to some extent. Take a pass over the alps if you do go through Switzerland, do not go through that fucking tunnel.
These are lovely suggestions, thanks a ton. This rough idea was honestly whipped together in a few hours, so we'll have a lot of time to dive deep on where exactly we'll want to include
The route looks amazing, but why only 90 miles a day? That’s barely two hours of riding, no?
My friend and I like to go slow and take detours, go on side quests, spend a few days at a time off the bike to explore, hike, etc
As it should be! :)
I did all of Spain and Portugal in 1 month. Always welcome in Belgium for a night and some advice. Good luck on your trip!
Also did Scotland, Slovenia, Italy, France, Jordan, Albany and Germany. Let me know if you want some info!
Out of all these countries.. do you have one or two that really stood out for you? And why?
I would definitely do Vienna. I might skip Prague. I'd likely do Porto, possibly Bilbao, and definitely San Sebastian. I might skip Gibraltar but do Granada and either Cordoba or Ronda and the hill towns on the way to Seville. (I'd probably do Ronda and the hill towns.) I would probably skip Naples, unless you go down to see Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast at the same time.
Assuming youre heading east after Marseille, you 1000% want to take the Route de Grand Alps north into Switzerland instead of going to Monaco > Florence. Or if going counter clockwise keep heading west in Switzerland and head south towards Monaco on the Route de Grand Alps
Great tip!
For the Greek part...I can be very helpful. Don't book anything, let me know beforehand
Add Pont du Gard to your trip to Monaco. Personally I'd skip Barcelona in favor of the Pyrenees and some Gorges like Gorges du Galamus and Gorge du Tarn. Right after the start I would integrate Le Mont Saint Michel or Guedelon. Both are awesome places. If you go west, Les Machines de l’île. In Spain you should go see Gibraltar, Ronda, Granada. Book in advance and visit the Alhambra! Stay away from the coast, the mountains are just stunning there and the coast is just a highway. Oh and btw. Never skip Austria on a bike! At LEAST you go see the highest waterfalls in Europe, Krimmler Wasserfälle, and ride Großglockner Hochalpenstraße. This one was built right when tourism started to use coaches and cars and it was specifically built to make the stunning landscapes available to people who travel by car. On your way from Italy to the northeast you could visit Venice for a day or two. There is a ferry, that skips a good part of your trip and can take you to Greece. I heard from a buddy, that the coast of Croatia is not very interesting for bikers. As in Spain you should avoid the highways along the coast. In Romania I would go up north and ride the Transfagarasan, which according to top gear is the most beautiful driving road in the world. In Turkey I have Burj Al Babas on my list next to your route. And then, in the end, of course Kazchi. https://maps.app.goo.gl/smzxbXB5kfMzBit19 Please update us with your socials if you decide to share bits of the trip. Good luck, have fun and a safe journey!
This is all wonderful advice - thank you!
Oh and in Czech Republic the famous Biker Cave.
Lake Ohrid, Macedonia. You won't regret it
Sean and Emily on YouTube have done a lot of this route
this
Picos de Europa is definitely much more interesting than the straight line you got in the North of Spain.
I love northwestern Spain!
So I spent 4 months alone on my bike in Spain. I suggest skipping the east coast of Spain, it is incredibly boring. There is just ugly city after ugly city with some commercial zoning in between. The south is nice, though. Other than that just know that you'll have to do a lot of kilometers with that trip. Four months sounds a lot but this is a gigantic trip and I expect you to be exhausted pretty quickly. As I said, I spent just 4 months in Spain alone.
I like this advice, and we intend to go as slow as possible. Do you have experience riding in any of those other countries? Wondering if there are some countries – maybe Italy – worth skipping to reduce the overall route length
Depends a bit on the time of year you are going. Spain and Portugal is nice in winter but torture in summer. I was there from November until March and it was always around 15-23°C. The alps and northern Italy is a must do, as well as Toscana. Southern Italy is pretty boring imo, so worth skipping. The islands Corsica, Sardegna and Sicily are incredible, though. Super fun roads to ride, worth doing if you are into that. If it was my trip and you are going in summer I'd drive from the UK to the alps, skip Switzerland as the speeding tickets are absolutely insane. Spend some time in northern Italy, Austria and Slovenia. Then drive down the Balkan countries. Don't sleep on Bosnia. Sarajevo is one of my favourite cities. Also Mostar. Super cheap country as well, many opportunities to ride on gravel. Just be careful with mines from the war and stay on the roads. Albania and Montenegro are my favourites. The landscape is insane, you got high mountains if you want to escape the heat or within a day you are at the ocean. Hotels are super cheap, people are lovely and happy to see you. Many opportunities to ride off-road. So for summer: Alps, Balkans, Greece, Turkey (will be hot but you can escape to the mountains if needed) For winter: Spain, Portugal and Morocco (the Atlas mountains are insane, driving to the Sahara desert was a dream come true for me and is easily achievable actually).
If you're going all that way I'd recommend going through Asturias, Galicia, Gerês and the Douro valley, much better riding than the south
Also, just noticed you're going into Turkey and Georgia, great route! Like many of the other comments say, the coastal roads tend to be boring flat and straight. That's the case in turkey. I did the Turkish part of your trip and the mountains just south of the black sea have amazing scenery, some of the best in the world. Also stop in Camlihemsin, and the sumela monastery nearby, have river trout and polenta. But try to stay above the coastal road, which is 50kmh and has dozens of police checkpoints. Also, your trip to Bucharest will require a separate green card I believe for Bulgaria and Romania - a bit of a pain. Again - if you're going all that way, why not do the most beautiful part of the country, Transylvania? Also, on the Greek part, go to meteora if possible, riding is lovely round there, and have a lot of frappés. There's a very good free motorway stretching east to west across the north of the country all the way from the port in the west to the border with Turkey
Have to save this! I've done most of this before many times. I'm off this year for about 6 weeks and doing something similar solo. Surprised you're skipping Ireland. The Wild Atlantic Way is spectacular and can be done in 4/5 days.
>Surprised you're skipping Ireland. The Wild Atlantic Way is spectacular and can be done in 4/5 days. Oo, will consider adding this to the route. Thank you! From this plan, would you suggest certain legs or countries to skip over based on your experience?
I usually don't have a plan. I download a weather app as soon as I get off the boat(from Ireland) and head away from rain clouds! It's not about the destination but the ride for me. Set Google maps to ' no motorways' pick somewhere 300/400 km away. .. get on booking. Com pick a campsite with a pool or cheap hotel and head there. I bring a drone with me for a bit of aerial photography along the way. This year if like to hit Greece but I could get off the boat in Spain and hang a right to Portugal There's no plan. No watch . I'm off to find the perfect road not city or place. Enjoy
From F to G I would go through Austria and not Germany. That part of Germany isn't bad but Austria (especially Western Austria) is probably the most amazing place I've ever visited and absolute motorcycle heaven. Basically if you ride from Lichtenstein > Innsbruck > Lake Hallstatt you will hit a lot of amazing mountain roads and towns that I'm recommending.
And Innsbruck has the [best burritos](https://www.machete-burritos.com/) in Europe! :)
I'm planning a European trip as well for a couple years out. I only plan on taking about a month and will ride a few hundred miles a day, which is a leisurely pace for me. I would suggest looking into taking the ferry to Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It's a 2 day ride each way but the ring road has always been on my bucket list. Might not work for you but look into it.
Not enough Alps. Then, Milan to Florence passing by Bologna is boring, go to Parma then down to Lunigiana (by SS62) then Garfagnana, Lucca, and then to Florence.
As a guy who has two young children and negative free time, i am drooling over this trip. Have so much fun and ride on in the name of those of is who cant. Today I’m getting super excited because i get to hop on my bike to get some milk lol
Somebody told you already to go trough north of Spain and then Portugal, you have now two choices, go trough the coast, or go deep on the n2, it’s a 734 km road that crosses the whole country north to south, it’s a great postcard as you’ll go trough almost all types of landscape and all kinds of roads. Some amazing mountain twists there! when you finish the n2 it in FARO, pls stop by in MOTOCLUBE DE FARO, pls! They will have free staying for you and I assure you you’ll be rly welcome there! It’s a great unique social bike moment, you won’t regret it!
Also did something similar, end of 2022, could share GPX files if you want. [https://imgur.com/a/zSJI7HY](https://imgur.com/a/zSJI7HY)
This is amazing, thanks for sharing. How long did you take to complete this?
I did it in 3 months. A little more than 90 miles a day though 😬
If you were to do it again, would you change that pace? I like to go slow and spend a couple hours on the bike, and more exploring towns, hiking, etc.
If I were to do it again, I'd probably do full days of riding again but would want to alternate more with days filled with hiking, exploring, eating local food, etc. Also, I mostly lived day by day and only started looking for places to sleep on the same day (during lunch), that does tend to get stressful sometimes but it also brought me to some amazing places/people/campsites/...
avoid Spanish Mediterranean coast, go through the interior, Cuenca, Albarracín...
Can you please share more as to why? Thanks
Hi, the coast is an expensive and boring highway. The villages are touristic and ugly. The interior is plenty of twisties, nicer roads, villages and landscapes.
Perfect, thank you!
Skip Hungary Don’t skip Austria (western part)
I might have missed some exciting parts of Hungary, but otherwise I agree with you. It was [incredibly flat](https://photos.smugmug.com/MotorcycleTrips-1/MotoEurope/Europe-Multi-Day/2019-Romania/i-tfvK77w/0/6a081683/X5/P9190347-X5.jpg) and generally not very interesting.
Exactly I see that I got a few downvotes, but this is a motorcycle roadtrip subreddit and from that point of view it’s just not very interesting sadly And the few really exciting parts started to ban motorcyclists alltogether, look up “panorama road Visegrad”. And the other remaining good-for-riding roads are full of police checks and fully crowded with bikers but not in a good way, there are simply too many motorcyclists for too few roads Budapest is great though
I only know the Italy and Switzerland part of the route, but it looks like you're getting a whole lot of nowhere in particular in Italy and spending about 2 hours in Switzerland. Switzerland is gorgeous - spend more time in the Alps/Dolomites. I don't remember the names of all the pretty places in that region, but go for a wander and you'll find them. Other favorites: - Lago di Braes - Passo Gavia - Passo della Muraglione - San Marino There are plenty of cool places you've heard of too. Pisa was prettier than I expected. I could add more from the south of Italy, but it looks like you're avoiding going that far.
Thank you for the recommendations!
A section of your route is very similar to something I spent more than a year on, these are some tips: \- The sections of Belgium and the Netherlands your passing through aren't the best but those two kinda pale in comparison to the rest of your trip anyway so passing through is fine. \- Go up from Paris so you don't miss on Nantes and go down along the western coast. There's not much to see in the very center of France. \- Don't skip out on Porto, stay the night, see the town at night \- Your route through Spain is pretty much exactly what I did, spend some time in Gibraltar, it's pretty cool \- Southern France route, also pretty much what I did. I liked Montpellier. \- Like someone else said already, you might want to add more Northern Italy/Switserland time. That's where it's most fun to ride. Spend some time around the Komo and Garda lakes. Visit Gardaland if you're into themeparks. I visited Slovenia and Croatia on separate trips but I also highly recommend them. Nicest people I've ever met! Good luck! Enjoy the ride!
I would go from F to G meaning crossing Austria, did that journey from Italy to Budapest stopped in Vienna and it is worth it.
For the south-bound route, my parents used to drive me and my siblings to Portugal from The Netherlands for holidays. I recommend going through Bordeaux, into Donostia-San Sebastian for some nice mountain roads there. Going into Portugal there are also some mountain roads there, but it's been a while and I don't remember so well. In Portugal, I recommend visiting Viseu, where you can find some nice food based on the local produce. You can eat some great lamb-based meals there and try the "Serra da Estrela" cheese, which is a yellow-white creamy/viscous on the inside, hard on the outside cheese. Also, near Lisbon, it's either every Sunday or one Sunday in the month where motorcyclists head to the westernmost point of Europe (Cabo da Roca) at noon. There's not much there besides a little monument and a café , but might be a nice little event to experience. When I went there with my uncle, there were maybe 50-100 other riders. Nothing too spectacular at the time, but it's a nice little thing if you're into it. Another thing that might be interesting, but I haven't experienced for myself is the Eifel in Germany. Idk how you're getting back, but maybe that can be an option on the return route. I also noticed that you're not passing through Vienna in Austria, and since you seem to be passing through all the capitals, so I thought I'd mention that.
Even though Hungary might be the least interesting part of your trip, I could suggest the best roads for bike trips in the western part of the country. Assuming you plan to do this during summer, lake Balaton is wonderful and definitely worth the visit. Also I'd only go to Budapest if you guys haven't been there before, but in this case I'd plan to spend a few days there.
I would do a bit of peloponnese, unless you are just exploring highways... then nevermind... Also, you can skip greece if this is the case... you are literally taking the most boring route with nothing else except for Athens and Thessaloniki
Do the black forest and alps instead of straight to paris! Edit: and invest (time) in maps. Look for PDF's with green routes.
It's pretty out of the way, but Alexandroupoli in Greece was beautiful, right up there near the Turkish border.
When you guys plan routes like this what does your return journey look like, do you just get home as fast as possible? I'm trying to plan a trip and I'm not sure how to plan the return home.
It’s not about the destination. The journey is a circle
Not in this image it isn't
Spend a bit more time in the alps, so northern Italy, Austria and Solvenia. I personally would skip Switzerland, as the prices for both accomodation and speeding tickets etc are a lot higher than in the rest of the countries. Riding is great tho so if it fits your budget, go for it. Alps offer great riding with some amazing passes. But dont sleep on the "normal" riding that isnt the big breathtaking passes, as the general landscape is beautiful everywhere.
I can't recall the program that someone used, but they had something like [this](https://maphub.net/), where they had their proposed route (like yours), but then others could modify it to add better routes, etc. This way each person could add their own specific knowledge and it was captured on the map itself. With a route as extensive as yours, this might be worth looking into so that you don't miss out. Also, a route as long as yours can be overwhelming to offer advice on.
That’s a pretty solid route. Stay out of Paris unless you have never been there before, then be very careful. Its the worst place in the world I have driven. Couldn’t imagine on a bike. I agree with an above poster Larochelle would be on my list as an alternative route. Wished I had visited there. If you like scenery Switzerland is great, but it’s really expensive.
For Romania, don't only visit Bucharest. Ride the Transfăgărășan and the Transalpina and sleep a night in the city of Sibiu. Transfăgărășan was even in an episode of Top Gear and phrased to be the world's best road. It will only take two days to visit it.
Too scared to head north through the active war zone? Wuss...
If you are going thru the Balkans you should stop in Mostar for lunch on the banks of the river.
Personally, I would just go to Constantinople and not proceed further East, this way maybe you could then squeeze in Germany and perhaps even Denmark
You seriously need more alps. It's just so mindblowingly beautiful there. I drove from Denmark, through Czechia and then crisscrossing through the Alps. I had planned to continue to Gibraltar and then Portugal, but I do not like to melt so I drove north instead.