Alps, Slovenia, Croatia
 

As per usual, it's a week to go till my hols and friends have let me down and I've got nothing planned apart from time off work. So I need some suggestions....my rough plan is camping, heading through France the to Austria then pop over into Slovenia or push on into Croatia. I did the Alps a year back so routes are not a problem, its the destinations! Does anyone know of towns, campsites, beaches or bars that are worth making the effort to see in any of the above mentioned places, or definite no-no's worth stearing clear of. I'm not asking for a great holiday on a plate, I know they take a lot of hard work, but any little gems you've found and care to pass on would be great.

cheers

Rich

PS. If your going to be in those areas and fancy a beer at a ski station, drop us a line.

Hi,
Was in Slovenia last year. The area around lake Bled is stunning. We stayed at the Lake Bled campsite which is a developed campsite but quite good. There are a few more 'rustic' ones nearby though. Hire a boat and row out to the island with a church on it. Theres loads of walking in the area if thats your bag. Lubiana is a nice old eastern european city but don't expect anything like Prague. Further west my only real experience of the Alps is Chamonix which is a big tourist destination but worth a visit if you haven't been already. In cham I'd suggest getting the Aguille du midi cable car. Its not cheap but the views are absolutely stunning and well worth a few quid. On the other side of the valley you can get the Brevent cable car up and go for a walk along the ridge, again great views and enjoyable scrambling. Alternatively you could walk up the path to the Glacier des Bossons, interesting to see a glacier up close. There are a couple of campsites in chamonix, one on the right as you arrive in town from memory, which is fine. Two good fast food outlets: Chamburger and Bolouga, I lived on them when I was there! Also, a few years back the Aussie bar (Wild Wallabies) used to do a Sunday Roast dinner deal timed to coincide with the Simpsons double bill on Sky (genius!) if you are there on sunday they may still do this!
matt

Thanks for the ideas, I don't know about the Oz bar but Lake Bled does sound like my bag! How was language and menu translating, I know how to confuse people in France but Slovenia!

Rich

Slovenians will often speak a bit of english but German is quite common, not sure if that helps!
matt

Always unforgettable is a ride over the Stelvio Pass in northern Italy. Would recomend from east to west though, as the endless hairpins are better to climb than to go down. If passing through the Dolomites, you'd do a lot worse than to drop in at the Motorcycle Restaurante. This palce is run by Mauritzio and his family and they are totally passionate about motorcycles. Can usually find a place to throw the tent up, if not then they can direct you to a local pension etc. Of course the food is superb. Check out their website at www.pompone.com. They do naturally have bent towards italian bikes, but warmly welcome all on 2 wheels. They are difficult to find, but well worth the effort. Oh english is also spoken here. Cheers, Graeme.

Northern Slovenia's well worth a visit. I've stayed in Bled, but if you're travelling in from Italy, there are some nice looking campsites in the valey that runs Northwards into Kranjska Gora - beatiful road, mountain pass (Vrsic?), cobbled in places. It runs through the middle of the Triglav National Park (Triglav is Slovenia's highest mountain).
I went in from Italy over the Predel pass, border guards barely woke up....

I got away with English quite easily in Slovenia, but a bit of German would be helpful.

Neil

Hey,
I am from Switzerland and since you would like to pass from France to Austria you more or less have to pass trough my country.
Well there are quite a lot of nice places to stay. Depends where you want to go.
One realy nice place to sleep is on the top of the Susten-pass (East-west-route) near the well known St.Gotthard pass(north-south route). On the very top of that pass you will find a little hostal where you can eat and sleep.
Have a look here:
www.sustenpass-hospiz.ch.
Well and there are certainly other palces as well. If you don`t like to go for all the well know routes, pass by the french part of switzerland in the Jura. Or you can also pass south of Switzerland trough italy. Quite famous for bikers is the so called "Cento valli" which is a valley conenting Italy and Switzerland inthe sothern part. It has a lot of curves and small streets. Some think that it is a bit dangerous because of the stof italien riders, but as long as you are slow enough, there is no problem.

Well, let me know, if you need more info and I will certainly try to help you.

Have nice and safe ride.
Burnout1

Found your post and e mail at Horizons unlimited board, hope you dont mind me writing to you. I have seen the replies at the forum, but noone advised about Croatia and I REALLY belive this to be a shame. We are still not in the EU so prices are much lower. Its not over-constructes as say, Spain or Italy.... the nature is BEAUTIFUL and ppl are really nice. I dont know if you already took the trip, but if you didnt I really advise you push to Croatia.

Worth seeing : Istrian penninsula in the north. Coastline is not so interesting although you COULD find it interesting to visit two towns POREC and ROVINJ. Also, LIMSKI KANAL (fjord) is nice to see and maybe try some sea shells overthere. Now, what is REALLY interesting in Istria are the inland byways. Lots of wineyards, little places to eat and dring called the «konoba», also a lot of wineroads..... a bit like Tuscany but a little more modest of course.... You could climb up into mount UCKA... if the weather is nice you can almost see Italy.

Southwards, Rijeka, nothing special there, but you can go into hills of GORSKI KOTAR. Beautiful places there. White rocks in Fuzine, delicious frogs in town called LOKVE, «Devils pass» of river Kupa (is it Kupa?!), etc. Then a bit more towards south, you have PLITVICE LAKES national park.... absolutely breathtaking! Winter, spring, summer.... always great to see. Excellent camping, hotels also. Cheap. Like 10 to 20 EUR depending on the bike, tent, trailor, room etc etc. Then if you decide to check out the islands.... CRES (you HAVE to see place called LUBENICE, or VRANA LAKE), KRK... not particularly intersting but OK. Im not familiar with the middle Dalmatian region all the way to the islands BRAC, HVAR, KORCULA, VIS. Now theres something to see..... all of theese are simply jewls. Yes, you need to take the ferry, 1-4 hours depending where you want to go, but this is truly amazing.

Zagreb, capital, well, OK i guess  I live here so cannot be objective..... Anyway, If you DO decide to come here let me know, we can 'ave a beer or something, ill ride up to 200kms to meet you , I always like exchanging «war stories» with another biker hehe

cheers mate!
Alex

Alex,

Very nice to see someone that loves his country...I admire you, the way that you spoke about Croatia will surprise a lot of people!!

Anyway, my girl an I will be travelling around Europe, and we're going to Croatia as well...

Do you know how can we get from Greece to Croatia skipping Albania, Servia and Bosnia??
We were very intrested in those countries, but I found out that it will be too much trouble to get a Visa (Im Brazilian), I spoke to the consulates and they say I need an Invitation letter and the exactly date we're gonna be there...Impossible, as we are gonna be 4 months on the road!

I luckily dont need a Visa for Croatia!

We thought about getting a ferry from Greece to Italy, and then from Italy to Croatia, but we didnt want to miss the Coratian coast though...

We wanted to do all the Croatina Coast going North...I think it's about 600 Km, is that right???

Thanks a lot mate, and feel free to e-mail me!!!

Fernando Casado

I'm new on this forum, planning a Euro-tour two-up with a friend this summer. We'll be starting in Belgium and heading cown to Belgrade.
Alex, I traveled in Croatia in 1999 and fell in love wih it...took the ferry down the coast, stopping in Rijeka, Split, Korcula, Dubrovnik. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll be driving by some of them!
--Heidi in California