France to Kirghistan , advices ?
 

Hello all !

I plan a trip from France to Kirghizstan, starting beginning of July, and would like to have some advices.

My initial plan is :
-France
-Austria
-Czec Republic
-Poland
-Lituania
-Letonnia
-Estonia
-Russia : no idea of the best road to go down to Kazakhstan, my only two objectives are : 1) St Petersburg, 2) going trough Oural mountains (just to put my wheels in Siberia ;) )
-Kazakhstan
-Kirghizstan
-Uzbekistan
-Kazakhstan
-Russia
-Georgia
-Turquie
-then come back to France trough Greece, Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy.

I plan between 3 and 4 months for this trip (with 15 days at least in Kirghizstan). I have a 2 entry visa for Russia, valid 3 months, starting mi-July, and a 1 month visa for Uzbekistan starting end of August. I plan to go in 2 weeks to Russia, so I will not take too much time in Europe for the firsy part of the trip.

For those who have experience of theses areas, do you think that this route and timeline are realistic ?
Do you have advice concerning the best roads to take in Russia ?
My bike is an Honda NC700X, with all necessary protections (and adequates tires, change planned in Russia), but apart that it's stock.

Many thanks in advance for your help !

Jil

Jil

Have lived in all the former Soviet Union countries you mention / motorbiked them all. A few comments:

1. Your trip to St. Pete's adds a lot of kms and some very boring riding in Russia.
2. Suggest you stay out of Moscow as traffic can be awful.
3. Kyrgyzstan - are you travelling south to Osh or staying in the north? Two weeks is plenty if you are staying in the north. Not sure your bike would handle the Pamir so you are limited to riding Lake Issy-kul and around.
4. Uzbekistan can be very hot even in September.
5. From Georgia to France there are many options which you should consider depending on time. Do suggest you think about a few days in Georgia as the riding is great.

Good luck and watch for radar!

Cliff

Thanks a lot for theses advices.
I was indeed wondering about going straigh east trough Ukraine (I will anyway avoid the south-eastern border !)
In the south part of Russia, is there a particular way that you would recommend to go to Oural then down to kazakhstan ?

I move the subject to the correct section : Northern Asia.