European trip advice please
 

Hello I am planning my first ever trip to Europe in September 2016. I am shipping my 2007 GSA to Barcelona and then riding to Rome along the coast and then back up through Tuscany and Venice then over the alps to Hamburg where I will park my bike for the winter. Any advice, tips or suggestions on trip itinary would be much appreciated. I will spend 3 to 4 weeks on the run and would appreciate anyone's feedback.

European trip advice please
 

Hi Alex

I am sure others will be along soon but as a starter look up:

Route des Grandes Alps. Fantastic route you can take south to North of the Alps.

Then go up through the Jura mountains (north of lake Geneva). Look at routes on michelin maps (- scenic routes marked with green shadow) and on www.bestbikingroads.com (clunky but helpful).

Then follow the Route des Cretes after which you can divert to Strasbourg and then into Germany (or pick another route).

You'll have a great time!

Cheers
Andy

In Italy, agriturismo places are really nice to stay at.

Tuscany Italy Agriturismo:Tuscany farmhouse accommodation,apartment,hotel,Tuscany Italy vacation,Villa Rental

Sept is good; the kids have gone back to school for instance and traffic, in general, is reduced.

Sept is less good: quite a few campsites start winding down.
There again, may be you will be staying in 4* hotels each and every night?

Anyway, no one knows what you like to do, or see.
I suggest that you take a look through the "Europe" section here and see what that brings to mind for you - cities, national parks etc etc.

The coast road from northern Spain around the Med to Italy is pretty boring IMO, and potentially carrying a lot of traffic.
But it does have lots of beaches.

The previous post with suggested areas to ride is OK for twisties and views; you could spend all of your available time in the Alps and not ride the same route twice.

European trip advice please
 

So many routes from Venice. As part of the route I would recommend riding the Grossglockner pass in Austria. It's a toll, and expensive to boot, but the scenery is superb. The road's good, too.
Photo attached, from our trip September 2014 (this was very late September - four days later the pass was closed to bikes because of snow!).
Attachment 17106

I'll second the Grossglockner. Lovely tarmac and a great view.

My recommnedation (if it's not too far east) is Slovenia and the River Soca. It's little known, deserted bit of the lower alps - Slovenia route 203 and 206. It's dead quiet, stuuning mountains, twisty roads and all along side the most turquiose river you will ever see. As I said it may be too far east, but worth a mention!

Yep, I'll third the G/glockner and second the Soca river and on to the Vrsic pass - that lot are over on the East of the Alps = the Julian Alps.

Where everyone suggested to venture more into Slovenia, i will be more daring to suggest visiting Croatia and Bosnia.

In Slovenia Mangart is a great ride, then already mentioned Soca river with Bovec included.
Slovenian alps are small comparing to other euro countries, but I like them, compact and offering a lot for riding and variety and are close to Adriatic :mchappy:

From Slovenia you can enter Croatia over Zagreb and then go to coast or through Istria.

More people on bikes are now transferring to this side of Adriatic because eastern Italian part, especially Amalfi coast can get pretty busy in August/Sept.

Aley I'll peep in again if you have more ideas/questions to chime in,

bier

Cheers
Dooby