Where would you go in Europe mid-October for a 9 day trip?
 

Hi all,

I haven't done much touring apart from a 6 week trip on a small bike around Vietnam last year. Never toured in Europe.....but have to take a holiday next weekend.

Want to do a nine day (weekend to weekend) trip to Europe (am based in London).

Any recommendations of where to go? Will the Alps be too cold? How about the ferry down to Bilbao and then do Northern Spain? Other ideas?

I have no idea....what would you do next weekend? I won't have a big touring specific bike if that makes any difference. Will either borrow a friends Bonnie or buy something smallish (max 800cc).

Don't want to carry camping gear, plan to use cheap hotels.

Cheers,Guy

Depends how much you want to ride per day I guess, I've not ridden but driven all over Europe. If I had 9 days I'd either do a dash to the Alps and then cruise around Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and back.

Or I'd go back to Sweden/Norway again, but on a bike it might not be pleasant. Whenever I did any weekend-to-weekend trips I'd use the first 2 days to get as far as possible away from UK driving 12-14 hours each day and then spend the next week just gently going from place to place.

Due to the weather I'd stick to the south of Europe, may be south of Italy or Spain.

Actually I'd hate to jinx you by saying it , but we're having a really great autumn down here ..still more or less beach weather on the coast, and the mountains are chilly but perfectly doable .
The forecast is quite good for mid October , I'd also recommend a trip across the dolomites then maybe a quick dash around Slovenia \ Croatia , if there's any time left .

If you like cheese....
Switzerland- for the cheese festivals and markets:thumbup1: Rather than ride endlessly, how about a culinary ride and save on fuel?
Go from canton to canton- all info on Swiss tourist board with dates and locations of markets etc read more here

Caution!
There are so many tasty ones out there that you might want to read this before you go!
Not as dangerous as riding a bike but getting there!

Look at the Picos, have been there in October and the weather great, nice area too, ferry takes you virtually there, so no boring ride across Europe to get to the interesting bit.

wow a cheese tour !
 

What a great idea for a tour ! Cheesey tour.
I might just try that some time :thumbup1:

here is a little something to give you an idea- It helps me chose what feel like doing on the day!
Then a little to the west near Dijon is where you can find Boeuf Bourguignon and soooooo many other culinary treats.
I'm not going to mention anything about the wine, wonderful women who can 'cook you' into gastronomic oblivion and songs!!:chef:
It is hard to beat a fondue or a raclette on a wood fire with a bottle or three of Fendant from Valais:smiliex:

Yes, been looking at this but the ferry is £450! Ouch.....but need to make my mind up quick!

Cheers.

This sounds cool, maybe with a couple of alpine passes too? Where would be good to hire a bike from? Geneva area?

I would highly recommend going to baden baden then taking the b 500 through the black forest and into Switzerland. It's a bikers paradise. Then head To innertkirchen and do St gotthard pass, furkapass, sustenpass. All around the 8000ft mark with spectacular views. Then if you have time do northern Italy (something still on my bucket list).
I Done the alps in 2013 on a fazer 600s and it was great fun but as a novice tourer I took too many highways and relied on the sat navigation too much.
This year I went to visit friends in strasbourg and rode around the vosges and back home through bitburg (germany) then through Luxembourg and camped overnight in the belgian side of the ardennes which was A beautiful place but the condition of the roads was poor compared to Germany and Switzerland.
Hope this helps