Author Topic: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride  (Read 8037 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

MrKiwi

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1.248
  • Country: nz
  • Moto Guzzi California
10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« on: July 26, 2014, 11:16:42 »
Hi guys
In August 2015 I am intending to do about 7-10 days riding on a motorbike with my wife.  While I have been to Germany a couple of times, I have not toured the country side, nor been to other parts of Europe.  My wife has never been to Europe.

So some advice from locals would be gratefully received, in particular am looking for some suggestions on:
  • potential routes, taking in some cities and lots of countryside, and
  • places I might be able to hire a bike from

Cheers from downunder...
MrKiwi
old enough that I should know better!

welshwizard

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 50
  • Country: england
  • HAR Member
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2014, 15:56:13 »
Wow, you've certainly thrown the 'ideas door' wide open here haven't you?
As a Welshman, I would have to suggest you spend some time in my home country.
In North Wales - you've got Snowdonia National Park, Anglesea and some pretty decent seaside towns, in Mid Wales - you've got gorgeous rolling green hills, some spectacular riding roads and my home town of Aberystwyth, in South Wales - you've got the Breacon Beacons, the cosmopolitan capital city of Cardiff (don't laugh please), amazing little towns like Tenby, Broad Haven and Porthcawl. If you want a bit of history and culture you can visit the famous Welsh Valleys and pop into one of the many mining museums.
Our mountains might not be as spectacular as the Swiss Alps and our beaches might not be as hot as the Spanish Costa del Sol, but the people you meet will be very friendly, the beer and food is fairly cheap and you will certainly chuckle at some of the names on the sign posts you ride past.

Two Plugs

  • Founding Member
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3.347
  • Country: nl
  • Took the plunge: CRF1000 ADVENTURE SPORT
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2014, 22:00:45 »
Be supriced by the Northern Dutch Provinces. Great atmosphere, les crowded, beautiful cities.Skip the west (Amsterdam etc). Don't do any Alps in August. The mountainpasses will be COVERED with suïcidale cyclists, cars towing caravans,  mobile homes and big touringbusses.If you have 10 days  I would settle for Luxembourg as central place to set off. From this little nation with its stunning motorcycle roads its only a days tour to the Belgium and French Ardennes, the German Eifel and Pfalz region and even the Northern French Vogueze.
Founder of VIM, that's why I am in!
Join the Varadero International FB group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1467408023517180/

MrKiwi

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1.248
  • Country: nz
  • Moto Guzzi California
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2014, 00:31:44 »
Thanks for the replies so far.  Going on-line with google earth to look at these ideas...  8)
MrKiwi
old enough that I should know better!

zebulon

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4.616
  • Country: fr
  • 2020 AT Matte Black Metallic
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #4 on: July 28, 2014, 12:18:10 »
Sure for us bikers the european must are the Alps! You can have a large trip in Austria, Switzerland , italia, Slovenia & France ! Everywhere stunning landscape, and twisting roads , wonderful ! It will be much exotic for you ! Norway is also a wonderful country we have begun to discover at the last VCIM . You surely find nice places to ride elsewhere in Spain , Italy, Croatia etc . Surely wonderful place everywhere. ;)
Alone we go faster, together we go further

I do not ride fast, I ride far / I'm not lost, I'm just exploring

2016 AT Digital Silver - 2011 Shasta white - 2007 Bloom Red - 2001 Candy Phoenix blue

Skye

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 829
  • Country: se
  • XL1000 '99 & '08
    • SkyeBlog
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2014, 13:30:00 »
We had a ride report in our national forum. They took a flight to Barcelona in Spain, rented a bike there and up in the Pyreenees they went riding around with local hostels. No plan what so ever.

Not knowing the prices but €100 a day for a GS 1200 with panniers. All they brought was the riding gear and other clothes

V Saarela

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 94
  • Country: se
  • HAR Member
    • saarela.se
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2014, 15:19:32 »
Of course you have to go for the stunning alps. Start and end at Munchen. I think it´s a good ride if you want to take it slow is:
-Grossglockner, visit also the village Heiligenblut after Grossglockner
- Couple of days at Dolomites. Maybe at the same time visit the Venice and hold hands?  :)
- Stelvio
- Turn to Livigno at Bormio(after Stelvio)
- From Livigno turn right or left and take some of the passes,( maybe turn left and take Swiss alps) 

Sdapeze

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 130
  • Country: fr
  • HAR Member
    • Varadero
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2014, 19:42:05 »
Wow Mr Kiwi. What an opportunity. There is so much to see in Europe. For my part I would say that Scotland is well worth touring although the weather can be iffy. Anybody with British connections should spend some time in Belgium and Northern France to see the First World War cemeteries, especially if you have a grave that you want to visit. Ypres and Tyne Cot would be a must for me, plus the Vimy Memorial. Then a ride through Paris would be a lovely experience, especially to experience the organised chaos of the Arc de Triomph. Then head south, as Zebulon suggests, for the French Alps, Annecy, etc. Into Austria and the alps. You could spend a week there with so much to see. The biker hotel that we held a VIM at would be an excellent stop over. I wouldn't bother with Switzerland personally. Then back through Germany, Alsace, etc. You lucky things. If only I had the opportunity.
Also known as Jess Jephcott
1999 Gold, 2006 Silver, 2011 White
VIMs 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 20, 23.

MrKiwi

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1.248
  • Country: nz
  • Moto Guzzi California
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #8 on: July 29, 2014, 00:56:45 »
We had a ride report in our national forum. They took a flight to Barcelona in Spain, rented a bike there and up in the Pyreenees they went riding around with local hostels. No plan what so ever.

Not knowing the prices but €100 a day for a GS 1200 with panniers. All they brought was the riding gear and other clothes

Thanks Skye, sounds like a the type of plan I normally like  ;D
MrKiwi
old enough that I should know better!

MrKiwi

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1.248
  • Country: nz
  • Moto Guzzi California
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #9 on: July 29, 2014, 01:05:42 »
Of course you have to go for the stunning alps. Start and end at Munchen. I think it´s a good ride if you want to take it slow is:
-Grossglockner, visit also the village Heiligenblut after Grossglockner
- Couple of days at Dolomites. Maybe at the same time visit the Venice and hold hands?  :)
- Stelvio
- Turn to Livigno at Bormio(after Stelvio)
- From Livigno turn right or left and take some of the passes,( maybe turn left and take Swiss alps)

Google mapped that one.  Looks really interesting.  Stelvio pass, now there's a name that is well known and revered in New Zealand.  Thanks...
MrKiwi
old enough that I should know better!

MrKiwi

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1.248
  • Country: nz
  • Moto Guzzi California
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #10 on: July 29, 2014, 01:07:56 »
Really appreciate the ideas you are posting, all of them.  Half the fun of this trip will the planning and deciding which areas to ride.  I'm learning a lot about Europe already just looking at these.

Cheers from downunder...
MrKiwi
old enough that I should know better!

jackyork

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 617
  • Country: england
  • HAR Member
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #11 on: July 29, 2014, 04:55:51 »
@Saarela's suggestions are all good but Switzerland is very expensive. If you go to the Stelvio, part way down towards Bormio is a right turn and a border crossing,a beautiful Alpine road, part gravel to valley overlooked by a roadside restaurant. (I'll find the names if you are interested in going) that could make a small and inexpensive trip and return the same way back to the less expensive Italy. Then down into Bormio, a beautiful town where the Milanese jet set hang out.

JK
jackyork.   Current: XL1000V ABS '11 black, Kawasaki ZX10B 1988, BSA Bantam 1958
Prev. Varadero '08.silver, Honda ST1100 Pan,'99 Triumph T120R Bonneville '67
Honda 750F 70s, BSA A10 RR '62,Norton Dominator 99 1962......many 'hacks' and a Lambretta.

Madero

  • Guest
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #12 on: July 29, 2014, 11:24:43 »
Congratulations with your chance to come over and discover Europe! I'm sure many of the members of this forum would like to 'come down' and discover New Zealand by bike!  ;D
I would surely like that!

Off course there are many beautiful areas to go for a ride! You could easily spend your ten days cruising through the Alps, or France, or Italy, or Germany, or the Uk, or Scandinavia, or The Netherlands. It is simply impossible to experience whole europe in just ten days like it would also be impossible to see whole New Zealand in that time!

If  you've got ten days to discover Europe by bike I would suggest to plan your trip in such a way that you can taste as much different cultures, landscapes, climates and languages as possible. So, I would not stay in one area for the whole period but plan a kind of "riding through",starting f.i. south and ending up north. You could think of starting in Italy (Toscane), crossing the Alpes into France, heading north through the Vosges and Luxemburg, enter Germany through Eifel and Sauerland and end up somewhere in northern Netherlands or even Denmark or Sweden.

Will require some planning but like you said,that's already half the fun.
However, if you and your wife would like to see more than only highway, I would recommend to choose one of the locations as mentioned earlier and stay there. You then can have a "day off" and go for a walk or visit a nice place. Your 'bums' will appreciate that too.  ;)

The absolute best idea is to stretch your holiday with at least another week to have more benefit from your long flight from 'down under'. In that case you could do a riding through europe in a more relaxed way and take your time to fully enjoy the beauty this part of the world has to offer.

Wishing you lots of fun with your planning!

jackyork

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 617
  • Country: england
  • HAR Member
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #13 on: July 31, 2014, 02:31:13 »
I think you need to work one of Madero's plans but if yo do the tour, I'd go north to south: better to get warmer than colder.

JK
jackyork.   Current: XL1000V ABS '11 black, Kawasaki ZX10B 1988, BSA Bantam 1958
Prev. Varadero '08.silver, Honda ST1100 Pan,'99 Triumph T120R Bonneville '67
Honda 750F 70s, BSA A10 RR '62,Norton Dominator 99 1962......many 'hacks' and a Lambretta.

V Saarela

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 94
  • Country: se
  • HAR Member
    • saarela.se
Re: 10 days in Europe, where should I ride
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2014, 07:19:45 »
@Saarela's suggestions are all good but Switzerland is very expensive. If you go to the Stelvio, part way down towards Bormio is a right turn and a border crossing,a beautiful Alpine road, part gravel to valley overlooked by a roadside restaurant. (I'll find the names if you are interested in going) that could make a small and inexpensive trip and return the same way back to the less expensive Italy. Then down into Bormio, a beautiful town where the Milanese jet set hang out.

JK

Yes jackyork.
Swiss alps was not the important, only because you more than less have to go back to Munchen.

I think that for people which have not visit the area.....Grossglockner, Dolomites and Stelvio is a very good visits and it´s enough for a 7-10 days. It depends how much you will ride per day....

 

SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal