You won't find anything lower than 95 in Europe, so you can just fill up anywhere. Some stations sell a 97 or 98 premium or super unleaded, which is a bit more expensive.

Full european prices canbe found here:
AA Roadwatch : European Petrol Prices

General tips and legal requirements:

The AA: European Driving

As others have said the only place where fuel availability can be a problem is rural france during the weekend. Most places are closed saturday afternoon and sunday, and if they have an automated pump it won't accept foreign credit cards. The large service stations on major routes will still be open, so make sure you fill up before heading onto the smaller roads.
Petrol quality is never a problem - most of the stations are operated by the major oil companies, eg Esso, BP, Elf, Fina, Repsol, etc

Just remembered the worst time to look for petrol, or anything , in France.... Aug 15th, some religious day :-) And don't ever break down that day :-)

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most fuel stations except those on major RN's and Autoroutes are closed on Sundays and holidays. On july 14th ( bastille day). Many little roads are closed at small towns and villages many do a big free firework displays on their municipal grounds often allowing camping free or very cheap. So check french holidays before planning a transit.

The weekday holidays ( fetes) can really catch you out as they dont often coincide with UK ones.

My advice is to fuel up sometime before your crossing, as it is often very busy near the entry points. This applies either into or out of france.

Uh, I'm not so sure about that. I was not paying attention when I filled my VW Golf up with 91 octane in the Czech Republic two years ago - a mile or so down the road, the poor car started coughing, the CEL (Check Engine Light) came on, and the car went into "Limp Home" mode. I happened to have a VW diagnostic scan tool with me, so I scanned the engine controller, and found misfire problems on all cylinders.

Although it is possible that the Middle European countries may have phased out the really low octane gasoline by now, it is also possible that really low octane fuel may still be sold in countries where there are a lot of old Eastern Bloc cars that don't need higher octane. So, do pay attention to the octane number on the pump.

I think Mark's observation that "95 is the lowest you can find" is probably quite true for Western Europe.

Michael

That's is not true - it depends on the country. For example, you won't be able to get anything lower than 95 on Corsica, you'll have quite some trouble in Italy and France. Yet every gas station in Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and several other countries sells all of'em - 91, 95, 98 and in some cases 100.

PS: I find it quite amusing that you're asking this question... sounds like people outside of Europe think of us as uncivilized blobs

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"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting GERONIMO!"

The basis for my original post was availability in out-of-the-way places on Sundays (e.g. France), use of plastic for payment, and wheter ethanol was a common additive. Some state governments here in Australia have legislated its progressive inclusion as an additive (much to my disgust). It can ruin the inner workings of bikes and cars not designed for it, especially some plastics. Honda Australia has said it will not guarantee warranty claims where ethanol in petrol causes problems.

So I never intended MJungowski (sorry) that my queries be taken as a slur on Europeans.
John

John,

I plan to carry a small bottle of octane booster (STP power booster) for the eastern portion of my trip (Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary), so thats a reaonably good guarantee, should you get stuck somewhere that doesn't sell a high enough octane for your needs. Mind you, I'm riding a KLR650 this time around, so I reckon I could put diesel in there, and it would still plod along.

As for ethanol.. thats a new one on me.. I've never heard of it being added in European fuel. I brought my BMW R1150RT to rural France 2 years ago, and filled up in a couple of one-horse towns without paying too much attention to octane (as long as I avoided "gazole"- diesel) , with no noticeable ill effects, then or since, so I guess it was clean as well.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the issue with payment in late night (or unattended) fuel stations in France is down to using a credit card that doesn't have chip-and-pin (ie, if you try to use a card that just has the old magnetic stripe on the back).. France was one the first countries to introduce chip and pin credit cards wholesale, so their infrastructure tends not to accept the old-stylee cards. All new cards in the UK and Ireland (for example) are now chip and pin, so they should work. Not so sure about cards from other countries though.. I'm sure someone else can shed some light there.

Colm

A friend of mine from Polan told me that some "local brand" gas stations in Poland may sell fuel of lesser quality, but then it's usualy at a lower price. Here in Denmark you might find fuel with 5% ethanol in it (Statoil stations) don't know about the rest of europe. It might be a coincidence but I had some trouble with a throtleslide geting stuck after using fuel with etanol in it, it happens with other fuel too (in cold and moist weather and it's an old bike...) , but more often when I used the ethanol fuel.

Thanks elbert79. We don't expect to be travelling to Poland, however we we will be travelling in Denmark for a few days.

Do the fuel pumps that pump the unleaded petrol containing ethanol clearly show that that fuel contains ethanol? or is there nothing obvious to inform consumers that's what they are getting?

We'll be travelling from Kristiansand Norway across to Hirtshals, then south to Arhus and on to Kobenhavn. Then south again towards Vordingborg before crossing to Germany (prbably around 6 to 10 July).
Cheers
John

I don't think there is a warning or anything on the pumps saying that they contain ethanol, because they claim that there ain't no difference from using pure gasoline. But I think it's only the statoil stations that uses ethanol in the fuel at the moment. I usualy use Shell because they have 98 on the pump and I ride an old two-stroke suzuki. I think they have started to sell the ethanol fuel in Norway too, but I'm not shure.
I think there are a sticker saying BIO95 on the pumps with the ethanol...

The motorways in denmark are quite boring so I can recomend to stick to the backroads unless you are in a hurry...