What's the Adriatic coastal drive like from Greece round to Italy?
 

Is it very mountainous with high passes?

The reason I ask is because I suffered a mild case of Bells Palsy a couple of months ago and altho' I thought I had recovered I found last week that I had problems with one ear not equalising pressure properly on a driven descent from 700m down to sea level.

Afterwards that ear felt woolly and a bit achey.

Ascent was o'k.

I suppose I could take long steep descents in stages with short breaks to balance pressures?

Hope this helps , I travelled through Yugoslavia, Dubrovnik -Mali- Splt in 1985 along the coast From memory a lot of mountainous coast quite high at times and dropping down to small harbour towns then climb back out ,with bad bus drivers. I backpacked back then but often think it would be great to do on a bike.
Sorry I cant give you any up to date info mate, but would like to hear your story, please post your views on this ride.

Hey Arow,

Good to hear that you are recovering, must have been more than a bit scary at the time.

There are some equalization tricks used by scuba divers that you could try such as closing your mouth, pinching your nose and trying to exhale through your nose. Not the easiest with a full face on but doable and usually pretty effective. Gum chewing is a tip sometimes suggested when travelling on airplanes, might help.

Ride safe.

I have problems with my ears too ( damage done by skydiving with a cold ) . I learned to be regimental with pressurising before the pain starts. The reason descending is difficult is because of the speed of descent.
If this continues to be a problem you could purchase a little device called a ditter, normally a small device worn inside the helmet next to your ear that warns you of a preset height when descending,you could adjust it to beep before the pain starts.

In answer to your actual question, I remember just a few mandatory passes as high as 700 meters, but for the most part you've got low elevation options all the way around. The real problem is that there is so much spectacular riding almost anywhere that you dip inland, away from the coast and into the mountains. It's difficult for me to imagine taking that route but not being able to take advantage.

Mark

As others have said the trick is to equalise the pressure little and often. The greater the pressure differential the harder it is to clear your ears. If it gets bad enough you can perforate your eardrum - something my daughter did back in Feb coming down from 2000m to 500m in the Alps. You should practice the techniques beforehand - it's not hard but there is a bit of a knack to it.

I've been down the coast road three or four times as far as the Albanian border (although not in recent years) and mostly it hugs the coastline but there are a few sections where it climbs away. Didn't pay much attention to the actual heights but I'd be surprised if it was more than 700m.

Hi,

I drove the coastal road in Croatia & Montenegro several times.
If you stick on the 'magistrala' which is this coastal road, you don't have this high altitudes.
It's a bit mountainous, but not that high. It goes steep uphill if you want to go to the inland however. (which is very very beautiful)
In Albania, I don't think you can stick on a coastal road. The road is leading a little bit more into the inland. but again, this wasn't that high. (but... very bad asfalt ) And, Albania was a great place to visit !

Have fun !!

Thank you all very much for the great responses and details of the route. That has reassured me. I will practice in advance and little and often.

I should have mentioned that I am travelling by car.

Much Appreciated MountainMan
My lopsided "smile" scared my wife more than me when it came on, I got jittery afterwards. This little setback got to more than the initial thing in some ways because I thought that tiredness aside I was mostly over it. Until last week I had only driven fairly gentle rolling lowland hils.

You don't have nothing to worry about at least not in Croatia, if you drive on "Jadranska magistrala" (Adriatic=Jadran) one which follows the coast you are practcly all the time on sea level.
But If you go inland from the coast (any point) be prepared for some climbing and descending

I can`t recommend this road.
I drive this one more then 10 years ago.
It remember that was verry crowded, many busses ...
tourists crossing always the street, stop and go.

- I prefer going on to italy at the day time.
- taking the night ferry from ancona or bari to igoumenitsa or patras.
(having a sleep while moving)
- next day: Crossing korinth to athens by bike
- evening: taking night ferry from: piraeus to chios 7 hours (small island)
- next morning: having breakfast on chios
- taking a small ferry to cesme (turkey) 1.5 hour trip

and go on travelling in turkey.
(another option from greek to turkey: Rhodos (GRE) --> Bodrum (Turk) by shipper: Dodekanes Express

schedules:
Greek Ferries to Greece - Italy Greece, Greek Ferry Tickets, Ferries Greece - Greek Islands Ferries, Greece Ferries
[url=http://www.erturk.com.tr]ERT

Thanks Nixa.

motravel thanks but I have done the greece italy route a couple of times before and wanted a change. Are you sure that the adriatic route is so busy now, maybe the roads have improved in the last ten years and not so busy out of the holiday periods. In may for example?

Arow,
The "Adriatic" route from Greece 'round to Italy is ~ 1500 km, from Igoumenitsa-Venice. There may be different road and traffic conditions in the first 750 km to Dubrovnik, but I can say that--in June 2010, at least--the second 750 km from Dubrovnik north to the Italy border, is both a beautiful and not heavily trafficked road. That half of the route is also mostly at sea level. Much of the route north of Split is motorway; a bit boring actually, but there are parallel alternatives.

You can parse this yourself on AA, ViaMichelin, or any number of mapping sites.

Howdy Arow!

two things you will love to hear:

1. Since Croatia built the E65 highway from Zagreb to Omis, the famous "Jadranska magistrala" isnt by far so crowded as it used to be;

2. the Jadranska magistrala gets partly crowded during end June/July/August. The rest of the year the magistrala is, well, almost empty.

So, just give it a go and enjoy. This route is marveleous, i ride/drive it several times a year. Each time i bring a camera to take few pics but, at the end of the day, i end up just riding and enjoying the setting Sun on the horizon. :thumbup1:

HI,

Thanks for the info here guys. I'm in Northern Italy right now on my Beamer and will be making my way South via Slovnia and Croatia some time next week.
After your comments I'm looking forward to it even more!
:scooter:

Thanks for the help sounds very good.

What is the scenery like from the Italian border to venice or verona please?

Anyone into camping - recommended campsites along route?

Is documentation straightforward albania to croatia with green card and gb passports

From Trieste to Venice it's not terribly spectacular. The scenery is nice, but nothing compared to former Yugoslavia. Also, the road doesnt hug the coast for a large part, if that's what you are looking for.

One tip if you want to look at Venice: the place is a nightmare to visit by vehicle (even by bike), trying to get to it from the mainland is a serious pain. You will have to spend lots of time trying to get a parking space, then pay a rather large sum (we're talking 30 EUR and up), and then still take a bus+boat. A far better option is to pick a cheap hotel/hostel on the peninsula southeast of venice (Jesolo). Lots of cheap places there, also lots of free parking. From there you can take a bus to the end of the peninsula, and take the ferry from there which takes you right to the St. Marco square with a great view as you are coming in to Venice (better than the boat from the mainland). Much cheaper and quicker too.

As to the total trip Greece - Italy, I think the coastal strech from the Albanian border, particularly Montenegro, with Kotor and Herzig Novi, and the southern part of Croatia, from Dubrovnik to Split, are the most spectacular. The rest is nice, but does get repetitive after a while. Instead, if your ears allow, I would suggest to take a trip inland, the mountains are beautiful and the region is far less crowded. Plenty of nice things to see as well, Ostrog, Mostar, Sarajevo to mention a few.

Also note that during June/Juli/August the coastal road is full of overloaded T-backs and camper vans ;-) although not as bad as it used to be since the new motorway is finished.

Hi,

we did wild camping all the way from italy to greece:

Motorradtour durch Slowenien, Kroatien, Bosnien, Montenegro und Albanien nach Griechenland

LG, Tobi

Loved your site and story, many thanks.

That's great info Sirakor, as the best of it doesn't seem to be in the north. i'm toying with the idea of driving up as far either Split or Zadar and then getting a ferry across to Ancona. (I don't see any that run from Croatia to Venice this early in the season) My wife has seen Venice, so maybe I'll make use of your access suggestions on another trip.

Altho' it's improved a little I don't think I want to subject my ear to the high alps
so maybe I'll cut across to Pisa and then along the coast road to the south of France.

I'm open to suggestions....

YMMW but i wouldn't miss the part Zadar - Senj. Freshly paved with great, rugged tarmac, the road winds along the Adriatic see.

Here some notes i posted here few years ago:

- don't miss the canyon of river Tara in Monte Negro. It's stunning and
very nice with deep clifs. Also, the coast is very nice (Kotor, Herceg novi...).
- mind the coastal road from Makarska to Split. You'll get stuck in
heavy trafic and there's nothing really to see. Instead take the
parallel road (route 62, Kozica - Katuni - Dugopolje).
- Trogir is worth seeing - very small but also very nice, UNESCO world
herritage site
- Sibenik also - small and cozy with an great old town
- the coastal road from Zadar to Karlobag, Senj and Rijeka is just
plain great! It winds along the coast and the tarmac is very good.
Especially beautyfull is the part from Zadar to Senj)
- mind Rijeka - it's an industrial town.
- in general, the traffic around Rijeka tends to be very, very thick.
Opatija is made for guest with a lot of $$$ in their pockets but it can
be nice to have a stop for a coffe. Bare in mind that the traffic
around Rijeka and Opatija is very, very heavy, even for a motorbike and
you could end up spending even one hour to get to Opatija.
- the peninsula of Istria (the triangle Rijeka - Pula - Trieste) is
very nice with a lot of private pensions, family restaurants and
domestic food. If you don't have the time to visit the inland of
Istria, at least have a stop in Groznjan on the way to Portoroz and
Slovenia. Groznjan is a very nice little town for maybe few hundret
people based on a top a small hil. It's very scenic.
- regarding Trieste, if you do plan to continue to Alps, then this is
ok. If you just want to reach Austria, take into consideration to mind
Trieste and to ride through Slovenia as the west of Slovenia and the
Julian Alps with lakes Bled and Bohinj are beautyfull...

If you go that way. tell me how you got on with Insurance. I was going to use the same route. But could not get insurance. So changed to ride down Italy and then cross in to Greece.
John933

Wann
 

Hi Tobi, wann warst du da?
(When have you been there?)

Great info SixDays06, I'll research it more

Do you mean personal or car insurance John933? I'll have to doublecheck mine as I took it out to cover a whole list of countries with possible different routes in mind.

For you it would be car insurance. But for me I've been looking for bike insurance to travel further afield. So far no one in the UK will give out side EU. And that's a bummer.
John933

Maybe you can purchase it at the various borders? I've not done this route before, but that's what I have done in the past for other countries.