Hi All!
I have been a member of the forum for a while now but this is my first post, so here goes:-)
Myself (I´m English) and two of my Danish freinds are busy planning a trip from Denmark to Istanbul. We´re leaving on the 31st March 2015 and returning on the 14th April, that gives us 15 days.
Our route will be taking us from Denmark through Germany over Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Rumania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovania, Austria and then back through Germany to Denmark.
I'm on my Tiger 800xc and they're on their GS1200's.
We are planning on an average of approx 500kms a day. Some days a little more and some days a lot less. Most of the roughly 7000kms will be on tarmac but we will also be covering some gravel and offroad riding aswell. The first day on the way out of Denmark and the last day on the way back home will be high kilometer days so that we can cut the average per day down on the remaining 12 or 13 days that we have left. The majority of the time we plan to wild camp but some nights I expect we'll be lured by the luxury of b&b
If anyone has any helpful hints as regards border crossings, weather problems we can expect, visa problems, places to stay, must visit destinations etc....I / we would really appreciate it.
Thanks for reading :-)

I went down to Turkey last year on my own, from UK. I took the direct motorway route, through Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria (my 3rd night was in Sofia). The next day I was at the Turkey border by 13:00. It took me about 1 hour to get through the border including getting a visa and getting the bike x-rayed. Your papers are checked many times!
The other borders were easy, one police guy asked if I had in my camelback. Oh on the Bulgarian border after clearing all the paperwork a big dog decided to bite my boot as I rode off but he could not keep up with a 1200GS.

I stayed in Istanbul a couple of days and then rode down to Cappadocia (where I camped) and then to the Eufrates river, and then back along the south coast. Generally riding was easy in Turkey, a litle busy in the towns but no problem, but Istanbul is very busy and drivers were impatient, no fun. I stayed in small hotels which were cheap outside Istanbul. After Turkey I came into Greece by road and again the border was easy, and later I took a ferry back to Italy.

However from travelling around the Balkans on earlier trips you will need to get insurance(green card) at the border of Montenegro and Bosnia. For Turkey I got a green card before I left for Uk. I believe I also got a translation of my driving lisence.

As for distances, I was doing just over 500 miles per day down to Sofia. In Turkey where the roads were of a mixed standard, then 250 - 350 was more normal. I took 20 days for the total trip for just unded 6,000 miles or 10,000km.

If interested, and sitting comfortable you could scan my trip report on another site - Candover Valley UK to Euphrates Valley Turkey - Updated with pictures.

Hope this info is some help. Enjoy your trip.

Hi Jim Lad

Just finished reading ur travel blog. Sounds like an amazing 20 days away & would love to do it myself sometime. Brilliant reading and will have to look at it again from home as my work tinternet bocks all the pics!

And RADDZZ, goog luck with the planning and look forward to hearing about ur trip

Thanks Bones. Glad you enjoyed the read. Hope you get down there yourself sometime.

Just viewed again from home so I could see the pics this time. Even better read with a or 2 on board!. Fair play you certainly crunched some daily miles...

I did Balkans and Southern Europe trip on MC in September/October incl. Slovenia, italy and France.

Two point you must be careful is: 500 kms/day bit much. 15 days for such big geography is not enough. Most of your time will be spend on roads. No time left for local culture and sightseeing. Add a possible malfunction. May be better to narrow the geography if not possible to widen the time...

If you are going to leave late March and return mid April, weather conditions will be freezing in some places... Especially Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia and austria... Do you aware of that?

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