2017 Trip Swiss Alps to Sibiu in Romania
 

Planning a 2 to 3 week trip in 2017. I am in the UK but may ship the bike to Geneva to cut the boring bit out (could be changed).
I am still refining the route, but highlights of the trip are:
Geneva to Lake Como onto
Austria and Hungary (Belgrade) then heading down to
Sibiu in Romania, doing the
Transfăgărășan Highway in Romania.
Quite fancy a short 3 day off road bike hire in Sibiu (via KTM Adventure Tours) before heading back to Geneva.

Options for the return are 1) Via Bari - Bar in Monte Negro taking the Ferry to Italy 2) Coast of Croatia 3) Some inland route.

I am riding a KTM 1190 Adventure R and am 51 with some off road riding capabilities. I am looking for fellow travellers that are happy with 250-350 road miles per day, that like a couple of beers on a night and a good laugh (nothing excessive).

The above details are sketchy and no means finalised and would be happy to discuss both timing and the exact route. On my basic reckoning, this is about 2-3 weeks. I was looking for inexpensive accommodation, rather not go camping or rough it in flea pits, but simple clean and scenic.

I indicated a start from Geneva purely because I liked the idea of shipping the bike down and an early flight from the UK, with the first day going from Geneva to Lake Como (starts the trip with a bang) and avoids losing a couple of days of boring motorway riding to Calais.

I am based in the South East in Surrey.

Anyone interested?

Sounds interesting, what time of the year are you thinking of setting off?

Time of Trip
 

To do the enduro off road riding best to aim for summer months, so thinking late June. I can be flexible over timing, but would prefer to avoid August as I have other commitments then.
Regards

Trip Options
 

I have been putting some thought into possible routes, first option was to Sibiu and then head back, this came up as @ 14 days travelling (assuming Geneva start).

But then I thought a better option might be to head south to the Black Sea coast and head towards Istanbul, then off through Bulgaria and into Greece to get the ferry back from Petras to Venice. The beauty of this is the ferry is over night with beds available and gets into Venice at 7am, which would be perfect to get back to Geneva, drop of bikes and off to airport and home.

Trip itinerary would be:

Drop bike Northampton Day 0 Tue 27th June £450.00
Geneva Day 1 Thu 29th June £86.00 BA from LHR Dep 6.45/9.20
Lake Como 228 Day 1 Thu 29th June £100.00 Hotel TBA
Salzburg 281 Day 2 Fri 30th June £80.00 Hotel TBA
Zagreb 265 Day 3 Sat 1st July
Belgrade 280 Day 4 Sun 2nd July
Valcea 253 Day 5 Mon 3rd July
Trans Hw 95 Day 6 Tue 4th July
Sibiu 150 Day 6 Tue 4th July
Sibiu 100 Day 7 Wed 5th July
Sibiu Day 8 Thu 6th July £720.00 €800 for Trail riding
Sibiu Day 9 Fri 7th July Day 2 Off Road Riding (Rental Bike)
Sibiu Day 10 Sat 8th July Day 3 Off Road Riding (Rental Bike)
Constanta 337 Day 11 Sun 9th July
Istanbul 416 Day 12 Mon 10th July
Thessalonika Day 13 Tue 11th July
Patras 718 Day 14 Thu 13th July £170.00 Ferry to Venice
Venice Day 16 Sat 15th July 31 hours, arrive 7am Saturday
Geneva 360 Day 16 Sat 15th July BA from Gen 21.20/21.55

This sounds like a pretty good route. Anyone with suggestions on warnings or improvements, would love to hear.

Cheers.

Nice. Do not miss Transalpina.

Hi, wouldn't mind meeting up for part of the trip.

I lived in Belgrade for 5 years up until end 2015, before that 10 years in Cyprus but Welsh born and bred.

Also have a KTM 1190 adv, currently residing in a lock up in Belgrade.

Have ridden extensively through Serbia, down in to Bosnia, Croatia and up to Hungary, Slovakia. Across Romania to Moldova in to Transnistria. Plus most of the rest of Europe. Prefer the east...

Will be back and forth Serbia through the year, skiing, visiting friends, plus the other outdoor stuff.

Im 53 by the way...

That sounds great, I am considering a couple of changes. Specifically changing the start date to August 17th. The reason is that the Serres Rally in Greece is on at the end of August (finishing 2nd Sept) and I have a buddy riding in it, so was planning to stop there for 2 days (instead of Thessalonika).

Are u interested in the Short Romanian Enduro Tour out of Sibiu as well?

Would be good to talk further, as I would really appreciate some local knowledge of the best routes (rather than those I dig up off the internet).

Cheers.

Possibly. Im pretty free with my time...

Here's an album, if this works, showing some photos of Southern Serbia and Bosnia. A friend owns a BnB on the river Drina, Verpolje, where I used to go to relax. He used to run off road trips in the mountains in the area.

Cost per night including fresh grub and rakia was a 1000 dinars, about 7 quid. Rooms were immaculate with en suite.

Friendliest nation I've ever met and the safest City I've ever lived in was Belgrade.

https://goo.gl/photos/ir3DnAGzN56AyHvb9

Hi there

i Did NL to Dusseldorf by road,
Dusseldorf Vienna by Train
Vienna to Sibiu by road again
I have attached a print screen of my plan with distance, Hotel and cost

Hope this is helpful


Cheers
LC

Why http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ons/icon13.gif ?

Thanks for that option, certainly worth investigating. But my idea was to avoid the boring motorway roads at the start and end of the trip that basically adds 4 days onto the adventure (would prefer to explore further on far away roads).
Keep the suggestions coming as all this is improving the trip.

Latest Notes:
Trans Alpina and Trans Transfagarasan added as options

Considering Serbia and Bosnia options following Nicks suggestions and he has great local knowledge cheers Nick).

Departure now later in August to bring in Serres Rally.

Any limit in numbers? Im would be interested in this trip.

Im 51 but Im not on a KTM, have a 1200GS at the moment. Although Im considering a change.

Will keep an eye on this thread.

Not really. Im not a professional trip organiser, this is just me putting down where I want to go to. Ideally a group of 5-6 would be perfect, but Im happy to do all or parts of the trip on my own.
No problem with the bike choice. The dirt biking is on rental bikes see
Enduro Paradise Short Tour 2015, Enduro Tours Romania, Transylvania area, guided enduro tour

Adventure bikes I believe are ideal for high mileage comfort plus ease of riding on less than perfect roads. See this link on the target roads I am looking to ride:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ont7WhVqMGU

Looks great. I am certainly very interested.

Although I am swaying more towards riding to Vienna, maybe meeting there, as I would like to do some of the roads through the Black Forest.

Plotted a basic route into Google Maps and came back with this:

https://goo.gl/maps/jUez2e5dSt42

Where we have the most options is between Lake Como (I really want to go there) and Sibiu (base for good road riding and off road riding), between these 2 destinations there are many possibilities.

Any suggestions on routes or good alternatives.

One further variation, we leave Lake Como on Friday Morning, would be good to go somewhere fun on a Saturday night.