Help me plan my London through Europe trip

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Krime

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I'm living in the UK for 4 months now, and in september I'll have 7-9 days on a bike for my vacation. I'll be picking it up from London and hoping to travel through some of the best routes and views in Europe. I did Southern Spain in March and loved it, but beyond London and Spain I haven't seen any more of Europe.

I'm thinking this so far: London - Paris - Switzerland - Italy (Stevio Pass) - ?? Then back through germany to tip of france (for train back to London)?

I'll have 7 to 9 days and will be travelling with my girlfriend (who I won't be seeing much of for 4 months), so we don't want to be short for time rushing from one place to another. We'd like to have the time to take in the scenery and a bit of the culture from one place to the next. Any recommendations would be great for countries to visit, roads to take, places to see, etc. (given our time frame and pace).

Much appreciated!

- Erik
 
Southern france...the gorge du Verdon. Switzerland is good if you have the cash...pricey country. Traffic in Paris will drive you insane.
 
I presume you are doing the Dover to Calais thing.

If you were doing Southampton to Le Havre i would recommend visiting the d-day beaches, juno, arromanche, bayeux tapestry before making your way south.

Monte Carlo/Monaco would be on my list of places to visit.
 
Jayv said:
I presume you are doing the Dover to Calais thing.

If you were doing Southampton to Le Havre i would recommend visiting the d-day beaches, juno, arromanche, bayeux tapestry before making your way south.

Monte Carlo/Monaco would be on my list of places to visit.
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If it were me I'd do Provence with the gorge du Verdon thrown in too, Cannes , Antibes, Nice, Monte Carlo, then on to Ventimiglia in Italy and along the coast, maybe take a side trip up to the Italian/French alps around Isola 2000. I prefer southern Europe to northern Europe, better climate and better scenery/roads (plus Mediterranean beaches).
 
Check out http://www.bestbikingroads.com/ . I used it to plan an 8 day tour we did through the Pyrenees from Barcelona to Pamplona & back in May. If you plan to get to northern Spain, pm me & I'll send you a link to our specific route. Roads were amazing, weather was perfect and traffic almost nonexistant.

We met an older couple traveling 2 up on a VFR1200 for 2 weeks. They were from the UK and took the ferry http://www.directferries.co.uk/spain.htm . If you did this, you could probably do our route in reverse.

Have fun!
 
Face said:
Check out http://www.bestbikingroads.com/ . I used it to plan an 8 day tour we did through the Pyrenees from Barcelona to Pamplona & back in May. If you plan to get to northern Spain, pm me & I'll send you a link to our specific route. Roads were amazing, weather was perfect and traffic almost nonexistant.

We met an older couple traveling 2 up on a VFR1200 for 2 weeks. They were from the UK and took the ferry http://www.directferries.co.uk/spain.htm. If you did this, you could probably do our route in reverse.

Have fun!
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Very cool, thanks for the link and tips. Likely we won't make it to Northern Spain, especially after having just done Southern Spain in March (which was incredible!).

I presume you are doing the Dover to Calais thing.

If you were doing Southampton to Le Havre i would recommend visiting the d-day beaches, juno, arromanche, bayeux tapestry before making your way south.

Monte Carlo/Monaco would be on my list of places to visit.
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Figuring out the details but looking to start our journey very early morning via the high-speed ferry from Poole, UK to Cherbourg, France. This works out perfectly for visiting the D-day beaches on our way to paris - thanks for this!

If it were me I'd do Provence with the gorge du Verdon thrown in too, Cannes , Antibes, Nice, Monte Carlo, then on to Ventimiglia in Italy and along the coast, maybe take a side trip up to the Italian/French alps around Isola 2000. I prefer southern Europe to northern Europe, better climate and better scenery/roads (plus Mediterranean beaches).
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Very helpful thank you. I'm thinking we'll plan to visit the sourthern part of france for awhile, maybe ride up the french/italian alps and into Switzerland. Would love to ride the Stelvio pass into Italy and then visit the northern italian lakes. Thinking then to go into Germany's black forest, along the rhine river to visit the vineyards there (girlfriend is a sommelier). Maybe from there head up along the west part of germany to Nurburgring? Wouldn't mind riding the Autobahn to see what it's like - but am mindful it won't be scenic, so would only do it for a shorter run. Then figure we'd pass through belgium back into Northern france and get the tunnel train from Calias to Dover to end the trip. Getting these tips from the rental agency owner - I'm liking them but need to find out more details and specific routes.

If all goes to plan I'll be getting a GS1200 - I'm thinking the GPS will be a worthwhile rental at 40 pounds a week. Will need to be sure to avoid Switzerland overnight - I've heard from 4 people so far, of how expensive it is there.
 
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Poole used to have a huge bike meet at nights, I am not sure if it still happens. Verwood is close to poole that's where crescent Suzuki shop is based(wsbk) team. Also ride through the new forest, you won't believe your eyes until you see pigs,donkeys and horses roaming free.
 
Look up Riva del Garda on a map and head there.

Riva_1.jpg


There are a million and 1 different ways there whcih could take you thru many great European cities. The pay off is that from Riva every road is a dream to ride. Verona is only about 1 hour away which is an outstanding Roman city. Google it. It's a small city but extremely well preserved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verona_Arena

http://www.veronissima.com/sito_inglese/html/tour-verona-underground.html

http://www.virtualtourist.com/trave...24/Things_To_Do-Verona-Romeo_Juliet-BR-1.html

Also from Riva del Garda the Ferrari factory and museum is about 2 hours and the Ducati factory is another 20 minutes from the Ferrari factory. Both have museums. Venice is 2 hours from Riva as well.

At a decent pace you could do London to Riva in 2 days, including the crossing. Use the Channel tunnel train. Its the dearest crossing but the quickest. So you could have plenty of time to stop along the way. If you choose to do it then choose a completely different route to come home by. When I did it I overnighted in Strasbourg on the way there and at Dijon, France on the way home.

St Gotthard Pass;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYQCOX28GW0

Road from Verona to Riva del Garda;

[video=youtube;NKMvZCmoetU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKMvZCmoetU[/video]





btw, Paris is a ********. Unless you're truly desperate to see the Eiffel Tower give it a miss. And even driving through Switzerland may cost you as you have to purchase and display a vignette;

http://www.tolltickets.com/country/swiss/vignette.aspx?lang=en-GB

Check if the rental bike already has one. If not then don't avoid Switzerland. The roads are too good to avoid. And yes, in the main Switzerland is expensive so plan to drive thru it. However when you get to the Alpine areas there are cheaper hotels and pensions to be had. Monte Carlo/Monaco sounds appealing but the traffic is so bad there usually that you can't exactly get to speed thru the Lowes tunnel. Trust me, I tried.

And if you're in London then;

http://www.ace-cafe-london.com/default.aspx
 
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If you go Strasbourg way then head through the Vosges and stop off at Natzweiler Struthof....I promise you'll never forget what you see there, take a tour. The Vosges are really pretty and Alsace has a great history.
 
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Gorges-du-Verdon-France.jpg


Thats the Gorge du Verdon....there's a windy, impossibly narrow road that runs at the top of the canyon that's pretty amazing...the road to get there runs through some lovely villages and there's cheap camping around too.

Brings back memories..I crashed a rented VW Golf GTi into some concrete bollards near there...that was after my buddy totalled our previous car a few hours after we got off the ferry in Northern France. Long story.
 
Fiery, Great tips thank you. Riva del Garda looks incredible - I've got this on my list. Found out it's 2.5 hours directly south of the Stelvio pass, which is great. We're opting out of Paris, sounds like it just won't be worth the hassle. Somewhere to fly into in the future, but not during a ride. Thanks for the Vignette heads up in Switzerland - looks like you have to pay for the full year at 45 euro which is a pain. Austria has a similair deal but you can get a 10 day pass for 5 euro which is much more reasonable.

Gorge du Verdon looks incredible. Trying to weight out whether we go that far south... I'd love to, especially riding up along the french alps, it's suppose to be amazing. Just concerned for time. We've got 10 days.

Got the bike booked as of last night!

483355_194091347360154_1868090606_n.jpg
 
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