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  1. #1
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    Eurovelo experience?

    Does anyone have experience riding the full distance Eurovelo routes? I'm mostly interested in Eurovelo 6 in western Europe and Eurovelo 8 through the Balkans. In particular, are there hostels, hotels, inns, etc.? Everything I read is focused on the camping bike tourer, but Mrs. P is not going to camp for 90 days in a row.

  2. #2
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    I've daydreamed a bunch looking at Eurovelo routes, but that's as far as I've gotten.

    Definitely interested though.
    Quote Originally Posted by powder11 View Post
    if you have to resort to taking advice from the nitwits on this forum, then you're doomed.

  3. #3
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    I have done the basic equivalent of 8 from trieste south to nw greece. The Eurovelo routes are great as suggestions but its pretty easy to better them in some areas- For example along the coast of Croatia the main cycling route is along an awful coastal highway but its easy to use ferries, islands and back roads to get a great experience.
    You can island hop much of the croatian coast then for a different experience its an option to veer inland to the Ciro trail through Bosnia and on to Montenegro. Don't miss Kotor and Korcula. Dubrovnik can be nice but too many peeps. Then take the Albanian "Riviera" to Greece.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by gettinfat View Post
    I have done the basic equivalent of 8 from trieste south to nw greece. The Eurovelo routes are great as suggestions but its pretty easy to better them in some areas- For example along the coast of Croatia the main cycling route is along an awful coastal highway but its easy to use ferries, islands and back roads to get a great experience.
    You can island hop much of the croatian coast then for a different experience its an option to veer inland to the Ciro trail through Bosnia and on to Montenegro. Don't miss Kotor and Korcula. Dubrovnik can be nice but too many peeps. Then take the Albanian "Riviera" to Greece.
    Thank you. How about accommodations?

  5. #5
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    I did Eurovelo 6 from Sancerre to Nantes mostly following the route.

    It ruined bike touring in America for me. Showed me I love being a softy -- well-marked routes, friendly cars, easy to drink beer/wine, eat well, and sleep comfortably. I stayed in a variety of inns/AirBnBs along the way with no problems and some great memories. Accommodations were easy to find in my experience along that sector. Obviously, others more remote may be a bit harder.

    Along the route.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Planning to get back in a '23 for Vienna -> Budapest with the wife.

  6. #6
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    Pretty darn easy to find accommodation in the balkans- sometimes a lot easier than a place to camp. I tend to not plan much in advance unless I worried about places filling up. Booking.com works in a ton of places (not turkey) and using google translate and asking peeps on the street works fine. In any of the southern european coastal areas going before season ( pre july) air after mid sept. is key to unlocking tons of great lodging values and a better experience while not cooking yourself. Should you choose to try the Ciro be advised that the promo videos online don't really reflect the experience. there's no surface water at all in the region (karst) and towards the southern end you travel through areas that still have mines- the trail is safe but you aren't going exploring off trail. The tunnels are interesting- huge bats get scared by your lights and fly around you as you pedal. There are 2 restored train stations that are worth visiting or staying in and the cave near the southern of the 2 is super cool -literally. We had lunch at the one near the cave and a great meal for 2 with wine and dessert was about 15$.

  7. #7
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    Peruvian, the Balkans in general offer some of the best touring i have seen, great coast and mountains, Nice people great food and usually quite reasonable.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by gettinfat View Post
    Peruvian, the Balkans in general offer some of the best touring i have seen, great coast and mountains, Nice people great food and usually quite reasonable.
    Great stuff, gettinfat. I appreciate your insights.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by gettinfat View Post
    I have done the basic equivalent of 8 from trieste south to nw greece. The Eurovelo routes are great as suggestions but its pretty easy to better them in some areas- For example along the coast of Croatia the main cycling route is along an awful coastal highway but its easy to use ferries, islands and back roads to get a great experience.
    You can island hop much of the croatian coast then for a different experience its an option to veer inland to the Ciro trail through Bosnia and on to Montenegro. Don't miss Kotor and Korcula. Dubrovnik can be nice but too many peeps. Then take the Albanian "Riviera" to Greece.
    We drove Tirana to Split a few years ago and even in a car the coast was not always an ideal route. Tough to miss the views but I agree on looking inland for pedaling. Looks like EV8 has a slip of the northern Croatia coast, but I’d turn north from
    Venice and loop through Triglav/SLO then come south and island hop down from Krk.

    Kotor = yes!
    Albania = yes! And if you have a couple extra days, get up to Valbona for an out and back.

  10. #10
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    The Julian alps (triglav, bled etc. would be a good add) was pretty easy to use trains there to change scenery quickly. We got out into the islands from Rijeka but you could also hop a ferry from venice to Pula and then ride a bit of coast to Zagorje and start island hopping there. I really like how easy ferries are with a bike.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by gettinfat View Post
    The Julian alps (triglav, bled etc. would be a good add) was pretty easy to use trains there to change scenery quickly. We got out into the islands from Rijeka but you could also hop a ferry from venice to Pula and then ride a bit of coast to Zagorje and start island hopping there. I really like how easy ferries are with a bike.
    More great insights. We are not married to cycling every inch and don't mind hopping a train or ferry if it means a better experience. I hear nightmare stories of riding into some urban areas and assume we will just figure out how to get our bikes/gear on transit and go 'downtown' that way.

  12. #12
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    The use of alternative transport to exit a metro area is a great benefit. Sometimes it seems the actual downtowns/waterfronts are not too bad to ride its just everything else on the way in and out that sucks or is stupid busy/dangerous. I've found that to be the case whether in Hanoi or lisbon or athens.

  13. #13
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    I was living in Denmark (just north of Copenhagen) the past few years and, have ridden big chunks of both the EuroVelo 12 route, and the Danish portion of EuroVelo10

    For EuroVelow 12, I rode the part point to point north to south from Gothenberg Sweden, down along the western Swedish coast to Helsinborg, then took the ferry over to Demark (20 minute ride, piece of cake) and continue on home down the Danish coast to my home just north of Copenhagen. This portion of the route is known as Kattegatleden (named from the Kattegat straight between Denmark & Sweden) and was name as the best cycle route in Europe in 2018. The coast you travel through and the towns along the way made it one of the most glorious trips I've ever done. It's just a smidge under 300 miles from Gothenberg to Helsingborg and we did it in a leisurely 3 days during Fall of 2020 staying in hotels along the way. There is a complete guide here: https://kattegattleden.se/en Highly recommend this route. Gettting to Gothenberg via train from either Copenhagen or Helgsingborg or Malmo is extremely easy and cheap with or without bikes.

    Separate from this trip, I've ridden the parts of the EV 12 along the western Danish coast as well. I did most of this route in a point to point 130 mile gravel race that went along the coast and was one of the most unique events I've ever done. It started in "Cold Hawaii" in the Danish town of Kiltmoller than ended in their northernmost town of Skagen (pronounced "Skayne") where the Baltic Sea meets the North Sea. I've ridden this portion of the coast in the Race Around Denmark 900KM offroad race in 2020. The western Danish coast had some of the best sunrises and sunsets I've ever seen.

    The EV10 route that goes throught he middle Danish island of Fyn (Funen) is incredible also...just hundreds of miles or rolling peaceful pastures and coastline dotted with thatched-roof litte towns along the way, and very little cars.

    Man - I sure do miss living there! (am back in Northern California at the moment).

    As for the bits of EuroVelo 10 I've done in Denmark, they were all day trips....the portion that encircles the island of Bornholm was probably my favorite (that whole island is an underground GEM for gravel and casual road cycling, and surprisingly good MTB-ing really only discovery by Danes, Swedes & Germans),

  14. #14
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    Have done small portions only. From a landscape perspective if you are looking into Route 6 I strongly recommend bypassing Germany entirely and stick to the French and Swiss side in the west and resume east of Austria. Which is easy to do since there are good train connections from Basel to Vienna. Traffic in Germany is not a good thing to experience and besides Switzerland it is the priciest place for accommodation.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hicks View Post
    Have done small portions only. From a landscape perspective if you are looking into Route 6 I strongly recommend bypassing Germany entirely and stick to the French and Swiss side in the west and resume east of Austria. Which is easy to do since there are good train connections from Basel to Vienna. Traffic in Germany is not a good thing to experience and besides Switzerland it is the priciest place for accommodation.
    I would imagine meals and accommodations on the Swiss side costs 2-3x what the German side does.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peruvian View Post
    I would imagine meals and accommodations on the Swiss side costs 2-3x what the German side does.
    Nope!

    Switzerland is certainly not a cheap place but compared to southern Germany not by that much, however with clearly better landscapes and less bad traffic in urban areas.

    That said if you want to do it on a budget then better bypass both and stick to the regions east of Austria.

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