Wales to Croatia in October

[Pughy]

Hi All

I am riding down to see my Son who works near Split in Croatia 1st week in October via the Stelvio Pass and then Trieste.

Any advice on Croatia?

One thing I have noticed with any route finder / mapping software it tries to take you via Ancona in Italy and then on the Ferry to Split . I cant find one that will let you go through Slovenia to Rijeka and then down to Split...........is Slovenia no go or something?

Any help would be appreciated

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Hi All

I am riding down to see my Son who works near Split in Croatia 1st week in October via the Stelvio Pass and then Trieste.

Any advice on Croatia?

One thing I have noticed with any route finder / mapping software it tries to take you via Ancona in Italy and then on the Ferry to Split . I cant find one that will let you go through Slovenia to Rijeka and then down to Split...........is Slovenia no go or something?

Any help would be appreciated

No Garmin mapping for the area perhaps

Slovenia is great

Buy some Michelin Maps for the Balkans and follow your own route

Incidentally............... there was life and route planning BEFORE GPS - it's not essential or even best

 

[GS TRV]

Just follow the coast down from Trieste - as long as you see the water on your right you can't go wrong

p.s Slovenia is great

 

[Pughy]

Maps????

What's a Map Johnny lol yea take your point, I was just trying to get a bit of an idea of general directions and found it a bit spooky that they all try and send my via the Ferry.............perhaps they all have shares !

 

[Pughy]

Thanks

Cheers Trev,,,,,sounds nice and easy

 

[jameshough]

Croatia

I have just come back from a trip which eventually took us through Slovenia and into Croatia, and then as far as Dubrovnik.
As you enter Slovenia you will be required to buy a motorway vignette, this is for six months and is fairly expensive, especially as motorways and motor roads in the country are few and far between. Very nice country though. Croatia is not a problem use a map, and follow the coast, its a superb scenic ride. BUT the drivers are a bit scary at times just a bit of caution needed.
When we were there motorcaravans were a bit of a pain driving in convoy at slow speeds, but later during the year they have probably all gone home.

 

[Dave Barrett]

I read today that it looks like the ADAC (German motoring organisation) have been successful in their campaign for Slovenia to have short-term Vignettes. It may well happen that the EU will delay the Slovenian Vignettes. Anyway, it's much better to enjoy Slovenia on roads other than motorways!

Croatian coast roads can be full of traffic with no (legal) overtaking possibilities. If it gets too much, the inland (mountain) roads are just as good, if not better, if of course you can live without looking at the sea through a diesel black smoke haze

 

[Nigelrojo]

The Slovenian motorway vignette for 6 months for bikes costs 17 Euros. It's a bit tricky avoiding the motorway altogether if you intend going through Ljubljana (which, BTW, is well worth an overnight stop, lots of good restaurants and bars). Don't avoid Slovenia though, it's a really great little country.

 

[Zundapp]

The Slovenian motorway vignette for 6 months for bikes costs 17 Euros. It's a bit tricky avoiding the motorway altogether if you intend going through Ljubljana (which, BTW, is well worth an overnight stop, lots of good restaurants and bars). Don't avoid Slovenia though, it's a really great little country.

Don't miss Slovenia - one of the best places we visited travelling from Scotland to Transylvania. In Ljubljana we stayed in a hostel which was originally the town jail, you can still sleep in a cell for the experience! And the old jail yard is jam packed with interesting 'underground' pubs. Don't be put off by the graffiti there - it's all for atmospheric effect.

Route 66 mapping gives reasonable coverage of the main roads + cities and didn't let us down. Even took us right to Dracula's front door...

In eastern Europe dobuy the motorway vignettes. We didn't, and in Slovakia, for not paying the vignette cost of about £3.60, we ended up paying almost £100 for not having one. The cops weren't picking on foreign reg no's either, they simply stopped the motorway traffic and checked everyone.

Croatia was the only border (out of 18) where they stamped our passports. Then they actually chased us for taking photos. Didn't get a friendly feeling there at all. It's probably different on the coastal areas though.

 

[Number 6]

It may well happen that the EU will delay the Slovenian Vignettes. /QUOTE]

Slovenian vignettes are required as from July this year. However, they are unobtainable on the motorways and the customs are carrying out checks on the service areas and border crossings. 3 of our group were caught last week and had to pay 150 Euro each and then buy a car vignette at 35 Euro because there weren't any bike ones I met a UK rider who had also just been fined 150 Euro in Austria for no vignette. Swiss poilce were also checking at the border at Basle. You can buy all the vignettes in the neighbouring countries.

 

[blobcat]

Slovenia is great and quite bike friendly although some of the locals can be quite aggressive in their cars. I can also recommend the Wurzenpass to get into Slovenia from Austria as it saves the +20euro toll for the tunnel and has some great views of the Julian alps when riding down the south side.

 

[LittleMark]

My best tip for getting to Croatia:

AUTOZUG!!!!

http://www.dbautozug.de/site/dbautozug/en/start.html

You and your bike can get on a train in Dusseldorf or Frankfurt - Germany, travel overnight and arrive in Villach in southern Austria (right next to the border with Slovenia) the following morning. Avoid all the boring motorway riding and the built up areas of Germany, and arrive right in the mountains with all their glorious roads!!!
You also get to meet loads of other bikers (OK mostly Germans) and have a good old knees up on the train!

Highly recommended (if a bit scary riding the bike on and off).