UK to Istanbul - spoilt for choice?

I'm changing jobs... End current one at the end of August, am starting new one on either the 19th or 26th Sept...

Now the plan is to go to Istanbul for a while to see the in-laws, buy some new suits, etc etc. (1 week or so), which gives me about 2 weeks of biking time. So I've been thinking of some things to do...

1) Bike to Istanbul as quickly as poss and spend 2 weeks touring Turkey (i.e. UK - Italy - Greece - Turkey)
2) Bike the scenic route to Istanbul, going via Hungary, Czech republic etc. etc.
3) Bike somewhere else, then fly to Istanbul

Suggestions anyone?

L

I'm in the very early stages of planning the same trip with a couple of mates for spring 2006.

At this stage I don't really have any advice to give (sorry) but will be interested in yours and other peoples experiances.

So far we are planning on doing the scenic route (former E Europe countries) on the way there and the 'Med' route on the return and are allowing ourselves a similar amount of time as you.
Working on 6000 miles total for the trip, if you ride every day you are still looking at 450 mile days so not sure you'd have a lot of time in Istanbul unless you resign yourself to a few 'head down' motorway blasts to gain some time.
We are still wondering what to do about this TBH - may even extend the time a bit to allow us a day off or two.

Andres

I did Istanbul a couple of years ago. Left Chesham (north London) at 5 in the morning, tanked it to Ancona in Italy for the overnight ferry, then tanked it across Greece. Whole trip took 2 and a half days. I took a more leisurely route back (a week) and can vouch for spending more time in Greece than the Alps - excellent roads (including some gravel) less traffic and cheaper to boot.

Thanks for that - even with the ferry that was some going!

Looks like I'm gonna' have to start doing a bit more research and look at all my options

Cheers
Andres

Have a look at motochallenge.com Nick Sanders is running a trip from Uk to Turkey starting on 3 September until 19th. There are 12 bikes going at present, travelling down through Eastern Europe to Istanbul and then touring in Turkey for a week. Once back in Istanbul it is up to you to plan your own route home or follow the other riders back. It is worth calling Nick, as you might be able to do the bit down to Istanbul and have some company and then suit yourself, once there.

L said:

Suggestions anyone?

L

Click to expand...

Send Bert a PM. He did it earlier this year via Romania, Bulgaria etc. and will have some stop-overs, routes and general advice about the bike option.