I'm at the very beginning of strategizing an all-inclusive moto tour of the Alps for a few riding buddies however I'm 100% ignorant as to what to avoid and/or aim for. Only requirements are to hit Germany and some nice twisty Alpy bits. I welcome any and all input. Edelweiss or approved equal seem like the way to go... but see sentence number one. Whose done this type of trip and what can to pass along to the equivalent of a travelling luddite. No timeframe, moderate budget, huge thanks.
Curious what others think on this topic. In my research I’m leaning towards this alternative to Edelweiss http://www.knopftours.com/Web-Site/Rental.html
I don't know if I can talk you out of all-inclusive, but its so EASY and CHEAP to ride the Alps on your own. The dollar is super strong right now, so everything is a bargain. Fly into Milan, grab a new Multistrada from HP Motorrad Rentals, head north to Lake Como, or NE to Cortina, then ride the passos to your heart's content. Hit up all the Dolomite passes, head West to Mittenvald, then further west to Lake Geneva, down to Annecy, Chamonix, etc. Then back to Milan. Do the Alpine loop. You can grab a 4/5 star hotel anywhere at 5 PM for 100-150 euro a night, then walk into the village and eat local food and drink great wine and beer. I've ridden like every square inch of the Alps, so hit me up for some ideas. If you talk to me about it for a bit, you can save probably more than 50% of what the all-inclusive tour companies charge, and I believe have a better experience. Just my 0.02
Germany - Austria - Italy - Switzerland is a great loop. Rent bikes in Germany and go clockwise or counterclockwise. Where you stop would depend on what everyone is into. Castles? Mountain Chalets? Beer and wine tourism? Lots of possibilities and between norther Italy, Austria and southern Germany you can see BMW, Ducati, Ferrari, MotoGuzzi, KTM, and some other great Motorsport stuff.
So I push my retirement back 18 months. Who am I kidding, I'll never retire. I sure could use a semi-catered moto trip thru some pointy hills. And spiced kraut.
That's an interesting link. So they square away the bike, cell phone, and lodging and you basically have to grab a map and connect the dots however you see fit?
And if you want to do the mother of all Alps rides, after the loop, head down the incomparable Dalmation Coast to Split, Croatia (its not that far), take the overnight ferry to Ancona, Italy, then ride back up to Milan. We did that last year before the Mugello MotoGP race. And of course, no moto tour of Italy would be complete without attending Mugello.
Here’s my $0.02 skip the all inclusive. Unless you want zero planning and just Riede eat sleep. be careful with speeding in Switzerland. 2 (two) over is $70 , 10 over several hundred. I’m with Motion in renting in Italy but I’m biased. There’s no real advantage to renting in Germany, other than going straight on the A81 or A96 for no speed limit. What I’ve always done in the past: There’s a quaint b’n’b right in Tyrol at the “Jaufenpass” Pensione Bergsicht Valtina, 81, 39015 San Leonardo In Passiria BZ, Italy +39 0473 656284 https://goo.gl/maps/muxaGFp1Sk4piwHq9 last time it was 25 euros a night with breakfast. across the street is a hotel with restaurant. From there you can do a day trip to the stelvio to the west and a day trip to do the “sella - loop” going up from Brixen in the west. And everything in between. Ride towards Germany, Italy, ... all there.
sounds like a great offer and Heidelberg is worth seeing. Plus there’s quite a few Kilometers towards the Alps without speed limit
I have rented bikes from and stored one with Stephan Knopf and his operation is superb. They have it all worked out where you fly to Frankfurt, they get you to Heidelberg, stay at their place the first night to adjust to the jet lag and the next morning get you checked out on your bike and off you go! I also recommend purchasing John Hermann’s book, “motorcycle touring through the Alps and Corsica”. It is a thorough guide to everything worth riding in these areas with brief descriptions and recommended routes and one day rides etc. Without that book, you risk riding right by an attraction or location/town that you could have stopped and taken in and really enjoyed. The problem with the group guided tours Is that they follow the schedule each day of the slowest rider, Lots of waiting around to receive instructions on the days route etc., and it tends to be a group cluster each morning as everyone is trying to get their act together. You might meet some nice people on a group tour, but my experience is that there is always at least one asshole in the group that kind of ruins it for everyone else. Ever stay at a beautiful mountain lodge, get up early to enjoy the peaceful morning and have somebody decide they want to warm their bike up and sit there revving it when everybody else is just shaking their head? Or the dickhead who wants to complain about everything. In my opinion it’s best to go with a group of your own friends, and just set it up through Knopf, and consult Hermann’s book. You can’t go wrong.
Part of me wants to do a mindless tour where someone holds our hands. Part of me wants to get dropped of in the middle of nowhere and find my way thru. For the 1st time ever in another country I'll probably lean towards hand-holding.
Sounds like a wonderful trip one way or the other. My big Japan tour got canned at the last minute after many months of planning . Japan is just too odd for me to go over there on my own (at least the first time). For that tour, I went with Ayers rather than Edelweiss because they have smaller tour groups, and you can be a little more flexible. They have been great to deal with in the worst conditions (cancellation, virus, etc.), so that bodes well for them being good to deal with when we (hopefully) get to go again next year. On my first Isle of Man trip, I went with a very small tour operator and it worked out well. That was my first bike tour overseas, and while a somewhat gentle introduction to overseas bike travel (not TOO much of a language barrier!), it was still good to have help. We did our other IOM/UK trips on our own. Even on our first tour, we took some time afterwards to tour on our own, so that is an option as well to "learn the ropes".
Its almost easier getting around those countries than in the US. Everyone speaks English (at least in the hospitality biz), and the infrastructure is better than ours. They are less uptight about everything for the most part. Easier to get along with and you don't have to worry about getting killed if you look at someone the wrong way. With Google maps on your phone, mounted on your handlebars with a Ram X-grip claw mount, you have everything you need.
just ordered the fifth edition of the John Herman's book. the wife and i have been wanting to do an out of country bike trip, for awhile. we were leaning toward the Mcleod trips, as they incorporate tours of the ducati factory, and or track days at moto gp tracks. she wants to do mugello, where i was leaning toward Australia and phillip island. Ski
