Budapest to Istanbul Motorcycle Tour

This is a 9 country 4200 km motorcycle tour, starting and ending in Budapest, running 14 riding days. The tour leaves Budapest (Hungary) and after Croatian, Plitvice lakes, is following the Adriatic shore, than Montenegro and Macedonia comes inland, in Greece out to the Aegean shore, than Turkey with Marmara Sea and the city of Istanbul on Bosphorus, turning back to Bulgarian Black Sea shore, cutting trough Romania and Transylvania arrives back to Budapest. The specific info, like detailed itinerary, accommodations, tour dates lots of pictures and prices is listed on fthmotors.com

We are very proud of this tour, specially because it confirmed our guess that bikers will love this area. The reasons we designed it were multiple, first the two amazing cities: Budapest and Istanbul, they attract millions of people, than the unbelievable mix of scenery and cultural heritage. We also wanted a “big breath” tour that incorporates major highlights of South East Europe. This specific area of the European continent became free of prohibitions, thus a new destination  after ex Jugoslavian war ended and the Balkans revealed their value once again. Many still doubt the safety of these places, some are still afraid to “risk” a holiday on their own, so we’ll offer them a chance to come. It proved to be a success as lots of people showed interest to participate. Soon you’ll understand why.

Here is the scenery, is hard to describe it as it must be seen, just to make an idea imagine, that there are 3 major mountain chains ( Dalmatians, Balkans, Carpathians) the tour is cutting trough, or follows, 4 different lakes (Balaton, Plitvice, Ohrid, Balea) with breathtaking views, 4 different seashores (Adriatic, Aegean, Marmara, Black Sea) with coastal roads.

People of this region make the difference, as they are the most warm and honest in Europe, some of them may be a bit lazy, but because of their honesty and straightness a lot of conflicts can rise. Balkans and whole SE Europe is inhabited by a huge number of ethnic groups, each with its own identity and cultural heritage, sometimes, differences are too big. The languages and temperament you will meet here, are not Anglo-Saxon, not even Latin, not even real Slavonic, it is different from the rest of Europe, you will understand this particular area and its people once you meet them. You will have to deal with languages like Hungarian, Croatian, or Turkish and Bulgarian, you will notice a constant change in people’s physiology as you head from North to South. Same changes in way of building, living, eating, drinking. You will realize that starting from one world in Budapest, you arrive in few days, in a totally different one, Istanbul. You will travel in a space with incredible mixture of cultures and religions, starting from authentic catholic Budapest arriving to Islamic Turkey and Istanbul, the way down here leads trough Orthodox region. In reality these 3 major religions mix with ancient local heritage and give a unique religious environment (for example, once the biggest Christian church, of Konstantinopole, became the Blue Mosque under Islam, examples are many). The beauty, is the journey between these two pillars of this region, as well as the two cities, of course.

The road conditions of this tour are excellent, coastal roads can be sometimes crowded in Croatia, roads signs and directions are confusing in Bulgaria, the two major cities are absolutely crowded.

Some aspects of a journey like this can be really stressing if on your own. The tour implicates a lot of border crossings with all the issues related to visa, health insurance, vehicle insurances, road taxes, highway tickets. As you travel 9 countries there is a currency issue, as each has its own currency. Languages differ a lot from country to another, writing also, you will find non Latin character indicators, and as you live the crowded touristy areas English is no more an option. Sometimes scams can happen also. Fitting the budget and still having good fun is almost impossible without a detailed acting plan. Also keeping the desired itinerary and picking good accommodations sometimes can be difficult. During such a long trip tech failure or unforeseen event is always at the next corner, a rescue transport in Turkey can cost more than 1000 $ easily, a fork seal change in Turkey is more than 200 $, things like this can ruin your trip. We already had to deal with problems mentioned above and more, so our service became really professional, we handle issues with ease and you enjoy the trip, is that simple.

See related travel stories on this Blog.