Summary:
This tour has it all! This 15 day tour includes riding Grossglockner Pass over the eastern Alps, onto the Italian coastline at Trieste, into Slovenia and along the stunning Adriatic coastline of Croatia. From the beautiful city of Split, we catch an overnight ferry to Italy where we ride in the Apennine Mountains to Assisi, Florence and then onto romantic Venice. The route also includes riding the stunning Timmelsjoch Pass and visiting the stunning Mountain Top motorcycle museum.
This tour has two start and finish points, either Folkestone in the UK, or for those flying in from overseas, Munich in Germany. This is the page for starting and finishing in Folkestone. For the option of starting and finishing in Munich, please see this page.
This tour is classified as ‘challenging riding’ and so this tour is for experienced riders only.
Price for
2025 Prices
Two riders sharing a room, price each
£3,760
Single rider in his/her own room
£4,420
Rider and pillion sharing a room
£5,750
This is an incredible tour that includes some of the very best of Italy, Austria and Croatia. The route includes some amazing riding roads – the stunning Adriatic coastline in Croatia (often compared with US Highway 1 in California), the amazing Grossglockner Pass, and the wonderful Timmelsjoch Pass in the Austrian Tyrol region. We will have a whole day relaxing on the coast in Croatia and we will also visit two of the most famous cities in Italy: Venice where we will have a whole day to visit this magical city, and Florence, where we will have half a day exploring the sights.
We also ride through some of the Dolomites Mountains in the Alps, with its wonderfully twisty roads set amongst the tall craggy mountains.
The hotels we stay at vary in size and quality, and where possible, we only use hotels with good off-road parking. All are 3 or 4 star. We don’t use large chain hotels in larger towns, but prefer smaller remote locations. On two of the nights on the tour, your evening meal is included within the tour price and on the rest of the evenings, you are free to eat where you like. Often, we will eat as a group, but it is really up to you.
Depending on where you are from, you could ride your own bike on the tour, or rent one from one of the Harley-Davidson dealers in the UK or in Munich. Should you be flying in for the tour and renting, we suggest you fly into Munich and rent there (see ‘Rentals’ tab at the top of this page).
This is the itinerary for those starting and finishing the tour in Folkestone in the UK. If you intend to join the tour in Munich, please see this page.
If you are going to join the tour in Folkestone in the UK, this is the day you join the tour. We catch an early morning Eurotunnel train from Folkestone to France.
To get to the (much) better roads further south, we spend the first two days riding faster roads, mainly motorways. This is so we can spend as much time as possible riding some of the best roads Europe has to offer.
We start the day riding down the magnificent Rhine Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We join the main part of the Rhine Valley near Koblenz and have the magnificent river at our side for 36 miles.
We then rejoin the German Autobahn system to make progress to Munich. We stay in a city-centre hotel and if the weather is good, we will go to a local beer-garden for dinner.
We use a short section of motorway to get away from the less interesting roads around Munich, but soon we are in riding heaven!
We join the southern end of the Deutsche Ferienroute Alpen-Ostsee (German holiday-route) as it heads its way south into the Alps. The views get more dramatic as we ride and the mountains tower in front of us. Just beyond Melleck we cross the border into stunning Austria. Soon we ride along the beautiful Saalach Valley and we have the Kitzbühel Alps to our right side.
After the town of Zell am See, we reach the main highlight of the day, the stunning Grossglockner Pass. Often quoted as one of the best riding roads in Europe, this high alpine road is the highest paved road in Austria and it rises to 2,428 m (7,966 ft). As we near the top of this stunning road, the views are amazing, especially from the Edelweißspitze viewpoint at the top of a side road. The viewpoint has arguably one of best views in the world from a cafe!
After Grossglockner, we continue to head south and just a short distance before we get to the Austrian southern border we stay the night in an alpine hotel in the Gailtal Alps. We will have ridden 205 miles / 330 kilometres to get there. It will have been an amazing day of riding.
Today we travel from the mountains to the sea.
Soon after leaving the hotel we cross the border into Italy and ride out of the mountains. We are soon on the Italian flatlands as we approach Udine and next we see the Adriatic Ocean which will be our constant companion for the next few days.
We ride along the small length of Italian coastline as we approach the old city of Trieste, a port city which dates back about 3,000 years. Just beyond Trieste we enter the next country on our tour, Slovenia, which are are in for just a short period as our route bisects just the very western edge of the country.
Soon we cross another border, into Croatia, where we ride one of the most beautiful roads in the world – along its coastline. The road is stunning, as it hugs the coast for hundreds of miles. The result is a twisting road that is a joy to ride, with the azur blue water of the sea ever-present to our right side.
We stay the night in a small town on the coast. Our ride today will be 182 miles / 293 kilometres.
Today is a rest day, spent relaxing at the coast. Our hotel is right on the seafront.
We continue to ride the fantastic Croatian coastline today and enjoy one of the best coast roads for riding. The road hugs the coastline and follows its geography, twisting and turning and we are sure you will enjoy this amazing road! Rugged and unspoiled, there are few places to stop along the coast, so we will find places for our refreshment stops in small fishing villages. We have 202 miles / 325 kilometres today and much of that is done alongside the Adriatic Ocean.
Subject to confirmation once the summer schedules are confirmed, we will be catching an overnight ferry from Split to Ancona in Italy. The ferry normally sails at about 8pm and docks in Italy at about 7am the next day. You will have an outside cabin to sleep in overnight.
After departing the ferry, we head south for a short period through the Del Monte Conero park. We then ride inland to ride the central part of Italy, along the Apennine Mountains which form the spine of the middle of the country. We go to Assisi and then on very scenic mountain roads to the beautiful town of Cortona, where we spend the night. We will have ridden 173 miles / 278 kilometres today.
We have a short 100 mile / 160 kilometre ride today all on scenic roads. We arrive in Florence early afternoon in time to do a walking sightseeing tour of the great places the city has to offer. It is a fascinating tour looking at the history and art of this incredible city. We will also visit the Academia, to see one of the finest pieces of art in the world, Michangelo’s statue of David.
More great riding roads await on the morning of day eight as we continue our journey north through the mountains of Italy. In the afternoon, we use motorway to get to the wonderful city of Venice. We stay just outside the city itself and in the evening you will have a guided tour of Venice, walking alongside its canals and traveling by Vaporetto on its famous canals.
This is a day off, spent in the wonderful city of Venice. There is plenty of time for you to explore the city, or take it easy today. While there, you can visit Saint Marks Square and see its Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, the Bridge of Sigh’s, the Grand Canal and much more. You could even ride in one of the world-famous Gondolas.
Today we leave Venice and start the part of the tour that concentrates on riding fabulous roads in the Alps. This includes riding Boldo Pass, a highly unusual road because it has hairpin bends in tunnels inside the mountain. As we enter the Dolomite Mountains, we stop to visit the wonderful Karersee, a lake with stunning colour water. We stay the night in a hotel in the Dolomite Mountains in a wonderful location.
Today we start the day by riding around the Sella Ring, in the magnificent Dolomite Mountains. We ride all of the Ring’s fabulous mountain pass roads. before riding through the area of northern Italy known as the Tyrol and in particular, we ride Jaufen Pass, before riding majestic Timmelsjoch Pass and crossing the border into Austria. The the border is also home to the wonderful Mountain Top motorcycle museum, which you can visit if you wish. It will have been an amazing days riding today!
Today we ride back to Munich on more great scenic roads, but not so well known. We should arrive back late afternoon and we stay in a different hotel to the one we previously used.
We start the ride back to the UK today, once again riding mainly motorway to make progress. We do divert off the motorway in the afternoon, to ride a wonderful road, the B48 as we approach Kaiserslaughtern.
The final day of riding sees us leaving Germany and riding in Belgium and France to get back to Calais and the Eurotunnel train at about 5pm. Again it is a mainly motorway day today.
Our group sizes normally range from 10 to 14 motorcycles.
Each day, we normally start riding at 8.30am sharp and cover in the region of 150 to 200 miles. We try to avoid motorways wherever possible and only use these when there is no real alternative. We take mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks and of course find somewhere for lunch. Our plan is to normally arrive at that evening’s hotel by around 6pm.
The hotels we stay at vary in size and quality, and where possible, we only use hotels with good off-road parking. The hotels are not super luxury and not bottom end, but mid-range – normally 3 and 4-star. We don’t use large chain hotels in larger towns, but prefer smaller remote locations. On some nights on the tour, your evening meal is included within the tour price and on the rest of the evenings, you are free to eat where you like. Often, we will eat as a group, but it is really up to you.
We ride at a pace to suit all of the riders. We stick to all speed limits in towns, but in rural areas we ride at, let’s call them ‘more appropriate’ speeds. We generally ride in staggered convoy on straighter roads.
As we have pre-booked hotels and a schedule to stick to, we ride in all weathers. During any exceptionally inclement weather, we will pull over for short periods. We could experience a range of different types of weather, so bring waterproofs, just in case.
We like these tours to be about having a real adventure, riding on great roads with like-minded people. For that reason, we do not use a support van, but we always have a back-marker.
Payments – we require a £400 deposit to be paid when you book a tour, with the balance to be paid in four equal payments, nine, seven, five and three months before the tour starts. If you prefer, you can pay the balance of the cost of the tour earlier than this.
*Ride Rating
Each of our rides has a difficulty rating and this tour is rated as ‘challenging’.
That means this tour is for experienced riders only, with say, a minimum of five years of riding large motorcycles. You must have ridden on the right-hand side of the road before on many occasions and you must be comfortable with travelling in a group of riders and be able to keep a good pace within that group. We do not ride very fast, but at the same time, it is better if riders do not go too slowly. The route will include many twisty roads, plus many high mountain roads with many tight hairpin bends / switchbacks. There will be some sections of road with steep drop-offs at the side and no guardrail. If you or your pillion are at all uncomfortable at riding at height, then this tour is not for you. If you are from the USA, please note some of the roads you will be riding are significantly narrower and have tighter bends than in the USA. All roads are fully paved. While there is not much motorway riding on the tour, as a guide, the group will be riding at speeds of 75mph+ on motorways. You must be confident of riding in rain and on wet roads.
Each day’s riding will be around 9 hours, with breaks. You must be able to ride all day. If you are at all unsure if your riding ability is good enough for this tour, then you must contact us by telephone to discuss.
Choice of start / finish points. The tour has a choice of start / finish points. You can either ride on your own bike from Folkestone or if you are flying into Europe for the tour, we suggest you start and finish in Munich. For the option of starting and finishing in Munich, please see this page.
Rentals. If you will need to rent a motorcycle for this tour you can do that in the UK and ride from there.
We have just returned from The Adriatic Tour with Tour1 and we were so impressed with the organisation and attention to detail of all aspects – routes, hotels and places of interest. Tony and Penny Pelling, West Sussex, UK.