European Motorcycle Tours

Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Tours
in Europe and Beyond

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Harley-Davidson Rally, Medulin in Croatia, 2025

Friday 6 June to Tuesday 17 June 2025. 12 days 9 countries Fully guided, round-trip tour

Summary: This is a fully guided tour to the Harley-Davidson rally in Medulin, Croatia.

We have deliberately chosen a route to get to Croatia that includes great riding.  The route out to Medulin includes some wonderful roads in France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia, including some amazing alpine roads in the Alps mountains including Grimsel Pass (if open), Furka Pass (if open), Fluela Pass, Grossglockner Pass and Vrsic Pass.  Check out the route on the map at the bottom of this page.

The outbound route is the more southerly red line on the map. The return route is the more northerly red line on the map.

The tour starts in Folkestone in the UK and we take 7 full days of riding to get to Croatia.  We will be staying at 3 and 4 star hotels on route. We arrive in the coastal town of Medulin on the Croatian peninsular on the day the rally opens, Thursday.  We are then at the HOG rally for 3 nights.

The rally site is in the port at Medulin and our 3-star hotel is just minutes away from the rally site.

Of course, at the rally site there will be much to do, including bands, the expo, demonstration motorcycle rides, the parade and much more!

Our group sizes normally range from 10 to 14 motorcycles. Due to the likely popularity of this tour, this trip is likely to sell out very quickly.

The tour includes riding back over 3 days mainly on motorways.

Please note, this tour is for Harley-Davidson riders only!  We usually accept one or two bikes from other brands, but this is going to a Harley-Davidson rally after all. 🙂

Price for

2025 Prices

Two riders sharing a room, price each

£3,350

Single rider in his/her own room

£3,950

Rider and pillion sharing a room

£4,990

Prices include the train to France, all hotel accommodation (3 and 4 star), two evening meals, all vignettes. Prices exclude motorcycle rental, should you need it (see RENTALS tab at top of this page). Price also excludes your entry tickets into the rally (cost depends on how many days you want to go).
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The tour starts in Folkestone in the UK. We take the Eurotunnel train to cross the English Channel. The tour is a six-and-a-half day ride to Medulin, 3 nights at the rally, then a 3-day ride back to the UK via mainly motorways.

If you want to ride wonderful and scenic roads, with someone else making all the arrangements, then riding with Tour1 is for you. We are hugely experienced tour operators having ridden all over Europe and we know where the best roads are.

The tour concentrates on riding terrific roads in wonderful landscapes. Many of the roads we have selected for the tour run through mountains, alongside rivers or through glorious countryside – our aim is to put a huge smile on your face as you ride east towards Croatia and back again.

Day One (Friday, 6 June)

We catch a Eurotunnel train from Folkestone to Calais early on the Friday morning.  The aim of today is to get to the great roads further south, so we use some motorway to get there. The route we take closely follows the border between France and Belgium. We stop for lunch close to Valenciennes before leaving the motorway to use better roads as we pass through the Parc naturel regional de l’Avesnois.

We cross the border and ride briefly in Belgium before returning back into France for the best riding today, as we follow alongside the River Meuse, before arriving at our hotel for the night near Fumay.

We will have ridden about 190 miles today.

Day Two (Saturday, 7 June)

Having ridden on motorways yesterday, we avoid them today and instead ride some wonderful roads in rural France. These start as soon as we leave the hotel as we ride alongside the River Meuse and the River Semois in the area known as the Ardennes. We cross the French / Belgium border a couple of times as we seek out some of the best roads in the area.

We then head towards Verdun, scene of epic battles on the Western Front during WW1 before riding through the Parc naturel regional de Lorraine, famous for its quiche and macarons. We skirt by the city of Nancy (who likes riding in cities anyway) before arriving at our hotel just to the north of the Vosges Mountains. To get there, we will have ridden about 210 miles today.

Day Three (Sunday, 8 June)

Today has wonderful riding in two Tour1 favourite areas: the Vosges Mountains and the Black Forest, We ride 175 miles today mainly on wonderful roads where we make the most of our Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

We spend the first part of the day riding the amazing roads in the Vosges Mountains. These are low lying mountains that contain both twisty and sweeping bends that are a joy to ride.

At Mulhouse, we change direction and head east into Germany, crossing the mighty River Rhine as we do so. We the ride in the southern part of the Black Forest, so called because the trees were considered to be so close together, they let little light through. We ride south and close to Basel, we enter the fourth country of the tour, Switzerland.

Many high Alpine roads open at around this time of year after snow clearance, and as there is a risk they could still be closed, we will be avoiding those really high altitude roads. Instead, we have chosen lower roads to ride through the Alps.

Day Four (Monday, 9 June)

We have a choice of two routes today, depending upon whether certain roads are open. Option A includes Grimsel and Furka Passes in the morning, but we can only do these roads if snow clearance has gone well and these roads are open. Option B takes a lower route and includes crossing Lake Lucerne by boat. Both options are excellent and at this point we would predict the odds of doing either are 50:50.

Whichever route we take, at Andermatt we completely change direction and start to head east and we will ride Oberalp Pass and the Vorderrhein Valley. The Vorderrhein river later becomes the Rhine, but right here in the Vorderrhein Valley, this is where the Rhine is at its smallest.

We stay the night in Chur, have ridden just 150 miles (or 30 miles further if we manage to do option A). Chur is in eastern Switzerland.

Day Five (Tuesday, 10 June)

Today we continue to ride east, across Switzerland and late morning, we cross into the fifth country of the tour, Austria.

We ride through the famous ski town of Davos and onto the wonderful Fluela Pass, then along the stunning Inn River before entering Austria. At Naunders, we take a diversion to ride some twisty roads.

Overall today we ride across the western side of Austria, in the narrow section of the country, past Innsbruck and onto wonderful Gerlos Pass.

In total, we ride about 215 miles today.

Day Six (Wednesday, 11 June)

We plan to ride one of the best roads in the world today. Check almost any top ten motorcycling roads list and it’s pretty certain Grossglockner Pass will be included. We ride that road this morning!

After lunch, we skirt Villach and nearby Faaker See where will will go see the Harley-Davidson sculpture. Soon after, we cross the border into Slovenia and ride an amazing road. This is Vrsic Pass in the Julian Alps, well known for its cobbled hairpin bends. This is the highest pass in Slovenia and it is pretty dramatic. The road is in the Triglavski Narodni Park.

We stay the night in a small town in Slovenia tonight and we will have ridden about 190 miles to get there.

Day Seven (Thursday, 12 June)

This is the day we arrive in Medulin and the rally. We have 185 miles to ride, initially in Slovenia, but in the afternoon, we enter Croatia.

We could ride a more direct route to Medulin, but there are some good roads to be found in this part of croatia, so we will use those.

We should arrive at the rally site at around 4pm. The hotel we use is very close to the rally site.

At the Rally

There is always much to see and do at the Harley-Davidson main European rally. The rally site hosts bands, dealer displays, demonstrator bikes, vendors, bars and all shapes and sizes of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. On our arrival day of Thursday, or perhaps on Friday morning, we will have a group orientation ride / walk to ensure you all know where the various rally activities take place.

For most of your time in Medulin, from Thursday afternoon to Sunday morning, you are able to do as you please, whether that is ride in the local area, visit the rally site, watch some of the live bands on the main stage, or visit the custom bike show – it is up to you. If your partner wants to fly down to the rally and spend time with you, there is only a small charge for your partner to stay at the hotel.

The hotel we will stay at in Medulin is 3 star.

On the Friday afternoon we are likely to walk to the location of the custom motorcycle show.

On the Saturday, if you wish, you can join thousands of others in riding in the parade.

The rally officially ends on the Sunday, 15 June 2025 and it is on that day we start the journey back to the UK.

Day Ten (Sunday 15 June)

We start our ride back to the UK today and we have 350 miles to ride on this Sunday.

Our destination for tonight is just south of Munch and we take the fastest route to get there, which inevitably means mainly motorway. We ride in Croatia, Slovenia. Italy, Austria and Germany today.

Day Eleven (Monday 16 June)

Our return journey continues and today we ride across Germany to just south of Cologne. It is 413 miles of mainly motorway.

Day Twelve (Tuesday 17 June)

Today is the final leg of our journey back to the UK. At 260 miles, it is a slightly shorter ride back in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and finally, France. We should get a train from Calais mid-afternoon, which should see us arrive back in Folkestone at about 3pm.

 

  • Outbound and return channel tunnel crossing
  • Three and four star accommodation in terrific locations on route to Medulin
  • Breakfast every day
  • 2 evening meals on our journey to Medulin
  • Pre-purchased motorway vignettes
  • Well researched routes to provide you with fantastic roads to ride
  • Experienced tour guide to lead the tour
  • A back marker / sweep
  • Tour1 T-Shirt
  • Comprehensive tour itinerary
  • GPS routes for your sat nav (if you want them)
  • Tips for riding in Europe guide
  • Staying in a 3-star hotel in Medulin

What’s not included….

  • Accommodation before the tour starts, or after it ends
  • Petrol (gas) you use
  • Other road tolls where payment is made at the time
  • All other meals and drinks
  • HOG Chapter-specific events at rallies
  • Rally tickets (we don’t include for these so you can choose what type of tickets you want)
  • Motorcycle rental, should you need it (we can help arrange this)

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 or where making progress gets us to better roads.  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.

We use good quality hotels – not super luxury and not bottom end, but mid-range – normally 3 and 4-star.

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, 8, 6, 4 and 2 months before the tour starts. If you prefer, you can pay the balance of the cost of the tour earlier than this.

*Ride Difficulty Rating

Each of our tours 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 three 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.


SOLD OUT Distance: 2,308 miles / 3,714 kms Tour Leader: Gary France Ride difficulty rating: Challenging. Please make sure you read the section called ‘Ride rating’ under the Information tab below. Highlights: Ride across Europe - nine countries - spectacular roads – the Vosges Mountains - Black Forest - the Alps Mountains - lower alpine roads – Grimsel Pass (if open) – Furka Pass (if open) – Grossglockner Pass – Vrsic Pass - 3 and 4 star hotels - a great rally location Countries: France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Netherlands Tour Start Point: Folkestone, UK. Tour End Point: Folkestone, UK.
THIS TOUR IS SOLD OUT

Great riding courtesy of the genius Gary France who is terrific at finding the roads – great company and the best rally I have attended.  See you all next year!  Simon Turner, Newmarket.