Planning first Alps trip. Help wanted!
Discussion
I’m in charge of planning an early September (10 day) trip to the Alps. Only problem is, I haven’t been before…
A few questions. Advice appreciated.
Sounds stupid but is the riding on the main passes actually good? Don’t mind slow, but we both enjoy a nice twisty road and try and stay away from long straight roads when on the bikes.
Any recommendations for for great, slightly quieter roads and routes? Similar to Scotland in the way that the NC500 is fine, but the best and quietest riding is off the main roads.
Presumably plenty of decent hotels and restaurants?
B500 still worth the diversion? Seems to be highly policed now and with many speed limits.
Any good recommendations for scenic routes and small towns on the way down there? I loved Dinan in Northern France last year, so similar sorts of places.
Thanks.
A few questions. Advice appreciated.
Sounds stupid but is the riding on the main passes actually good? Don’t mind slow, but we both enjoy a nice twisty road and try and stay away from long straight roads when on the bikes.
Any recommendations for for great, slightly quieter roads and routes? Similar to Scotland in the way that the NC500 is fine, but the best and quietest riding is off the main roads.
Presumably plenty of decent hotels and restaurants?
B500 still worth the diversion? Seems to be highly policed now and with many speed limits.
Any good recommendations for scenic routes and small towns on the way down there? I loved Dinan in Northern France last year, so similar sorts of places.
Thanks.
The big passes are well worth visiting, but be realistic about which you can get to as you don't want to spend a day on boring roads just to get 10 minutes on a famous pass. Andermatt is surrounded by good passes, but don't get caught speeding in Switzerland! Once you get in the alps there are great roads all over the place besides the well known ones. The road from Bormio to Davos was great, and one of the highlights of a trip for me was when we got fed up with the traffic around the Italian lakes and just headed randomly in to the hills, the road past lake Valvestino proved to be fantastic.
There's a few toll roads up to ski resorts that are worth a look too, eg Kaunertal
There's a few toll roads up to ski resorts that are worth a look too, eg Kaunertal
The Old Gits have been to the Alps and Dolomites a number of times and have loads of great routes in MyRouteApp. Where in the Alps are you going? Do you plan to move to a new location every day?
ETA: This may be worth a read: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
ETA: This may be worth a read: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Edited by black-k1 on Tuesday 13th May 14:51
black-k1 said:
The Old Gits have been to the Alps and Dolomites a number of times and have loads of great routes in MyRouteApp. Where in the Alps are you going? Do you plan to move to a new location every day?
As far as we can get in 10 days really. Preferably a new location every day, but not averse to staying a couple of nights somewhere nice. Thinking Austrian Alps might be a bit far?
ETA: Yes, that’s very helpful, thank you.
Edited by TT1138 on Tuesday 13th May 14:55
RizzoTheRat said:
The big passes are well worth visiting, but be realistic about which you can get to as you don't want to spend a day on boring roads just to get 10 minutes on a famous pass. Andermatt is surrounded by good passes, but don't get caught speeding in Switzerland! Once you get in the alps there are great roads all over the place besides the well known ones. The road from Bormio to Davos was great, and one of the highlights of a trip for me was when we got fed up with the traffic around the Italian lakes and just headed randomly in to the hills, the road past lake Valvestino proved to be fantastic.
There's a few toll roads up to ski resorts that are worth a look too, eg Kaunertal
Thank you, that’s exactly the sort of information I was after. Getting tired of traffic in the U.K. so trying to avoid riding 1000 miles to get stuck in more traffic! Don’t mind a bit of slog, but a whole day for 10 minutes of good riding seems like a waste. There's a few toll roads up to ski resorts that are worth a look too, eg Kaunertal
Camping or hotels?
If camping look up Archies Camping, you can download a list of campsites across Europe that you can put on a satnav as points of interest. I've done a couple of trips where we just headed in a direction that looked good until late afternoon and then looked at where there was a campsite in roughly the direction we were heading. We then spend a bit of time over a beer in the evening looking at the maps to see where looked good for the next day, and played join the wiggly bits in between.
If camping look up Archies Camping, you can download a list of campsites across Europe that you can put on a satnav as points of interest. I've done a couple of trips where we just headed in a direction that looked good until late afternoon and then looked at where there was a campsite in roughly the direction we were heading. We then spend a bit of time over a beer in the evening looking at the maps to see where looked good for the next day, and played join the wiggly bits in between.
Worth looking into the Dusseldorf -> Innsbruck sleeper train? Load your bike on in the evening, wake up in innsbruck 12hrs later with un-squared off tyres, fresh and ready to enjoy the mountain roads.
Depends what bikes you're all on, IMO Its a 2 day ride each way really. You could do it in a day but you'd be pretty tired for the start of the best bits (alps, lakes etc), dont forget you're going away on the bikes to enjoy the journey, if you just want to see the alps, ship the bikes over or hire whilst there. Don't slog through the transit to the alps too quickly as you'll just be shattered for 2 or 3 days once you get there and riding will feel more of a chore IME.
Eifel national park (west of Cologne) is lovely with some fanstatic roads to enjoy. I prefer riding / driving through Germany instead of France because Autobahns & better beer. Munich, Stuttgart have great museums etc to visit enroute too.
The mountain passes aren't great to ride or drive in the busy months, pretty yes, but very busy with vans, motorhomes, slow moving cars. If you're in Switzerland don't speed, they will absolutely rinse you in fines if you get caught!
Depends what bikes you're all on, IMO Its a 2 day ride each way really. You could do it in a day but you'd be pretty tired for the start of the best bits (alps, lakes etc), dont forget you're going away on the bikes to enjoy the journey, if you just want to see the alps, ship the bikes over or hire whilst there. Don't slog through the transit to the alps too quickly as you'll just be shattered for 2 or 3 days once you get there and riding will feel more of a chore IME.
Eifel national park (west of Cologne) is lovely with some fanstatic roads to enjoy. I prefer riding / driving through Germany instead of France because Autobahns & better beer. Munich, Stuttgart have great museums etc to visit enroute too.
The mountain passes aren't great to ride or drive in the busy months, pretty yes, but very busy with vans, motorhomes, slow moving cars. If you're in Switzerland don't speed, they will absolutely rinse you in fines if you get caught!
TT1138 said:
As far as we can get in 10 days really. Preferably a new location every day, but not averse to staying a couple of nights somewhere nice.
Thinking Austrian Alps might be a bit far?
ETA: Yes, that’s very helpful, thank you.
The Alps are a long day away from Calais. The Dolomites are a day and a half, but for both of those you'd need to use motorways/autoroutes. If you don't want motorways then you need 2 days min for the Alps and 3 days for the Dolomites. Out of a 10 day trip, 4 days just getting there/back, on what will be mostly mediocre roads, and often really boring roads, seems like a waste to me. Thinking Austrian Alps might be a bit far?
ETA: Yes, that’s very helpful, thank you.
Periodically, the Old Gits do a trip that involves a new location every night. Almost every time we do such a trip, everyone remembers that they prefer the approach of staying at the same location for a few nights and not having to pack/unpack the bike every day and not having to ride stunning roads with all the luggage.
Crudeoink said:
Worth looking into the Dusseldorf -> Innsbruck sleeper train? Load your bike on in the evening, wake up in innsbruck 12hrs later with un-squared off tyres, fresh and ready to enjoy the mountain roads.
Depends what bikes you're all on, IMO Its a 2 day ride each way really. You could do it in a day but you'd be pretty tired for the start of the best bits (alps, lakes etc), dont forget you're going away on the bikes to enjoy the journey, if you just want to see the alps, ship the bikes over or hire whilst there. Don't slog through the transit to the alps too quickly as you'll just be shattered for 2 or 3 days once you get there and riding will feel more of a chore IME.
Eifel national park (west of Cologne) is lovely with some fanstatic roads to enjoy. I prefer riding / driving through Germany instead of France because Autobahns & better beer. Munich, Stuttgart have great museums etc to visit enroute too.
The mountain passes aren't great to ride or drive in the busy months, pretty yes, but very busy with vans, motorhomes, slow moving cars. If you're in Switzerland don't speed, they will absolutely rinse you in fines if you get caught!
We've used this train twice (OBB nightjet) although it doesn't run from Dusseldorf anymore, only from Hamburg which is a lot further to travel from Ijmuiden or Zeebrugge. We have also rode down to the Alps via Luxembourg / Germany etc and had a 1 night stop off so it depends on how you want to do it. You could always take a bit longer and enjoy some of the German black forest roads on the way. Depends what bikes you're all on, IMO Its a 2 day ride each way really. You could do it in a day but you'd be pretty tired for the start of the best bits (alps, lakes etc), dont forget you're going away on the bikes to enjoy the journey, if you just want to see the alps, ship the bikes over or hire whilst there. Don't slog through the transit to the alps too quickly as you'll just be shattered for 2 or 3 days once you get there and riding will feel more of a chore IME.
Eifel national park (west of Cologne) is lovely with some fanstatic roads to enjoy. I prefer riding / driving through Germany instead of France because Autobahns & better beer. Munich, Stuttgart have great museums etc to visit enroute too.
The mountain passes aren't great to ride or drive in the busy months, pretty yes, but very busy with vans, motorhomes, slow moving cars. If you're in Switzerland don't speed, they will absolutely rinse you in fines if you get caught!
There is a cracking hotel in Landeck in Austria which is central to most of the best biking roads in the alps. https://www.hotel-enzian.com/en/
The owner has a franchised BMW dealership onsite so you an also hire bikes if required.
The beauty of this hotel is that you can head in a different direction every day and never ride the same roads, there is that much variety. You are close to both Switzerland, Italy and Germany.
Crudeoink said:
Worth looking into the Dusseldorf -> Innsbruck sleeper train? Load your bike on in the evening, wake up in innsbruck 12hrs later with un-squared off tyres, fresh and ready to enjoy the mountain roads.
We're riding to Austria in a couple of weeks so I just had a look at this option. 3000 EUR return for 4 people/4 bikes. That's a bit salty! (Does include breakfast tho 
)-Cappo- said:
We're riding to Austria in a couple of weeks so I just had a look at this option. 3000 EUR return for 4 people/4 bikes. That's a bit salty! (Does include breakfast tho )
That's true, but when you consider you save squaring off a set of tyres, about 5 tanks of fuel and a night in a hotel both ways its not as bad! )Crudeoink said:
-Cappo- said:
We're riding to Austria in a couple of weeks so I just had a look at this option. 3000 EUR return for 4 people/4 bikes. That's a bit salty! (Does include breakfast tho )
That's true, but when you consider you save squaring off a set of tyres, about 5 tanks of fuel and a night in a hotel both ways its not as bad! )We paid around £300 each return per person (5 of us)
STe_rsv4 said:
We've used this train twice (OBB nightjet) although it doesn't run from Dusseldorf anymore, only from Hamburg which is a lot further to travel from Ijmuiden or Zeebrugge. We have also rode down to the Alps via Luxembourg / Germany etc and had a 1 night stop off so it depends on how you want to do it. You could always take a bit longer and enjoy some of the German black forest roads on the way.
There is a cracking hotel in Landeck in Austria which is central to most of the best biking roads in the alps. https://www.hotel-enzian.com/en/
The owner has a franchised BMW dealership onsite so you an also hire bikes if required.
The beauty of this hotel is that you can head in a different direction every day and never ride the same roads, there is that much variety. You are close to both Switzerland, Italy and Germany.
I did Hamburg to Ijmuiden back in March, took about five hours on a FireBlade stopping purely for sustenance for myself and the bike on the autobahn. Five hours gets you a long way south from the channel, plus ideally you'd avoid Dutch and Belgian drivers (depends where you're starting from in the UK mind you), who are the end. Hamburg is a great place to visit but it is not on the way to the Alps. There is a cracking hotel in Landeck in Austria which is central to most of the best biking roads in the alps. https://www.hotel-enzian.com/en/
The owner has a franchised BMW dealership onsite so you an also hire bikes if required.
The beauty of this hotel is that you can head in a different direction every day and never ride the same roads, there is that much variety. You are close to both Switzerland, Italy and Germany.
OP says he's going in September. Risk of passes being shut for snow by then?
STe_rsv4 said:
Crudeoink said:
-Cappo- said:
We're riding to Austria in a couple of weeks so I just had a look at this option. 3000 EUR return for 4 people/4 bikes. That's a bit salty! (Does include breakfast tho )
That's true, but when you consider you save squaring off a set of tyres, about 5 tanks of fuel and a night in a hotel both ways its not as bad! )We paid around £300 each return per person (5 of us)
@Crudeoink, absolutely get your point about tyres etc, there are 4 of us going and 2 of us were well up for vanning the bikes to get the gutty upright bit out of the way then parking up and riding the rest of the way, but the others weren't up for that!
-Cappo- said:
STe_rsv4 said:
Crudeoink said:
-Cappo- said:
We're riding to Austria in a couple of weeks so I just had a look at this option. 3000 EUR return for 4 people/4 bikes. That's a bit salty! (Does include breakfast tho )
That's true, but when you consider you save squaring off a set of tyres, about 5 tanks of fuel and a night in a hotel both ways its not as bad! )We paid around £300 each return per person (5 of us)
@Crudeoink, absolutely get your point about tyres etc, there are 4 of us going and 2 of us were well up for vanning the bikes to get the gutty upright bit out of the way then parking up and riding the rest of the way, but the others weren't up for that!
try this
https://www.nightjet.com/en/reiseziele/oesterreich...
Marquezs Stabilisers said:
I did Hamburg to Ijmuiden back in March, took about five hours on a FireBlade stopping purely for sustenance for myself and the bike on the autobahn. Five hours gets you a long way south from the channel, plus ideally you'd avoid Dutch and Belgian drivers (depends where you're starting from in the UK mind you), who are the end. Hamburg is a great place to visit but it is not on the way to the Alps.
OP says he's going in September. Risk of passes being shut for snow by then?
Similar story - The Train arrived in Hamburg from Innsbruck around 9:30am and we had to get to Ijmuiden for 4pm or miss the ferry so the pressure was on to cover the 350 mile journey. We only stopped for fuel and snacks, there's always that worry that something breaks or a traffic jam / standstill could stop you getting back in time. 350mile on a sports bike along motorways & autobahns is a PITAOP says he's going in September. Risk of passes being shut for snow by then?
Marquezs Stabilisers said:
OP says he's going in September. Risk of passes being shut for snow by then?
Passes are usually OK, weather is starting to change and sometimes a bit cold, I’ve had light snow a couple of times, but nothing serious. 
I normally do the ferry to IJmuiden / Baden-Baden / San Marino MotoGP in September…
This was taken on the Grimsel on the way back, so mid Sept...
Edited by the cueball on Wednesday 14th May 10:36
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