eneeb

I want to bike from Portugal to Turkey, after reading a number of blogs of people who have done long distance bike rides, it seems doable. I wanted to know if any long distance bikers out there have any tips? This would be my longest trip, over several months. I am planning on a budget trip, camping/eating from grocery stores, etc. Does any one know about biking in European countries specifically? I have only been to The UK, and live in America, where biking is generally not common for people to do (where I live in Central California anyway) Are there a lot of biking trails? I know in France and Germany there are a lot, but I am wondering about Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, etc. Also, how much money would one spend a day in each of these countries? I would want to stay in campgrounds, cook my own food, eating food to go from the supermarket, etc, nothing too fancy. Also, how does one go about obtaining visas from each country overland? Thanks

nytraveler

What is your nationaloty and visa status?

If an american you are allowed only 90 days in the Schengen area - so you would need to figure that out. If you are not a US citizen then you would need to look into your status for traveling in each of these countries - you might need to get visas for each one.

Also you will need to figure out wether/time of year. Summer will be hellishly hot in southern areas so you need to consider timing carefully since you will not have AC.

StCirq

Where are you from that you would need visas? If you're an American you can stay in the Schengen Zone for 90 days (and then leave it for 90 days and come back for another 90 if you need to). How long do you expect this trip to take?

As for costs, I have no idea about camping costs, but my husband and I managed to eat very well in France on our last trip there for about 30 euros a day for the two of us (though we're both pretty petite and weren't exercising up a storm every day).

FrenchMystiqueTours

Some websites to look at:

www.freewheelingfrance.com

http://europebicycletouring.com/

http://www.europebicycletouring.com/...ng_bicycle.htm

www.crazyguyonabike.com

http://sheldonbrown.com/euhansen.html

Lonely Planet has a forum dedicated to biking and there are lots of people who do multi-country bike tours over there so I would suggest posting your inquiry there as well:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntre...spa?forumID=32

I bike on my own in France and though I don't camp I've given some advice on how to bike on your own in France and if you look at this thread you'll get some useful info about biking in France:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntre...96466#20796466

bilboburgler

If you are going to do this, why not follow the large bike paths on eurovelo http://www.eurovelo.com/en/eurovelos these are officially the large bike paths paid for out of EU money to allow longer distance rides. They are almost all built

sparkchaser

Your proposed journey is around 2500 miles. If you bike 6 days a week, you will need to cover 30 miles a day in order to exit the Schengen Zone within 90 days. This does not factor in any prep days the day you land in Portugal.

There are many, many books and maps for cycling in Europe. I suggest browsing Amazon and getting ebooks of what interests you and paper maps: http://www.amazon.com/mn/search/?_en...llectionofcoll

I would reconsider camping and instead look into couchsurfing. Also, I would reconsider your ideas to cook for yourself as this adds significant weight and bulk to your kit. Supermarkets and outdoor markets generally have very good ready to eat choices.

As you pass through Germany, be sure to make frequent stops at Sportzentrum facilities to enjoy a refreshing radler (shandy) and mingle with fellow cyclists.

If you camp or couchsurf, your only real expense will be food so I think a daily budget of 30-40 Euro is more than sufficient and will allow for restaurant eating as well as eating from the grocery store.

bigtyke

The previously mentioned www.crazyguyonabike.com should give you most of the information you need.

otherchelebi

If you are an American or Canadian, you can get a Turkish visa on-line or at the border easily.

I suggest that you consider taking ferry from Italy to Greece and from Athens to one of the Greek islands close to the Turkish mainland and to continue biking from there to avoid some difficult roads, mountain crossings, and to save some time.

You can easily survive on about $10-15/day in Turkey and even cheaper if you stick to bread-cheese-tomatoes-melons. A problem will be the difficulty of finding laundromats.

bvlenci

There are several mountain ranges to deal with on this route. Are you up for mountain biking? You could avoid the steepest crossings, but only at the cost of making your route longer.

sparkchaser

You only need the mountain bike if you go off road

uncle_bush

Hi eneeb,

I`ve done some long distance bike rides from Germany to Italy. I did the first about 20 years ago and the last about 10 years ago. During that time traffic and behaviour on the road has changed a lot. In Germany the motorised traffic have become less considerate of cyclists on the road. Because they are less used to share the road with cyclists. But I have no comparison to America. A lot of bike paths are`nt good, so that the road is the more convenient. But when you have enough time for your ride you can often avoid roads. The bike pathes or bike routes are often not signed properly and the distance is often longer than on the road. But there are also some good bike pathes, expecially the former rail roads.

I experienced cycling in Italy as horror. I was more mentally done than physically. I cycled to Venice and in South Tyrol. I only know how the people in North Italy drive. Mostly they overtake to close.

I have no experience with cycling in Spain. I only know that they haved changed their traffic regulation in the late nineties in favour of motorists and to the disadvantage of cyclists. I don`t know whether they have changed or not.

Looking on the map, http://www.eurovelo.com/en/eurovelos I would recommend routes 1, 3, 6. In Germany route number 6 uses the Danube bike path.

If you like to send me e-mail, use the dutch page from my homepage www.burkhard-schade.de

uncle_bush

Hi eneeb,

I`ve done some long distance bike rides from Germany to Italy. I did the first about 20 years ago and the last about 10 years ago. During that time traffic and behaviour on the road has changed a lot. In Germany the motorised traffic have become less considerate of cyclists on the road. Because they are less used to share the road with cyclists. But I have no comparison to America. A lot of bike paths are`nt good, so that the road is the more convenient. But when you have enough time for your ride you can often avoid roads. The bike pathes or bike routes are often not signed properly and the distance is often longer than on the road. But there are also some good bike pathes, expecially the former rail roads.

I experienced cycling in Italy as horror. I was more mentally done than physically. I cycled to Venice and in South Tyrol. I only know how the people in North Italy drive. Mostly they overtake to close.

I have no experience with cycling in Spain. I only know that they haved changed their traffic regulation in the late nineties in favour of motorists and to the disadvantage of cyclists. I don`t know whether they have changed or not.

Looking on the map, http://www.eurovelo.com/en/eurovelos I would recommend routes 1, 3, 6. In Germany route number 6 uses the Danube bike path.

If you like to send me e-mail, use the dutch page from my homepage www.burkhard-schade.de

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