Croatia- Sail and bike combo tours - any tips?
May 15th, 2011, 05:09 PM
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Croatia- Sail and bike combo tours - any tips?
A group of us (4-6) are looking to do a sailing/biking tour of the Croatian coastline. Ideally, we'd sleep on the sailboat and bike/hike/swim/sail during the day. Has anyone done a trip like this? Any tips? Companies? Best starting location? Thinking about May 2012.
May 16th, 2011, 02:57 AM
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The Dalmatian coast (Split to Dubrovnik)of Croatia is absolutely gorgeous and quite mountainous. Think the wilder parts of the Coast Highway in California. The Istrian peninsula is equally gorgeous, has more trees, and is quite hilly.
Roads are relatively narrow and pretty crowded, particularly on the islands.
If you are experienced cyclists in good-excellent physical condition, you should have a blast.
Roads are relatively narrow and pretty crowded, particularly on the islands.
If you are experienced cyclists in good-excellent physical condition, you should have a blast.
May 16th, 2011, 08:29 AM
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I am planning a trip in October with Hooked on Cycling. You ride your bike during the day with an English-speaking guide. At night, you sleep on a yacht. I siged up for the Dalmatian Islands. Their website is hookedoncycling.co.uk.
I'm a single woman whose friends are all busy with their families, so I thought this would be a good way to see Croatia up close and still have someone who speaks English nearby. I chose this company because they offer a 50-mile a day ride. (They have options with fewer miles/day.) But once I understood how steep some of the climbs are going to be, I realized I'm going to have to train hard for this!
I'm a single woman whose friends are all busy with their families, so I thought this would be a good way to see Croatia up close and still have someone who speaks English nearby. I chose this company because they offer a 50-mile a day ride. (They have options with fewer miles/day.) But once I understood how steep some of the climbs are going to be, I realized I'm going to have to train hard for this!
May 27th, 2011, 02:24 AM
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50-mile a day...too mouch for me 
you can charter a boat, take bikes with you and ride it wherever you want my suggest would be sailing during the day, say untill 6p.m., then ride a bike, because it's too hot to ride it earlier. And sailing, you can't miss with that. I'm sailing here in Croatia every year, and i can't get enough. Keep in touch, maybe i can help you with renting a boat
you can charter a boat, take bikes with you and ride it wherever you want my suggest would be sailing during the day, say untill 6p.m., then ride a bike, because it's too hot to ride it earlier. And sailing, you can't miss with that. I'm sailing here in Croatia every year, and i can't get enough. Keep in touch, maybe i can help you with renting a boat
May 31st, 2011, 07:01 AM
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I did one a few years ago and highly recommend it.
I went with CBT Tours which has since been merged into Austin Lehman. It appears that they still offer a bike trip through Croatia, but this one looks like it is hotel based, rather than on a gulet-type boat like I did.
I have done a couple of Euro bike trips with VBT and they do a fantastic job; however, it appears that their Croatia bike trip is also hotel based.
If you can find one one that is boat based, I would do it. It is the best way to see the dalmatian coast, and you will not be subject to the ferry schedules to get from island to island. Plus, on a boat, the captain was able to just spontaneously stop at a secluded beach to let us swim when we wanted to.
You get off the boat in the a.m., cycle to the other side of the island where the boat is waiting, you spend the night at the harbor and sail to the next destination in the a.m.
The trip I did started in Venice, ferried to Istria, was 2 or 3 nights in Istria (hotel based) then an overnight ferry to Split, followed by like 4 or 5 nights on the boat, ending in Dubrovnik.
Istria is terrific, but if you have to choose, the Dalmatian islands are just spectacular.
As I recall, the islands we biked--Brac, Hvar, and Korcula--each involved starting on one side of the island and traversing a pretty challenging hill/mountain on the way to our stopping point so you might want to do some hill training.
We saw a number of boat/bike groups from Germany. You might want to consider Rad and Reisen and/or biketoursdirect.com.
I went with CBT Tours which has since been merged into Austin Lehman. It appears that they still offer a bike trip through Croatia, but this one looks like it is hotel based, rather than on a gulet-type boat like I did.
I have done a couple of Euro bike trips with VBT and they do a fantastic job; however, it appears that their Croatia bike trip is also hotel based.
If you can find one one that is boat based, I would do it. It is the best way to see the dalmatian coast, and you will not be subject to the ferry schedules to get from island to island. Plus, on a boat, the captain was able to just spontaneously stop at a secluded beach to let us swim when we wanted to.
You get off the boat in the a.m., cycle to the other side of the island where the boat is waiting, you spend the night at the harbor and sail to the next destination in the a.m.
The trip I did started in Venice, ferried to Istria, was 2 or 3 nights in Istria (hotel based) then an overnight ferry to Split, followed by like 4 or 5 nights on the boat, ending in Dubrovnik.
Istria is terrific, but if you have to choose, the Dalmatian islands are just spectacular.
As I recall, the islands we biked--Brac, Hvar, and Korcula--each involved starting on one side of the island and traversing a pretty challenging hill/mountain on the way to our stopping point so you might want to do some hill training.
We saw a number of boat/bike groups from Germany. You might want to consider Rad and Reisen and/or biketoursdirect.com.
Jun 7th, 2011, 01:39 PM
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I'll be taking a sailing/biking trip this coming July with this company: http://www.islandhopping.com/bike-to...egro-2011.html. I'll report back after the trip.
Jun 9th, 2011, 08:20 AM
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we went through Katarina Line and US travel agency TavelTime out of NJ. Dragica was our agent. This was the best price by far (about 60% of other consolidators.) Same boats, same amenities. Most excellent trip. I highly recommend it...but there are some big hills. (You can stay on the boat and swim and be a tourist those days if you want to be a slug.)
