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Motorcycle Rental/Tours in Greece and Turkey - need help!

Motorcycle Rental/Tours in Greece and Turkey - need help!

Old Apr 4th, 2015, 12:38 PM
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Motorcycle Rental/Tours in Greece and Turkey - need help!

I'm hoping to take a motorcycle tour through Greece and Turkey next year, and am looking for any advance intel I can get. Specifically:

(1) Ideally, I'd like to rent a bike and to do most of the tour on my own; I don't want to pay for a guide to dog my footsteps/direct me where to go. Is this wise? Greece and Turkey both seem/sound fairly safe to me, and assuming that I rent a bike that's fairly new/in good repair, I shouldn't need a mechanic traveling along.

(2) Can anybody recommend any reputable motorcycle rental places and/or motorcycle tour companies?

(3) If I rent a bike on my own, I'd likely be riding from Greece into Turkey, then back. Will that be a problem, license- or registration-wise? Do you need special permission to take Greek-registered motorcycles into Turkey, or vice versa?

(4) I did a similar voyage in Viet Nam last year, and was able to take the motorcycle on a train for part of the journey, which allowed me to skip over some boring terrain. Anybody know if this is possible in Greece or Turkey?

(5) Licensing/registration/insurance -- I have a U.S. motorcycle license. Will that be enough to ride in Greece and Turkey? Are there any special insurance requirements?

(6) Finally, route. My (very tentative) route takes me from Athens, down the Peleponnese through Sparta to Githio, then up the Western coast of the Peleponnese through Patras, north over the Rio-Antirio Bridge into Aetolia-Acarnania, up into Thessaly to see Meteora, then over through Thessaloniki and along the coast to Istanbul. From Istanbul, through Central Anatolia to Ankara, then on to Cappadocia. Then I'll turn around, head back through Konya, over back roads to Bodrum, up to Izmir, then by ferry to Chios, and back to Athens. Any bad spots on that route? Fantastic motorcycle roads that I shouldn't miss?

At this point (April 2015) the trip is over a year away, but this is a big solo journey, and I'm trying to get as much information/do as much advance planning as I can. Any information you can give would be immensely helpful. Thanks!
rcs2prsctr is offline  
Old Apr 4th, 2015, 04:32 PM
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It's highly unlikely you'll find any rental company that will allow you to cross the border with one of their motorcycles or cars.

Even if a rental agency doesn't ask you for it you have to have with you at all times an International Driving Permit. It's the law. If you're in the States now you get them from your local AAA office, no test or membership required. Bring 2 passport photos.
brotherleelove2004 is offline  
Old Apr 4th, 2015, 10:21 PM
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Before a biker steps in, here are some guidelines :

- You cannot take a rental vehicle, car or buke across the Turkish-Greek border. So you would have to fly or take bus between the two countries.

- As far as I have read on Trip Advisor in the past, there are decent bike rental places in Turkey but they would usually require that you return it to same location. You should google and then call some.

- As long as you do not go to Southeastern and Eastern Turkey it is very safe.

- The roads are good and there are some extremely scenic fun roads. there are frequent antique and or historic sites on most routes.

- All routes have frequent small village restaurants, frequent gas stations and almost all gas stations serve tea.

- Bikes are mostly used for delivery services in large Turkish cities and driven very badly. There are very few biking clubs, mostly with Harleys who will have occasional not very long outings from the major cities.

- In rural areas cheaper low power bikes are used for transportation but again with no understanding of traffic rules and usually without helmets or other security.

- Greece requires an international drivers license mostly for cars from some country nationals, but I do not know about bikers.

- Turkey does not require an international drivers license as long as you have a national permit with a photograph.

Here's a site in English but at Antalya :
http://www.trust.com.tr/default.asp?...68&menuID2=768

This is in Turkish and only for BMW bikes (seems very expensive):
http://www.bmw-motorrad.com.tr/tr/tr...-kiralama.html

This may also help : http://www.turkeybikerent.com/tr
otherchelebi is offline  
Old Apr 5th, 2015, 12:48 AM
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My only piece of advice, garnered from my motormouse son is to take your own helmet, boots and leathers/motorbiking jacket and trousers.
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Old Apr 5th, 2015, 01:11 AM
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"Greece requires an international drivers license" - I didn't realise that until recently.

"take your own helmet" - good advice.

It looks like you'll be renting a motorbike in each country, so you'll need to adjust your plan a bit. That TurkeyBikeRent in Antalya is a little more expensive than Kros in the same city - http://www.krosrent.com/en/index.php...torbikeAntalya - from whom I rented a Yamahaha XT660 last year. I think renting in İstanbul would be expensive.
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Old Apr 5th, 2015, 07:50 PM
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This is all great stuff -- thanks so much for the quick responses! The no-rentals-over-the-border is particularly useful; definitely alters the itinerary a bit.
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Old Apr 7th, 2015, 12:46 AM
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From Athens you could fly to İzmir with Pegasus. There are a few places to rent motorbikes in Kuşadası...
http://www.motorport.com.tr/index.html
http://www.2wheeltravel.com/Motorcyc...turkeyhire.htm
http://www.rental-motorcycle.com/asi...si_rental.html

They all seem pretty expensive.

Or head for Antalya, cheap flights with SunExpress from İzmir to Antalya.

http://www.flypgs.com/en/
http://www.sunexpress.com/en
Croesus is offline  
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