Balkans - Italy Tour, May 2025

The riders, friends, and companions

In short: We covered approximately 3,700 kilometers by road on our motorcycles in 14 days, crossing the Adriatic Sea twice by car ferry (each crossing lasting approximately 11 hours with an overnight stay in the cabin). In other words: from Durrës (Albania) to Bari (Italy) and from Ancona (Italy) back to Split (Croatia). The motorcycles were all BMW GS models from our BMW fleet, stationed at the Meet & Greet location in Trogir near Split, close to the airport.

What more could you want? Exploring off-the-beaten-path, lesser-known, and unusual kilometers of road through the Balkans and Italy!
The tour was actually planned to be 99% on paved roads. But things often turn out differently than expected. But more on that later.

Mutual fun

Memories of Croatia

Right from the start, all the riders knew what to expect. The first few hundred kilometers led across very narrow and winding roads across Croatia to Mostar in Bosnia. Here, everyone had the chance to demonstrate their skills.
This meant taking routes far away from the usual tourist roads, which were perfectly maintained and paved, but very narrow and winding, uphill and downhill.
It was a true pleasure and pure riding fun for every motorcyclist.

Vanessa (Ness), Adam, and Hughbert (Hugh) from Australia, as well as Steve from the USA and Nigel from South Africa, experienced pure adventure on this tour.
Walter from Germany, unfortunately, couldn't join us because he developed severe earache on the day of his arrival in Split and had to leave immediately the next day to go to a hospital in Germany. We were very sorry about this! We were therefore forced to enjoy the adventure without him.
Sorry, Walter!

Memories of Montenegro

According to the itinerary, the tour took us to Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Italy, and back to Croatia. Everything was perfectly planned and organized. However, in Montenegro, more precisely in Zabljak in Durmitor National Park, something completely unexpected happened. The plan was to spend the night at the Hotel Porto Tara, located at the deepest point of the Tara Canyon (the Tara Canyon is also the deepest canyon in Europe). The hotel itself is located about 23 km outside of Zabljak in breathtakingly beautiful natural surroundings. It is a true dream to stay there. It's rare to find a hotel in such a location. To put it bluntly: a rarity among hotel environments.

BUT!? The journey there presented a real challenge for the group. The hotel was new on the list of accommodation options, so they had no previous experience with it. This isn't meant as an excuse; it's simply the truth. There's certainly plenty of information online about access to the hotel, but often nothing particularly credible or informative. Therefore, it was better to call the hotel staff before arriving and ask if access with a fully loaded motorcycle would be possible. The answer came promptly: The first 15 km from Zabljak are paved and lead through a scenic area. The last 7 km are sufficiently gravelled. Therefore, no problem for a motorcyclist, according to the friendly voice on the phone. Other motorcyclists would also use this access to add emphasis to their words. Well, there are different types of motorcyclists: There are the off-road riders, who usually ride a motorcycle suitable for off-road use, with off-road tires and little luggage. And then there are the others: the touring riders with street tires and a plenty, and heavy luggage.

What is pure pleasure for some can be a complete nightmare for others.

After a very long day of riding from Dubrovnik, the challenge was to conquer an approximately 7 km long off-road track. When we arrived at the supposedly gravelled section, there wasn't much of a gravel road to be seen. Rather, it was a track with large boulders and deep ditches caused by heavy rain. All of that would have been acceptable and manageable, but then there was the drop down into the valley. A drop and a track condition that even cars, or even 4x4s, would have trouble driving. What now? It was already late, and we had already covered about 300 kilometers of curves that day due to our tour planning. It was also slowly getting dark. So: who dares wins. We had to ride down this valley together with our fully loaded motorcycles. Once we started, there was no turning back!

At this point, a huge compliment must go to Ness. As the only woman on the trip, with little off-road experience and a fully loaded motorcycle, she almost conquered the track. Even though she had to give up halfway through, at least she tried. Great, Ness!
In short, the other riders had to complete the rest of the journey without Ness and her motorcycle and immediately organize a pickup for her from the hotel. Cell reception is almost impossible in this area, so Ness's pickup couldn't be arranged on the spot. Darko, the hotel manager and our friend today, promptly picked Ness up from somewhere in the middle of nowhere and brought her safely to the hotel. The motorcycle itself remained on the kind of gravelled road overnight.

After arriving at the hotel, Porto Tara, we were able to recover from this very special experience. Once again, the hotel is located in an incredible setting. The food and hospitality are fantastic, except for the access.

The next day, the tour was scheduled to take us on to Budva early in the morning. What else can we say? It had rained during the night, and the supposed gravel road was no longer passable by motorcycle, as it had become very slippery due to the rain. In fact, we had to organize a tow truck that could drive the same route from Zabljak down into the valley and bring all our motorcycles back up the mountain. These trips took us almost five hours, so continuing on to Budva that day was no longer possible. We spent another night in Zabljak, skipped our next destination, Budva, and continued on to Lezhë in Albania. Yes, on a well-planned motorcycle tour, we call such incidents an adventure and teamwork of the entire group.

Unfortunately, the actual gradient and climb back up to Zabljak aren't visible in the photos. It was also not possible to take any pictures of the actual, steep climbs, as stopping the truck at those points was impossible.

Memories of Albania

Memories of Italy