Inside the Balkans (Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina)

In the next days we will discover the most memorable landscapes in the Balkans. Did I say “in the Balkans”? Sorry, after the tour you will say “in the whole Europe”. We will ride through Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina. We will pass through the most beautiful national parks, lakes, rivers, coastlines and ancient cities and we will ride our motorcycle most of the time on incredible mountain roads.

DAY 1: Bucharest arrival 
Welcome to Romania!
We will pick you up from the airport and bring you to the hotel. The hotel is situated in the center of Bucharest, a city with a vibrating culture, art galleries, museums and a busy night life. Known as “Little Paris” and it’s reputation for the high life, Romania’s largest city and capital, Bucharest, offers a historical charm, a large number of museums, art galleries, exquisite Orthodox churches and unique architectural sites. We start our visit with the Parliament Palace (formerly called the People’s Palace). Build within Nicolae Ceausescu’s vision, the Parliament Palace spreads on 3.76 million square feets and it is considered as the world’s second largest building after the U.S. Pentagon. In the evening, we will offer a welcome special dinner organized by us and we will discuss the details of our tour.

DAY 2: Bucharest – Drobeta 
We leave behind a beautiful city and ride our motorcycles through a spectacular road to Danube River. You can consider this day as a warm up day for the next days

DAY 3: Drobeta – Djerdap National Park – Zlatibor 
This is the day when we will begin our experience in other countries.
We leave the legendary place of Dracula and we continue our motorcycle tour to Serbia along the Danube on a beautiful road with great landscape. We pass through “Clisura Dunarii”, the place where the history of Romania begins. Here you can see rock-carved figure of Decebal. The sculpture is 55 m high and 25 m wide. Next stop is Zlatibor called “Golden Pine Mountain”. Zlatibor is supposed to get its name from white pine trees with yellow conifer

DAY 4: Zlatibor – Durmitor National Park – Budva
Just after we leave the city behind the real riding fun starts. This will be the day of the corners, 220 kilometers of twisty roads with not much traffic. Roads take us through some of the most remote areas of both, Bosnia and Serbia. Before the border we stop at a traditional village that the Serbian film director Emir Kusturica built for his film Life Is a Miracle. After we cross the border in Bosnia we stop in Višegrad to see the Ottoman-era Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was popularized by Nobel Prize winning author Ivo Andrić in his novel The Bridge on the Drina. We continue our tour to Durmitor National Park which will offers us beautiful landscape, glacial lakes like Crno Jezero (Black Lake) and perfect roads full with hairpins. We will ride our motorcycle in the mountain at 2000 m altitude.

DAY 5: Durmitor National Park – Lovcen National Park – Bay of Kotor – Dubrovnik 
A spectacular day is waiting for us. We will ride our motorcycles all day long on roads full with hairpins and a lot of curves. We continue our motorcycle tour to Lovcen National Park where you will admire an incredible landscape.
Next destination is Bay of Kotor a UNESCO World heritage Site, also called Gulf of Kotor. Here we will find the most impressive landscapes on the Mediterranean coast. We will ride our motorcycles along the coast with the sea on the left side and the mountains on the right side. The spectacle of the beautiful mountains into the Adriatic see makes it worth riding and enjoying the view. From Bay of Kotor we move to Croatia at Dubrovnik.

DAY 6: Dubrovnik – rest day 
Explore the compact and beautifully preserved medieval fortifications of Dubrovnik’s UNESCO-listed Old Town. Take in the terracotta-roofed townhouses and centuries-old stone monuments; from the 17th-century Rector’s Palace to the Baroque Cathedral. Take a walk of the City Wall for spectacular views of the Old Town or just sit on Stradun, its vibrant main street and enjoy coffee and Dubrovnik’s hospitality. You can take a cable car to the hill above Dubrovnik and be amazed by the breathtaking views of the Old City, the crystal clear Adriatic Sea and the numerous islands.

DAY 7: Dubrovnik – Mostar – Sarajevo 
We start our day on Adriatic Coast and then we’ll ride through Bosnia and Hercegovina. On the way to Sarajevo we stop in Mostar. The city was founded by the Turks in the 15th century at a strategic river crossing. They built a stone bridge which is today one of the most famously photographed World Heritage-listed sites. Countryside roads will first lead us through many villages and small towns. We spend the night in Sarajevo. Sarajevo is the most Oriental city in Europe, retains the essence of its rich history with its mosques, markets and picturesque old Turkish bazaar.

DAY 8: Sarajevo – Belgrade 
Belgrade is the capital city of Serbia. It lies on the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. The city has a long history, dating back to the 4th century BC, when the area was settled by Celtic tribes. Here you can find the Belgrade Fortress, perched high above the city, to explore.

DAY 9: Belgrade – Horezu 
Today we will cross the border back to Romania and we will ride through the National Park Cheile-Nerei. We will visit the unique waterfall in the world, Bigar waterfall.
This will be another day with corners, 270 kilometers of twisty roads with not much traffic and nice landscape. We pass the mountains which surround magical lakes. We pass through Baile Herculane, a city which was built in year 153 d.C. by Romans. Our motorcycle tour will guide us through National Parks. Breathtaking views on mountains roads will take us to Trans-Semenic mountain road which is newest mountain road in Romania where we will feel like in a Roller Coaster.

DAY 10: Horezu – Transalpina road – Urdele Pass – Sibiu 
We continue our motorcycle tour to Transalpina, highest mountain road from the entire Carpathian Mountain chain. We ride on fantastic roads and beautiful serpentines at 2145 meters; make pictures of the beautiful landscape of Transalpina road.
It is a perfect playground for demanding motorcyclists.
We finish the day in Sibiu. The city was founded by the Saxon colonists and called once “Hermannstadt”. Voted in 2007 together with Luxemburg the “European Cultural Capital, “The Music City” offers us a great number of cultural monuments, a diversity of museums and various artistic events.

DAY 11: Sibiu – Transfagarsan road – Bucharest 
We ride now through Transfagarasan road, 91 km just perfect for motor riding! Build at 2042 meters altitude over Fagaras Mountains which are the highest mountains in Romania, Transfagarasan road offers the most spectacular landscape in Europe! Open to the public only 2 months per year due to cold weather, Transfagarasan was called by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May from Top Gear as “the most amazing road we have ever seen”! We admire at the end of the road an incredible lake called Balea Lake which is located in the middle of the mountains and make perfect pictures. We finish our beautiful day in Bucharest. We will enjoy our goodbye dinner and share our perfect moments of our motorcycle tour.

DAY 12: Bucharest departure 
Hope that you enjoyed the tour and we wish you happy journey home.