Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia Self-Guided Motorcycle Tour

Fifteen nights down the Adriatic and back, self-guided, from Slovenia through Bosnia to Dubrovnik, on the rider’s own bike.

Vianden, Munster and Innsbruck come first on the long run east, then Ljubljana by way of the Gerlos Pass, the Krimml waterfalls, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road and the Wurzen Pass, with Lake Bled optional and a free day in the city.

Bihac follows in Bosnia by way of Plitvice, where sixteen terraced lakes fall into one another over travertine barriers, then Mostar, where the Stari Most was destroyed in 1993 and rebuilt a decade later with stone from the original quarry. Dubrovnik comes next with a free day for the walled old town, then Zadar and Porec up the Dalmatian and Istrian coasts, with a free day for the Roman amphitheatre at Pula, the citadel at Rovinj and Hum, which claims to be the smallest town in the world. The Passo Mauria and Lake Misurina carry the route back through the Dolomites.

Fifteen nights of bed and breakfast, seven evening meals and the return Eurotunnel crossing are included, along with the GPX routes, the kit list and the itinerary; fuel, parking, admissions and the vignettes are not. Sixteen days for this much of Europe is a long trip with four free days in it, and the Balkan half is the reason to take it: the coast road through Croatia is one of the great rides anywhere and the traffic on it thins the further south it goes. Summer is the season, though the Dalmatian coast in August is hot work in leathers.