Ready for a Balkans motorcycle adventure tour? Ready to ride a BMW GS motorcycle through Albanian high Alpine villages, Montenegrin mountains and wild nature?
Keep on reading (and watching!)
Some time ago, we introduced our first tour from ’Off the Radar’ series, called ‘Secrets of magical Croatia’. It’s an adventure/enduro adventure motorcycle tour of Croatia, with the main idea of skipping touristy places and focusing more on the (off-road) riding, true nature and sometimes even, hard work. Some may call it a 50:50 tour as we spend about the same time on road and off-road.
Now, ‘Off the Radar’ series go further with a new tour of Balkans: Albania and Montenegro. Yes, Albania and Montenegro- you did get that right. Why? Well, exactly for the reasons mentioned above. If you like true, raw nature, under-explored paths and aren’t afraid to spend a night in a mountain hut where needed, this tour will blow your mind! Beyond any commercialism, far above anyone’s expectations and now with MotoTrip, so easy accessible.
Albania and Montenegro
Most other European countries already defined exactly where you can (and cannot) ride your motorcycle. Of course, we’re thinking about off-road here. A lot of great paths are banned for motorised vehicles, properties are private and fenced, all resulting in the same- no space left for real adventure riding. With Albania and Montenegro (and a lot of other countries in the Balkans) the story is at the moment, very much different. Yes- every year few more kilometres are asphalted, a true hidden village becomes ‘open’ to public and in some time, certain part of the adventure charm will be lost- but you can still find miles and miles of paths, backroads and ‘unknown’. In the rest of Europe- we already see the result of commercialising. In Albania and Montenegro- we feel the nature. We ride the nature. And that’s why we suggest to put this tour on a list of your off-road motorcycle adventures in near future, before the ‘modern’ comes in.
Albania vs Montenegro: Balkans motorcycle adventure tour
While scouting and setting up this amazing adventure ride, we simply couldn’t decide whether we like Albania or Montenegro better. Score was always a tie and we thought the best would be for you to decide. The match is Albania vs Montenegro and it’s on you to tell the score. Whether it’s the wilderness of Montenegrin mountains or the simplicity of Albanian ‘in the middle of nowhere’ villages and extremely friendly people, trust us- it’ll be a heck of a ride.
Basic overview of this motorcycle adventure
It’s is a 10 days riding tour (12 days total including arrival and departure days) with 5 days in Montenegro and 5 days in Albania. The tour itself starts in Dubrovnik, Croatia. As it is scheduled to start right after our ‘Secrets of magical Croatia’ finishes, it represents kind of a sequel / next level or a step up. This time, it’s a round tour and after riding the backroads of Montenegro and Albania, we get back to Croatia. Start/finish city is Dubrovnik (south of Croatia), which is easy accessible and offers a great add-on to the whole tour. Optionally, you may arrive few days earlier / stay a few days later after the tour to add Dubrovnik to your ‘been there, done that’ list. Tip 1– you can leave your spouse(s) in Dubrovnik to do some sightseeing while you take a ‘quick’ look of the neighbourhood!
Difficulty
We do this Albania vs Montenegro adventure tour using big enduro motorcycles. Those are BMW F700GS, BMW F800GS and BMW R1200GS. Due to (high) technical requirements of the terrain, this tour is meant only for experienced off-road riders*. If you’ve passed some of BMW Motorrad off-road trainings, this tour is suitable for the ’Experts’ e.g. riders with highest level of off-road skills.
Tip 2: if you think your off-road skills are not on the level, consider joining our ’Secrets of magical Croatia’ first. That’s a perfect tour for beginner off-road riders where you’ll pick up (and practice) the basics of off-road riding; becoming much more confident in those 10 riding days.
*We hold the right to cancel/modify the itinerary depending on the participant’s skills.
Dates and timing
We organise this tour only for private groups (groups of friends, team buildings, etc). That’s why, there will be no dates online; they are to be determined for every group separately, depending on the availability of our Enduro team and motorcycles.
The sooner you book, more room for selecting the dates you’ll have. As Albania vs Montenegro enduro adventure tour runs up and down high altitude mountains (very often around 2000 meters above sea level / 6500ft), we suggest selecting dates between early June till early October (snow being the biggest issue).
Tip 3- in last few years, we had amazing weather all the way till the end of October. Although late October can be pretty risky because of rain/snow, it can result as the best weather of the year. So for groups that have an option to be on a stand-by and arrive in ‘last minute’ according to the weather, we can even organise the tour in 2nd half of October. For more information about selecting the right timing, please feel free to contact us!
Riding equipment, preparation for this enduro motorcycle tour
As always, we suggest riding in full riding gear. For this tour, it is not a suggestion- it is a requirement. Full face helmet (enduro/motocross style preferably), jacket and pants with good ventilation system, gloves and good enduro/motocross style boots are basics. Additionally, we suggest a body armour and motocross t-shirt, depending on the dates of the ride. More information on what to bring, how to dress etc. will be provided on time.
Pricing
Pricing varies upon group sizes and motorcycle choices. By clicking HERE, you can see all the details. Or copy/paste/share this URL:
https://www.mototrip-tours.com/motorcycle-tours/off-road-adventure-motorcycle-tour-balkans.htm
For more information about road / off-road motorcycle tours and riding in Europe, follow this blog, send us an e-mail and like us on Facebook! More goodies to come, see you on the road!
P.S. Oh yes, don’t forget to check out the ‘Albania vs Montenegro enduro adventure tour’ gallery shown below!
