Hello everybody, first time posting, long time lurking.
My bf and I are planning our first big bicycle trip from France to Türkiye, we will mostly follow the Eurovélo 6 as it seems to be the easiest way to get there. But once arriving to Bulgaria, we're wondering about the best options to get to Türkiye.
Which way would be the easiest, flattest to go from Bulgaria to Türkiye ?
1) Following the EV 6 to the Black Sea and then coming back inside the lands -> Burgas -> Krouchevets-> Vizitsa -> Gramatikovo -> Malko Tarnovo -> Dereköy (first village in Türkiye after the border). This way seems to be pretty steep after Burgas and we're not sure we can make it as we don't have tons of experience with roads with a lot of elevation gains although it would be awesome to pass the border and snap a picture of the border sign 🙂
2) The green line I drew is the EV 13 (I think) and seems to be going to Edirne in Türkiye (my dad who's Turkish said it was a beautiful city to see) but I didn't check on komoot if the EV 13 path was more steep.
3) Finally (the yellow line), my boyfriend's idea was to go get a boat in Thessaloniki, there's a ferry boat that goes to İzmir. No border sign pic but if the other ways are too hard then let's do it.
For now I only created a GPX route for the first option as it took a lot of time putting points to make sure Komoot wasn't messing with us (we had some bad experiences going thru hard hiking trails and when using the "road bike" option Komoot seems to be avoiding the Eurovélo which is frustrating).
We want to get there as fast as possible but without too much suffering from the lack of experience and steep roads. Thanks for your help!
by juledjaina
2 Comments
I rode through the Lesovo,Bulgaria/Turkey broder crossing last September. The border crossing near Derekoy was closed to cyclists – we had wanted to cross there from Burgas. I would check which borders are open to pedestrians/cyclists when you get closer to the border.
https://preview.redd.it/97i63f1898kf1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2124a212031fee65804bd9c9df378b017928581e
I did the green line 2 years ago – Northern Greece surprised me how hilly it was! Lots of up and down but absolutely stunning. Especially around Kerkini lake. I dipped into southern Bulgaria for the Rhodope mountains which was worth the minimal detour. Greece is incredible for bikepackers – lots of mini churches (with picnic benches usually) with water sources everywhere! Plus Greek people are super friendly to cyclists in the countryside in my experience.