My husband and I just got married and are starting to plan our honeymoon. We’d love to do a 2-week bikepacking trip somewhere in Europe.
Our original idea was the Iceland Ring Road, but we’re still exploring options and would love suggestions from people here.
What we’re looking for:
• Around 2 weeks of riding
• Mostly paved roads (a bit of gravel is totally fine, but we’ll be on road bikes with 32mm tires)
• Preferably in Europe, since we don’t want to spend too much time traveling before/after the trip
• Mostly camping, with the occasional hotel to properly rest and recharge
• Around 100–150 km per day
• Climbs/elevation are absolutely fine
More than anything, we want this trip to feel like a real adventure and something unique/out of the ordinary. Since we’ll probably do many more bikepacking trips in the future, we’d love our honeymoon to feel especially memorable.
So far, we’ve mostly bikepacked in France, with our longest trip being 7 consecutive days in Brittany. We’re also planning a shorter trip to Italy or Spain this September.
Places we’ve already considered:
• Iceland Ring Road
• Ireland
• Scotland
• North Cape
Friends have also recommended:
• Lithuania
• Slovenia / Montenegro
We’re very open to ideas, especially routes that feel remote, wild, or truly special. The time of year isn’t fixed yet, so seasonal suggestions are welcome too.
Would love to hear your recommendations!
(Sharing some pics from previous trips, 1. Breakfast in Étretat, 2. View from Col de Grimone in Vercors, 3. Loire River bank, 4. View from Roc'h Ruz in Brittany, 5. Kouign Aman for breakfast)
by Dianouille_
7 Comments
Last summer I had a great time biking across Bavaria and bits of the Iron Curtail trail (euro velo 13) between Bavaria and Czechia. The mornings in the Bohemian forest were magical.
Sooo many option tbh.
At the end, probably very much different than where you live is your best option.
Hence maybe mention the area where you live.
Those trips through France, did you stay at campgrounds mostly?
Since you probably aren’t starting in Germany, I don’t really have a suggestion for a route or area. But I can confirm that our honeymoon by bike was the best thing we could have done. We just set off on a whim in an area where hotel rooms were easily available, and it was wonderfully relaxing. We do this every year on the weekend after our wedding anniversary. Even though we spend a lot of time on our bikes, this weekend is always something special.
Slovenia – STKP (slovenian touring cycling route) (a loop through all of slovenia)
Slovenia + Croatia – down the adriatic coast
Croatia – island hopping (great for April/May)
Any of the EuroVelo-s
If you do Iceland (highly recommend), I’d stay away from the ring road. During the cycling (summer) months it’ll be extremely busy with endless tourists and even traffic. The roads are also built up, so if there’s traffic, there’s not an easy way to filter through/by cars with panniers, as it’s a drop off to the side in alot of places.
As you’ll be on road bikes (so not going inland on MTBs) I’d recommend flying into Reykjavik, get a bus & ferry up to the Westfjords and cycling there. So much more quieter than the ring road, and epic cycling, views, feeling of being on your own.
I did this trip a while ago, you can check my Komoot route (this is short, we continued further round and down from Isafjordur, then caught a bus with our bikes back direct to Reykjavik). It was amazing!
https://www.komoot.com/collection/1427782/-iceland-s-westfjords
(FYI even this route has some rough tracks, but I did it on 35mm tyres on my touring bike)
Go to the mountains somewhere in Italy / Alps