TransBalkan – Bikepacking across Europe

At the beginning of May I started a bikepacking tour across the Balkans from Greece back to Germany. It took me 15 days to cover a total of 2,400 km. The route first leads mainly along the steep Mediterranean coast of Greece and Albania. The mountains there reach all the way to the sea and you have to conquer one or two passes. So the total of 21,000 metres of altitude quickly adds up. Albania and Montenegro in particular thrilled me on the trip and I will certainly return there by bike. After 7 days, I made it to Dubrovnik.

From Dubrovnik, the TransBalkan Tour continued northwards along the Mediterranean coast in the second week. The weather was perfect and I didn't have a single rainy day. Since I reactively carried a lot of weight with tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag and cooking set, I decided to cross the Alps at the lowest point. Therefore, I crossed from Split through the Croatian hinterland and Slovenia to Graz. There I took the Präbichl Pass. From there it was just rolling down once across Austria to the Danube, which then took me back to Regensburg on the last day.

The entire route is compiled in a collection on Komoot. You can also find the individual stages of the tour on Strava!

https://www.komoot.com/de-de/collection/1589473/-transbalkan-bikepacking-across-europe

Komoot: Joschka Völkel
Strava: Joschka Völkel
Instagram: @j_voelle