Slovenia

Croatia

Serbia

Romania

Region one of Three 

We wanted to stay in Europe for six months.

But the Shengen rules only allowed 3 months. The only way to stay longer was to spend time in non-shengen countries. We had never been to Romania, so we made that our destination for the first three months of our summer long touring.

We had friends in Maribor, Slovenia so started there. It was a short ride to the non-shengen country of Croatia.

The Drava River route set our course from Maribor, through Croatia to the Serbian border.

https://www.komoot.com/tour/299480524

Slovenia

Camping Kekec- Maribor, Slovenia is a lovely, friendly campground on the edge of Maribor

Maribor to Ptuj, Slovenia-6/11/2018

Maribor has a network of bicycle paths in and around the city.

Signs for the Drava River Route pointed the way out of town.

But, just a few miles out, this well marked route abruptly ended with construction and no more signage.

We had a route plotted on our phone app (RidewithGPS), but it had not accounted for the construction.

Apparently, they were building an entirely new route on the other side of the Drava River.

With no reliable directions, we floundered through streets ending in stairs, dirt roads and a lot more frustration.

Hopefully, by now, an actual route will be established. 

We downloaded the GPS infor from all our rides into a new app called Komoot when we got home. All the map links are in this new app.

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Ptuj, Slovenia to Varazdin, Croatia

There seem to be numerous recorded routes all labeled the Drava River Route.

We picked one and loaded it into our phone only to find more construction, detours and frustration.

Varazdin, Croatia

 Varazdin occupies a special place in Croatia as it was the country’s capital from 1767 to 1776.

Because the city suffered a great fire that left it badly damaged, the capital was moved to Zagreb

Two of the most famous places are the Main Square and the Varazdin Castle.

It’s easy to walk around the compact city center.

We can recommend Apartman Majnaric, an historic house with large private apartment just five minutes walking from beautiful center.

We stayed 2 nights. Breakfast not included but it has a kitchen. Also has WIFI.

Varazdin to Donji Vidovec, Croatia

We finally got a paved road all the way to our destination. There was minimal traffic.

It was very pleasant riding through peaceful countryside of farms and houses.

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Donji Vidovec to Molve, Croatia

Beautiful cycling on paved roads except for the last mile to our chosen lodging.

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Pitomaca to Kapela Dvor

It has been beautiful cycling since entering Croatia.

All through quiet country roads, very flat farmland, and small villages that tourists do not frequent.

There have been  Drava signs but we never cycled by the river itself.

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Kapela Dvor to Noskovacka Dubrava, Croatia

More excellent cycling on paved, country roads with minimal traffic.

Small villages and some views of the Drava River.

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Noskovacka Dubrava to Osijek, Croatia

Getting close to Osijek, traffic picked up.

Took a bad route into town on a major freeway which did not seem to mind bicycles.

Once in town, look for bike path on river to get to the city center. Nice riding on river bike path.

Osijek was a very scattered town but with lots of lodging choices.

We stayed 3 nights as Mike was feeling sick.

Best part of all was celebrating Anne’s 74th birthday on a river boat.

We spent the next day touring the old city of Osijek. There, we met 4 German cyclists who were also touring. Spent the rest of the day drinking snapps and exchanging stories!

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Osijek, Croatia to Bezdan, Serbia

The Drava River flows through Osijek southeast to the famous Danube River.

On leaving Osijek, we cycled north through a pretty reserve along the shore of the Danube making a longer, but very quiet and scenic route.

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Serbia

We crossed the Danube at Batina, Croatia and ended up near Bezdan Serbia on a small inland lake for the evening.

Bezdan to Sombor, Serbia

We cycled the Danube Gorge of Serbia in 2014 and fell in love with the country. 

Even after a brutal war with their neighbors, and an attack on Belgrade by the USA, we were greeted with traditional Serbian hospitality on that trip.

Now, in Sombor, we arrived in the middle of a town celebration of music, art, food, and stalls selling local goods.

Our entire time in Serbia was always punctuated with great food and live music.

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Subotica to Palic Lake, Serbia

Palic Lake is just 8 miles from Subotica. 

It is a shallow lake that supports water activities and vacation homes.

We found  wonderful lodging at a family owned, small complex with hot tub.

The weather was cold and it seemed like the perfect place to rest for a couple of days.

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Palic Lake to Kanjiza, Serbia

Another short day of cycling as we were in no hurry to leave Serbia.

We were enjoying the ambiance of the small, non-tourist towns on our way towards Romania.

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Kanjiza to Kikinda, Serbia

Our last full cycling day in Serbia, we stopped at various cafes on the road as it made a straight line through peaceful farming country.

Kikinda is another non-tourist town with wonderful architecture and plazas.

It seemed so strange to be in such lovely places without hordes of foreign travelers.

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Romania

Romania is a beautiful and fascinating country culturally, musically, and gastronomically. But, it is not easy to cycle.

Main routes are jammed with traffic.

Drivers are not sensitized to the art of safe driving.

Cycling routes are difficult to research, process and link together for a comprehensive tour.

Routes that were published often were tours for mountain bikes, veering off onto difficult dirt roads. Many paved roads were under massive reconstruction. Detours were along insane dirt roads. Needless to say, it was adventourous.

We did find appropriate routes for touring cyclists. The two most famous are Transfagarasan and Trans Alpina.

The routes we have on these pages were some of the best we could find as we tried to avoid major traffic and still see the best of Romania.

Kikinda Serbia to Timisoara, Romania

This border crossing region is very quiet. Traffic was not an issue, and the roads were generally in good condition.

The border guard was so excited, he kept us there for 30 minutes sharing all the places we should see in his country.

Our destination for the day was Timisoara,  a most beautiful, small city on the western edge of the country. Nicknamed “Little Vienna”, we spent three days absorbing the magic of Timisoara.

“Timisoara is vibrant, cultural, and charming. The capital of the Banat region has that unique touch that invites you to visit it and learn about its history. The city still conserves visible traces of its different cultures. The Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the communist past are present in its identity.” Quote from this beautiful website.

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Timisoara to Lipova, Romania

From Timisoara all the way to Sebes was fraught with heavy traffic, massive road reconstruction, and detours on terrible dirt roads. As an introduction to Romania, it put fear in our hearts we would not be able to cycle much of Romania. But, we held out and were glad we did as we did find better routes.

The road out of Timisoara north was the worst for traffic. A two lane road with no shoulder, we hit every side road we could find. It finally thinned out after crossing the main highway A1. Shortly after, we suffered through the reconstruction.

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Lipova to Ilteu

This was a long, hard day.

The main road on the north side of the river was far too dangerous to ride with two lanes, no shoulder at all, and clogged with traffic.

We stayed on the south side on secondary roads.

Some portions were awful, potholed dirt make-believe roads.

There were lots of maintained gravel roads and a few paved places.

The route was devoid of amenities other than a few very small towns.

We had to cross back to the main road near the end of the day to find lodging. It was a terrifying section to ride.

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Ilteu to Deva, Romania

This was another hard day on really bad dirt roads and lots of gravel roads.

Again, we stayed off the main road on the north side of the river.

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Deva to Sebes, Romania

Finally, after a short ride on the main road out of Deva, we turned off onto a marvelous route, paved with little traffic.

It meandered through small villages.

Along the way, we met a lone Swiss cyclist who joined us for the day.

This was the first touring cyclist we have run into on our entire trip.

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TransAlpina-Transfagarasan -Deva to Sibiu, Romania

The two most scenic, most challenging cycle routes in Romania

Sibiu, the most beautiful city (in our opinion) in Romania

TransAlpina and Transfagarasan are the two highest and most scenic roads in Romania. Cyclists who know anything about Romania, know about these two roads.

We linked them together, starting in Sebes and finishing in Sibiu.

Riding north to south, then south to north is the easier way to cycle these two routes. The route connecting the two passes (about 65 miles long) is also very scenic.

Each pass can be done in a day, but we certainly don’t recommend that. Across TransAlpina it is 83 miles. Across Transfagarasan it is about 74 miles. There is lodging about the middle  of each pass. Just make certain to plan ahead as these are popular places to stay..

The total loop as we did it is 259 miles.

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Sibiu, Romania

Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, the most popular visitor region in Romania. The entire area is rich in Medieval structures, European architecture, and Romanian culture. Sibiu center is famous for the Germanic architecture of its old town, a legacy of the 12th century Saxon colonizers. The Medieval Council Tower dates back to the 13th century. There are numerous large public squares surrounded by many historic buildings. Medieval stone houses line narrow streets. The beautiful tile roofs are everywhere.

There are frequent festivals of music, art, and local crafts, and Romanian dancing. Of all the places we visited in Romanian, Sibiu was by far our favorite.

Sibiu Festivals

Sibiu is a city of festivals. Below are a few samples in videos taken on the fly.

Although the Romanian folk dance video is out of focus, one gets the spirit of the music and dance typ[ical in Romania.

Sibiu Living Village

Just outside the city limits of Sibiu is a living village where food, music, and crafts are offered to the public in living format.

It is a wonderful experience.