If you were leaving Milan...

Nicad

Nicad

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Anyone have any suggestions for direction to take on a 4 day trip leaving and returning from Milan early November? Going in blind and have a tight budget for time. Was thinking of heading to Slovenia, certainly love mountain driving but could easily be pusuaded to head in any other direction. What am I after mainly? Minimal car and truck traffic. I'll be on a BMW GS750 twin. I have concern about the weather and know luck could go either way. I have rain gear. Gotta be more likely nice there than here Ontario in November. I'll have to really keep an eye on anything high altitude.
Ideally I'm on curvy roads at maybe 70 -100 KMH/Hr. Low traffic and having scenic Vistas will make my day.
Will be attending the large Milan Motorcycle trade show for 5 days working on my feet. We'll see how the bones like that! Last time I rode a motorcycle in Europe was 1980.

Tia.
 
Milan to Genoa on the highway and Genoa to Ventimiglia on the coastal road. Ventimiglia is the French border and a short ride to Monte Carlo and or Nice. Return trip thru the mountains back to Milan…… perfect 4 day trip……
 

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We did Milan to Cinque Terre. The driving is fine but once you approach Cinque Terre the car is useless, need to find parking and a short train to your destination. Then boat between the individual towns. Busy in the summer, should be fine now.

Other nice radial trips we took from Milan were:
- Bologna, it was awesome because it does not show up in Rick Steve's guides to Italy, so there are not that many tourists! We did agro tourism there and it was great.
- Asti, great scenery and driving in the twisties.

Lake Como was too fancy schmanzy for me, and brought parking fines from there...
Enjoy!
 
Keshav said:
Milan to Genoa on the highway and Genoa to Ventimiglia on the coastal road. Ventimiglia is the French border and a short ride to Monte Carlo and or Nice. Return trip thru the mountains back to Milan…… perfect 4 day trip……
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Thanks for that suggestion Keshav. Are there a lot of elevation changes along the coast?. 44 years ago I did a bike trip from Belgium through France, Switzerland, down the western coast of Italy, over to Pescara, then took a Ferry to Split, then up te Croatian coast. I loved that route. What are the average speeds on the highway portion to Ventimiglia?
 
Arde said:
We did Milan to Cinque Terre. The driving is fine but once you approach Cinque Terre the car is useless, need to find parking and a short train to your destination. Then boat between the individual towns. Busy in the summer, should be fine now.

Other nice radial trips we took from Milan were:
- Bologna, it was awesome because it does not show up in Rick Steve's guides to Italy, so there are not that many tourists! We did agro tourism there and it was great.
- Asti, great scenery and driving in the twisties.

Lake Como was too fancy schmanzy for me, and brought parking fines from there...
Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Sounds nice, not sure of my luggage setup yet. I love to hike, but I'll be wearing so much gear, that is not really possible to get too far away from my bike and the stuff stored on it. Night time will be my time to walk about.
 
Nicad said:
Thanks for that suggestion Keshav. Are there a lot of elevation changes along the coast?. 44 years ago I did a bike trip from Belgium through France, Switzerland, down the western coast of Italy, over to Pescara, then took a Ferry to Split, then up te Croatian coast. I loved that route. What are the average speeds on the highway portion to Ventimiglia?
Click to expand...
Bob, along the coast there is practically no elevations other than you decide to go to one of the medieval towns in the hilly sides. From Genoa you should ride the costal road thru the quaint towns all the way into France (save the autobahn costs too). You might want to visit Turin (spectacular medieval city) on your way back to Milan. Evenings are getting cold so be prepared……
Milan to Genoa (Genoa is definitely worth a visit too) highway speeds are up to 130kmph and being a tourist country, they love giving tickets!
But from Genoa, use the coastal road (they have 3 possible options, highways, city streets (below the highways) and costal roads which are for the most part, pretty much along the sea.
 
i like the drive from Milan up to the lake district - lake Como over to Lake Garda (Verona area). the lakes are pretty, the food is great (all of Italy has great food as long as you stay away from McDonalds / KFC type places). in the Verona area you will get amazing Valpolicella or Amarone wines. of course if you go to the SW, you will get Barolo, Barbaresco, Barbera, Dolcetto as well as some amazing whites (Alba / Asti). in that part of Italy you will get amazing Risotto and white sauces (more than traditional southern red sauces)
 
Great replies, much appreciated. I'd like to stay as rural as possible. I drove from Milan through Lake Como into Austria then Switzerland a few years ago with my Son in a car. Great trip. Went through so many tunnels, which blew me away as I was amazed by the infrastructure. I want to avoid those. The main thing I seek when riding is roads , open spaces and as few cars as possible. Not sure of the tires on my rental, but I take gravel and dirt roads a lot on my rides in the North East.
 
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There is a German app made specifically for motorcyclists who are looking for the best roads that is recommended by Harry Metcalfe. It is called Calimoto. Once you find your destination points, it could help you get there in the most enjoyable way
 
Bmachine said:
There is a German app made specifically for motorcyclists who are looking for the best roads that is recommended by Harry Metcalfe. It is called Calimoto. Once you find your destination points, it could help you get there in the most enjoyable way
Click to expand...

They even offer a free of charge 2 week trial so one can test the app!

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Nicad said:
Great replies, much appreciated. I'd like to stay as rural as possible. I drove from Milan through Lake Como into Austria then Switzerland a few years ago with my Son in a car. Great trip. Went through so many tunnels, which blew me away as I was amazed by the infrastructure. I want to avoid those. The main thing I seek when riding is roads , open spaces and as few cars as possible. No sure of the tires on my rental, but I take gravel and dirt roads a lot on my rides in the North East.
Click to expand...
i second that approach - stay off the Autostrata and drive the minor roads ... the ones with lots of curves. the only issue becomes stopping at an intersection to determine where you go next - with a couple of poles with 20 different town names. makes it interesting.
 
Oh, on a motorcycle, I missed that.
Great plan, your adversary is the Vespa and whoever is riding it.
 
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