The Dalmatian coast, Croatia

before i start...i SEARCHED! nuthin.

anyone tried this before? any help would be grrreat!

planning to hit up the soundwave fest in petrčane getting there by train and bike.

gonna grab an interrail ticket. planning to head thru france /swissland/italy - ferry to dubrovnik [porco rosso] then head up the dalmation coast.

• so it's more like training it around to cities and explore them by bike rather than cycling that WHOLE way [before anyone gets excited] - the only serious cycling comes into play after dubrovnik as there is 0 train network.
  
  

figure we can get up the coast by ferry/bike - hopping islands ...

i reckon max riding would be under 200 km on the coast side

might have to change the GI down from 94.5...

any info..ANY info on anything [related: towns/routes/roads/food/campsites/equipment/how to stay friends with other cyclists during hardship...] would be grand!

Try searching for Dalmatia or the Dalmatian Coast...

i did :(

I'm doing something similar this summer actually. Except not the interrailing bit, or the festival!
I have been to Split and one of the Islands round there and it was gorgeous.

Snappy spelling correction eh?

yes thanks for the heads up - that was appalling.

jim can you remember how much the ferries were? planning on taking about 3 of them!

Split is home to the most beautiful women I have ever encountered (and is cool place also) so highly recommended.

Get ferry to Hvar - long time since I went but if you avoid the super-rich yachters is very cool place.

yeah yeah! hvar is one o the stops hmm maybe if we mingle with the yachters they can pay for the rest of the trip hahaaa!

Ha - not a chance! We chugged up to one of the yachting marina's in a very basic 2-stroke hire boat. We were told to fuck off in no uncertain terms.

Still - you never know. The yacht scene was easily avoidable though - ended up staying with a Croatian family on Hvar who were lovely.

Dalmation Coast is absolutely amazing, incredibly beautiful.

If you fancy it you can get a ferry from Hvar to Italy also - Rimini. Or do the other way round as I did - Rimini to Croatia.

Opens up more possibilities and it may be cheaper to fly to Italy 1st?? Dunno - it was when i did it (admittedly about 10 years ago).

thats interesting - we are planning to train it thru france, maybe stop in switzerland [never been there] go down the east coast of italy to bari - ferry to dubrovnik ...so we can kind of u turn and hit the festival on the way home -

crossing over from italy sooner would mean missing out on dubrovnik which i've heard sooo many great things about...

staying with a family sounds cool - what's the deal with that?

hmm ferries are €14 with the bari - dubrv at €40 - damn this might be tricky - ferries only go once a day ?? is that right? fuck if we miss'em we're screwed...or camping on a sweet island...

As I remember - correct . If you're set on Dubrovnik, you'd have to get from Split to Dubrovnik I - guess by train or cycle it :-)

In answer to your other question - we were met off the ferry at Hvar by people asking if we wanted somewhere to stay.

Thinking back on timelines this was probably 15 yrs ago (my how time flies!). Am sure you could probably couch-surf it though nowadays. Do it though mate - seriously beautiful part of the world.

Did i mention the women in Split....

stunning part of the world, have sailed from split down to corfu spent about 2 weeks along that stretch dodging in and out of the islands
korcula dubrovnik beautiful blue water cheap beer good food reall nice archityecture and old buildings korcula is probably the nicest town we went to make and effort to go there
loads of island and ferry's covering the whole area, from sea level there did look to be a lot of mountains all around this area
highly recommended

man you guys getting me psyched for this trip - one more thing i need advice on from those who know the terrain - im going to be riding my track frame - can switch down from 94.5GI to 77.... but only have a front brake and no braking surface!@£$ [aero rims] i know it sounds madness, but was thinking about getting a freewheel for any long descents .... or is that a case of htfu and just riding them out...

don't harden the fuck up

just make sure your bike can accomplish the trip ... prepare for all eventualities
there's no point in taking a bike that is thouroughly useless for all aspects of the ride
gear down, get a brake that works and enjoy the trip

watch out for the dolphins on the fery trips bow wave riding
loads in the waters around this bit of coastline

I don't know if this will be helpful for you anymore cause the thread's kind of old, but maybe for future reference for others?

In any case. Dubrovnik is an awesome city and finding a place to stay is fairly easy, people rent out their extra rooms especially during the summer and whenever you show up there will be loads of people with signs at the ferry/bus terminal. Get them to show you where the place is on a map just to make sure it's not farther than they're letting on. If you want to stay in the old city check out House Renata, we stayed there & liked it a lot. Although having a bike in the old city would not be convenient.

The Jadrolinija coast ferry is pretty nice, if you do that don't bother with a cabin. We thought it would be nice to have a proper bed and got the cheapest cabin but it's really not worth it to be stuck in the bowels of the ship, just get deck passage and get on early & claim a spot right away.

The train doesn't go as far south as Dubrovnik, only to Ploce, so your options would be bus or bike... the road is narrow and twisty and traffic can be pretty harrowing. Personally I wouldn't feel comfortable biking it, but others might. Hope that helps.

anyone know of any decent bike shops in Split? I'm going there in September and so fancy seeing what they ahve to offer (and if it is cheap!)

Same here going to be in Split for 2 weeks in august!

And me - from the 3rd of september to the 12th! Doing a bit of island hopping courtesy of work!

Been there last year - Dubrovik is absurdly rammed at this time of year, go after 22nd Aug when all the italian fuckers have fucked off. Hvar was great and the people friendlier than on the coast because it seems to recieve less mainstream tourism.

However, if it girls, then the croations are nothing on the serbians and romanians. All have absurdly big (but nice) tits.

i cycled round there earlier this year, fab, can read experiences here http://mikesimagination.wordpress.com/category/cycling/croatia-bosnia-09/

have fun!

great blog post chillipepper. thx for the info

great blog post chillipepper. thx for the info

welcome. it is a fab place to cycle. the coast gets very busy but inland the roads are empty and tourism has had very little impact. on Hvar it is very touristy in Hvar town but the eastern end of the island is beautiful and untouched simply because you need your own transport.. so ideal for the self supported cyclist.