Ride of a Life time!

Thailand has a lot to offer visitors. You can easily spend a couple of days exploring Bangkok, the capital. Beach resorts are nearby.
We will start at the BMW factory in Rayong, southeast of Bangkok. Along our itinerary, we will visit the ruins of Sukhothai, the former Thai capital, today a UNESCO site. Chiang Mai, the location of our service center is also worth visiting for a day or two. Golden Triangle and the Mekong River is along our route to Laos.

Laos is more a transit country for us. In total, we will be riding 220 km along the main transit road connecting Thailand with China. We will overnight in Luang Namtha, close to the Chinese border.

China is huge, more of a continent than a country. We will ride through Yunnan province. Along the route, we will visit the ancient Silk Road city of Dali and Lijiang. Lijiang is located at the foot of the Snow Mountain, 5,640m. Once leaving Lijiang we start our ascent into the Himalayan mountain range. Among the highlights will be the “Tiger Leap Gorge”, the old city of “Shangri-La” and the White Horse pass, our first high mountain pass at 4,292m.

This is where our real adventure begins. We will spend 3 weeks and ride some 5,300 km mostly above 4,000m elevation. We will pass untouched lakes glaciers, rivers, and valleys. The most interesting bits are villages, landscapes and remote locations including a view of Mt Everest at 8,848m and crossing the Mt. Dongdala pass at 5,009m. The cultural high lights are the historical center in Lhasa with its world-famous site, the Potala Palace and the ancient city of Kashgar.

Entering Kyrgyzstan at the Torugart port, 3’752m. All in all, we intend to spend 9 days and ride 2,200 km in Kyrgyzstan. During those days we will ride around the 2nd largest saline lake in the world, Issyk Kul in the Tian Chan mountains. Explore old Bazar in Bishkek, the capital. Visit the world’s largest walnut forest and the remote village of Arslanbob in the Jalal-Abad Region. Turning south we pass the old city of Osh followed by the Kyzyl-Art Pass at 4,280 bordering to Tajikistan.

This part of our itinerary is as hard as it gets. During our intended 9 days in Tajikistan, riding 1,200 km through spectacular landscapes and challenging roads. A big part is along the Afghan border. The Pamir highway is the second-highest highway in the world. It crosses the whole Pamir region of Tajikistan, running from Osh to Khorog to Dushanbe. From this road, we can look at China, peek into Pakistan and wave to villagers in Afghanistan. We start with riding through the Badakhshan National Park, Ak-Baital Pass at 4,655m, highest in the Pamirs, Alichur valley and the village of Balun Kul on our way to Wakhan Valley with its many fortresses and rock carvings. There are plenty villages and sights along the way, and Afghanistan is just a literal stone’s throw away. In Ishkashim, we might be able to cross over into Afghanistan for the Saturday border market. From here we turn north towards Khorog (the capital of the Pamir’s). At Kalaikhum we leave the Afghan border and continue over the Saghirdasht pass 3,252m towards Tavildara and the capital Dushanbe were we enjoy some urban life and comfort. If the northern route to Uzbekistan is open we will cross the Funn mountains and visit Iskanderkul on our way to Samarkand.

If you are interested in history, watch or read "The Great Game" illustrating the political and diplomatic confrontation that existed for most of the 19th century between the British Empire and the Russian Empire over Afghanistan and neighboring territories in Central and South Asia.

During our intended 9 days in Uzbekistan, we will ride some 1,200 km along the icons of the Silk Road, Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva. We will enjoy the architecture of the mosques, scale the minarets to get a feel for the history of Islam outside of the Middle East. There are plenty of Bazars to wander through. Once in Samarkand, we have left the high mountains behind us, riding in Uzbekistan is on straight desert roads. Uzbekistan is more about the historic towns and its people than nature and scenery.

Turkmenistan like North Korea is one of the most closed countries in the world. Our intended stay is 7 days and ride some +1,000 km. We have two options, transit or tourist visa. Once we get closer to departure we will decide. Halfway between the Uzbekistan border and Ashgabat, the capital lies the unique gas crater, “Door to Hell”. Ashgabat, the marble new part of town in contrast with the older Soviet-style older part. From here we ride to the Caspian Sea town of Turkmenbashi where we take the ferry to Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan was the first country in the world experiencing an oil boom during the 19th century. Oil is still the main income! The ferry will bring us close to Baku, the capital. Our stay in Azerbaijan is 4-5 days and we will ride some 500 km. Rest day in Baku visiting the medieval walled old city and other attractions. Our next and final stop is the historic town Shaki in northern Azerbaijan on the southern part of the Greater Caucasus mountain range.

Georgia together with the Baltic States is the country developing the most since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Our plan is to stay 8 days and ride 1,200 km. Our first stop in this small and diverse country is the wine-growing area of Telavi. From here we can ride up to the Abano pass at 2,850m, the highest mountain pass in the Caucasus. In Tbilisi, the capital we explore the old town and enjoy urban life. From here we ride to Kazbegi National park and explore this part of the high Caucasus Mountains. Our final stop is the Black Sea resort town of Batumi or Hopa from where we take the ferry to Bulgaria.

Welcome to continental Europe. Itinerary from here will be finally decided based on arrival date to Bulgaria. We need to arrive at Garmisch/Germany on 2nd July. Ferry will call the port of Varna. We plan to stay 4 days and ride 500 km in Bulgaria. Spending a day visiting Sofia, the capital before continuing west towards Macedonia.

Macedonia is a small landlocked country. On our way to Kosovo, we will stay one night in Skopje, it's capital.

Kosovo is the youngest state in Europe, gaining its independence in 2008. It’s a landlocked and mountainous country. We will spend two days riding some 350 km. From the Macedonian border over the picturesque Shar mountain to the old town of Prizern. From here we ride through Kosovo and crossing into Monte Negro over the Prokletije mountain range.

Another small Balkan country to explore. There are plenty of places well worth to visit in this beautiful pristine mountainous country, The Bay of Kotor and nearby Lovcen national park comes to mind. Our itinerary is cutting through the mountains with a night stay at the ski resort of Zabljak.

BiH countryside is home to medieval villages, rivers, and lakes, plus the craggy Dinaric Alps. We will overnight in the ancient town of Mostar, famous for its old town and Ottoman bridge. From hear we continue North West through the valley of Grahovo, still populated by wild horses.

The main attraction of Croatia is the long coastline on the Adriatic Sea. Encompassing more than a thousand islands and old coastal towns. We will overnight on the island of Pag and visit the Istria Peninsula on our way north.

Entering Slovenia we are in Schengen, meaning this is the final passport check on our journey. Stopover at the coastal town of Piran before we continue into the Alps and Italy (Cortina) later followed by Austria (Innsbruck).

German alps, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (former home of BMW Motorrad Days) further to Munich, avoiding the motorways to Berlin and BMW Motorrad Days, the biggest BMW Motorrad gathering in the world taking place yearly during the first weekend of July. Meet fellow riders, share your experience from the “Ride of a lifetime”!