On your own motorcycle to Nepal

EUROPE 
This magnificent motorcycle journey begins with a great workout for your steering skills right through the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Nature’s splendour guides us in the Slovakian Carpathians. Enjoy authentic villages, winding mountain roads and a wonderful cultural heritage. We spend the night in Bratislava and in Budapest, before we continue to Romania. Here we ride on - according to Top gear - the most beautiful road of Europe: the Transfagarasan. It’s not until the winter months that this road closes due to snow, late May it is usually open again. If it is not, we will have to make a detour. Then follows a scenic route through Bulgaria before arriving at the Turkish border.

TURKEY 
On our route from Edirne to Istanbul, we cross the bridge over the Bosporus and ride our first kilometers in Asia. After a day in Istanbul we enter Turkey’s vast hinterland. Turkey has a very good infrastructure, so every day we have to balance our choice of route against the distances we are going to be covering. We cover the long distances using main roads, otherwise we take as many smaller back roads as possible. The overnight accommodations are always small and not touristy. Safranbolu is a town protected by UNESCO. Because the interior of Turkey is very much worth exploring, it’s not until Trabzon that we reach the shores of the Black Sea; here begins a beautiful route along its shore to the border with Georgia.

GEORGIA 
Immediately after the border we take a small road leading into the hills. Georgia is the country of ancient civilizations and traditional monasteries and churches. It is the first country to officially proclaim Christianity as the state religion. Georgia is the country with one of the 14 official language scripts in the world and was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016. Although the Roman alphabet is often used, all residents can read and write the old script. During this trip we enter Georgia on two separate occasions. The first time from Turkey. At that occasion we turn off toward the border with Armenia. The second time we come from Armenia and spend two nights in the capital Tbilisi. T

ARMENIA 
Armenia borders onto four countries. But it only has good relations with two of these. The borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan remain closed. Turkey because of the Armenian genocide, and Azerbaijan because of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Nevertheless, we would like to include this very special country in the tour. It has wonderful natural scenery, a centuries old Christian culture, many monasteries and marvelous churches. We ride along the shore of Lake Svan. We will stay one night in Armenia’s capital Yerevan. Armenia border with a small piece of land on Iran. This is a mountainous area with only a few roads. Tonight we will sleep in a mountain village before swinging to the border. 

IRAN 
Are we allowed to enter Iran with heavy motorbikes? First it was allowed, then again not. And the last status is that it is allowed again. We drive through mountain area and follow the coast ot to the busy capital Tehran. We will stay two nights in this metropolis of 12 million people. There are several attractions to visit here, including the impressive Golestan Palace, which has been a museum since the fall of the Shah. Provided there is not too much smog, you can get a fantastic view of this immense city from the 45 meter high Freedom Tower that the Shah built. Further you can explore the large market and the former American Embassy.  You will experience that the Iranians are one of the most friendly and hospitable peoples on earth.  After the capital we drive to the Northeast of the country. The distances between accommodation in Iran are large. That means a few long days to the border with Turkmenistan through Golestan Natioal Park, various high mountains with  countless winding roads and dry plains as foothills of the desert.

TURKMENISTAN 
Probably the most extraordinary country of this trip. Of all the Stan-countries this is the least known and most inaccessible country. This is also the only country on the route where a support vehicle and local guide are mandatory. The border crossing with Turkmenistan will be one of the most tricky ones of this tour. Officials will determine the approximate amount of kilometers that will be travelled in the country based on our route. This distance will be converted into amount of gallons of fuel we need for this. Then, they will determine the difference in fuel price per litre between the Netherlands and Turkmenistan and this will then be multiplied by the number of litres. The resulting number decides the on the spot payment we will have to hand over to the officials. This extensive border procedure will take up quite some time. 

Not far from the border lies Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan. We stay in Ashgabat for two nights. This rather bizarre town is all the same certainly worth a day’s visit. The large statue of the great leader must be seen of course, and also the beautiful mosques. It is probably the whitest city in the world, because by law the buildings are made of white marble. The next day we ride right through the Karakum desert to the village of Derweze. We will frequently be warned of camels on the road and we will definitely see a few. Close to Derweze you find a peculiar crater, which was formed whilst drilling for natural gas in 1971. The ground below the rig collapsed, creating a large hole with a diameter of about 70 meters. To prevent discharge of toxic gas, it was decided to burn off the gas. To date, the fire continues. The local people call it the "Gateway to Hell". From Derweze we continue our journey, through the desert and then north to the border with Uzbekistan.

UZBEKISTAN 
At the border we say goodbye to our Turkmen support vehicle driver. After getting all border papers sorted we drive through the lowlands to the city of Samarkand. This city too played an important role in the time of the silk caravans. Next, a flat route through the narrow part of the country and we arrive in the capital Tashkent. There is much to see in Tashkent. Old mosques recall the silk caravans and you can spend an entire afternoon in the imposing square. Through the hilly landscape we continue eastwards and stay in Fergana before crossing the border with Tajikistan.

TAJIKISTAN 
We only drive two days through this remote country. This is not long however we will visit  a very special part  the unique mountainous around the seven lakes area along the border with Uzbekistan.  In this empty desert country with its exceptionally hospitable population we won’t come across many tourists. After one overnight stay in the old city of Khudzjand, we cross the border to Kyrgyzstan.

KYRGYZSTAN 
Once across the border we ride into the centre of Osh. Here we will stay two nights. Here you can do some maintanance on your motorbike, there is a qualified motorbike shop. As opposed to its neighbors Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan has hardly any flat regions. After our stay in this city we drive through rugged mountains to the border with China. 

CHINA TIBET
After the border procedure we will drive the same day to the city of Kashgar. Here we need two days to arrange all paperwork for the motorbikes and to get the Chinese driver's licenses. Then we climb directly to the Tibetan plateau. Western Tibet is a very desolate area. It is bare, rugged and high. We only descend again just before the border with Nepal.

Elevation map of route across Tibetan Plateau from Kashgar to Nepal