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Edelweiss Tours?

Retarded Jarhead

Old, Ugly, feet stink too
I'm quite sure that one or 2 of you folks have tried a Tour through Edelwiess motorcycle Tours. The boss and I are planning a trip this Sept through the Alps this September and I waqs wondering if anyone can share what their experience was like.
 
Which tour?

I and 13 friends are taking the Ultimate Alps trip this June.

Which trip were you on?

Great Pictures!

jason
 
I did a Edelweiss Tour earlier this year.

The guides are absolutely first rate. They know the roads, the restaurants and the language. Each morning they will brief you on the anticipated conditions along the route, potential hazards, good stops and where lunch will be.

You can ride with the guide or follow your own route. Maps are provided.
 
I did the Ultimate Alps Tour last summer. Stunning rides, vistas, accommodations, food. Terrific guides and fellow riders. Highly recommend this trip.

Our group naturally split in half. The "Cappuccino" group, casual coffee breaks, lots of time to view and photograph the scenery, and the "Espresso" group, doing as many passes, as fast as possible. At the end of the day we were all happy, but when I mentioned a beautiful vista (I was in the Cappuccino group), the Espresso riders usually said they were too busy watching the next curve to look out over the guard rail at the view. It's all in why you want to go there.

We had 2 leaders and a third driving the luggage/picnic van/trailer (the van doesn't do the passes). They are superb riders that will set the pace appropriate for the group skill level. (DO NOT think you can out-ride these guys.)

Following a leader does have it's drawbacks. You don't spend much time reviewing the map (no need), so sometimes you're unsure what town you've just gone through or even if you've crossed the border into another country. I would recommend that you bring a GPS with the Euro software. Edelweiss lets you ride independently as long as there's at least two bikes, in case of an accident. You can plan your ride, based on the morning briefing, stop where you want, for as long as you want. They expect you for dinner at 7:00 each evening, but you can call the leader's cellphone if you are going to be late, or plan to have dinner "out". The GPS will also help you get through the confusing roundabouts in towns and help you find the little narrow cobblestone alley that leads to the next pass.

A lot of the fun is riding with, and getting to know the other riders, so you'll probably want to mix your days between "group" and "independent" riding.

If you're a good canyon rider, great, but if not, you'll want to practice up. This is considered one of the more challenging rides they do. Many narrow, tight roads (one they call the 22km driveway, with lots of one-lane blind curves), minimal guard rails, so be prepared. Edelweiss offers a one-day tune-up class. One of our group took it, others probably should have.

We did have one serious accident, a near head-on with another bike. Two totaled bikes, the rider from our group spent a week in the hospital. Lots of drivers/riders, lots of speed. Be careful out there. Don't turn the "Highway of Dreams" into a nightmare.

Oh yeah, the Autobahn pass... You will need to buy one early in the trip, if your bike doesn't already have the sticker. I paid something like 30 bucks at a gas station for my pass, then found out a few days later that I'd bought the year-long pass, but could have bought the 10 day pass for half that. This isn't mentioned in the briefing.

You'll be a whole different rider after this trip.

Ride safe,
Les
 
The Tour we did was the Brno moto gp tour they are not offering it this year we started in Sauerlach, Leinz for day 2&3 with side trips to the Dolomites (Cortina was beautiful but crowded and the 5 passes we did were excellent, Bad Aussee, Semmering (Sweet Hotel) out of the Alps but stunning riding if slick because of rain ie. the side cases on my friends R1200R,then on to Retz to marshal for our daily trips to Brno for the MotoGP. Then a long day about 600k back to Sauerlach. Buy the deductable ins!
 
High Alpine Tour October 2004; Andalucia Tour February 2006; AZBeemers RIDE4FUN 2009!

We did the High Alpine Tour in October of 2004 with Markus Hellrigl as our Guide.

Fanastic Trip! Serious crash though, one of our riders entered a tunnel in the Dolomites wearing his prescription dark glasses and lost his depth perception against the white walls; broke right cylinder head off a R1100S and his collarbone!

Andalucia Tour with Axel Papst in February of 2006. Another crash by a very experienced rider, Bob just wicked it to hard on a curve and wiped out a R1200GS with only 1,000 kilometers on it. The very sad irony is that Bob owns one of the largest insurance agencies in Atlanta and DID NOT buy the deductible insurance!

http://www.azbeemers.org/forum/index.php?topic=244.0 Yahoo Photos es kaput!

http://www.azbeemers.org/forum/index.php?topic=820.msg3679 Summer of 2009 AZ Beemers is using Edelweiss Bike Tours new company RIDE4FUN to Sardinia, IT.

Musings of El Presidente AZ Beemers Chuy Medina: "I received some interesting literature from Edelweiss regarding low cost European Motorcycle Tours featuring Suzuki motorcycles only. They differ from the usual EBT packages since you now pack your own luggage, instead of EBT carrying your baggage in the support van.

There is no longer a support van and its driver, just a tour leader. Same amount of lodgings and breakfasts, but no lunch cooked up on the road by the support van driver. The trade off is that you save a $1000 over the BMW tours and you don't have to worry about a BMW final drive grenading itself while you are on vacation.

Worry Free Chain Driven Suzukis! BMW can shove those 17/19 ball bearings up....

We will fly into Rome's Fiumicino 3 days early for sightseeing and take the train to Civitavecchia; then the ferry to Olbia. 2 days after riding Sardinia; fly back to AZ!"

www.ride4fun.com info@ride4fun.com 00800.333.593.477 at Edelweiss Bike Travel
 
We did the Alps Touring Center and the Dolomites Touring Center. Very pleased with both trips. Everything is 1st class.
 
My wife and I took the High Alpine Tour last September. We went in the middle of the month and did run into a little snow on one of the passes. It was a great experience and we hope to go on another trip someday. I recommend going a day early to deal with jet lag and, in our case, locate missing luggage. Oh yes, fly Lufthansa across the pond.
 
Edelweiss Tours

Edelweiss does a first rate job. In July, 2003, I took the did the Alps Touring Center tour with a side trip to what was then called the BMW Biker Meeting at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. I enjoyed the experience immensely. However, be sure you know whether you will "see" or "tour" a particular sight. I was dissappointed that our group was not able to actually tour King Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein castle. Guess I should have asked more questions!

Jim Wagner
 
Edelweiss does a first rate job. In July, 2003, I took the did the Alps Touring Center tour with a side trip to what was then called the BMW Biker Meeting at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. I enjoyed the experience immensely. However, be sure you know whether you will "see" or "tour" a particular sight. I was dissappointed that our group was not able to actually tour King Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein castle. Guess I should have asked more questions!

Jim Wagner

Why couldn't you tour the Castle? Time?
Their tours allow you a lot of freedom to do what you want.
jason
 
Why couldn't you tour the Castle? Time?
Their tours allow you a lot of freedom to do what you want.
jason

Jason, you are exactly right. Edelweiss tours do allow the freedom to be on your own and I could have easily used a day of the tour and traveled to Neuschwanstein. However, I preferred to ride with the group at that stage of the tour. As the days progressed, I did feel more secure in venturing out on my own and made a side trip to St. Moritz. My interpretation of the brochure was that we would actually stop and tour the castle and that was my mistake. However, as I recall, we were on our way from Innsbruck to Garmisch-Partenkirchen where the Biker Meeting was to be held. Our group stopped on the road which was below and some distance from the castle where pictures could be taken.

While studying in Germany in the early 70's, I was able to tour Neuschwanstein so I knew what we missed. It would just have been nice to see it again.

Based on my experience in 2003 with that tour, I definitely would say that Edelweiss does an excellent job. The tour leaders are very attentive and do everything to make your vacation successful. I know you will be pleased with your tour and that you will have a great time.

Jim Wagner
 
The Freedom to Tour on Your Own to Places is the Nicest Feature of Edelweiss Travels!

When we were in stopped in Tarifa - Punta Marroqui for our morning cappucino break, on our way to Ronda, two of our group wanted to travel to Gibraltar.

Axel Papst was very pleased they wanted to venture out on their own and marked their maps for them; and set up a group rendezvous point for later in the day where they could meet up with the rest that wanted to ride twisties all day!

When I rode the High Alpine Tour there was a gentleman from Washington, D.C. that rode by himself everyday! This was his 10th EBT trip and he liked riding solo.
 
However, be sure you know whether you will "see" or "tour" a particular sight. I was dissappointed that our group was not able to actually tour King Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein castle. Guess I should have asked more questions!

Thats the beauty of going self-guided.

You tour where you want, when you want, and how you want.

Not only do you get to go 1st class, but you get to go for 1/3 to 1/2 the price. :D
 
Thats the beauty of going self-guided.

You tour where you want, when you want, and how you want.

Not only do you get to go 1st class, but you get to go for 1/3 to 1/2 the price. :D

If you want the best of both worlds go with Beach's motorcycle adventures. Like Burger King, you can have it your way, ride with a guide, ride solo, hook up with other like minded/skilled riders, split from a group, join a group
etc. But get the Luxury of having bikes, transportation, first class hotels, luggage van etc at your disposal. Their philosophy is it is YOUR vacation, so you do what you want, they offer the options to make it what you want it to be.

That have been around since the early 70's. In fact the rumor is that the first BMWMOA magazine was pieced together on Bob Beach's kitchen table. I have meet over a half dozen people that have done both Beach and Edelweiss, and all say the Beach tour was the better of the two.

It will be the best $$ you ever spent on motorcycling.
 
Thats the beauty of going self-guided.

You tour where you want, when you want, and how you want.

Not only do you get to go 1st class, but you get to go for 1/3 to 1/2 the price. :D

Alex, I didn't mention it in my previous posts but I am leaving June 30th for Frankfurt on a 2-week self-guided tour of the Austrian and Italian Alps. I still haven't fully decided where I will travel but the first leg of my journey will be to Garmish-Partenkirchen for the BMW Motorrad Days event. And yes, I will tour Neuschwanstein while I'm in the area. I'll be renting a bike from Stefan Knopf in Heidelberg. I just wish to thank you as well as others for your posts, ride reports, and information that you have so generously made available. I know these efforts are time-consuming.

Jim Wagner
 
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It will be the best $$ you ever spent on motorcycling.

I couldn't see myself blowing that much coin and walk away with less of an experience, but...different strokes for different folks.

If I were going to ride solo or split from the group, I might as well go self-guided in the first place....and do it all for 1/3rd the price.
 
Alex, I didn't mention it in my previous posts but I am leaving June 30th for Frankfurt on a 2-week self-guided tour of the Austrian and Italian Alps.

Hi Jim,

You'll be arriving a week before I head back. I'm heading over for 5 1/2 weeks of touring for some much needed R&R.


I still haven't fully decided where I will travel but the first leg of my journey will be to Garmish-Partenkirchen for the BMW Motorrad Days event. And yes, I will tour Neuschwanstein while I'm in the area. I'll be renting a bike from Stefan Knopf in Heidelberg.


Thats the beauty of going self-guided...no schedule! You can change destinations the previous night based on weather reports, or for whatever reason.

When will you be at Stefan's. Even though I never met the guy, I always recommend his services. He seems to provide a fair deal.


I just wish to thank you as well as others for your posts, ride reports, and information that you have so generously made available. I know these efforts are time-consuming.

That they are, but its well worth it. Take plenty of pics!
 
Hi Jim,

You'll be arriving a week before I head back. I'm heading over for 5 1/2 weeks of touring for some much needed R&R.

Thats the beauty of going self-guided...no schedule! You can change destinations the previous night based on weather reports, or for whatever reason.

When will you be at Stefan's. Even though I never met the guy, I always recommend his services. He seems to provide a fair deal.

That they are, but its well worth it. Take plenty of pics!

Alex, I'll be at Stefan's B&B the evening of July 1st and 2nd. After doing some riding and seeing the sights in the Heidelberg area on the 2nd, I will leave for the rally at Garmisch-Partenkirchen on the 3rd. It would be great to see you. I'm glad that you'll have 5+ weeks to ride in the splendor of the Alps.

Jim Wagner
 
Alex, I'll be at Stefan's B&B the evening of July 1st and 2nd. It would be great to see you.

That might just work out as I'm visiting friends I've met during my Alps tours on July 1st. They live near Speyer and that is less than 25 miles away. I've got Stefan's co-ordinates in my GPS.
 
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