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Am I dreaming this? A European circuit

Unless I am in the middle of a dream, my wife suggested we use 3 weeks of leave to tour Europe in the Cirrus. I need to lock this in before she finds us an activity holiday instead. So I have a clean sheet of paper and 3 weeks in a Cirrus… Inspiration anyone? My current and very sketchy plan is:

UK to Zurich – stopover
Zurich to Pula and then fly down through Croatia with stopovers en-route
Croatia to Greece and visit a couple of islands – maybe end up in Crete?
Greece across to Italy – Sicily?
Sicily to Sardinia
Sardinia to Majorca
Majorca to Barcelona, along Pyrenees to San Sebastián, Portugal?
North back to UK via La Rochelle.

Any must do stops along the route. Any must NOT do stops along the route? If I can get this off the ground, I promise a trip report.

EASA licence with IR. FAA PPL/IR. N reg aircraft.

pg
PG
EGJB

Super choice of stops!

Sardinia I am not current about. I went there in 2010 (LIEE).

Sicily is not great for avgas – Bosco will know I am sure. You need an airport with guaranteed avgas to visitors, not an informal local arrangement. N Italy has more options e.g. Lucca or Elba.

Greece is just great

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Hi PR,

when is this supposed to happen? If you come to ZRH, let me know, will hopefully be around to see you guys.

Route looks great, I’d definitly do Croatia and visit the Plitvice Lakes and waterfalls

I think they are accessible from both Split and Pula via rental car.

If you have not seen it, Dubrovnik old town is a MUST do.

On the way between Greece and Italy, Malta may be worth a visit. Valetta old town is well worth a visit, as well as other places there.

What I’d do is to keep the route insofar flexible that if you like it someplace and decide to stay a bit longer, you know which places to omit to keep the 3 week schedule.

As for the rest of the places, there are people who know better than me what is nice and not.

Best regards
Urs

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

One more point I would make (may be obvious) which I learnt on the many trips I have done with Justine (some written up here ) is that you should never stop just for fuel or for a “rest” at some airport. Always stop in nice scenic places, and unless your passenger(s) is a hardened flyer, stay for 2 nights so you have one nice and pleasant no-rush day there.

Also, always pick stops which are OK to hang out in for an extra day or two, if the wx is not co-operating. The worst time I remember is us being stuck at Wangen-Lachen in the rain and eating 20 quid sandwiches

Fortunately in Europe there are many options for such “high value” stops, even when factoring the avgas/customs situation.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

Wangen-Lachen in the rain and eating 20 quid sandwiches

Where do you find these places….

Wangen Lachen has a nice restaurant where 20 quid will buy you a lot more than a sandwhich. I think we have to do an Euro GA seminar on affordable restaurants around here some day…

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

In Sardinia stop at Olbia (LIEO)

Happy only when flying
Sabaudia airstrip LISB, Italy

Before you wake up…. ;-)

It depends a bit on the time of year and if you’re more into cities or beaches. If you can do this outside the main summer tourist season and heat, I would add Rome and southern Spain (Seville, Cordoba, Granada) and possibly a swing through Morocco to the mix. Portugal is definitely worth a trip.

So far then…
ZRH; night stops and local Alpine flight?
Pula. Hire car to waterfalls, Split, drive back to plane
Dubrovnik. Nightstops.
Greece – TBD
Malta? Nighstops
Sicily for fuel
Sardinia – Olbia. Nightstops
Marbella – TBD
Spain / France / home.

Sounds more like 4 weeks already…

pg
PG
EGJB

Obviously missing from your list is Venice: San Nicolo as your planned destination, the main Venice airport or perhaps Treviso as alternate.

For myself I would not include so many Mediterranean destinations, I am afraid you are going to find them all boringly alike. Add salt to the dish with some historic cities (Prague? Dresden? but also the Spanish cities mentioned above).

Oh, and include Belgrade for affordable refuelling.

As already pointed out, “when” is an important factor – depending on your preferences. Myself would avoid tourist destinations in high season. So if the trip must be done in July-August, I would prefer smaller cities off the beaten track; given a choice, I would plan the trip in late September or so, when the worst crowding is over. Venice, though, I only found enjoyable in February…

If in high summer, an alternative might be a tour of the Baltic Sea – full of surprises! Visit Klaipeda, Riga, Gotland, Gdansk, and enroute enjoy Bremen, Hamburg, Copenhagen. Detour into Poland offers more variation, superb scenery of woods and lakes in the North, mountains in the South.

Last Edited by at 15 Mar 17:58
EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

Very nice, excellent route. If you include Venice (I agree with idea) use Nicelli Airport on Lido & you might consider Puglia after Greece.

Last Edited by WhiskeyPapa at 15 Mar 18:00
Tököl LHTL
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