Kvarner Classic: Opatija, Cres & Plitvice, 8 Days

You arrange your own way to the Villach and Faaker See area. Over the first group dinner you get to know your guide and the rest of the group, along with the briefing for the days ahead. Anyone on a rental machine will already have collected it in Lannach earlier that day.

Selected country roads carry you through southern Carinthia and Slovenia down to the Adriatic. The destination is Opatija, the elegant Habsburg era resort with its art nouveau villas. The hotel sits near the centre facing the water and stays your base for the next five nights.

The longest day of the week starts early. In the UNESCO national park turquoise cascades tumble over limestone terraces into one another, and the Winnetou films were shot here. For the return to Opatija the group takes either the mountain route or a stretch of motorway, depending on time.

A day with no programme. The Lungomare promenade runs twelve kilometres along the shore, and the town's parks and waterfront places fill the rest. Anyone who cannot sit still rides a short loop around the peninsula on their own.

Two car ferries and three islands in one day. From Istria you cross to Cres, ride on to a fishing village on Losinj and return to the mainland at the end over the arched bridge at Krk. Much of it runs on narrow island roads with the bay in view.

The shortest riding day heads away from the water into the centre of the peninsula. The route passes the fortress at Pazin and a medieval town known for its truffles. The way back to the riviera climbs the hairpins of the Ucka range.

Good country roads lead back through Slovenia into Carinthia, between 240 and 360 kilometres depending on the line chosen. In the evening the group sits down together one last time and goes back over the week.

After breakfast the group breaks up and you set off home under your own steam. A rental machine goes back the same day in Lannach. What stays with you is around 1,240 kilometres between Carinthia, Istria and the islands.