Mountains to walk , rivers to canoe, bikes to be rented a must.

We live in Scotland, so driving to France would be pretty epic (it’s a 1000miles each way to drive to canoe the Allier our obvious choice).

Ideally flights from scotland or Newcastle.

We are thinking Slovenia.

We are also thinking uber cheap – self catered, no guides, DIY booking of out of season ski chalet.

Any experiences or suggestions of more details in Slovenia – or suggestions of other places such as Czech Republic?

Transylvania?

Easyjet to malaga – hire a fast car, shoot a policeman, adventurous enough?

Flights from Liverpool will give you more choice. 4.5 hrs from your neck of the woods. Book before the English start their hols and there are some bargains to be had.

That is the plan- Mrs oab finishes her part time teaching job on the Tuesday, we will pull kids out of school for last few days and the ‘Scottish’ week, so giving a cheap 10 day trip…

Hadn’t thought of Liverpool – and we have friends where we could leave the car…

Slovenia is kayak heaven, Julian Alps are stunning, people friendly, it’s pretty cheap too.

Depending on where you are Manchester by train is my preference for easy Northern airports – unless the folks are dropping me at Newcastle.

Hop over to Ireland and canoe the Blackwater?

Morocco.. loads of adventure,

Slovenia is cool too as is Croatia or Montenegro.

had plenty of great holidays in Slovakia. The Tatras are beautiful, especially the high tatras round Poprad (there’s an airport there but krakow isn’t too far). they even have this cool electric railway that goes in between all the towns. Look for areas around Strbske Pleso 🙂

Matt, check out my mate’s place:

Chalet Slovakia

Sorry, link didn’t work…

Chalet Slovakia

Lake Bohinj, Slovenia. There is a hostel just up the road and loads of chalets in the area.

Bovec, Slovenia.
http://www.slovenianadventureholidays.com/kayaking_in_slovenia.html
Also has a bike park. Bit of a trek to get there but worth it. Bit more lively than Bohinj.

We are thinking Slovenia.

You have answered your own question.

Do it!

we did the Picos (Spain) on motorbikes, but they had mountains (find cable car), great tracks/scenery, rivers with lots of canoes lying by the side, beaches on the coast with surfing and you can nip up to s/w France- Biarritz etc (Ferry to Bilbao – drive back or vice versa)

Some great moments but one day we were up on the really high narrow ridge admiring a view and way, way, way below us was a local shepherd striding across the vast terrain whistling like a good un

Found these on interweb – have not used.
Based in Potes (http://www.letsdiscoverspain.com/LD_Potes.htm)
http://www.picos-accommodation.co.uk/other-activities.html

Soca valley is stunning, all grades of boating well marked out, good walking, interesting history and supposed to be decent biking too.

We stopped in a campsite up the road from Bovec which had chalet style accommodation and was by a pool in the river for swimming.

I was looking at Soca valley last night…hmmmm

Another couple of Soca pic;

Selfie out for a bike ride;

There is also an airfield near by where you can do parachuting.

Cracking ice cream/cake/coffee/cafe on main street, gets busy from 2/4pm 😆

Spain – Benasque Mountains – end of thread.

If you go the Soca valley, in Bovec there is a bakery that sells burek (sp?) it’s like pizzabut with the topping through a puff pastry base. Easily man kinds greatest invention.

Do be aware they sell soured milk which looks a lot like normal milk until you drink it.

Do be aware they sell soured milk which looks a lot like normal milk until you drink it.

heh. Is that Kefir? massively popular all over the slavic countries. Bluergh!

Trekster – tell me more!

Cheap accommodation at all?

One was called mleki the other mleka or something like that. Nasty stuff, even worse Mrs hoppy put it under the van to take to the bin 🙄 but didn’t tell me. I drove off and it exploded all over both of our friends tents, we weren’t popular.

Checked and we stopped at the imaginatively named camp soca.

Bulgaria?? It seems to be ridiculously cheap to eat and drink (mate has a few apartments out there and his brother has an apartment in the ski resort.

For kayaking (needs translating)

MTB Scene seems promising

I’m hoping to get out there at some point.

Loads of great campsites in slovenia when I cycle toured there years ago. Trieste airport to Soca valley, lake bled, over to maribor lovely lovely place.

Copy the Griswalds! 😆

Having recently returned from Hungary Id be happy to recommend. No idea where but Budapest was cheap and friendly so no reason to imagine anywhere else would be different. Also a fan of Slovakia, high Tatras looked a good bet.

When we travelled out of the Czech republic the area of southern Saxony (north of the border) along the Elbe looked very outdoorsy, probably not as cheap unless you went to the Czech side but was a very nice looking part of the world.

Hmmm, I’ve been wondering the same thing.

I’ve spent 5 out of the last 6 summers driving over Europe for holidays.

We’re big fans of the German/Austrian alps (so much so that we’re heading back there next year) but where you gain in the shorter drive, you lose in terms of pricing. Is cheaper than somewhere like Annecy in France though.

We spent one summer driving to Slovakia to stay in a friend’s chalet/business (mentioned above). I’d go back to that area every year, if it were not for the long drive.
We went via Poland going out (staying in Zakopane).

Used to work for a Slovenian company and have been there before too.

Realistically, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed at any of the places mentioned so far.

Prices vary slighty – your money will go further in Slovakia then Slovenia (and even further in Poland).

Having holidayed in the French Alps, I found that holidaying in Poland/Slovakia meant that we could afford to eat out every night and do activities most days because of the cheaper prices.