Bike From Alps To Adriatic - Mountain Biking Trans Slovenia

Traveler Reviews

• DL

  David5.0•December 2024
  I’ve ridden several mountain biking tours in the Alps, and I can confidently say this tour in western Slovenia is...
  I’ve ridden several mountain biking tours in the Alps, and I can confidently say this tour in western Slovenia is among the most beautiful. Stunning surroundings and trails that truly impressed both my wife and me. I might have expected slightly easier climbs on some sections. Well-chosen hotels, excellent organization, and smooth execution made up for it. Katarina did an outstanding job. Throughout the tour, we had support and advice on courses and other details. Kudos for the seamless flow of the tour.Show more
  Traveled in October 2024
  

  Reply from: LIFE Adventures

  HI David, thank you for taking time and writing the review. It's a great pleasure learning that you enjoyed the tour with us. The 'Mountain Biking Trans Slovenia' is truly a gem for every MTB enthusiast, connecting the mountains of the Julian Alps and the Adriatic sea. We prepared several routes of different difficulty levels for each day, so everyone can choose the route that is most suitable for them, based on their fitness level.

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• KR

  Kelly5.0•July 2023
  This was my first trip with a Life Adventures and it greatly exceeded expectations in every way. The organization and...
  This was my first trip with a Life Adventures and it greatly exceeded expectations in every way. The organization and logistics were all superbly organized and carefully planned. Thanks for a great trip, I’m already looking forward to the next one!Show more
  Traveled in July 2023
• SC

  Sophie5.0•July 2023
  We were extremely happy with the bike trip. The bikes provided were excellent. The people at Life were easy to deal...
  We were extremely happy with the bike trip. The bikes provided were excellent. The people at Life were easy to deal with and efficient. I was sorry the bike trip ended, I would have been happy to continue for several more days. It was an outstanding experience!Show more
  Traveled in July 2023
• PL

  Peter3.0•July 2023
  Background. Our group of 4 people hired Life Adventures (LA) for route planning and transportation logistics for a...
  Background. Our group of 4 people hired Life Adventures (LA) for route planning and transportation logistics for a 14-day custom self-guided biking trip starting in the Julian Alps of Slovenia and ending mid-way down the Istrian Peninsula of Croatia. Two of our group had been on 2 previous self-guided biking trips in Italy and Spain, and this was the first such trip for my wife and myself. We reached out to 4 different companies with a description of ourselves and what we were looking for, and Life Adventures responded within hours and, based on the responses we received from all the companies, seemed like the best fit for what we had described. We asked for routes that would avoid highways, avoid single-track except where necessary, and spend as much time as possible on cycle paths, gravel or dirt roads, and low-use asphalt roads that would allow us to travel through and stay in small rural villages and towns. We rented bikes from LA and sent them inseam, height, and weight measurements, and expressed our concern about getting bikes that fit well. Communication. Matej, the owner of LA, was always very responsive in his communication. We asked a lot of questions via email, and Matej always responded quickly. The language barrier probably contributed to a couple of communication mishaps with Matej: we went back and forth many times about whether Life Adventures was providing a saddle bag as part of the bike rental and we eventually brought our own packs because we were never sure of the answer, and we inquired about how to get tickets to the Skocjan Caves but Matej thought that we were asking him to buy the tickets for us. Communication with Katarina, the logistics person at LA who, after we paid in full, informed us that she would be our primary contact, was excellent up to the point when we desperately needed feedback from her (we ran into a passport problem and needed to delay the starting date 2 weeks, and we needed to change plane flights and travel insurance). After 5 days of no response from Katarina, I wrote Matej asking if there was a problem and again his response was very quick, letting us know that it was OK to delay our start date. But what happened to Katarina who we never heard from again? Rental bikes. When we picked up our bikes and bike accessories, we were given 5 mins to ride around in the parking lot to test for bike fit and to make sure everything was working before loading the bikes on the van and driving to our first hotel, where we were dropped off. Unfortunately, this was an insufficient amount of time and not an appropriate place to really test the bikes out before taking them on our 400km, 2-week tour. That evening we spent about an hour riding the bikes to test everything more carefully, and for 2 of us the handlebars were much lower than we wanted, but when we looked to adjust the height of the handlebars, they were already at their maximum height so we just had to accept an uncomfortable riding position. And on this hour-long ride it became clear that the derailleurs on 2 bikes were not properly adjusted (on one bike the derailleur would not get into a gear, or it would jump over a gear; on the other bike the derailleur consistently threw the chain into the spokes). Clearly, a 5 min ride in a parking lot was insufficient to adequately check for overall bike sizing fit and to make sure that everything was working; with hindsight we should have insisted on a more thorough bike check. Riding routes. We clearly stated that we were older (late 60s and early 70s) but reasonably fit, that we were not looking for strenuous days, and that we wanted to spend as much time as possible on cycleways, dirt or gravel roads, or backroad low-use asphalt. Instead, at our introductory meeting, we were given the written guide to LA’s standard MTB trip on mostly single track routes with substantial (about 3,000 ft) elevation gain each day, even though Matej acknowledged that the written guide he was giving us didn’t fully apply to our trip. Matej explicitly asked me to give him feedback on the routes after the second day, which I did, telling him that the single track was much too hard and long for us. In response, Matej sent me new “easy” routes (to use with the app Ride with GPS) that were in several cases on busy highways with minimal shoulders. And the new routes for 2 days didn’t end in the town where our hotel was, but in a different town; in one case the route ended about 15km away from the hotel where LA had made reservations for that night. Several times I sent Matej emails asking for route help, and he always replied, even late at night, which I really appreciated. We also stopped at the few tourist centers we found along the way to buy maps and talk with staff who were always incredibly helpful and knowledgeable about local roads. Given all this, we ended up doing all our own route planning on Komoot and Ride with GPS every night, cross-checking between the 2 apps to avoid highways and single-track. Our own routes usually worked really well for exactly what we wanted, but this was always a source of anxiety for me since I’m not from the area so not familiar with the bike routes, and a couple times we ended up turning around after more than a mile because a road or path we were on ended or become impassable. We hired Life Adventures for route planning but neither their boiler-plate MTB routes nor the alternative “easy” routes worked well for us. Hotels. We had requested staying in smaller hotels for the ambiance and personal interactions, and most of the hotels were wonderful. Two hotels, however, were like a college dorm room that were so small we had to take turns getting dressed or organizing gear. And once we got to the Adriatic coast, 4 out of 5 nights were in huge resort hotels. I was curious if these huge resort hotels were the only hotels in the towns we were in, and when I searched online there were many small, 3 or 4 star hotels. And we were there in the shoulder season so all the hotels, even the smaller ones, had plenty of rooms. The transportation logistics were superb, with a driver picking us up at exactly the arranged time to drive us from Ljubljana to pick up our bikes and then to our first hotel where our trip started, and our luggage was always waiting for us at our next hotel. In summary. I think that there was just a basic mis-match between what we were looking for and what LA provided, despite our providing a detailed description of what we were looking for. We should have checked out the bikes more carefully before we took them, and that is clearly our responsibility, but that doesn’t exonerate LA from giving us bikes with derailleurs that weren’t properly adjusted and not taking the time to make sure that the overall size of the bike was right for us other than asking “Are the bikes OK?” at the end of the 5-min parking lot test. We were disappointed that the routes LA provided us (both their standard MTB and the “easy” alternatives) didn’t match what we were looking for, when we were able to put together these routes ourselves. And while there are several possible reasons why we were booked in huge resort hotels instead of smaller hotels as we asked for, no explanation was offered. In short, we had a great time because Slovenia and the Istrian Peninsula in Croatia are such wonderful places, but it took a lot of our own effort and we felt that we did not get the service from Life Adventures that we paid for. If you’re in your 20s or 30s and looking for hard-core MTB single track riding all day every day, Life Adventures would be a good company to use (just be sure to carefully check out the bikes you rent from them). But if you’re looking for something calmer and more immersed in the local culture, and customized to your request to minimize both single track and highways, our experience with LA was disappointing and there are several other companies that operate in Slovenia and Croatia to choose from.Show more
  Traveled in April 2023
• IB

  Ian5.0•October 2022
  A very good self-guided tour of Slovenia is excellently organized.
  Traveled in October 2022
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  Ashton4.0•October 2022
  Fun trip packed with tons of scenery. Be in good shape, plenty of climbing!
  Traveled in October 2022
• TV

  Tina4.0•July 2022
  Firstly, was totally blown away with Slovenia, the people and the amazing beautiful country. Had no idea we were...
  Firstly, was totally blown away with Slovenia, the people and the amazing beautiful country. Had no idea we were going to experience such a stunning landscape. The pre-tour communication was excellent, especially considering it was a last minute decision and we gave very little notice. Our briefing meeting was with Matteo who delivered our bikes, tour notes and all accessories ie GPS etc. Bikes were new and adequate and we felt comfortable after our day one ‘test run’, we were going to be fine for the week. Accomodation was excellent, luggage portage was efficient, but the riding was tough! Admittedly, this is a MTBing tour and we would expect to have big climbs and some rough terrain. However it was described as “moderate” and I am not sure by whose standard that is, and the hardtail bikes with ‘touring’ tyres were not the best for some of what we were expected to do. The only other feedback is that the loaded daily GPS route on the App was loaded from an original trip and did not finish and end where our accomodation was. Imagine our dismay when we got to our destination on Day 2, only then to realise we were still 6kms from our accomodation with 280m of climbing. I recommend the routes get updated, or at least make a note of adjustments. But, comments and feedback are genuinely only given to hopefully help make this better, because all-in-all we did love it, and will definitely be returning to Slovenia to do some more cycling (or hiking, or skiing!!)Show more
  Traveled in July 2022
• PH

  Prisca5.0•August 2020
  Perfect organised great experience and adventure ????????
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  Traveled in August 2020