Marco Polo Tour Cycle from Lake Bled to Athens

From charming boutiques to well-deserved comfort, our accommodations are carefully selected to reflect the unique character of each region. We favour places with a true sense of place over big chain hotels, ensuring your stay is as memorable as the ride itself. Depending on the stage, you’ll experience everything from luxurious retreats to functional stays, always selected with care to suit the journey. Below are a range of hotels we use on your tour.

Set within a majestic park on the shores of Lake Bled, Vila Bled is a boutique hotel offering 1950s-style rooms and suites in a serene Alpine setting. Once the summer residence of President Tito and host to numerous state visits, it carries a quiet sense of history and timeless elegance. Today, it combines nostalgic charm, warm hospitality, and a peaceful lakeside atmosphere in one of Slovenia’s most iconic destinations.

Calm, expansive, and deeply relaxing, the visually striking D-Resort Šibenik follows the sweeping curves of the Mandalina peninsula on which it is located. Blending contemporary design with the natural beauty of historic Šibenik, it offers a serene coastal escape on the shores of the Adriatic Sea.

Built in traditional Albanian shingles and brickwork, Bujtina e Gjelit is a characterful hotel set in a lively neighbourhood just a short walk from central Tirana. Offering spacious, traditionally styled rooms and a warm, personal approach to hospitality, it delivers an authentic and welcoming stay. With a relaxed pool area, hearty dining, and a true sense of community, it feels less like a hotel and more like being part of local life.

Set in the heart of Athens’ Old Town, Electra Palace is a neoclassical hotel within walking distance of the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Elegant rooms, a rooftop restaurant, and a pool overlooking the Acropolis define the experience. It offers a sense of calm above the lively atmosphere of Athens.

This journey offers a rich and ever-changing culinary experience, shaped by the landscapes and cultures we ride through. From Slovenia’s alpine heart, expect fresh, seasonal dishes rooted in Central European tradition, think hearty soups, handmade dumplings and locally produced cheeses. As we descend to the Adriatic, Croatian cuisine comes to the fore, with an abundance of seafood, grilled meats, olive oil, and island-grown produce, often enjoyed in relaxed, family-run konobas.

Further south, the flavours deepen and diversify. In Montenegro and Albania, meals are simple, generous and full of character—slow-cooked meats, fresh salads, flaky pastries and locally baked bread reflecting both Mediterranean and Ottoman influences. Crossing into Greece, the cuisine becomes unmistakably vibrant and familiar, with dishes like moussaka, souvlaki, fresh seafood and mezze shared over long, convivial meals.

Throughout the journey, food is not just nourishment but a window into each region, authentic, local and deeply connected to the land we travel through.

With views across the Kotor marina and towards the Old Town it is hard to find a place with a more striking outlook. This restaurant blends the finest in Montenegrin cuisine with a more modern Mediterranean twist.

We first ate in this restaurant in 2020, and it became an instant favourite. With panoramic views, an opportunity to reserve the entire rooftop just for our guests, and a cuisine that is among the best in the city, this is a great spot to celebrate the end of the stage.

Run by our friend Ana and her family, this restaurant is found in the interior of the island in the village of Pupnat. With a focus on local produce from their farm, this meal is a real tour highlight. From the homemade bread and desserts to the choice of peka dishes it never disappoints.

The Slow Food movement embraces so many elements that we hold dear in our own approach to designing tours. We were therefore delighted to come across this agriturismo in the Albanian countryside. With a relaxed approach and a focus on produce from their farm it’s a wonderful local dining experience.

Our restaurant is very much off the beaten track in an abandoned village just outside Hvar. Berti and his family have established an eatery that pays homage to the Dalmatian peak dish and is an undoubted culinary highlight of the tour.

Our picnics are a highlight of the day, with fresh local produce, plenty of variety, and the freedom to enjoy whatever takes your fancy. While the setting might be a local park, a quiet forest clearing, a hilltop viewpoint, or a scenic roadside stop, it’s always a chance to pause, relax, and refuel. Whether you linger over good food and conversation or grab a quick bite before jumping back on the bike, it’s the perfect mid-ride reset.

Marco Polo was a man of the great age of Venetian exploration and trade. Born in Venice in 1254, he grew up in a maritime republic whose merchants and ships reached across the Mediterranean and far beyond. Much of the Adriatic coast through which we travel was connected to Venice during this broader era, part of a trading world that looked increasingly eastwards.

Polo travelled much further. Setting out for Asia with his father and uncle as a teenager, he spent more than two decades away, journeying through the lands of the Silk Road and, according to his account, reaching the court of Kublai Khan in China. After returning to Venice, Polo was imprisoned during a war with Genoa and dictated the stories of his travels to the writer Rustichello of Pisa. The resulting Travels of Marco Polo became one of medieval Europe’s most influential accounts of the wider world, inspiring generations of travellers and explorers.

Our route does not attempt to follow Marco Polo’s journey, much of which was undertaken far to the east of the Balkans. Instead, it takes inspiration from his spirit of curiosity and from the extraordinary maritime world from which he emerged.

From Slovenia, we travel through Croatia, Montenegro and Albania before crossing Greece to Athens. Along the way, Venetian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman influences overlap, borders are crossed and cultures continually change. It is this sense of moving through different worlds, and discovering what lies beyond the next horizon, that makes Marco Polo the inspiration for our journey.