# GPS trails in Europe for those interested



## eric (Jan 22, 2004)

Since I'm home sick I have nothing to do but plan a summer vacation.  One of the websites that I stumbled upon last spring was

Tourfinder.de

It's by no means comprehensive, I found it useful for getting a couple of starting rides before I had a topo map of where I was. Most tracks are downloadable als .gpx or .gdb for Garmin machines, although I assume all the odd format material can be translated simply using GPSBabel.

The site is in German, but most of it is easy to follow regardless of that. I found the majority of descriptions of the trails were reasonably accurate. There's a sprinkling of tarmac rides up familiar / infamous Alpine passes as well.


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## franza (May 26, 2007)

Another good one:

http://www.gps-tour.info/en/index.html


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## eric (Jan 22, 2004)

Indeed - that's a good resource as well.

A Belgian site, kraksontracks, has a pile of tracks in Garmin format for a host of countries. The operator does require you to register by e-mail and contribute at least one track for the database.


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## Jerk_Chicken (Oct 13, 2005)

Sweet, thanks!

We were riding in the forest between DE and CZ today, going back and forth across the border. First time I needed a passport to ride! Tracks would have been helpful...


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## franza (May 26, 2007)

Where do You ride? Erzgebirge?
I ride most time between CZ and Bavaria. There are some good trails on Mt. Dylen


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## Jerk_Chicken (Oct 13, 2005)

We're in Sachsen. We rode in the Sachsiche/Boehmische Schweiz today. We're looking to make a vacation trip to either the Bavarian Alps or the Austrian Alps soon...

...just looking for cheaper places to go, with good riding.


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## Hufi (Jan 4, 2008)

Hi Eric

take a look...
http://www.gpsies.com/home.do#9_50.3433747_8.0497524_p

at the right corner you will find also other languages. Use also the check boxes at the right site to find good trails.


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## Thierry C. (Aug 16, 2007)

http://www.utagawavtt.com/ for riding in France (sorry, you need to speak French...)


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## eric (Jan 22, 2004)

Thanks Thierry. That's going to be a useful one this summer, I hope!


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## steppenwolf-bavaria (Aug 30, 2009)

Thanks for the resources. Found some nice new tracks in the bavarian forest which I will check out the next weekends.


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## Algis (Sep 27, 2008)

My I look rookie but I need to ask: are those tracks downloadable and can I upload them to a GPS navigation?
Thanks


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## eric (Jan 22, 2004)

Hi Algis,

Sorry for the late reply. Most of the sites above have the more common formats (gpx most of all) readily downloadable, or at worst require you to register first. If you have a non-Garmin machine a bit of software like GPSBabel is a nifty tool for converting to the format you need.

Cheers,
Eric


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## Algis (Sep 27, 2008)

Thanks, Eric! I got the idea. 
Now I'm trying to do something on this kind on my blog, and hope that soon I'll have a GPS device to do some tracking around.
In order to embed the tracks on a blog or site like here: http://www.gps-tour.info/en/tracks/detail.4045.html is it necessary to buy a special licence from Google?


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## eric (Jan 22, 2004)

I'm afraid I don't actually know - I just post links of stuff on my server. I suspect there's some kind of simple interface that's free to use, though. I'd suggest having a look on the GE website.


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## garethj (Sep 7, 2009)

I have recently collated some of my GPS tracks around the Portes du Soliel here http://www.ridemorzine.org/2009/08/morzine-gpx-files/ and over the years I have uploaded a fair number to http://www.mtbguru.com/user/profile/834 as well.

On the subject,









This picture was taken on Sunday's ride, te GPX file is here

http://www.ridemorzine.org/2009/09/chamonix-to-morzine/


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## Algis (Sep 27, 2008)

Well, that pretty cool. I've finally figured out how to do. Now I'm just waiting for the device that'll help me do that... And of course, I'll post here some Romanian wild tracks...


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## Algis (Sep 27, 2008)

Well Eric, your advice helped me... I got into partnership with Garmin Romania and received as sponsorship an Etrex GPS... Therefor, on my blog you'll have the opportunity to cast a glance at our terrain, altitude profile and so on. Of course that you'll be able also to download the tracks and ride here in case you should visit the region.
Cheers!

P.S. Actually, the tracks and info are available only in Romanian but as soon as I can I will translate it...


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## eric (Jan 22, 2004)

Excellent! Look forward to the translations


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## Algis (Sep 27, 2008)

Hello again,
I'm glad to inform you that I procedeed with my first translation... I'll be slower as I write my articles directly in English and I need some time to find the perfect equivalent of the Romanian initial conception.
Anyway, I wish you a nice time reading and hope we'll meet on the trails.
@ Eric


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## eric (Jan 22, 2004)

Cool.

I'm supposed to be bilingual (parents from two completely different countries will sometimes get you there...) but I just can't deal with switching between languages or translating quickly. A proper translation of any text always seems to take me 5x as long as I think it should.


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