Some trips begin with a packed suitcase. Others begin with a decision. Five Mountains 2026 belongs to the second kind. Anyone who comes along isn’t looking for a holiday, but for an experience. No package programme, but a route you drive yourself. No guided convoy, but real freedom. And that’s exactly what makes the difference. This year for the last time.
Ancona: where it all starts
The start of Five Mountains 2026 is in Ancona, on the Italian Adriatic coast. Between ferry ramps, engine noise and the smell of saltwater, 4x4s from all over Europe stand packed close together. Vehicles with roof tents, lifted pick-ups, old Defenders next to modern expedition vehicles. The trip begins here, before the ferry has even set off. On deck people talk shop, plan, laugh. Often you don’t know each other yet, but you click straight away. Everyone standing here has the same thought in their head: finally on the road again.
Albania and Lake Ohrid
Between wild camping and a luxury hotel
Overnight the ferry brings the participants to Durrës in Albania. With the first morning in the Balkans the world changes. The roads get narrower, the landscape wider, the mountains higher. The route heads towards Lake Ohrid, through regions where you quickly feel far away from everything you call everyday life. This is exactly where what makes Five Mountains shows. There are no guides driving out front. No group you can’t leave. Each team navigates itself, decides for itself, experiences for itself. And still you’re never alone. In the background the organisation runs, quietly but reliably. Help is there when you need it. Freedom stays when you want it.
The first night at Lake Ohrid is deliberately not a hotel. A campsite with food and a pebble beach, stars instead of a ceiling. Vehicles stand in a circle, somewhere by the water, conversations go deep into the night. It’s exactly these moments that many later describe as the real heart of the event. Not the route, not the destination, but the feeling of being part of something you can’t book like a trip from a catalogue.
Between wild camping and a luxury hotel, Five Mountains 2026
The next day brings the contrast: wild camping. Wherever you like. Find it yourself, choose, pull in, rest. Campfire instead of buffet. And the very next day, the tables turn. A big upmarket hotel, a casino, warm light, good food. Dusty drivers suddenly sit in the hotel bar, and it’s exactly this switch that makes the appeal. Five Mountains is no survival trip, but no wellness holiday either. It’s the mix. Adventure outside, comfort in between. Just enough luxury that you know how to value it.
Two nights on the Aegean
This year’s Five Mountains route heads on towards the sea. Two nights on the Aegean coast give time to breathe. Some use the break to work on the vehicle, to shop in Thessaloniki (70 km), others jump into the water or just sit with a coffee in the sun. Nobody says what you have to do. That’s exactly the concept. Everyone drives their own tour, but all are part of the same trip.
Bulgaria: mountains, gravel, ski hotels
From the coast it goes into Bulgaria, into the mountains. The landscape gets rougher, the roads emptier, the stages longer. A big ski hotel becomes the base for the next evening. Lots of room, big parking areas, the view of the peaks. From here the routes lead back out into the terrain, over gravel, through woods, over passes. A night at the campsite brings the group back to the simple life, before two more days at the next luxury ski hotel follow. With a loop route, a rest day and the chance to do what you value most on this trip: drive, relax or just stand there and look.
The finale in Serbia
Two more camps, two more fires, two more times that feeling of being on the road somewhere between countries and everyday life. And then, almost suddenly, the end gets closer.
The destination is in Serbia, near the city of Niš. No improvised car park, but a big congress hotel with a spa. Vehicles roll into the yard, dusty, scratched, with stories in the luggage. Inside, a pool, sauna, an evening together, conversations about what you’ve experienced. And about what you want to experience again next year. We eat and celebrate together. The end of Five Mountains 2026 and the end of the Five Mountains event series itself. The end of an era and yet the birth of a new idea.
What makes Five Mountains
Five Mountains is no guided trip and no race. It’s an expedition for people who want to drive themselves but don’t want to do without organisation. A tour for everyone seeking freedom without having to be alone. For drivers who know that adventure isn’t about arriving somewhere, but about setting off in the first place. Along the way, optional surprise points wait at the roadside, where you can solve tasks and win juicy prizes. And of course there are the “Iron Mountain sections” again, which are tougher and put a grin on every steering-wheel hero’s face, or wreck the marriage. 50:50 chance. :-)
Anyone who’s been along once quickly understands why so many come back. And why the question about Five Mountains is rarely whether you’ll join again, but only when, or in this case “where”.
The team of the OF-Series, over 50 volunteer enthusiasts in total and about 25 of them along for Five Mountains 2026 too, says thank you. Thank you for the trust, the support and the fantastic shared adventures of the last years.
More on Five Mountains and the registration is here.
We were along on the first tour in 2019 too: The first Five Mountains.
Photos: Alicia Neese Fotografie