Alps Tour – Gorgeous Natural Beauty and True Mountain Riding!

You will arrive in the beautiful city of Thonon-les-Bains, famous for its lake, as well as the river and other natural beauty. After checking in at the hostel, you will meet Laurent, the trip leader. He will provide you a briefing on the trip, and will give you your motorcycle. Depending on your schedule, a tour of Thonon-les-Bains’ beautiful Lac Léman may even be possible! If you arrived with your own vehicle, you may have already experienced some of the Alps motorcycle routes that we will be exploring over the next several days.

Today truly begins our Alps motorcycle tour! From Lac Léman, the largest lake in France, you’ll ride across the Chablais massif before taking a break in Gruyère, a city renowned for their cheese, but also for their castle. After this break, you will ride to the lake of Brienz, at the base of Jungfrau pass, before arriving in Interlaken, Switzerland.

Today is one of the longest days of the trip, around 240 kilometers. It will not only be long in distance though, it will be a day with plenty of emotion, and turns! You’ll start by leaving the lake area to attack the high passes of the Alps. Specifically, you will go through the mystic Alps passes of Gotherd, Furka, and Grimsel. Be sure, this Alps motorcycle routes will make for an unforgettable trip! Once through the Alps, you will descend into the lake valleys of Lake Como and Lake Lugano. If the weather cooperates, you might even have the opportunity to take a dip in their beautiful waters.

It simply wouldn’t be right to leave Lake Como without a visit its most famous town – Bellagio! We’ll then ride along the beautiful banks of the lake, so be sure to enjoy the scenery. You will also have the opportunity to visit the Moto Guzzi museum in Mandello del Lario. Finally, you will have to leave the gorgeous turquoise waters of the lake in order to head towards the first challenge of the Alps. Once in Bormio, near the foot of the mountain that holds the famous Stelvio Pass, we will stop for the night.

Immediately after breakfast, you will attack the giant of the Alps – the Stelvio Pass motorcycle ascent! This is the longest, the highest, the largest paved pass of the Eastern Alps. It sits at an elevation of 2,757 meters. The interminable switchbacks provide turn after turn (60 in total, over only 27 kilometers) as you descend into one of the most beautiful regions of Italy – Sud Tyröl Haut Adige. This leg of your European motorcycle tours will take you through beautiful vineyards and orchards. You will then stay the night at a ski lodge near the Dolomite massif.

This will be another high-altitude day with multiple mountain summits. We will traverse the Italian passes of Giau and Marmolada, both of which will be beautiful, but the pass of Tre Cime di Lavaredo will leave you speechless! Next, Austria will welcome you with one of the most beautiful roads in all of the Alps. It is known not only for its beautiful Alps motorcycle routes, but also by practically all cyclists, as well as many other tourists. Grossglockner, is travelled by thousands of cyclists and bikers every summer. From here, we will ride on to see the lakeside city of Zell am See. This is also where we will spend the night and get a much deserved rest.

After breakfast, we will head for some sightseeing at the impressive Krimml falls, the highest waterfall in Europe. Next on this Alps motorcycle tour, you will cross the Tyrol area and enter in the Bavaria region of Germany. This particular area of Germany is a paradise for bikers for numerous reasons – beautiful, exciting mountains roads, quaint, old little towns, and a friendly atmosphere. Once here, we will head towards the city of Garmisch-Partenkirken, where we will visit the ski resort. It is the greatest and highest in all of Germany!

Today, we will head to Oberammergau, a little town known for its stunning murals painted on the sides of several buildings. Once there, we will take a break. Next, we will head to the fairy tale castle of Neuschwanstein castle. This place is so magical, you will feel like a king or queen for a moment! To finish, you will travel the Alpentrasse, one of the mythic roads of the Alps, which will bring you to the shoreline of Lake Constance.

We are nearing the end of our European motorcycle tours, but not before the Alpenstrass brings us back to France. Along the way, we will see more of Lake Constance, and we definitely will not miss the beautiful Schaffhausen falls. We will finish our trip traveling through the black forest, and along the Rhine river, before spending the night in one of the most beautiful cities in France -Strasbourg.