Road trip ideas › By motorcycle
Your first motorcycle tour in Europe: 6 routes that are hard to get wrong
A first tour should be about the riding, not the logistics. These six routes have good roads, easy distances, places to sleep every 50 km and nothing that will frighten a pillion.
Plan this trip1 Black Forest
Photo by MWolf89, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The Black Forest is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. Wikipedia
The B500 Schwarzwaldhochstraße and the roads south to the Feldberg. Perfect surfaces, gentle bends and a Kaffee und Kuchen stop in every village.
Written about in 88 languagesStart a trip here
2 Slovenia
Photo by Andrew Milligan Sumo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to its west, Austria to its north, Hungary to its northeast, and Croatia to its south and southeast; its southwestern boundary consists of a 46.6-kilometre (29. Wikipedia
Small enough for four days: Bled, the Vršič Pass, the Soča valley, then the coast at Piran. One of the easiest countries to tour.
Written about in 277 languagesStart a trip here
3 Dolomites
Photo by kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The Dolomites or Pale Mountains are a mountain range in northeastern Italy. They form part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the river Adige in the west to the Piave Valley (Pieve di Cadore) in the east. Wikipedia
Base yourself in Corvara or Cortina and ride a different loop of passes each day. No luggage, short days, big views.
Written about in 73 languagesStart a trip here
4 The Mosel valley
Photo by Areks, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The Moselle is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. Wikipedia
From Trier to Koblenz along the river, with wine villages, castles and a road that follows every bend of the water.
Written about in 84 languagesStart a trip here
5 Brittany
Photo by No machine-readable author provided. Gilbertus assumed (based on copyright claim, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Brittany is a peninsula, historical region and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. Wikipedia
A loop of the Breton coast: the Pink Granite Coast, Crozon and the Pointe du Raz. Flat, calm roads and crêpes.
Written about in 108 languagesStart a trip here
6 Salzkammergut
Photo by C.Stadler/Bwag, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The Salzkammergut is a resort area in Austria, stretching from the city of Salzburg eastwards along the Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mountains. Wikipedia
Austria's lake district, an hour from Salzburg. Hallstatt, Gosau and the Postalm road, with no pass higher than 1,000 m.
Written about in 44 languagesStart a trip here
Riding or driving it
Start with Relaxed pace in Roadlegs: 200 km and 5 hours a day for a motorcycle, 30 minutes at every stop. If that feels slow after two days, switch to Standard and the plan redraws itself.
Open the plan in Roadlegs How the planner handles this vehicle.
About the facts and photos
The descriptions in italics are the opening sentences of the Wikipedia article for each place, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, fetched on 6 October 2026. Photos are from Wikimedia Commons under the licence named beside each one. "Written about in N languages" counts the Wikipedia editions that have an article, from Wikidata; it is a measure of how well known a place is, not a rating. Everything else is the author's own opinion. Roads close with the seasons: check before you go.
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