Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Tours
in Europe and Beyond
Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Tours
in Europe and Beyond
Summary: This is a fully guided, round-trip tour from the UK to the Alps Mountains.
Riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in the mountains often evokes a sense of freedom, adventure, and a connection with the road. The combination of the wonderful scenery, winding roads, and the feeling of being in control of the motorcycle creates a memorable experience.
This tour includes our favourite mountain roads, in Switzerland, Italy and Austria. These have been specially selected to give the most memorable riding experience.
The alpine roads start just after we cross Lake Lucerne on its ferry boat and the views of what lay ahead are tremendous. The great roads include Furka Pass, Grimsel, Nufenen and Susten Passes in Switzerland, Stelvio, Fluela, Umbrail and Gavia passes in Italy, as well as the best roads in the Dolomites, such as Pordoi, Gardena, Campolongo and Sella passes in the Dolomites. It’s wonderful riding – perhaps some of the best in the world, all combined into one stunning tour!
When in the Alps, we use just three hotels, near Andermatt, in Bormio and in Canazei, meaning we spend on average 3 nights at each so you don’t have to pack your bike each day.
The tour starts in the UK and on route to the Alps we have selected some excellent riding roads in the Vosges Mountains and the Black Forest in Germany. On the return to the UK, we ride one of Germany’s best roads – the B500.
This tour is the daddy for experienced riders!
Please note this tour is for experienced riders only.
Tour1 is an Authorised Harley-Davidson tour operator and so our tours are intended for Harley-Davidson riders. We do allow one non-Harley-Davidson per tour, so if you wish to ride a non-Harley, please check with gary@tour1.co.uk first before booking.
Price for
2024 Prices
Two riders sharing a room, price each
£3,120
Single rider in his/her own room
£3,670
Rider and pillion sharing a room
£4,770
This tour has just about everything a long motorcycle ride needs. It is probably our most comprehensive and diverse tour which makes it the reason we have run a similar tour many times since 2014.
From the the low Vosges mountains in eastern France and the rolling hills of southern Germany to the high alpine passes in the Alps and the roads in Austria with fast sweeping bends, this tour encompasses just about every type of riding there is. One day you are admiring the scenery as you ride and the next, the road amazes you as it twists and turns over mountain terrain.
For the first time in 2024, we are staying at just 3 hotels when in the Alps, thereby avoiding the need to pack your motorcycle every day. Those three base hotels in the Alps are located near Andermatt (Switzerland), in Bormio (Italy) and in Canazei (Italy). We ride out from those three hotels each day and return to them each most afternoons. We obviously use different hotels each night when getting to / from the Alps.
It takes two days to get to Switzerland and the first of the major alpine roads. We then spend 8 days riding some of the most impressive motorcycle roads riders will ever experience in the Alps.
If you want to ride wonderful and scenic roads, with someone else making all the arrangements, then riding with Tour1 is for you. We are hugely experienced tour operators having ridden all over Europe and we know where the best roads are.
Our route is 253 miles today.
We catch a Eurotunnel train from Folkestone to Calais early this morning. The aim of today is to make some progress to get to the great roads further south, so we mainly use motorway today. However, to break this up we ride some excellent rural roads in the French countryside in the area of The Somme and the tour leader will point out some of the major battlefield locations from WW1 as we ride through the area.
Of the 253 miles to ride today, 150 will be on motorway.
We stay in a small French town next to a lake tonight.
Today we ride across France.
The first highlight of the day are riding in the wonderful low-lying Vosges Mountains, which will be a warm-up for the alpine roads we will soon be riding. The Vosges Mountains are in eastern France, near Strasburg and we ride a few of the terrific roads there, before crossing the River Rhine into Germany. Interestingly, we will see the source of the Rhine later in the tour when in Switzerland.
The second highlight is we end the day by riding more fabulous roads in the southern part of the Black Forest before staying in a traditional style southern German hotel, set in a small village in the forest.
We ride out of the Black Forest first thing on the morning of day 3 and after 25 miles we enter Switzerland and the terrain changes almost straight away from rolling hills to steeper mountains. When we reach the Jurapark Aargau the roads immediately become really good and as we continue into Switzerland we head towards Lake Lucerne where we catch a ferry boat across this very picturesque lake, with the mountains of the Alps rising up in the distance.
Then we ride our first major alpine road, Grimsel Pass (7,100 ft) as we make our way to our first base hotel in the Alps. The view from the top of Grimsel Pass is amazing. We will be staying in a great location for 3 nights in Obergoms to make the most of the fabulous riding in the area. The roads here are amazing and some of the best you will ever ride.
Today is a shorter day riding in the Alps of just 104 miles, around the loop formed by Grimsel Pass, Susten Pass (7,415 ft), and the wonderful Furka Pass (7,969 ft), the latter of which became famous for being featured in the James Bond movie, Goldfinger. We will stop somewhere in the mountains for lunch. These are stunning roads to ride a motorcycle set in amazing scenery. You will remember this day for a long time!
We are in Obergoms again tonight.
Another loop of great roads awaits us on day 5. It is an 89 mile ride, but due to the number of photo stops, this ride will take most of the day.
Today we will ride Nufenen Pass (8,130 ft), the old road of St Gotthards Pass (Tremola) (6.909 ft) and Furka Pass once more. The Tremola road is very unusual as it is cobbled and has been northern & southern Switzerland since the 13th century. The road was cobbled to stop horses hooves slipping.
We stay a third night in Obergoms tonight.
We depart our Obergoms hotel this morning and day 6 sees a change of pace as today we ride 235 miles to head east across Switzerland and into Italy. We ride more terrific mountain pass roads today.
We start by riding Operalp Pass and we pass close to the source of what becomes the mighty River Rhine. At Chur we head south to ride another amazing road, Splugen Pass. Set on the border between Switzerland and Italy, this pass has an amazing series of hairpins that rise up pasture farmland with incredible views, and often cows at the side of the road.
The pass road then becomes incredible as we ride further south into Italy, with tight twisting hairpins set of a steep road. It’s certainly an exciting ride!
Once we reach Chiavenna, our direction completely changes and we then head east. As we travel towards St Moritz we ride the twisty Maloja Pass (5,955 ft) and onto the Parc Naziunal Svizzer (Swiss Natural Park) before riding another Tour1 favourite, Umbrail Pass (8,205 ft) to get to the top of Stelvio Pass.
We then ride down the western side of the famous Stelvio Pass (9,045 ft) which is one of the highest pass roads in the Alps. We stay tonight in the ski town of Bormio in Italy. We will be there for three nights.
Today sees the group riding a 117 mile loop road out from and back to Bormio. This will include an absolute Tour1 favourite, the dramatic Gavia Pass (8,599ft). With its glacier and moon-like terrain, this is a wonderful tight narrow road, set in dramatic scenery.
Then it’s on to Foppo Pass (6,076 ft), Livigno Pass (7,595ft), Eria Pass (7,250ft) and Foscagno Pass (7,516ft) before returning to our hotel in Bormio. That’s five wonderful passes in one day!
After riding for seven days, today is a rest day, spent in Bormio. We do suspect though, that many riders will want to take advantage of riding the nearby Stelvio Pass again and taking their time to take photos from the best places to see this amazing road. It’s a relaxing day at least!
Today we head east once more and change hotels. We ride to the marvellous Dolomite Mountains! Its great roads make this an ideal place to ride motorcycles.
To get there, we ride 150 miles across northern Italy. We start by riding both sides of Stelvio, up the easier western side and down the more challenging eastern side, before heading east towards Merano. Then we ride Palade Pass (4,960ft) and then an amazing road, Méndola Pass (4,471ft) which is cut into the side of a steep cliff.
We skirt the busy city of Bolzano before rising up into perhaps the most scenic part of the Alps, the Dolomite Mountains. These are easily recognisable due to its jagged craggy peaks. We will stop to look at Karersee, a stunningly beautiful lake with amazing colours. We stay for two nights in a hotel with perhaps one of the best mountain views in the world.
This is an amazing days riding, as it includes 8 wonderful mountain passes! We ride just 96 miles today, returning to our hotel in the Dolomites. But those 96 miles are perhaps the most twisty anyone has ever ridden.
We start by riding the best parts of the Sella Ring, a wonderful road that circles the Sella Massive, a huge outcrop of mountain in the Dolomites and the views are simply spectacular. This includes the following passes: Sella; Culac; Gardena; Campolongo.
Then we head east to ride Giau Pass before going to Cortina for lunch. We then head back to our hotel taking in Falzárego and Valparola Passes followed by Pordoi Pass as we near the hotel.
What a day!
This is the start of a three day ride north to get back to Calais and home.
Today we ride 235 miles on good roads to get away from the Dolomites before joining some motorway. We leave Italy and re-enter Austria via the Brenner Pass and ride onto Innsbruck. We leave the motorway there and head north on smaller roads to the famous ski town of Garmish, then onto Fern Pass where we pick up the motorway once more.
We stay the night near Bad Saulgau in Germany. The prefix Bad means it is a spa town.
Day 12 is in two distinct halves. In the morning we ride wonderful roads for motorcycling, including in the Black Forest and Germany’s famous B500 and not so well-known B48 roads.
We cross the River Rhine near Baden Baden and the good roads continue until we join the motorway to help speed our ride back to Calais. Our hotel is on the banks of Keller Stausee, a lake in Germany.
This is the penultimate day of the tour but the great riding roads continue!
The first part of the day is like riding Nirvana as we ride wonderful roads in Luxembourg including those along the river Our near Vianden. We then use more cross country roads to get to Bastogne in Belgium, scene of fierce fighting during WWII.
Near Dinant in Belgium, we ride another Tour1 favourite road, see a motor-racing circuit and end the day staying in a French chateau.
Then to get to Calais, we use French motorways to ride the 143 miles to Calais. We catch a Eurotunnel train back to Folkestone where the tour ends. We arrive back in Folkestone by about mid-day.
Our group sizes normally range from 10 to 14 motorcycles.
Each day, we normally start riding at 8.30am sharp and cover in the region of 150 to 200 miles. We try to avoid motorways wherever possible and only use these when there is no real alternative. We take mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks and of course find somewhere for lunch. Our plan is to normally arrive at that evening’s hotel by around 6pm.
We use good quality hotels – not super luxury and not bottom end, but mid-range – normally 3 and 4-star.
We ride at a pace to suit all of the riders. We stick to all speed limits in towns, but in rural areas we ride at, let’s call them ‘more appropriate’ speeds. We generally ride in staggered convoy on straighter roads.
As we have pre-booked hotels and a schedule to stick to, we ride in all weathers. During any exceptionally inclement weather, we will pull over for short periods. We could experience a range of different types of weather, so bring waterproofs, just in case.
We like these tours to be about having a real adventure, riding on great roads with like-minded people. For that reason, we do not use a support van, but we always have a back-marker.
*Ride Difficulty Rating
Each of our tours has a difficulty rating and this tour is rated as ‘challenging’. That means this tour is for experienced riders only, with say, a minimum of three years of riding large motorcycles. You must have ridden on the right-hand side of the road before on many occasions and you must be comfortable with travelling in a group of riders and be able to keep a good pace within that group. We do not ride very fast, but at the same time, it is better if riders do not go too slowly.
The route will include many twisty roads, plus many high mountain roads with many tight hairpin bends / switchbacks. There will be some sections of road with steep drop-offs at the side and no guardrail. If you or your pillion are at all uncomfortable at riding at height, then this tour is not for you. If you are from the USA, please note some of the roads you will be riding are significantly narrower and have tighter bends than in the USA. All roads are fully paved. While there is not much motorway riding on the tour, as a guide, the group will be riding at speeds of 75mph+ on motorways. You must be confident of riding in rain and on wet roads.
Each day’s riding will be around 9 hours, with breaks. You must be able to ride all day. If you are at all unsure if your riding ability is good enough for this tour, then you must contact us by telephone to discuss.
If there is one thing in life that you need to do it is to go on a Tour 1 trip with Gary. I have been on 3 of his trips and each time have experienced something so wonderful that you will remember it for the rest of your life. Peter Killian, London, UK.
