Flick through any women’s magazine or peruse any online publication aimed at us females and you will get a very particular idea about the sort of holiday that does it for us. Apparently, we all like looking impossibly glamourous whilst drinking prosecco near a beach close to designer shops and nail salons with our gal pals!
I’m not saying there is anything wrong with that sort of holiday but it plays to a very narrow stereotype of what women are supposed to enjoy and value. I wish these publications would try a bit harder to keep up with where we gals are now – look at females in the music industry, budding writers, and female politicians all over the world. We are a mixed bunch with a myriad of different personality types, skills, likes, and peeves. It’s about time woman’s mags caught up and offered a more varied picture of the type of holidays that we can and do enjoy.
Why Motorbike Tours Are Great For Us Gals
Can I introduce you to a self-guided motorbike tour? Motorbikes and touring holidays are rarely marketed to women but I don’t know why especially as one in four UK riders are women. These holidays are pretty dam perfect for us. Here’s why!
Self-guided motorcycle tours provide you with detailed routes, GPS maps and systems, tried and tested hotel accommodation and lunch/rest breaks. You don’t have to spend months planning or take any unnecessary risks. You know you are following safe routes that have been used by hundreds of other bikers. You can choose to do the trip solo and get some me-time or with a group of other friends. Because you have your own transport – a motorbike – you can cover a huge number of different locations in one trip. Even better you are in control so you spend more time in the places you love and fly right past things that bore you. No waiting in airports, no catching taxis, or trying to navigate trains or buses in foreign languages – just you and the open road…. COVID friendly!
I started riding at age 39 as a result of a dare! I have been on the amazing Norway and Arctic circle tour with Magellan Motorcycle Tours. I am 53 years old and 153cm tall…if I can reach the Arctic Circle, any girl can!
Susan
In the UK you can choose to use your own bike or rent one. If you use your own make sure you have all the right insurances and breakdown cover. The beauty of these organized holidays is that you can choose routes all over the world – pick up your fully maintained bike when you arrive! Focus your time on the wonders of Norway, or road trip in the USA, tour Cuba by bike, take a trip through France, Germany, and Switzerland – the options are endless!
For many of the European tours, you can take your own bike as they can start in the UK heading via ferry or Chunnel straight into France and the rest of Europe. If you decide to take this option make sure your insurance covers you for all the countries you are riding through and that you have breakdown and good medical coverage too.
Motorcycle Guided Tour Options
Of course not all of us fancy setting off on our own. There is security, comfort and fun in numbers but what if you don’t have any fellow biker friends to holiday with? Join a guided group instead. On guided motorbike tours you follow the same itineraries but you do it at the same time as a bunch of other bikers all in the company of experienced tour guides. You can spend as much or as little time as you like with your fellow holiday makers allowing you to get the perfect combo of solitude and social interaction.
I was also worried about socialising as I was the only woman on my first tour, but it certainly wasn’t a boy’s club. As I have now gone on more tours there have been far more women on the tours and lots more topics of conversations around the dinner table, it’s certainly not just all about bikes!
Patsy
License or Pillion
In the UK, as in most of the rest of the world, a standard drivers license only allows you to legally drive low powered mopeds not motorbikes. So you can’t just book a motorbike holiday, turn up and ride! If you are licensed for a full-powered motorbike in the UK you will be able to drive across Europe and the USA too. If you don’t have a license you can of course be a pillion passenger on a motorbike with a driver who does.
Iconic Motorbike Passes
The appeal of a biking holiday is not hard to understand. You travel at a sedate pace with no window screens feeling and smelling the air and taking in the full 360 degree views. This allows you to experience wide open spaces in the same way a a walker but your bike allows you to cover huge distances and carry what you need to make your trip comfortable.
Some of the worlds most beautiful scenery is best seen by bike. There are fantastic twisting mountain passes and iconic roads which bikers throughout the world have identified as the very best. Here are some of the most famous.
Northern Europe
Germany, B500 & Black Forest
There are loads of bikers in Germany and as a result, the roads and facilities are fantastic. The B500 is a favorite bikers route and passes through the black forest. The riding is easy and the scenery breathtakingly gorgeous. There are plenty of great rustic stops where you sup a high-quality beer and munch down on some German sausage!
Close by are the Harz mountains and the famous 88 bends of the Kyffauser pass which you really have to experience if you are in Germany with your bike.
Switzerland
Next door to Germany is the mountain paradise of Switzerland. Lakes, wonderful cities, world beating waterfalls and mountain passes make for heady combination. Switzerland has some of the mountain passes that every biker wants to experience at least once in their lifetime; the Neufenen, St. Gotthard, Grimsel and Furka passes are all musts.
Norway
Wild, dramatic yet sophisticated. Norway is great place to visit and is perfect for a bike tour.
The Trollstigen road or ‘Ladder of the trolls’ is one of the most iconic twisty mountain passes in the world. The Eagles and Atlantic Roads are also unmissable. Norway is also the home of ‘Pulpit Rock’ or Preikstolen in Norweigian which is a huge slab of rock which just out hundreds of meters over Lysfjord.
Geirangerfjord is a UNESCO site and you can ride through this unbelievably beautiful place – dramatic snow tipped mountains drop suddenly into crystal blue fjords. Waterfalls are everywhere and the lush green forests provide yet more wonderful scenery.
Southern Europe
Mountains windy passes, snow and beer might not be your thing. Never fear you can also pair your biking hobby with sun, sand and wine. BIke holidays are a great way to see some of the Mediterranean islands. It is easy and relatively cheap to take your bike on a ferry – visit the Baleric Islands and Sardinia from Barcelona. From Italy, you can access Greece and link up their network of ferries and a bewildering list of Greek Islands you can visit.
Wine
Why not tour the adjacent wine regions of Rioja and Ribero del Duero in Northern Spain or pair the fabulous Douro region of Portugal with the Galician Rías Baixas. You can’t travel anywhere in Italy or Southern France without falling over wine producers!
The coast around Barcelona is fabulous as is the city and there are several distinct wine-producing areas nearby including the home of Cava. It’s also great for art livers as Barcelona city is chock full of works and buildings designed by Gaudi and tot eh North is the home of Salvidor Dahi and there are plenty of his works and museums to visit.
The Americas
Alaska
The Kenai peninsula, Hatcher Pass, Thompson Pass, Denali Highway, and Dalton Highway all allow you to experience the true majesty of Alaska complete with glaciers and dramatic mountain ranges.
Canada
Canada contains some of the world’s most beautiful places. If you haven’t heard of places like The North Cascades and Lake Lousie then you should definitely look them up. However Canada’s beauty isn’t about one or two places, the entire country is a stunning mix of lakes, mountains, forests, gorges, and wide-open vistas. You can experience the majesty of Canada by riding famous roads like the Klondike highway, Cassiar Highway and the Alcan highway.
I Could Go On…
I literally can’t stop thinking of amazing places to visit that are best seen from a bike. It really is a wonderful way to see the world so if you have a license or a friend or partner with one you should really consider a biking adventure for your next trip.