Las Vegas to Death Valley Motorcycle Tour

Three days, two nights and around 565 miles, nearly all of it desert. This short loop out of Las Vegas goes straight into Death Valley, picks up Route 66 at Kingman, and comes back over the Hoover Dam.

It starts quickly. Pahrump and then Death Valley fill the first afternoon, 160 miles to Furnace Creek, which sits below sea level and holds the highest air temperature ever reliably recorded. Arriving in the evening is the sensible way to do it, with the light low across the salt flats and the heat beginning to let go.

The middle day is a long one at 300 miles and the best of the three. It crosses the rest of Death Valley, then the Mojave National Preserve, before dropping to Needles and running east to Kingman on the old Mother Road. The final morning is a short 105 miles back to Las Vegas over the Hoover Dam with Lake Mead alongside.

EAGLERIDER provides the motorcycle and books both nights, with Harley-Davidson touring models alongside Triumph and BMW sport machines. Fuel, meals and insurance are separate. This is a trip for riders who find emptiness appealing rather than alarming, and it packs a serious amount of American desert, and a decent helping of Route 66, into a single long weekend. For anyone in Las Vegas with three days spare and a licence, it is the most direct way to get properly out of the city and into the sort of country the Southwest is actually known for.