Pacific Coast Highway Motorcycle Tour - Los Angeles to San Francisco

The best-known stretch of American coast road, ridden northbound in three days. Two nights, around 470 miles, from Los Angeles to San Francisco with Big Sur in the middle, which is about as much reputation as a short trip can carry.

It begins at the Santa Monica Pier and heads straight up through Malibu, where the road is hemmed between the hills and the ocean, then Santa Barbara and the Danish-built main street at Solvang before Pismo Beach. Two hundred miles makes it the longest day, and almost all of it is spent within sight of water.

The middle day is the one that matters. Morro Bay, Cambria and San Simeon lead into the Big Sur coast, where Highway 1 clings to the cliff edge for mile after mile above the Pacific, crossing the Bixby Bridge on the way to Monterey. At 150 miles it is deliberately short, because this is not a section to hurry. The final morning climbs inland through the Santa Cruz Mountains and runs Skyline Boulevard into San Francisco.

EAGLERIDER supplies the bike in Los Angeles and takes it back in San Francisco, with Harley-Davidson touring models alongside Triumph and BMW sport machines, and books both nights. Fuel, meals and insurance are arranged separately. Riding it one way means no retracing and a simple flight home from the other end. For anyone who has seen Big Sur in photographs and wants three days to ride it instead, this is the shortest sensible way to do it.