Alpine Circle Self-Guided Motorcycle Tour

Ten nights round four Alpine regions, self-guided, which RideWithUs list among their longest-established tours, with riders on their own bikes.

Troyes and the Black Forest come first on the way out, then Bavaria by way of Bad Waldsee, with the castles at Linderhof, Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein optional and a free day for Oberammergau, Ettal Abbey and a stretch of the Romantische Strasse, which is the gentle end of the trip.

Zell am See follows over the Fern and Gerlos passes, with the Krimml waterfalls on the way, then Corvara in the Dolomites by way of the Grossglockner High Alpine Road, which climbs to around 2,500 metres and looks across to the Pasterze glacier. Sankt Moritz comes next over the Campolongo, Pordoi, Tonale and Bernina passes, with a free day offering either the Stelvio and Glorenza or Lake Como over the Maloja. The Fluela Pass, Davos and the B500 carry the route home.

Ten nights of bed and breakfast, six evening meals and the return Eurotunnel crossing are included, along with the GPX routes and the itinerary; fuel, parking, admissions and the vignettes are not. Eleven days covering Bavaria, Tyrol, the Dolomites and the Swiss Alps means moving most days, which is the trade for seeing four regions rather than one. The Grossglockner charges a toll and closes overnight and out of season, and the high passes are generally open from late May to October. The Stelvio option on the free day is the one most riders take and the one the photographs come from, with forty-eight numbered hairpins on the northern side of it.