The thought of riding around the world has crossed the mind of anyone who’s ever dreamed of a motorcycle adventure. Even if you’re just out on a Sunday ride, the feeling of freedom of being on two wheels can you cause you to think: “well, what if I just keep riding? Do I really need to show up to work on Monday? Will the wife and kids miss me that much?”
And for some, that’s all they need to embark on a round-the-world motorcycle trip. For others, however, the practical side of things can be daunting, especially when you start thinking about things like logistics, accommodation, border crossings, routes, and maintenance, all of which can quickly become overwhelming if you’re trying to plan an entire globe-busting adventure by yourself.
Luckily, there is another way.
Edelweiss Bike Travel has created a round-the-world adventure in several sections, meaning that you don’t have to sell your house and leave everything behind to do a globe-busting trip in one go, and you can also just choose which parts of the world you’d most like to ride through. Even better, they organise almost everything for you, helping you realise your dream of exploring the world on two wheels.
Combining the separate sections will see you travel from Los Angeles right down to the southern tip of South America, across the African continent, and from the centre of Europe overland through Asia, all the way to the island paradise of Bali.
Having had a fantastic experience on an Edelweiss tour myself, the World Tour sounds like an incredible opportunity to experience the riding of a lifetime.
So, this is everything you need to know about the Edelweiss World Tour and how it can help you tick riding around the world off your bucket list.
What’s the World Tour all about?
There are many ways to ride around the world. But by building on 45 years of motorcycle touring expertise, the team at Edelweiss reckons that they’ve hit on the magic formula that offers the perfect blend of adventure, sightseeing, incredible riding, cultural immersion, and comfortable accommodation that means you get all the joy of exploring the world by bike with none of the bad bits, like breaking down by the side of the road, struggling with local police, or feeling lost and alone in a completely foreign country.
How they’ve managed this is two-fold. First, they carefully plan routes across continents, each of which feature breathtaking roads and scenery, timeless destinations, vibrant cities, and quality hotels and accommodation that ensure you always get a great night’s rest.
Then, they carefully choose and train their tour guides, ensuring that they’re more than prepared for dealing with anything that may occur while out on the road.
Put together, and you’ve got a life-defining motorcycle adventure led by experts in the field that take care of all the difficult parts for you. It’s a bit like being led up Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary or through East Africa by Dr Livingstone.
The World Tour: the stages
To make things more accessible, Edelweiss has split the World Tour up into stages. This has many advantages, but most importantly, it means you can pick and choose which sections you want to do, and with the longest stage taking 87 days, you don’t have to block an entire year out of your calendar to do it all at once.
Starting from North America, the first stage is the 43-day route from Los Angeles to Panama City, travelling through Baja California and on through Mexico, and then crossing Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, finishing up in Panama City.
In South America, the World Tour continues on a 70-day expedition from Cartagena in Colombia to Punta Arenas at the southern tip of Argentina, crossing through the stunning highlands of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, before alternating between Chile and Argentina as you explore the epic landscapes of Patagonia on your way to the end of the continent.
Across the Atlantic, the best of Africa awaits with a 38-day adventure between Cape Town and Mombasa, with the deserts of Namibia, the savannah of Zambia, the mighty Victoria Falls, and the breathtaking Kilimanjaro all amongst the highlights. And of course, you’ll have the opportunity to spot lions, elephants, and cheetah in their natural habitats.
Between Europe and Asia, you’ve got two choices. Both routes start in Munich and finish in Da Nang, Vietnam, however the 77-day North Route goes through Poland and the Baltics before crossing Russia, Kazakhstan, and China, while the 87-day Central Route goes through Eastern Europe before joining the ancient Silk Road at Istanbul and exploring Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan before entering China and meeting the North Route through to Vietnam.
Finally, the final stage takes you through South East Asia over 48 days of incredible riding, exploring Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, where you’ll reach the island paradise of Bali, ready to relax after the adventure of a lifetime.
If you like, you can simply do a single stage, or you can do them all spread over a number of years. The choice is yours.
What’s included
The exact services slightly differ depending on the stage, but along with the carefully-planned route, you get all of your accommodation taken care of, experts to help you organise all the necessary paperwork and insurance along the route, expert guides and a support vehicle, and 24/7 help on-hand at the Edelweiss HQ. There’s a lot more included for each stage, which you can find more information about here.
It’s designed for you to bring your own bike along, and Edelweiss will also help you organise all the shipping and documentation necessary for each stage. If you want to rent a bike, that’s also something Edelweiss can offer.
Embark on the adventure of a lifetime
If you’ve ever dreamt of exploring the world on a motorcycle but never been quite sure on how to make it happen, it’s well worth checking out the Edelweiss World Tour.
The ABR team has taken part in multiple Edelweiss tours in countries like Thailand and Italy, and we can wholeheartedly recommend them if you’re after incredible riding and a seamlessly organised experience.
If you’re interested in the World Tour, you can find out more about it on the Edelweiss website here.
