Road trips are awesome. Such trips let you experience, fall in love with, and reminisce about all aspects of a trip in a way you have never even imagined. While cars provide AC and space, bikes give you an adrenaline rush that is only felt when the wind hits you at highway speeds. They give you the freedom to be alone with your thoughts and the speed to get away from them when you feel trapped in those very thoughts. They allow you to actually look around and see the road as you travel, not just the destination.
That being said, India is full of roads, leading to places that need to be traversed upon so that you have amazing stories to tell your grandchildren when the only thing you can ride is a wheelchair. So, here’s a list of places for the best bike trips in India that will tire you out, test your skills and patience, make you want to fly back home, and keep you coming back every time you think of them.
Best Bike Trips In India You Must Go On
1. Leh-Ladakh
You knew this was coming, right? Leh-Ladakh is a haven for bikers. Everyone who has ever dreamt of taking a trip on a motorcycle has planned one to this place a thousand times. For all the right reasons, too! With its rugged terrain, snow-clad mountains, and soaring peaks, motorcycle rides in Leh-Ladakh are a perfect combination of challenge and fun.
There are two routes to choose from to get here. One route goes through Jammu and Srinagar before getting to Leh and takes you to Sarchu and Manali on the way back. The other one starts from Manali and goes the other way around. However, you’ll go through different places on each side, and all of them are spectacular.
This trip, via either route, should give your wallet an INR 50,000 to INR 70,000 knock, approximately. There’s a little bit of paperwork involved when it comes to entering Ladakh. So do your research properly before you leave. Last but not least, we recommend a motorcycle that has an engine capacity of 250cc or more.
Lately, there has been an upsurge of bike tour organizers taking you to Leh-Ladakh. Check them out in order to make it much easier in terms of the logistics involved.
2. Meghalaya
Meghalaya is known for its lush greenery, rolling hills, and the roads that cut through them. If you’re a biker who wants to go on a week-ish long trip that has a relatively relaxed terrain, beautiful sights, and a great combination of straight roads and hairpin turns, exploring Meghalaya would be among the best bike trips in India!
The best route that you can take to explore this state is the one that starts at Guwahati in Assam, takes you to Shillong, then Cherrapunji, turns around towards Shillong, through Kaziranga, finally ending where it started – in Guwahati. This route is about 500 km long and takes you on some of the most scenic roads that Meghalaya has to offer.
Being honest, even a year wouldn’t be enough to see all the beautiful places in this state. However, we recommend that you spend at least one week traveling through Meghalaya in order to see the route suggested. This trip, including fuel, food, and stay, should set you back by about INR 30,000. Since Meghalaya has an easier terrain, any bike above 250cc would do. But a cruiser would be preferable over the long, windy roads.
3. Western Arunachal Pradesh
This section of Arunachal Pradesh is known for its rugged, untouched beauty. Virgin forests, snow-clad mountains, and challenging terrain are what make this among the best bike rides in India. That’s not it, though. Western Arunachal Pradesh lets you see a very untouched version of life. The tribal population scattered around the entire route, and their traditional ways of life leave you with a different, maybe grateful, perspective towards life.
While a lot of people start in Guwahati, the actual expedition starts in Nameri, and we don’t think there are many options better than this one to start a trip like this. The route takes you from Nameri to Dirang, then to Tawang and Zemithang before turning around towards Dirang, ending right where you started, in Nameri.
You can do this entire route at the pace of one location per day. We suggest you take your time, though. Spend a day in all of these locations to actually see them. If not all of them, we recommend you spend a day in Tawang and Zemithang and check out the nunneries and monasteries that dot the map in these two places.
This trip is about 850 km long if you start from Nameri. If you start from Guwahati, that is another 450 km to add to the trip. It will also take you about INR 35,000 rupees away from a heavier wallet if you decide to escapade on your own. An organized road trip through the area can set you back anywhere between INR 20,000 and INR 65,000.
The terrain, while easier compared to Leh-Ladakh, is fairly challenging. So, prepare yourself and your bike accordingly.
4. Rajasthan
From forts, to palaces, to lakes, colourful markets and traditional desert villages, all set up with the grand Thar Desert as background, Rajasthan is going to have your jaw dropped the entire time with everything that it has to offer. One of the best parts of a motorcycle trip in Rajasthan is riding through changing terrains, from cities to desert to actual forests. It’s bound to make you feel like Aladdin with a newer and better carpet.
The most popular route through the state starts in the capital city of Jaipur and takes you through Ajmer, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Mount Abu, and Udaipur before you loop back to Jaipur. Since Rajasthan is a desert state, you’ll find huge stretches of straight highways that will allow you to cruise and to do top gear pulls until you’re out of fuel, tyres, or energy. That being said, we do not condone unsafe riding!
All of these places require at least one day to explore, making this a six-day trip at the lower end. We suggest you give this state at least nine days, though. Take a day to just explore a few places like Ranthambore and Jaipur. Take a detour to Pushkar and definitely spend a night camping in the deserts of Jodhpur.
This trip around Rajasthan will take 12 days, approximately, and take you through about 1,800 km of exhilarating calmness. Recommended time frame to take this trip is about 15 days, however. After adding up fuel, accommodation, food, and other miscellaneous expenses, you need to have about INR 50,000 rupees on a solo trip. However, if you go for an organized trip, that can stretch you back INR 40,000.
5. Rann Of Kutch
The Rann of Kutch is one of the biggest salt deserts in the world, which also turns into one of the largest salt marshes in the world during the monsoon. The northern end of the Rann also serves as a border between India and Pakistan. The most interesting thing, however, is the three-month-long festival organized by the Government of Gujarat every year, between December and February. Which falls spat-bang in the middle of the best time to visit the place – late October to early March!
All set for a bike trip to the Rann of Kutch? One awesome trip would be starting the trip from Ahmedabad, the city best known for its food, clothing, and diamonds. It then takes you through Bhuj, into Dhordo, before entering the Rann of Kutch. After visiting the salt flats, you can either make your own route home or head back to Ahmedabad, giving an amazing trip one last stretch of road before it ends.
This suggested route should take about 4 days of travel to get by comfortably, and it should cost you anywhere between INR 19,000 and INR 20,000, depending on where you choose to stay.
One of the best parts of this trip is the relaxed terrain and the fact that it is NOT a super-long ride. About 800 km spread over four days of long, mostly straight highways is relaxing and fun.
6. Karnataka
Karnataka is a state that has everything for every kind of traveler, regardless of whether you’re a nature lover, a history buff, or a party animal. This state has some of the best spots for everyone, and in a manner where you can cover some percentage of all aspects on a single route.
The best route that we could map starts in a place where everyone is longing for a vacation – Bangalore. Then, it takes you through Mysore, Mangalore, Gokarna, Hampi, and ends in Badami. This route, covering approximately 1,380 km, goes through one of the best coastal roads in India and takes you to places that offer a huge variety of things to check out.
While you can cover the entirety of this route in four to five days, we suggest you stop at all the spots and spend at least one day there, bringing your total number of days up to eight to ten. However, one thing to note here is that all of these locations have beautiful spots around them. Do your research and see which of these spots you want to visit and spend an extra day in locations of your preference.
This bike trip in Karnataka should set your wallet back by about INR 30,000 approximately. There might be a few organized trips on this route. However, it’s a fairly easy route going through a lot of cities and towns. So you could just plan things by yourself and see what works best.
7. Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu has one of the oldest civilizations in the history of the world, and it is very evident in the culture and sights you will see there. While it’s a state that is known for its discipline and adherence to its culture and language, you’ll meet some of the nicest people as hosts in all of the spots you can visit.
The route through this state starts in the city known for its amalgamation of its history, culture, and technological/architectural advancements – Chennai. Then, goes through Mamallapuram, Tharangambadi, Karaikudi, Rameswaram, Tiruchendu,r and Kanyakumari before ending in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala.
All 1,100 km of this bike trip in Tamil Nadu and Kerala are dotted along the beautiful coastline that follows the state. All the destinations in this trip offer an amazing cuisine that includes lip-smacking seafood dishes, a combination of British and ancient Indian architecture, and mind-blowing performances of Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam.
This trip should take about seven days minimum. However, we recommend staying a day or two extra in Rameswaram, Kanyakumari, and Thiruvananthapuram and taking a few detours around the places. Tamil Nadu will set you back by about INR 26,000 on average if you choose to adventure through the state flying solo.
8. Goa
Goa is one of the most searched states when it comes to two things – beaches and booze. But Goa is so much more than that! It has some of the most beautiful architecture, vibrant towns, and even more colourful people! It’s not just inside the state that you’ll experience beauty; it’s evident and absorbing on the ride there, too!
There are multiple routes that you can take to get here, and all of them offer amazing riding experiences on national highways and the ghats connected to them. The lush greenery, smooth roads, and the availability of enough good places to halt at make every road to Goa an experience to be had.
Once you get there, you can divide the state into three parts and adventure through all three parts, one part at a time. We would suggest you spend two days in North Goa, three days in South Goa, and two days in the non-coastal parts of Goa. Some highlights of this state are Calangute and Baga beaches, Vagator Beach, Cola Beach, Butterfly Beach, Fontaihas, and Vasco City. Other than these spots, you can check out our Goa Travel Guide to know what to do in this state!
The costs for this ride will differ from rider to rider since the way you divide the state and map your way through it will be different. However, on average, considering your point of starting to be approximately 600 km away and that you spend about five days in Goa, visiting and revisiting a few spots, we would put the expenditure for this trip in the range of INR 23,000 to INR 40,000.
Summing Up
Reading an article about the best bike trips in India can be the push you need to finally get on your motorcycle and leave for a multi-thousand-kilometre-long trip. A few things that you need to remember, though, are to ride safely, wear proper riding gear, and most importantly, have fun!
