Sun, sea, sand, mountain passes… here’s our three-day motorcycle tour of north-western Italy

Watch paragliders take to the skies above Mont Cenis on day one of the tour

The joy of Piedmont and Liguria is that they’re so accessible - if you can ride to the south of France, you can ride there, too. Indeed, many bikers might choose to do France’s Route Napoleon or the Route des Grandes Alpes on the way down. Alternatively, you could ship your motorcycle to Nice and fly out… it’s an easy afternoon’s ride from Nice to our tour’s start in Borgo San Dalmazzo.

This three-day tour links Borgo San Dalmazzo with Bardonecchia, Varazze and Imperia so can easily be extended by adding any of our routes in those towns. Or you could take three days to reach the start, ride these three days, then enjoy a leisurely three day ride to get home - and it can still be done with just a week off work.

There are two options for the first days ride: adventure motorcyclists can take the mind-blowing Colle dei Morti, while road bike riders take the better-surfaced Col de Larche and enjoy the memorable road above Lac de Serre-Ponçon on the way to Bardonecchia. The second day heads to Varazze on the Ligurian Riviera, with the third day leading to Imperia, as the tour links together many of the best bits of the roads from our other trips through Piedmont and Liguria.

MAPS AND DOWNLOADS FOR A RIDE THREE-DAY MOTORCYCLE TOUR OF PIEDMONT AND LIGURIA

Day 1: Borgo San Dalmazzo to Bardonecchia. Distance: 250 miles. Riding time: 7 hours. Suggested stops: AM coffee: Jausiers (Sampeyre), lunch: Col d’Izoard, PM coffee: Cold du Mont Cenis
Day one map (road bikes), Day one GPX file (road bikes) OR Day one map (adventure bikes), Day one GPX file (adventure bikes)

Day 2: Bardonecchia to Varazze. Distance: 215 miles. Riding time: 7.5 hours.
Suggested stops: AM coffee: Savigliano, lunch: Acqui Terme, PM coffee: Monte Figogna
Day two map, Day two GPX file

Day 3: Varazze to Imperia. Distance: 215 miles. Riding time: 7 hours.
Suggested stops: AM coffee: Osiglia, lunch: Pone di Nava, PM coffee: Molini di Triora
Day three map, Day three GPX file

Please note: This page contains the route files for The RiDE Guide to motorcycle touring in Italy which came free with RiDE magazine in July 2015. These website page are not regularly updated, so please check all critical information before you travel. All route files are in .gpx format. Garmin and BMW users can download the main file, which contains all the routes and our recommended hotels as separate waypoints. TomTom users can download the individual routes and use the Tyre software to convert them. For many routes we also have Google Map links. However, as Google Maps will not plot routes over seasonally closed high Alpine passes (such as Stelvio) when they’re shut, these may not work for every route all year round.