Name: 16 Day Grand Tour Bella Italia - Premium Guided Motorcycle Tour in Italy
Brand: Italy on Motorbike
Price: 5050 EUR
Availability: InStock

Accommodation

Your accommodation will be in an en-suite room with buffet breakfast in hand-picked, classy, and charming first-class hotels (4 stars) that will satisfy even the most demanding guests, for it is emphasized to all the aspects that go into making a luxury holiday.

Wherever possible, Italy on Motorbike will choose high-rated hotels with top facilities and excellent food in historic and scenic settings, often in exquisitely beautiful villages offering inviting backdrops for a romantic dinner or evening walk.

On the ferry, you will be accommodated in en-suite cabins with window.

Program

Italy is a mosaic in which single pieces are all in harmony but dissimilar, yet aren’t contrasts the key for an effective mosaic. This journey is an opportunity to assess by yourself that this is true since you’ll get in contact with the different realities of 5 among the most interesting Italian regions, plus a small incursion in Emilia-Romagna, just for the pleasure of crossing the splendid Cisa Pass.

You will admire many different landscapes, different types of natural environment with a different vegetation, monuments, and remains which bring you back to different ages and different architectural styles that make use of different colors. You will also have the opportunity to taste different cuisines made of different savors and interpreting differently on the “art of hosting”.

You will meet different people and touch on different ways of life and able to put together an overall picture that will give you an idea of how variegated, rich, faceted, and extremely interesting Italy still is today and the lust to come back and continue exploring Italy and many more other spellbinding places of the Bel Paese, hopefully with Italy on Motorbike, on a motorbike!

This tour is meant to explore Italy’s delightful west coast, roaming from Rome to Genoa without missing, far offshore, beautiful island Sardinia, which is a genuine bikers’ paradise.

Day 1: Meeting in Rome (Roma)

You muster in the afternoon in the hotel in Rome and go together to pick up the rental bikes. You all meet up before dinner for a short but important briefing, the time to explain a few simple rules for organizing and synchronizing things, thus ensuring that everyone has a safe holiday that is unforgettable for all the right reasons.

Then, you’ll break the ice and start forging some group spirit over a classic Italian pre-dinner aperitif. You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in Rome. Today's meal plan includes dinner.

Day 2: Rome to Sardinia, 215 kilometers / 134 miles

The tour begins at 9 a.m. bound for Civitavecchia, the port of Rome, where you’ll embark for Sardinia in the evening. Things get off to an interesting start, as you visit your first UNESCO World Heritage treat, the beautiful renaissance Villa d’Este, then a stretch along Lake Bracciano where you’ll have lunch in a typical Lazio trattoria with some traditional local flavors.

The journey continues with a visit to one of the most important Etruscan necropolises followed by a ride on the Tolfa Mountains. You will stay overnight on board in double en-suite cabin. Today’s meal include breakfast and lunch. Neither dinner, to be taken on board, nor breakfast on are the next morning included.

Day 3: Olbia to Alghero, 215 kilometers / 134 miles

After disembarking at Olbia bright and early, you will have a quick break in a bar-cum-cake shop for those who prefer breakfast on terra firma (not included in the package). Then, you will head for the beautiful Catalan town of Alghero on the other side of the island, visiting the prehistoric Giants’ tombs and marveling at the moonscape scenery of Valle della Luna on the way.

After dinner, a stroll among the charming lanes of Alghero old town makes a lovely way to end the day. You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in Alghero. Today’s meal includes dinner.

Day 4: Alghero to Guspini, 185 kilometers / 115 miles

Today is about savoring the biking paradise that is Sardinia in all its glory. You will take in some classic routes with an archaeological theme before making a break southwards. It’s all a feast for the eyes, with the splendid hinterland and a wander around some picturesque seaside villages with houses adorned by characteristic murals depicting scenes of everyday life.

And the icing on the cake is a visit to a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the most important nuraghe in the world. What’s a nuraghe? Good question. Come along and you’ll find out. You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in Guspini. Today’s meal includes breakfast and dinner.

Day 5: Guspini to Cagliari, 200 kilometers / 125 miles

A packed day awaits with visits to two of Sardinia’s most unmissable sights which are one of the most important Phoenician-Punic settlements and a cave with crystalline formations that are virtually unique in Europe. There are some great riding roads here as used by the leading bike manufacturers (including Aprilia and BMW) to test their machines and film their television adverts.

Lunch is a traditional affair at a roadside restaurant. The climax of the day is the Sardinian capital, Cagliari, a city of rare allure. Explore its fine bastions, the lively old Castello quarter, the salt marshes with the flamingos, Poetto’s beach and buzzing nightlife, the myriad bars and nightspots in the lanes around the harbor. You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in Cagliari. Today’s meal includes breakfast and lunch.

Day 6: Cagliari to Arbatax, 210 kilometers / 131 miles

Get ready for another feast of glorious views, breathtaking landscapes, ups, downs, and bends, bends, bends while heading over to the eastern coast. You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in Arbatax. Today’s meal includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Day 7: Arbatax (rest day)

It’s time for a well-earned rest. Today is yours to fill, preferably with as little saddle time as possible, doing something really relaxing, such as stay in our seaside hotel and enjoy the beach, the pool, the sauna, whatever takes your fancy. You can also take a boat trip to the Bue Marino Grotto (named after the monk seal or “sea ox”) and having a dip in Sardinia’s most famous coves, all reachable only by water.

Other than that, you can also marvel at the unique creations by motorcycle-sculptor-cum-engineer Giordano Loi, before taking a guided tour of a Sardinian goldsmith’s studio (with a demonstration of the islanders’ masterful filigree work) and exploring the villages painted with murals, another typical Sardinian feature, like real open-air galleries.

You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in Arbatax. Today’s meal includes breakfast. No main meal is included today in order to let you completely bound-free from the early morning till late night.

Day 8: Arbatax to Liguria, 280 kilometers / 174 miles

Suitably refreshed, you will really get the bit between your teeth today. You will press on towards Porto Torres on the north coast along another classic riders’ road, the Orientale Sarda, stopping at the delightful seaside enclave of Cala Gonone. There is a very unusual lunch lined up, with the shepherds of the Gennargentu plateau, followed by another fantastic twisty road to aid the digestion, before you board ship in the evening to return to the “mainland”, in Liguria.

You will stay overnight on board in double en-suite cabin. Today’s meal includes breakfast and lunch. Neither dinner, to be taken on board, nor breakfast on the next morning are included.

Day 9: Genoa to Alba (area), 190 kilometers / 119 miles

After arriving in Genoa early in the day, you will pause in a bar or cake shop for those who prefer to breakfast on solid ground (not included), then you will leave for the Ligurian Alps to enjoy a splendid view over the entire Ligurian Gulf. The trip continues with a ride along the Alpine ridges to the outskirts of Piedmont.

There, starts a fantastic tour rocked by the gentle bends in the middle of the vineyards and the UNESCO World Heritage landscapes of Langhe and Roero, wandering among medieval villages like Barolo, Monforte d'Alba, and their world famous cellars before arriving at our hotel. Excellent Piedmont cuisine awaits for lunch. You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in the Langhe area. Today’s meal includes lunch.

Day 10: Alba (area) to Cinque Terre (Monterosso al Mare) 160 kilometers / 100 miles

You will leave the enchanting Piedmont, roaring away to explore the stunning Ligurian Riviera. A stop in Portofino, the heart of Italian dolce vita, is de rigueur, then you will take in another beautiful stretch of coastline, the Cinque Terre National Park. This UNESCO World Heritage Site, with its cute coloring-book houses, provides the backdrop for a seaside lunch, before we roll in to our hotel in the heart of the park. You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in Monterosso al Mare. Today’s meal includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Day 11: Monterosso al Mare to Lucca, 220 kilometers / 137 miles

From here on in, you will head southwards into Tuscany via the Apuan Alps and Carrara, where the world-famous marble that gave birth to antiquity’s most important sculptural masterpieces is quarried. Then, you will cross the Garfagnana area, bound for the fabulous city of Lucca (another on the UNESCO list).

Food-wise, lunch is in a traditional restaurant in the mountains, while in the evening you can choose your own restaurant amid Lucca’s magical mediaeval walled atmosphere. You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in Lucca. Today’s meal includes breakfast and lunch.

Day 12: Lucca to Florence, 220 kilometers / 137 miles

There are no less than three UNESCO World Heritage Sites on the menu for you today. First up is Pisa and its magnificent Italian renaissance heritage. After exploring Piazza dei Miracoli and the famous leaning tower, the cathedral, baptistery, and monumental cemetery.

You will step back in time into the stunning mediaeval town of San Gimignano before ending the day with a spin through the enchanting Tuscan hills to the incomparable Florence. You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in Florence. Today’s meal includes breakfast and dinner.

Day 13: Florence (rest day)

By now, you’ve earned another rest day. What you do with it is up to you. You really are spoiled for choice. Here are some ideas for a great bike-free day:

First, obvious option is to visit Florence, one of the world’s most beautiful cities ever! Siena is also well worth it, it’s easy to reach by train.
You could take a tasting tour in Chianti, to partake of some fine wines, cheeses, and charcuterie (without the bike, of course, advance booking required).
You could take a Tuscan cooking class (you’ll need to book that, too).

You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in Florence. Today’s meal includes breakfast. No main meal is included today in order to let you completely bound-free from the early morning till late night.

Day 14: Florence to Bagni San Filippo, 220 kilometers / 137 miles

You will have another superb day for you. Today, you will buzz through the Chianti Valley, with its wooded and vine-clad hillsides up heading for magnificent Siena (UNESCO world heritage). You will then continue through the undulating, postcard-perfect Val d’Orcia (another UNESCO site) and its little mediaeval towns, such as Renaissance-styled Pienza (UNESCO again).

You will end the day on a high in the heart of wine country in Montepulciano before reaching the hotel. You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in in the area of Bagni San Filippo. Today’s meal includes breakfast and dinner.

Day 15: Bagni San Filippo to Rome, 230 kilometers / 143 miles

On your final day in the saddle on this grand tour of north-western Italy, another beautiful ride among the woods and hills brings you along some road carved into the rock to the incredible village of Pitigliano, perched over the cliff edge, the beautiful Umbrian city of Orvieto and eventually and an amazing dying town.

All this before wending your way back to the hotel in Rome where your odyssey began and taking the hire bikes back. A lavish lunch in the capital provides a fitting end to our adventure together. You will stay overnight in a four-star hotel in Rome. Today’s meal includes breakfast and dinner.

Day 16: Farewells in Rome

You will say your goodbyes after breakfast, leaving free to go home or explore further the magic of Italy on your own. If you’d like to see more of Italy, let Italy on Motorbike know, and you can be organized into a tailor-made extension to your holiday! Today's meal includes breakfast.

Notes

On request, vast choices of motorbikes for hire.
To hire a bike, you shall hold a valid driver’s license for motorcycles over 400cc and be at least 21 years old (25 for some models).
Riders from non-Schengen countries are usually not allowed to ride in Europe only with their national driver’s license and therefore need to have an International Driver’s Licence issued by the local authorities.

Included staff

To ensure the utmost attention to each traveler, as well as the safety of the group, the tour is fully escorted. Specifically, the personnel traveling with the group is:

tour leader on his own motorcycle, opening the motorcycle line.
luggage van with a chauffeur from 8 participants.

Rider's skill level:

Advanced
can ride for 5-6 hours

Location

This tour starts and ends in Rome. During the tour, you will visit 12 UNESCO World Heritage Sites including Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia, Florence, Genoa, Pienza, Pisa, Portovenere and Cinque Terre, Rome, San Gimignano, Siena, Su Nuraxi di Barumini, Val d’Orcia, and Villa d’Este (Tivoli).

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Food

During this tour, you will be served 13 breakfasts, 6 lunches, and 9 dinners, as per itinerary.

The following meals are included:

Breakfast

The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:

Regular (typically includes meat and fish)

If you have special dietary requirements it's a good idea to communicate it to the organiser when making a reservation

Things to do (optional)

Enjoying the beach, the pool or the sauna
Taking a boat trip to the Bue Marino Grotto and having a dip in Sardinia’s most famous coves
Taking a guided tour of a Sardinian goldsmith’s studio
Taking a tasting tour in Chianti to partake of some fine wines, cheeses, and charcuterie
Taking a Tuscan cooking class
Visiting Florence and Siena

What's included

Tour leader on his own motorbike
Registration fee
Luggage van (for 5 bikes or more)
Assistance, medical, and luggage insurance
15 nights accommodation in classy and charming 4-star hotels
2 nights in double cabin onboard the ferry
13 buffet breakfasts
7 super lunches in typical restaurants
8 super dinners at hotels or external restaurant at walking distance
A typical Italian welcome aperitif
Branded T-shirt
Pictures of the tour

What's not included

Motorcycle rental (available on request)
Fuel
Airport transfers
Entrance tickets to any site (all visits are optional)
Any parking fee or toll on the road
Meals unless specified in the itinerary
Drinks at meals but water
Extras at hotels and room upgrade (available on request)

How to get there

Recommended Airports

FCO

Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport

24 km

Transfer not provided

Arrival by airplane

Please book your flight to arrive at Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport (FCO). Private airport transport via NCC can be organized upon request for the additional cost.

Cancellation Policy

A reservation requires a deposit of 50% of the total price.
The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.

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