Andalusia – Motorcycle Touring at Its Best

This is Edelweiss's touring tour of Andalusia rather than its riding tour, and the difference is visible in the numbers. Total distance is between 1,235 and 1,761 kilometres depending on the options taken, spread over eight riding days across a ten-day trip. Daily stages start at 135 kilometres. The company is upfront that the route looks short on paper and argues that the point is having time for the best roads and for the places at the end of them. The loop starts and finishes in Málaga. The first stage climbs to Granada, where the view of the Alhambra against the snow on the Sierra Nevada is the image most riders take home. From Granada the route runs north to Jaén through the olive groves that cover this part of Andalusia in regimented rows, then west to Antequera, past the weathered limestone of El Torcal, and on through hills of olive and almond where black fighting bulls graze under cork oaks. Seville follows, and a rest day in it. The second half turns south for Ronda, a town built on both sides of the Tajo canyon and home to the bullring where modern bullfighting was codified. Ronda gets the second rest day. The final stage returns to Málaga through the Sierra del Chaparral and the Montes de Málaga and down to the Mediterranean beaches, and the group flies home on day ten. Included in the price are all nine nights in comfortable middle-class hotels, breakfast daily, two picnic lunches and seven dinners, motorcycle rental with unlimited mileage, third-party and comprehensive motorcycle insurance with a deductible that varies by model, a tour information pack in English or German, English and German speaking guides riding with the group, and a support van that carries one piece of luggage per person and has limited space for passengers. Optional extras include a deductible reduction and a guided city tour in Málaga. Everything not listed is excluded. The tour needs a minimum of six riders and Edelweiss notes that it is not suitable for people with limited mobility.

Edelweiss runs this Andalusian tour as a ten-day round trip from Málaga with eight riding days, and it is deliberately short on distance: 1,235 to 1,761 kilometres in total, with daily stages between 135 and 304. The trade is time. Two rest days, in Seville and Ronda, sit inside the itinerary rather than at the end. The route climbs from the coast to Granada with the Alhambra below the snowline of the Sierra Nevada, crosses the olive country around Jaén, works west through Antequera and El Torcal to Seville, and finishes through the Sierra del Chaparral and the Montes de Málaga back to the sea. Hotels are comfortable middle-class places with local character, luggage travels in a van, and the bike list runs from a Honda NC750X to a BMW R1300GS Adventure.