Essence of Southern Spain – Andalusia Motorcycle Tour

IMTBIKE has run Spain and Portugal from Madrid since the 1990s and this is its compact Andalusian tour, designed around the fact that most people cannot take three weeks off. Nine days, eight hotel nights, seven riding days and one rest day, all starting and finishing in Málaga with an airport transfer at each end. The first riding day sets the pattern: east along the Costa del Sol with the Mediterranean on one side, then a sharp turn inland and a long climb into the Sierra Nevada past the ski areas on the highest paved road in the country, finishing in Granada below the Alhambra. Day three leaves Granada on small forest roads north of the range and crosses the olive country of Jaén, where the groves run to the horizon, before dropping to the Guadalquivir at Córdoba. Day four is the riding day IMTBIKE is proudest of, heading north into the Sierra Morena on empty curves before turning south along the river to Seville. Seville gets a full rest day. The alternatives offered are the Gothic cathedral and the old quarter, or a ride out to the Riotinto mines and the Jabugo ham country in the Sierra Morena, which suits riders who would rather not stop. The last two riding days are the twisty ones. Day six climbs from the plains into the Grazalema mountains and over the range's highest passes to a night in one of the pueblos blancos perched on a cliff. Day seven crosses the Sierra de Cádiz through cork forest and bull pasture, linking white towns all day, and ends at Ronda, split by a 120-metre gorge and spanned by an eighteenth-century bridge. The final stage takes the Serranía de Ronda back to the IMTBIKE office in Málaga, with a farewell dinner that evening. The price covers the airport transfer, eight nights, eight breakfasts and seven dinners, a BMW with three cases, guides riding with the group and a support van carrying luggage. Lunches, fuel, tolls, drinks and flights are not included. The route is rated for intermediate riders, with five to seven hours in the saddle on a typical day, starting at 9.30am.

Nine days out of Málaga, seven of them riding, covering 1,546 kilometres of Andalusia at a daily average of 250 to 350. IMTBIKE built this one for riders who cannot spare a fortnight: the route still reaches Granada and the Alhambra, Córdoba and its Mezquita, Seville, the white towns of the Sierra de Cádiz and Ronda on its gorge, but does it in a week of riding rather than two. The roads are the point. Day two runs the Costa del Sol before turning inland onto the highest paved highway in Spain through the Sierra Nevada; day four crosses the Sierra Morena, which the company calls the region's best kept motorcycling secret; days six and seven work through the Grazalema passes. Bikes are BMWs from the G310R up to the K1600GT, and nights are spent in state-run Paradors and a few boutique hotels.