Garhwal Motorcycle Tour – Himalaya Round Trip India

This Garhwal motorcycle tour begins with your arrival in Delhi, either late in the evening or after midnight depending on your flight. The transfer to the hotel marks the start of our services and the beginning of your Himalaya adventure.

After breakfast we set off early on this motorcycle tour of the Himalaya in India and drive by car to Rishikesh, the “capital of yoga”. Along the way you get a first impression of Indian life and road traffic.

Rishikesh became world famous when the Beatles visited their guru here in the 1960s. In the evening we take part in the impressive fire ritual honouring the goddess Ganga at the ghats – an atmospheric start to the journey.

Now it gets serious: we mount our Royal Enfields for the first mountain leg of this Uttarakhand motorcycle tour. We reach Mussoorie, an old hill station once favoured by British colonials, in the early afternoon.

A beautiful mountain stage of this Rishikesh-region motorcycle tour first drops into the valley, then winds back up through a thousand curves. We stop at tiny tea shops and experience the warm hospitality of the local people.

Road conditions get considerably rougher today, but the view of the Himalayan massif makes up for every bit of effort. We push on to a viewpoint that rewards us with a magnificent panorama of the snow-capped peaks stretching along the horizon.

On partly unpaved, dusty side roads we bypass a congested section of the highway. The somewhat rough stretch is more than made up for by the beautiful mountain scenery of this Uttarkashi tour stage.

On a narrow road, barely wide enough for a single vehicle, we wind through lush green forest landscape to Tilwara. In the afternoon there's time for an optional extra ride into the surrounding mountains.

This stage of the Joshimath motorcycle tour winds deep into the “heart” of the Himalaya, taking us through dense forests, endless rice terraces and wide open grasslands that alternate in ever-changing, striking scenery.

Badrinath is considered the most important of Garhwal's four pilgrimage sites and lies just 2.5 driving hours from Joshimath. Amid sadhus and gurus, we visit the colourful temple of this holy place.

Today we reach the highest point of our entire journey at around 3,000 metres. The snow-capped six- and seven-thousand-metre peaks, which we had only admired from afar until now, come remarkably close and tower directly above us here.

The return leg of our Garhwal motorcycle tour begins: we relax on quiet Highway 58 with many stops at small chai shops heading back south. In the early afternoon we reach Srinagar in Uttarakhand again.

For devout Hindus, the pilgrimage through Garhwal traditionally begins in Haridwar. We visit the ghats and witness the incredible evening ritual, the Ganga Aarti, on the banks of the holy river.

A comfortable train takes us back to Delhi in just over three hours, with breakfast and drinks served on board. Anyone who has booked the Taj Mahal extension is instead driven straight to Agra by taxi, arriving there later that day.

Without the Taj Mahal option, a final joint dinner is followed by the transfer to the airport. Taj Mahal guests, on the other hand, rise before sunrise to experience the building in the reddish morning light.

After a shared breakfast there's still time for the Red Fort before heading back to Delhi and the airport. This is where our long Garhwal motorcycle tour ends – see you next time in India or Iran!