Motorcycle trip

United States

Both our tours start from Rapid City, South Dakota, and are self-guided: no guide, but your hotels are booked, a road book app shows the way and assistance is on call. Black Hills Blast is a 3-day weekend around the Black Hills. Best of the Black Hills takes 9 days and adds the Badlands, the Pine Ridge Reservation and Devils Tower in Wyoming, with an optional off-road version. Both are ridden on a Royal Enfield Himalayan 450.

From £790 (€850) per rider for the Black Hills Blast weekend to £2,590 (€2,890) for the 9 days of Best of the Black Hills; a pillion pays £290 (€340) or £890 (€990). The motorcycle, hotels and road book are included; flights, meals and fuel are on you, plus a £31 (€35) registration fee on your first tour with us. A simple motorcycle rental costs $130 a day, plus local sales tax.

Our tours run from late April to September: Black Hills Blast leaves at weekends from May to early September, Best of the Black Hills from late April to September. July and August are hot, with late-afternoon storms, and in early August the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally fills the roads and hotels. May, June and September are quieter. Rentals run all year round, weather permitting.

Both tours are rated Intermediate. The challenge is less the roads, paved and well kept, than riding on your own: nobody leads the way, so you follow the route, plan your stops and handle the winding hill roads yourself. Best of the Black Hills also comes in an off-road version, best kept for riders with some dirt experience.

UK and many European passport holders need no visa for a tourist stay, but an ESTA travel authorisation, applied for online before you fly, and a valid passport. To ride, bring your full motorcycle licence; an International Driving Permit is recommended on top of it. The full list is in Preparing your trip to the USA, in our help centre.

Tours and rentals start from our garage in Rapid City, about 14 miles (22 km) from Rapid City Regional Airport (RAP). There are no direct flights from the UK or Europe: you fly in with a connection at a major US airport, and you book your own flights and transfer. Your suitcase can stay at the garage while you ride.

The Black Hills are good riding country: smooth tarmac, light traffic outside the Sturgis Rally and, for UK riders, driving on the right, so take extra care at junctions on the first day. Watch for bison and deer, especially in Custer State Park, for the hairpins and narrow tunnels of the scenic byways, and for summer storms. Assistance answers 24/7. Before you go, read the FCDO travel advice for the USA, or your own government’s advice if you live elsewhere in Europe.

Yes. Our Rapid City base rents its Himalayan 450s by the day on vintageridesusa.com: $130 a day plus South Dakota sales tax, and $200 a day during the Sturgis Rally, with a 3-day minimum. You must be 21 or over, with a motorcycle licence and, if it was issued outside the USA, an International Driving Permit. In Rapid City, a helmet is provided on request, pillion included, and rentals carry no registration fee.