Thinking about joining one of our women’s motorcycle tours? Huzzah – we love welcoming new female riders to the Big Little Rides tribe, and we’re stoked you’re here.
But what are women’s motorcycle tours all about, how are they different from co-ed tours, and should you join one? In this post, we’re sharing our experiences of designing motorcycle tours for female riders, exploring the world on bikes together, and offering some touring tips for women riders.
Whether you prefer riding in groups and going on organized motorcycle tours or love riding solo, we hope you’ll find something useful here – and plan your own two-wheeled adventure.
What Are Women’s Motorcycle Tours About?
Okay, so first things first: how are women’s motorcycle tours different from mixed ones or those that predominantly have male riders? Which, let’s face it, is the case with most tours?
Frankly, not much, except that all riders and guides on our tours are female. Adventure motorcycle tours for women aren’t shorter, easier, or offer fewer daily miles – we know women riders are just as capable as their male counterparts, so we design our tours with plenty of dirt riding, challenges, and healthy mileage.
If it’s an all-female adventure or dual sport motorcycle tour, like our Colombia and Belize editions, we mix up dirt trails with paved twisties, throw in a few technical sections, and make sure the routes are equal parts fun and challenging – just as an adventure tour should be. If it’s a dirt bike training tour like the Andalusia or Romania adventures, we focus on improving the skills, boosting our riders’ dirt riding confidence, and learning good techniques.
In other words, our women’s motorcycle tours are just as exciting, challenging, and jam-packed with adventure as the mixed ones.
So why focus on all-female expeditions in the first place?
Women Riders Together
Ever since our humble beginnings with dirt bike masterclasses for women, we noticed a repeating pattern. Most women learn to ride with their boyfriends or husbands, or sometimes, their male friends. Typically, said boyfriends and husbands are experienced riders who don’t always understand how different it is to learn to ride as an adult (so many guys learn to ride as kids or teenagers, so their fear threshold is way lower). As a result, women often feel like they can’t keep up or they aren’t progressing as fast as they should, and that equals frustration.
During those first dirt bike training weekends, we saw just how much fun women have when they’re riding and training together – and how much more relaxed and confident they feel in an all-female environment.
The same goes for women’s motorcycle tours. It’s not that we want to shut male riders out – we ride with them, we learn with them, and we love them. But riding in an all-female crew offers something that riding with dudes can’t: a sense of sisterhood and camaraderie, a supportive learning environment, and a sort of freedom to just be yourself no matter how you ride or how fast you are.
Why Choose a Women’s Motorcycle Tour
Now, we’re not trying to lump all women riders together. Some chicas are so badass they leave male riders in the dust on a constant basis; some are happy to ride and train with guys and give them a run for their money; plenty of women ride on their own and enjoy being solo riders.
Everyone’s different, and we’re not saying women need all-female motorcycle tours or training events. After all, there are plenty of excellent male dirt bike coaches and adventure tour organizers, and if you feel there’s no difference between riding and training with guys vs women, you go, girl!
But for some women, riding and training with other moto gals offers a safe, supportive space where they don’t need to worry about keeping up or becoming a motorcycling pro in a day. During women’s motorcycle tours, there’s no competing, showing off, or trying to up one another. There’s no impatience, either: if you’re riding a little slower or struggle with a more technical section, no one’s going to get snappy about it – instead, other women will help you out and support you through it.
And that, in our experience, leads to a whole bunch of awesome things: more confidence riding, more believing in yourself, and…more fun as a result. We want our riders to truly enjoy the tours and training sessions, not just barely survive them. We want our riders to progress at their own pace and safely rather than grip it and rip it white-knuckled, missing out on thoroughly understanding the techniques and staying in control.
Women’s motorcycle tours are all about the adventure, but also about the sisterhood. They’re all about pushing your own edge and facing challenges – but remaining in control and riding safely. And last but not least, they’re about riding someplace cool and exotic, scenic, and spectacular – and include a bunch of off-bike activities to rest up and recharge between the rides.
Women’s Adventure and Dirt Motorcycle Tours
If you think you’d like to try riding with other women, should you opt for an adventure motorcycle tour, a dirt bike tour, or a training tour?
It all depends on what you love most. Women’s adventure motorcycle tours usually include both on-road and off-road riding, rest days with some off-bike fun planned in, and a bucket list destination. Adventure bikes are typically mid-sized, comfortable motorcycles capable of both road and dirt riding. Finally, adventure motorcycle tours tend to be longer and offer cultural experiences and interesting activities alongside the riding.
Dirt bike tours are geared for off-road riders looking to stay off the tarmac and ride lightweight dirt bikes. Women’s dirt bike tours offer are less sightseeing and cultural immersions and more braaping than adventure tours. In other words, it’s more about the riding and the dirt rather than exploring a country.
Finally, dirt bike training tours for women are designed to help you improve your riding skills (or, if you’re a beginner, learn to ride off-road), boost your confidence, and enjoy views only dirt trails can offer – think high mountain passes, canyons, and forests. Training tours combine dirt, learning, and challenging terrain all while riding somewhere with pristine nature, limitless off-road trails, and a company of like-minded women riders.
Women’s Motorcycle Tours in South America
South America is a bucket list destination for just about every rider. Here at Big Little Rides, we love exploring South America on bikes so much that we come back almost every year, and our favorite places to ride include Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru.
Women’s Adventure Motorcycle Tour in Colombia
Our adventure motorcycle tour in Colombia is the newest addition to our travel menu, and this one’s geared toward women who love riding, exploring, and seeing places barely touched by tourism. Colombia, to us, is like a concentrated version of the entire South American continent: here, we ride the Andes Mountains, the hot and muggy rainforest lowlands, and the Tatacoa Desert all in one go. Since Colombia is smaller than, say, Peru or Argentina, you get to see and experience a lot more in shorter distances.
In addition, there are plenty of cool local experiences we love sharing: staying in traditional Colombian haciendas, connecting with the locals, visiting organic coffee farms and horseback riding on rest days are all part of the tour.
Finally, Colombia offers stunning tarmac routes in the Andes as well as plenty of good off-road riding. Since we know the country well and speak the local language, we’re always flexible and can improvise as we go along – depending on how experienced our riders are, we can change routes on the go, add more (or less!) dirt, and adjust daily mileage to suit everyone’s ability.
Our women’s adventure motorcycle tour in Colombia is for you if:
- You love adventure motorcycling and ride both road and off-road
- You love action-packed travel with cultural experiences
- You’re into adventure bikes – we ride Honda XRE300’s in Colombia
- You love meeting other women riders or riding with your gal pals
- South America is on your bucket list of places to ride
Curious? Check out the itinerary of our adventure motorcycle tour in Colombia and book your spot now!
Women’s Dual-Sport Motorcycle Tour in Belize
Okay, so Belize is technically Central America, but it’s such a unique place we just couldn’t resist ourselves. After doing our first Big Little Rides tour in Belize this spring, we fell in love with this tiny but incredibly diverse and wild country, and we put together a dual-sport trip so colorful you’ll be struggling to keep your phone camera’s storage from overfilling.
In Belize, we’ll be riding small 250 cc dirt bikes and exploring the entire country. We’ll combine dirt trails with the scenic Hummingbird Highway, ride jungle trails, savannah, and beach, and get to see Mayan ruins, spectacular caves, and quirky beach towns along the way.
In between riding, we’ll kick back in breezy Caribbean resorts, go on rainforest river cruise on a pontoon boat, swim under water falls, snorkel over the second biggest coral reef in the world, and go on a paradise island-hopping tour. The Belize expedition is both about the riding, the culture, and a full-on holiday mode as we’ll enjoy the Caribbean vibes as much as the braaping.
Our women’s dual-sport motorcycle tour in Belize is for you if:
– You prefer shorter distances and riding dirt
– You love the idea of combining a bike trip with a tropical holiday in a Caribbean paradise
– You love connecting with local indigenous women
– You’re into smaller dirt bikes – we’ll be riding Lifan 250’s in Belize
– You love meeting other women riders or riding with your gal pals
– Central America is on your bucket list of places to ride
Curious? Check out the itinerary of our women’s dual-sport motorcycle tour in Belize and book your spot now!
Women’s Motorcycle Tours in Europe
The origins of Big Little Rides lie in Europe, and we love riding Spain, Portugal, and Romania. These are our favorite motorcycling destinations on the continent because, while being easy to access (think cheap direct flights) and fun to travel, they still offer something that’s already gone in most of Western Europe: a touch of wilderness. Andalusia’s canyons and dry riverbeds, Portuguese vineyard trails and beautiful valleys, and Romania’s mountains and pristine forests make for an ideal dirt biking playground, and we come back to these three destinations each year.
All of our women’s motorcycle tours in Europe are dirt bike training tours. We have fantastic local partners who provide Husqvarna, KTM, and Yamaha dirt bikes in great condition along with stunning trails, lush accommodation, and all-inclusive packages, and our favorite Big Little Rides tours in Europe are the Andalusia edition and the Transylvania enduro trip.
Women’s Dirt Bike Training Tours: Andalusia
Located just half an hour’s drive from Malaga, our Andalusia dirt bike training camp is like our own private paradise. We have a huge Spanish villa complete with a swimming pool at our disposal, and for three days, we ride Husqvarna 250’s across the jaw-dropping Andalusian countryside. In addition to Egle and Jurga supporting you every step of the way, we have Lyndon Foster as our main dirt bike coach; we’ve known Lyndon for years now, and we love his exceptional talent to teach and his empathy toward new or less experienced riders. With us and Lyndon, you go from zero to hero in a matter of three days.
The women’s dirt bike training tour in Andalusia is for you if:
- You love training and improving your dirt bike skills
- You enjoy combining off-road training with amazing scenery and great cuisine
- You like the idea of riding and training with other women riders
- You prefer shorter trips
- You need a confidence boost riding dirt
Ready to braap? Book our women’s dirt bike training tour in Andalusia now!
Women’s Dirt Bike Training Tour in Romania
What comes to mind when you think of Romania? Transylvania? The Dracula stories? You’re not wrong – our Big Little Rides Romania edition takes place near the famed Bran Castle – the one where Dracula (the historic character, not the vampire) actually resided.
Halloween stories aside, Transylvania is one of the most scenic mountain regions in Europe, and riding off-road here is pure enduro heaven. Romania is a great choice if you’re aiming for a longer training tour: out here, we combine 4 days of braaping and training with staying in a rustic mountain lodge and enjoying fresh, farm-to-table food. Our weapons of choice in Romania are Yamaha WR250/KTM350 bikes, and we welcome both beginners and experienced riders on this tour.
Want to discover Transylvania while boosting your dirt bike skills? Check out the Big Little Rides Transylvania dirt bike training tour and book your spot now!
Women Riders Groups and Hangouts
So there you have it – women’s motorcycle tours are all about adventure, challenge, confidence, and discovery just as much as the mixed tours. But when women ride together, we connect, we learn from each other, we support each other…and we have a silly amount of fun in the process.
If you’re not sure whether a women’s motorcycle tour is for you, come hang out with us and our riders in our Facebook group! Here, you can meet other female riders, talk about bikes and travels, and just chat:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/biglittlerides
Want to stay updated about new Big Little Rides expeditions and receive our newsletter where we share adventure stories and riding tips? Enter your email and hit the subscribe button: we promise 0 spam and 100% motorcycling goodness delivered straight to your inbox:
https://biglittlerides.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=007d7e5964dc9e09184b09d34&id=6e49e697ad
Questions, suggestions, gossip, ideas? Shoot us a message – we’re stoked to chat with new women riders and connect!
Happy adventuring,
Jurga & Egle