Well I have enough frequent flyer points for a business class trip to pretty much anywhere in the world from Australia.

Wanting some input on where to go for a 2-3 week trip where I can fly in, rent and do some decent touring in that time period.

Factors to be considered would be cost of motorcycle rental, variety of terrain, camp or hotel etc.

What do you think?

Oh it all depends on what you´d like to see, what kind of roads you want to ride on and what bike you´d like to rent I´d say. And WHEN you´d like to do the trip. I don´t know much about rental costs these days but here are some tips about regions that might be nice for a 2 - 3 weeks of riding.....

* If you want to save money then I´d say Eastern Europe. Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary, Slovakia...... Food and hotels doesn´t cost as much as in western Europe and LOTS to see. Don´t know anything about bike rentals tho..... Sorry for that. But Romania alone is well worth two weeks and don´t miss Transfagarasan and Transalpina. These parts won´t work during our winter/your summer tho since there is snow......

* I did a trip some 10 + years around the eastern provinces in Canada + New England and that was a great trip indeed. Rented a bike in Boston, drove up and visited a friend outside Montreal and drove east along the St Lawrence river, through New Brunswick, over to PEI and then to Nova Scotia and after that the ferry to Maine and back to Boston. That trip took me 10 days but could easily have lasted tree weeks! Prince Edward Island is beautiful and northern Nova Scotia is just magnificent! Don´t miss Cape Bretagne and the Cabot Trail! There is a whisky destillery (Glenora) located just south of Inverness. I stayed there for one night. Good fun. The french canadian border guard heading into Quebec was grumpy as hell. I was on a rented Harley with US plates and he spoke only french and gave me a very hard time until I handed him my passport and he realized that was not from USA but from Sweden. Then he excused himself in perfect english was very friendly all of a sudden. He gave me cookies. Wonderful trip in general but too cold during our winter time as well....

* Another suggestion could be to fly into Munich/southern Germany and rent a bike. I think that Munich has an international airport. But from Munich you have easy access to the Alps, Switzerland, Austria, northern Italy, France, Spain..... That could be a great 2 - 3 wek trip also.

* Norway is beautiful but expensive as hell.

* We went to Iceland last summer. Very diverse and amazingly beautiful and I´m rather certain that they rent out bikes in Reykjavik but 2 - 3 weeks might be too long. We spent one week there and could easily have stayed longer. The island is bigger than one might suspect when looking on a map but three weeks......?

* Alaska/western Canada/north western USA could also be a great trip. Never been there myself tho but that is also on the to-do-list. I´ve friends that has flown into Anchorage and rented bikes and they had a great time. And they drove around for 3 weeks if I don´t recall things wrong.

I don´t know much about areas south of the equator so others could perhaps suggest things there. It all comes down to what part of the year you´d like to do this. Again, sorry but I don´t know much about rental costs these days but eastern Europe and USA/Canada is most likely cheaper than western Europe/Norway/Iceland.....

All the best.

//Jan

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Depending on what time of the year you are thinking of heading off,keeping in mind seasonal conditions, my choice would be British Columbia Canada,great riding,awesome scenery and some good camping.Perhaps start in Montana, rent there probably cheaper in the US, than head up into Canada.Washington and Oregon,then down to the Red Woods in California also good ride to.Some terrific rides east towards Redding in Cal .
Regards Ben

Chiang Mai, Thailand. Useful reading: www.rideasia.net

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I was just gonna vote for CM, too! Probably cheaper than many other places as well.

India (north/Himalayas, or a bit smaller mountains in the south) might also be good, but the only rentals I've taken there, were in Goa.

South Africa also has plenty to see and many rental options (at least in Johannesburg and Cape Town).

Cape Town if you can get the tickets. Amazing roads and scenery and loads of gravel if that's your thing, and Namibia is only a couple of days if you want to bag another country. We've done four fly rides from the UK to SA (two to CPT, two to JNB) Gotta love a place where you share the roads with elephants..

Consider Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Rent from Faizal at Malaysian Motorcycle Getaways (Malaysia Motorcycle Tour and Rentals - Tel: +603 6141 8612 | Fax: +603 6141 8613) and ride to the Cameron and Genting Highlands. Great scenery, good value, lovely people and a motorcycle friendly environment (ride-trough tolls etc.). I did it last April.

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Paul "Every county of England, every country of Europe and every (part of every) continent of the Earth" 80% done!

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I spent all my money on Bikes n Beer. The rest I just wasted.

None better in my book than Medellin, Colombia. It is motorbike heaven and the people are wonderful too!

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Thanks guys, some great suggestions there so far. Loved all of them.
I appreciate the contact details in those cities for rental as well.

My first experience on a motorcycle was actually in Chiang Mai. Was travelling with a friend who had ridden around Australia. He gave me a 3 minute lesson on how to change gears then we were off into heavy traffic. Baptism by fire but survived and spent a fantastic week in Northern Thailand. Its been 20 years since then and have a few years experience now under my belt.

And I should have also mentioned Australia is out of contention and new zealand(another trip).

I would be going during the Spring-Autumn and avoiding extreme heat/cold.
I suppose the ready availability of affordable motorcycle rental probably the biggest factor.

I have a giant loop bag so wont need anything with luggage.

Thanks again.

Jimmy