on the map this just looks like the shortest way from the argentine border to uyuni, but it is a great road if you up for an adventure and can hack the 40-odd km of grotty corrugations at the uyuni end.
it's dirt all the way, goes over 4000m and stays up there, gives you every surface from good gravel to clay, bulldust, some deep sand (and plenty of other sand) river crossings, llamas, mining traffic, a welcoming town (atocha) at the 200km mark, and best of all, about 15 or 20km of sandy riverbed, with flowing water! first you go downstream, then up! not to mentiond mad scenery.
we just did it two up on an r11gs. lots of fun.
cheers,
andy.

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Thank you guys. It will help to finalise my route ( I don't know how many times I am going back to drawing board:confused1.

Just done this road and it was stunning. Alpine quality blacktop through sweeping mountain roads, surrounded by cloud forest - highly recommended!

Just done the off road trails, turning off of the Costa Rican Panamericana at San Ramon, past the National Parque at Monteverde and then through Tilcaran to the shores of Lake Arenal at Fortuna. Challenging trails and brilliant views - highly recommended....

This road of death reputation must be of interest. I would very much prefer to be on my own bike on this road than couped up in a bus, or any other vehicle - read on.

News from today's date is:-
British cyclist killed on 'Highway of Death'


© ITN 2008



A British cyclist has been killed in a crash which claimed the lives of nine people in Bolivia.
The man, named by the British Embassy in La Paz as 22-year-old Tom Austin, was involved in a collision with a Toyota Land Cruiser with 13 people inside.
The vehicle then left the road and rolled 300 feet down a rocky embankment, killing eight people inside and injuring the five others.
Louise Taylor, vice consul at the British Embassy, said two other British cyclists were injured. She named them as Daniel Roberts, 23, and James Marshall, 22.
She said: "He died on the road between La Paz and Coroico.
"Two other British citizens were injured at the same time. They were quite minor injuries."
She said the riders were not taking part in a race as far as she was aware.
Lieutenant Colonel Agusto Angulo, head of the La Paz transit police accident division, said the accident took place just minutes after the cyclists began their tour on a paved section near a 15,400-foot Andean pass.
Mr Austin was the second tourist to die on the notorious stretch of road, nicknamed the Highway of Death, in the past week.
The highway east from La Paz - the world's highest capital city - winds dramatically down the face of the Andes, dropping 11,800 feet in just 40 miles.
The narrow, largely dirt track earned its macabre nickname for the frequency with which Bolivian buses would plunge off its 3,300-foot cliffs, killing hundreds a year until a new paved highway opened in 2007.
But the old route's stunning vistas and hairpin turns now draw an estimated 25,000 thrill-seeking mountain bikers from around the world. At least 13 cyclists have died on the road in the past ten years.
On Monday, Kenneth Mitchell, 56, of Fullerton, California, died when he tumbled from his bicycle and fell over a cliff along the road.
A spokesman for the accident division of the La Paz police refused to speculate on the causes of the latest accident and declined to give any more details about the British casualties.

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Dave

hey off for a year in june loving reading this anyone got any more please.............

All around the lake is a great ride too. Lovely scenery and a real variety of road conditions - all twisty but ranges from sand, dirt, rocks, potholed road to Swiss Alpine quality silktop.

Define best, the best roads are often the most boring and the worst roads most exciting, after you finish them.

I have not travelled all the roads mentioned but a few and agree they are great. The road of the waterfalls and tunnels in Ecuador at Banos is civalised and stunning along to the headwaters of the Amazon, provided the volcano is behaving itself, the shortcut from Ambato to Banos via Pelileo (R50) is a nice way to get there. dirt as far as Pelileo then small rural roads. Watch out for whole smoked pigs hanging outside of the shops. At Banos the road follows a river valley and is easy riding through tunnels and many waterfalls tumble down the valley sides. A pretty and relaxed ride from Banos to Puyo.

The R6 road from Oruro to Sucre via Catayi in Bolivia is on the other hand a beast of a ride, well to me it was, but I'm getting on and not a good off road rider. It is fine up to the mining town of Huanuni, then take the high road, not the river road, to Catayi. It is dirt and gravel all the way with sheer drops into the valley below and several rivers to ford. There is a hotel, Hotel Colonial, and a petrol station in Catayi. The next part is through stunning scenery and lots of fords, most of which are due to the road being washed away in the elbows of the frequent mountain bends. At Pocoata there is a track over the mountain to where it rejoins R6 at Ocuri. Or carry on around the mountain on the R6. My Garmin said 6 hrs for the whole journey, but it took me 1 day of 13hrs and another of 17hrs to do it, but like I said, I'm not the worlds best dirt rider. Most of this delay was due to roads being washed away, so maybe it was once, or will be again, a tame road, but I will never forget, or be more proud, of besting this hard ride.

I have not got to posting it on my blog yet, but hope to in the next few weeks while relaxing here in Montevideo

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Stagbeetle

It is not the Journey nor yet the Destination, that is the Prize; it is the people you meet on the way.

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The road around Volcano Tungurahura in Banos, Ecuador to Puyo.

Tungurahua, Ecuador. photo - rtwrider photos at pbase.com

Nice twisty riding. Make sure you stop at the little Italian joint for lunch.

The only downside is the long dark unlit tunnels with buckets of water dumping from the ceiling.....I certainly did not ride through them mumbling MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY in a high pitched voice.

AR Ruta 68 from Calayate towards Salta to Alemania the Qubreda de los Chochos was super fun a couple of days ago. Brilliant twisties amongst stunning redrock scenery. Take a relaxing ride through seeing the sites the turn around a buzz straight through all the curves. I had so much fun in a 5km strech that I found myself going back to take pics, but ended up going through twice more.

AR ruta 33 from Cachi to Salta is also special. A spectacular (some ripio some asphalta) pass leads from redrock desert to verdant forest in about 50 km and finishes with 50km more of brilliant tight twisties. Going from Calfayate to Cachi you get a little sand, charming villages, strange sandstone formations, a serious mountain pass and verdant forest in a single day.

AR Ruta de Siete Lagos from San Martin to Bariloche is spectacular. It could take 4.5 hrs ridden through, but I ended up taking the better part of two days.

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India Himal, 3mo,2x; Kazak/Krygyz/Tajik, 3 mo; Kashi-Lhasa, China 219! 6 wk; Nepal, 4 days/trekked 55; Santiago-Ushuia-Cusco, 7 mo; Peru, 3 mo; Chile-Medellin 3 mo; Medillin-Arica, 3 mo

I'll list three because South America is too big for just one.

The road from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, to Jama, Argentina. 100 miles. I liked it so much, I did it three times. I left San Pedro at 6 AM, arrived in Jama at about 10- stopping for tons of pics. I had a cup of coffee (with a fly in it- made me vomit), then I rode back to San Pedro de Atacama. I gassed up (thanking the gods of gas tanks for my 11 gallons) and rode as fast as I dared (100 mph, baby!) back to Jama. I think the road tops out around 16,500 feet.

The road from Nasca to Cusco. Holy shit this was ****ing epic. I've heard it described as beautiful but it kicked my ass. At one point coming around a curve there was a bus down a cliff a few hundred feet. People were building a shrine. They said 28 people died. I hit a bad stretch of potholes and broke my speedo cable. I rode the whole thing in one sitting- 660 km. I saw my first flamingos. Amazing and the hardest ride I have ever done.

The road from Rio Gallegos to Ushuaia- and back. On the way back, leaving Ushuaia, the snow on the mountains is amazing. The views were kind of like the Rocky Mountains in the fall- only more beautiful and more amazing. Snow covered jagged peaks and red forests and perfect road, except for about 100 miles of ripio in the rain with the mud coming off in a fine bloody mist. And it was windy. I finished the ripio completely covered in red mud. The mud stuck to the exhaust on the bike and it's still there, even though I'm with the bike in Wisconsin. The mud baked on like fancy ceramic.

There were other great roads- if we can count Central America, I really liked the road from San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, to La Mesilla. And the coast in El Salvador was nice. Add all of Colombia.

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I'll name Argentine's roads I know and some of them you have just quoted.
Cordoba province is full of wonderful routes:
-Nº 38 from Carlos Paz to Capilla del Monte and from there, the 22 (consolidated) to San Marcos Sierra.
-Nº 5 from Alta Gracia to Embalse.
-Nº 34 (High tops road) from Carlos Paz to Mina Clavero and then the road that goes from Mina Clavero to Yacanto or inclusive to Merlo in San Luis province.
Cordoba has many more beautiful paved and consolidated inner roads that are a must.
Ruta 40, from North to South along the Andes Rocks, is full of incredible places. As happens with route 66 in USA, route 40 is a traditional way.
Nº 307 from Famaillá to Amaichá del Valle. It's unforgettable!
Nº 7 from Potrerillos to Uspallata and from there to the limit with Chile.
Nº 9 from Salta city to Abra Pampa in the Northwest.
Bariloche, Mendoza, Neuquen, Salta have also a lot of imperdible inner paths.

Hello!

There is so much information on here, I love it! But i'm also a bit overwhelmed, so I figured i'd ask for specific suggestions for a 2 week trip, anywhere in south america (or central america) during the month of Januray. We would need to start off in a city that we can either rent/buy (and sell back) a motorcycle from. We took a trip last year to Veitnam for three months and had good luck with buying a Minsk for $400 and selling it for $250, so if that's possible, that'd be great. smooth roads, dirt, gravel, whatever! as long as you don't need a dirtbike for it, we're set. just interested in seeing beautiful scenery, meeting beautiful people, and taking in the culture of the locale. Any suggestions on an itinerary would be highly appreciated!

Hadas

i am going in january 2009... cant wait!

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2 weeks, 2 bikes, 2 people: Salta North/West Argentina! All you can imagine (roadslike) +very nice people and cheap!
Peter