Country: Italy

Language: Italian

Currency: Euro

Year: 2018

Distance: ~1,000 km

Route and Map: Rome > Sutri > Civita Di Bagnoregio > Porto Santo Stefano > Volterra > La Spezia > Cinque Terre > Milan

Ride on: Right Side

Metric System: Speed in km/h and Fuel in litres.

Machines: BMW R 1200 GS

Motorcycle roadtrips are fun. Planning a motorcycle roadtrip is more fun. Preparing the motorcycle for the ride and buying riding gear/accessories that you might need on the road has its own therapeutic effects on the mind of a rider even if it leaves you broke after the ride. 

Spending hours on Google Maps and reading other people’s travelogues to carve out a route map for yourself does a great job of stimulating the travel-happy part of your mind. And then of course once you are on the saddle, with your entire world stuffed in those panniers and tank bag, leaving the town before the dawn breaks out, it is like ultimate nirvana.

But motorcycle touring can be equally fun even without the preparation part of it – where you don’t have to worry about getting the bike serviced or even owning one for that matter. It would be great if you could just show up at a shop in a city, get your dream motorcycle on rent, and just start cruising on the roadtrip that you always dreamt about. 

You could be riding solo, like a free bird, or riding with a group of like-minded motorheads from different parts of the world where everything like your route, your necessary stops, and the hotel bookings etc. have already been taken care of and all you have to do is just ride and roll that right wrist away to glory.

I experienced something similar last month in Italy where Hertz Ride, a subsidiary of Hertz Car Rental, had invited us to be a part of a group ride from Rome to Milan. Hertz Car Rental, as we already know, is the world leader in the car rental business and has operations in more than 150 countries. They’ve recently jumped into this business of motorcycle rentals and had invited us to experience their services in the form of this relaxed 800 km roadtrip in Italy with around 10 more riders from around the world. 

All I had to do was to just show up with my riding gear and driving license in Rome and start riding. Everything else was already taken care of. Peace of mind, isn’t it? Currently, Hertz Ride has an all-BMW fleet and has the R 1200 GS, R 1200 RT, F 700 GS, G 310 GS, and the BMW C Evolution scooter in their stable. All these bikes are like brand new. No bike in their stable can be more than 15,000 km or 1 year old. 

In fact, in most of the countries they operate, they replace their bike within 7 or 8 months. And it means that no matter where or when you rent a bike from them, you will never get a bike that will leave you stranded on the road because of a mechanical failure. And reliability is one of the biggest issues that you have to think about when you rent a bike from anyone.

Hertz Ride is currently operating in 18 locations in 7 countries including Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Austria, and Slovenia.

The other advantage of renting a bike from Hertz Ride is that you can pick up the bike in one city and leave it in another, which gives you a lot of flexibility while planning your ride. You can set out on an itinerary as per your wish and go wherever you want to. Or along with renting a bike, you can also buy an entire tour package from them where they take care of everything, from route planning to booking the hotels, and you get to ride in a group which is led by an experienced motorcyclist who is a local as well and thus knows the area like the back of his/her hand.

Our trip started from the capital of Italy, Rome, a city the history of which spans 28 centuries and is also the 3rd most visited city in Italy. The ancient city centre is a World Heritage Site and is home to some of the most well-known historical monuments in the world – like the Colosseum amphitheatre where the gladiators fought and killed, all for glory and entertainment. 

Then there’s the Roman Forum which is essentially an area comprising many ancient buildings and structures. It was the religious and political epicentre of the ancient Roman Empire. If you are planning to visit any of these monuments, make sure you have a lot of time on your hands because you might have to stand in the queue for up to an hour!

The price of a normal entry ticket at the time of our visit was 12 euros to both these places. I didn’t have the luxury of time and wanted to catch some sleep before the ride started the next day, so I left seeing these monuments from the inside for some other day.

The actual roadtrip started a day later from the Hertz Ride garage where close to a dozen shining new Beemers were waiting for us, comprising mostly of 1200GS, a couple of R 1200RT’s and a 700 GS. All the bikes were already fitted with 2 expandable side panniers and an expandable top box, which is the way you would get them if you decide to rent a bike from Hertz, so no need to worry about fitting your luggage on the bike. 

The panniers also contained some refreshments and a road book to refer to. It had all the details of our trip, including the route, the intended stops, and emergency numbers. Before starting the engines, we also paid a visit to another country on foot – Vatican City – the smallest country in the world, which also happens to be the home to the Pope, the religious leader of Catholic Christians around the world. 

As I said, the riding group comprised some very experienced motorcyclists from around the world, including people from Portugal, the US, Brazil, Lithuania, and Russia. The group was led by Carlo Canilli, Country Manager & European Operations Manager for Hertz. We were flanked by a backup vehicle carrying our excess luggage, and this was driven by the ever-helpful Daniele De Lucia, the Rome Location Manager for Hertz. Daniele was our resident historian who knew Italy like no one’s business. The managing directors of Hertz Ride, Antonio & Fernando, were also riding along with us. 

On Day 1, we rode from Rome to the port town of Porto Santo Stefano on the west coast of the country, riding along some scenic interior roads and staying well clear of the boring highways. The highlight of the day was the visit to the ancient town of Sutri and the lunch at ‘The Dying Town Civita di Bagnoregio – a 2500-year-old town sitting atop a plateau overlooking a vast valley. The picturesque town sits on the edge of extinction as the edges of the plateau are collapsing because of constant erosion due to natural causes.

Day 2 had a little over 300 km of pure motorcycling fun as we rode leisurely on the winding roads through the beautiful Italian countryside and was highlighted by the traditional Italian lunch at the medieval town of Volterra. Volterra is included in the official list of the 100 most beautiful villages in Italy. The history of this village dates back to at least the 7th century BC and it has buildings/structures from the Roman and Medieval era. The day ended at the coastal city of La Spezia, which is a major Italian naval and commercial base.

The last day of the ride, from La Spezia to Milan, was also a sub 300 km day, and would take us to the most beautiful part of this ride so far – the Cinque Terre, which literally means ‘Five Lands’ and is an area on the west coast of Italy comprising of five extremely beautiful and colourful villages on the rugged coastline overlooking the big blue sea. The ride from La Spezia to Cinque Terre itself is a memorable one as you ride on this never-ending narrow serpentine road along the coastline. 

We were supposed to have lunch at one of the villages named Monterosso but had to skip the plan as the access to these villages was blocked by the authorities as the heavy rains a couple of days ago had damaged the roads badly in this area. And we had flights to catch as well from Milan. So from Cinque Terre, we simply took the highway and rode straight towards Milan where we left the bikes at Hertz Ride Garage near the airport and bid adieu to each other.

It was a completely new experience for me riding in a ‘guided’ tour along with people from around the globe. Usually, it takes a lot of time and effort for such a big and diverse group to settle, but all of us got along quickly and really well. It was the perfect relaxing ride for me and a well-deserved one as well after a series of really hectic rides over the last couple of years that we are used to doing at xBhp.

All credit goes to Hertz Ride for putting together such a wonderful group of like-minded motorheads and planning and executing everything perfectly. And their hospitality was just icing on the cake. So if you are planning to do a motorbike roadtrip in Europe on a rented bike, I would strongly recommend that you check out Hertz Ride and their services. You can find more details about them on their website www.hertzride.eu. Ciao!