A ✈️ "Travel day"

Day 1 – Geneva → Long Beach: The Longest Day

Arrival day Pickup tomorrow 9:00

🇨🇭Switzerland🇬🇧UK🇺🇸USA

A 3:55 AM wake-up in Geneva, two British Airways flights via London, nine time zones crossed, and a first evening by the Pacific in Long Beach. The road trip starts tomorrow; today is all about getting there.

Open day route in Google Maps →

DAY 2 · Saturday 3 October

Long Beach → San Diego, by the Pacific Coast Highway

195 km — about 3 h 30 in the saddle

🇺🇸USA

Pick up the bikes at MotoQuest, then Heisler Park, lunch at The Deck in Laguna, the Torrey Pines Gliderport, La Jolla Cove and golden hour at Sunset Cliffs.

Open day route 1/2 in Google Maps → Open day route 2/2 in Google Maps →

DAY 3 · Sunday 4 October

San Diego → Tecate → Valle de Guadalupe

175 km — about 3 h, plus the border

🇺🇸USA🇲🇽Mexico

Cross at Tecate, warm bread at El Mejor Pan, then the Ruta del Vino: lunch at Finca Canard, tasting at Vena Cava, dinner at Fauna without leaving the hotel.

⚠️ Border: stop for your FMM tourist card

Open day route in Google Maps →

DAY 4 · Monday 5 October

Valle de Guadalupe → Cataviña, into the boulder desert

380 km — about 5 h 30 to 6 h

🇲🇽Mexico

Lobster burrito at Mamá Espinoza in El Rosario, the Valle de los Cirios pullout, then the Cataviña cave paintings before the boulder fields at dusk.

⚠️ Fuel-critical stage

⚠️ Fill to the brim in El Rosario — the last reliable pump for 315 km. No station in Cataviña: drum fuel is sold opposite the hotel, cash only.

Open day route in Google Maps →

DAY 5 · Tuesday 6 October

Cataviña → San Ignacio, crossing the 28th parallel

375 km — about 5 h to 5 h 30

🇲🇽Mexico

Top up at Villa Jesús María, the Eagle monument at Paralelo 28, fuel again in Guerrero Negro, then the palm oasis and mission of San Ignacio. The night is in a yurt on the río.

⚠️ Clocks jump +1 h entering Baja California Sur

Open day route in Google Maps →

DAY 6 · Wednesday 7 October

San Ignacio → Loreto, the Bahía Concepción day

280 km — about 4 h, plus beach time

🇲🇽Mexico

Lava fields under the Tres Vírgenes, the Eiffel-attributed iron church and French bakery of Santa Rosalía, Mulegé's hilltop mission, tacos at Doney's, then the viewpoint, El Coyote and El Requesón along the bay, into Loreto for the oldest mission of the Californias.

Open day route 1/2 in Google Maps → Open day route 2/2 in Google Maps →

DAY 7 · Thursday 8 October

Loreto → San Javier → La Paz

430 km — about 6 h 30. The longest day

🇲🇽Mexico

Early detour into the Sierra for the best-preserved mission in Baja, rotisserie chicken in Ciudad Constitución, then the long run to the malecón of La Paz.

⚠️ Leave by 08:00 — twisty mountain road, cattle, water crossings

Open day route in Google Maps →

DAY 8 · Friday 9 October

La Paz → Todos Santos → Cabo San Lucas

160 km — about 2 h 30, taken slowly

🇲🇽Mexico

Chilaquiles at Cafetería 12.40, the Hotel California photo in Todos Santos, garden lunch at Jazamango, a swim at Cerritos, then Land's End and a cliff-top sunset dinner at Sunset Monalisa.

Open day route in Google Maps →

DAY 9 · Saturday 10 October

Rest day in Cabo — the bikes sleep in

0 km on two wheels

🇲🇽Mexico

Water taxi to the Arch and Lover's Beach in the morning calm, lunch at The Office on Médano, snorkelling at Chileno Bay, sunset from the hotel beach — lounging only, the Pacific side is not for swimming.

⚠️ No riding today

DAY 11 · Monday 12 October

La Paz → Ligüí → Nopoló, back up the Cortez coast

350 km — about 4 h 30 to 5 h

🇲🇽Mexico

Fuel in Ciudad Constitución, a deserted beach at Ligüí under the Sierra Giganta, the marina at Puerto Escondido, and dinner back in Loreto at Orlando's.

Open day route in Google Maps →

DAY 12 · Tuesday 13 October

Nopoló → Guerrero Negro, the long haul north

420 km — about 5 h 30 to 6 h

🇲🇽Mexico

Concepción and Mulegé pass by for quick re-stops, chicken at Tercos Pollitos in Santa Rosalía, fuel there and in San Ignacio, then clam everything at Malarrimo — the night's hotel and its famous kitchen.

⚠️ Clocks fall back −1 h at Paralelo 28

Open day route in Google Maps →

DAY 13 · Wednesday 14 October

Guerrero Negro → Mex 5 → San Felipe, the remote one

440 km — about 6 h to 6 h 30

🇲🇽Mexico

Sign the wall at The New Coco's Corner, refuel at Rancho Grande, fish tacos with your toes in Bahía Gonzaga at Alfonsina's, the Campo La Poma viewpoint, then in under the arches of San Felipe for a malecón evening.

⚠️ Fuel-critical stage

⚠️ Fill at Guerrero Negro and top up at Villa Jesús María: the only pump in the next 285 km is Rancho Grande, and it can run dry. A 3–5 litre reserve rides with us today.

Open day route in Google Maps →

DAY 14 · Thursday 15 October

San Felipe → the border → Salton Sea → Palm Springs

385 km — about 5 h, plus the border queue

🇲🇽Mexico🇺🇸USA

Back into the US at Calexico East, then the strangest afternoon of the trip: Salvation Mountain, a burger at the Ski Inn — the lowest bar in the western hemisphere — the Bombay Beach Drive-In, and windmills at golden hour above Palm Springs.

⚠️ Hand back the FMM at the border

Open day route in Google Maps →

DAY 15 · Friday 16 October

Palm Springs → Long Beach → one last night in Hollywood

190 km — the bikes go home, we don't yet

🇺🇸USA

Return the GSs at MotoQuest, then up to Hollywood on four wheels: handprints at the Chinese Theatre, sunset at Griffith Observatory, and a closing martini at Musso & Frank, pouring since 1919.

⚠️ Bikes back at MotoQuest before 17:00

Open day route in Google Maps →

DAY 16 · Saturday 17 October

Fly home — Los Angeles → London

Return flights BA280 departs LAX 17:05

🇺🇸USA

Check out of Hollywood, drop the rental at LAX, and board BA280 to London Heathrow — an overnight crossing in World Traveller, 10 h 30 in the air.

⚠️ Be at LAX Terminal 4 around 14:00 — three hours before an international departure

Open day route in Google Maps →