Open a GPX file

Motorcycle touring checklist for the fortnight before you leave

By Mat Stuckey. 6 November 2026. Facts last checked 5 November 2026. 4 min read.

An adventure motorcycle loaded with panniers and a top box at the roadside
Photo by Marek Boura on Unsplash

Before a motorcycle tour, start the checklist two weeks out: get the bike checked and serviced, confirm your insurance and breakdown cover work abroad, and gather your licence, V5C and the documents each country needs. The week before, load the route and pack. The night before, check the tyres and lay out the documents. This is the motorcycle touring checklist I use, written for a UK rider on a UK registered bike.

Paperwork rules on this page come from GOV.UK and were last checked on 5 November 2026. They change, so open each link before you go.

Two weeks before: the bike, insurance and documents

  • Check the tyres. Start a long trip with plenty of tread, because a loaded bike wears them faster.
  • Check the chain and sprockets, the brake pads and the fluids. Book a service if one falls due on the trip.
  • Ask your insurer whether your policy covers riding abroad, for how long, and what proof they want you to carry.
  • Ask your breakdown provider whether you are covered in every country on the route.
  • Check your photocard licence shows your motorcycle category and is in date.
  • Find the bike's V5C log book, or a VE103 if it is hired or leased.
  • Check your passport against the entry rules for each country.

Two weeks is the right time for the bike because it leaves room to order parts. Our pre-tour bike check lists everything to look at and lets you tick it off on your phone. If you are not confident doing it yourself, take the bike to a dealer or a mechanic you trust and tell them how far you are going.

The documents a UK rider needs in Europe

For riding in Europe on a UK registered bike, GOV.UK's guide to driving abroad lists what you need. In short:

  • A photocard driving licence showing your motorcycle category. Check on GOV.UK whether you also need an international driving permit for any country on the route.
  • Insurance that covers you abroad, and proof of it with you. See GOV.UK on vehicle insurance abroad.
  • The bike's V5C, or a VE103 if it is hired or leased. GOV.UK covers this under taking a vehicle out of the UK.
  • A UK identifier on your number plate, or a UK sticker if your plate does not have one. GOV.UK explains which plates need a sticker.
  • Travel insurance with medical cover, and a GHIC for the countries that accept it.

Each country adds its own rules, such as motorway vignettes in Switzerland and Austria and low emission zone stickers in French and German cities. Our riding in Europe page links to the GOV.UK advice for each country, and the tour planner builds a paperwork checklist for every country on your route that each rider in a group can tick off.

I once got to the port and found my V5C was still in a drawer at home. Nobody asked for it on that trip, but I spent a week hoping nobody would. Now it lives in a zip bag with the rest of the documents, and the bag goes in the tank bag the night before.

The week before: the route, the crossing and the kit

  • Load the route onto your sat nav or phone, and carry a second copy.
  • Download offline maps for the countries you are riding through.
  • Print or save the crossing booking and the first and last nights' bookings.
  • Pack, then ride a short loop with the bike fully loaded.
  • Ask your phone network what roaming costs in each country.
  • Tell your bank where you are going, and take two cards and some cash in the local currency.

Getting the GPX file onto the device the week before gives you time to fix it. On one group trip we lost an hour on the first morning because one rider's sat nav had not been updated and would not load the route. Our GPX guide covers Garmin, TomTom and phone apps.

A bike with full panniers and a tail bag steers and brakes differently, and you want to find that out on a road you know. I ride a short loop of 20 or 30 miles a few days before every long trip. Set the tyre pressures and suspension for the load as your bike's handbook says before you go.

For what to take, start from our motorcycle touring packing list and cut it down.

The night before

  • Check tyre pressures with the bike cold and loaded as it will be.
  • Fill the tank, so the first morning starts with a full range.
  • Put the documents, passport, cards and bookings in one place you can reach without unpacking.
  • Charge the phone, the intercom and any battery packs.
  • Check the first day's route, the weather and sunset.

The first day often starts early for a ferry or tunnel. Doing these jobs the night before means the morning is just getting dressed and going.

If this is your first motorcycle road trip abroad

Keep the first trip short and easy. Five days in Normandy or the Ardennes is a better first trip than ten days in the Alps, because you learn how far you like to ride and what you actually need to carry. Our pick of the best European motorcycle tours marks the ones that suit a first trip.

Riding on the right takes a day to settle in. The moments to watch are pulling out of a fuel station, roundabouts and the first junction after a stop, when habit can put you on the left. Ride the first hour off the ferry at a steady pace.

The emergency number 112 works across the EU. Save your insurer's and breakdown provider's numbers in your phone and on paper, in case the phone is the thing that breaks.

For the full process from picking dates to booking beds, see our guide on how to plan a motorcycle tour, then put your route into the free tour planner to see each day with fuel stops and sunset.