Motorcycle Touring Packing List: What to Take and What to Leave

The rule of thumb

Pack it all at home, then take a third out. Every kilogram on the back of the bike changes how it brakes, steers and handles a gravel lay-by. Clothes are the easiest thing to cut: you can wash a base layer in a hotel sink every night and it will be dry by morning if you roll it in a towel first. Tools and spares are where it is worth carrying a little more, because they are hard to find in a mountain village on a Sunday.

Documents and money

• Passport and driving licence.
• Bike registration document (V5C in the UK) and insurance certificate.
• Breakdown cover details, with the phone number saved and written down.
• Travel insurance that covers riding a motorcycle of your size.
• Two bank cards kept in different places, and a little cash for rural fuel and cafés.
• Copies of everything as photos on your phone and in your email.
• Vignettes or toll tags for the countries that need them (Austria and Switzerland ask bikes for a motorway vignette; check the official sites).

Riding kit

• Jacket and trousers that are waterproof, or a waterproof oversuit to go over leathers. On a tour you will be rained on.
• Two pairs of gloves: a summer pair and a waterproof or winter pair. Certified gloves are compulsory in France.
• Boots you can walk in. Touring boots that are comfortable off the bike save carrying a second pair of shoes.
• Base and mid layers. A thin merino or synthetic base layer and a fleece cover the range from a hot valley to a pass at 2,700 m.
• Neck tube and a thin balaclava for cold mornings.
• Hi-vis vest, which France requires you to carry and which is handy at any roadside stop.
• Earplugs, several pairs. Long motorway days are tiring and loud.
• Spare visor or a pinlock, plus a visor cleaning cloth.

Off-bike clothes

Keep it to the minimum that gets you into a restaurant: two T-shirts, one pair of lightweight trousers or shorts, one warm top, underwear and socks for three or four days, light shoes or sandals, and a thin waterproof jacket for walking around in the evening. Choose quick-drying fabrics. If you are staying in biker-friendly hotels with a drying room, you can wash more and carry less. Our biker-friendly hotel checklist explains what to ask.

Tools and spares

• The bike’s own tool kit, topped up with the sizes your bike actually uses. Check every fastener you might need to undo.
• A tubeless puncture repair kit and CO2 cartridges or a compact electric pump. Practise at home once.
• A tyre pressure gauge.
• Cable ties, duct tape, a small roll of electrical tape, a multi-tool and a few spare fuses.
• Chain lube and a rag, if your bike has a chain.
• Spare bulbs if your bike does not have LED lights.
• A litre of oil if your bike uses any, in the grade it takes.
• Latex or nitrile gloves for roadside jobs.

Electronics

• Phone mount, and a USB socket on the bike or a cable from the battery.
• Sat-nav or a phone navigation app with offline maps downloaded. Mountain valleys often have no signal.
• Intercom, if you ride with a pillion or a group.
• One multi-port charger and the cables for everything. A short extension or a travel adaptor with several USB ports saves fighting over the only socket in the room.
• A power bank.

Security

A disc lock with a reminder cable is the minimum. A chain and a plain bike cover are worth the weight if you expect open parking. Our secure parking guide explains how to rank what a hotel offers and what to do when it falls short.

First aid and personal

• A small first-aid kit with plasters, blister dressings, painkillers, antihistamines and any medication you take, plus a copy of the prescription.
• Sun cream and lip balm. Wind on a pass burns as much as sun on a beach.
• Insect repellent for evenings by lakes and rivers.
• Wash kit in travel sizes, and a microfibre towel.

How to load the bike

• Heavy and low. Tools, spares and anything dense go in the bottom of the panniers, close to the bike.
• Balance the panniers. Weigh them on the bathroom scales if you can; a few kilograms difference is noticeable in long bends.
• Light and high. Clothes and sleeping kit in the top box or a roll bag on the seat.
• What you need in the day goes in the tank bag: documents, wallet, waterproofs, sun cream, a snack and a drink.
• Adjust the bike. Add rear preload and raise the rear tyre pressure to the loaded figure in the handbook. Check the headlight aim.
• Check the weight limit. Your handbook gives the maximum payload, including rider and passenger. With a pillion it is easy to exceed. Our pillion touring guide has more.

What you can leave at home

Full-size toiletries, a laptop, more than one pair of jeans, a hairdryer (most hotels have one), and spare parts that only a dealer could fit. Most things can be bought on the way. A trial ride with the bike fully loaded, ideally a day out on familiar roads like the Lake District passes or the Snowdonia loop, will show you what is in the wrong place long before you meet a hairpin in the Alps.

Packing for the region

The list shifts with where you go. For the high Alps around the Tyrol and the French Alps, pack warm layers even in summer: summits are cold and storms come in fast. For the Scottish Highlands or the west of Ireland, waterproofs and midge repellent come first. For southern Spain in summer, ventilated kit and plenty of water. Check our Alps season guide before you decide what to bring for the mountains.