Where to ride between November and March 2027
Every year around November the bike goes under its cover, the studded tyres go on the car, and the good riding is suddenly five months away. If you have ever found yourself looking at photographs of a road you rode in July and feeling faintly sorry for yourself, this article is for you. There are places where the season is still running, and some of them are closer than you would think.
These five are not in order of merit. Ranking Madeira above Morocco would not tell you anything useful, because they are not really competing — they suit different riders and different weeks. So instead each one below comes with the sort of trip it is best at, and our hope is that one of them describes what you are looking for.
There is also something a little unusual about this particular winter, and it is worth a couple of minutes before you book anything.
What makes the 2026/2027 winter a bit different
In August 2026 the US Climate Prediction Center put an El Niño Advisory in effect, with a greater than 90 per cent chance of a very strong event through the northern winter, and a 69 per cent chance of the strongest since records began in 1950.
That sounds abstract until you realise it rearranges the winter dry seasons across a good part of the world. Very broadly, and remembering that a seasonal forecast is only ever a forecast:
- Mainland Southeast Asia looks likely to have a longer, earlier and drier dry season than usual. That is good news for riders, and it is much of the reason Thailand is on this list.
- Southern Africa and South Asia are also expected to be drier. Worth knowing, though drought there is a hardship for the people who live with it rather than something to be pleased about.
- Southern South America looks wetter — central Chile and west-central Argentina in particular. That is why Patagonia is not on this list this year, and we say a little more about that further down.
- The Atlantic islands, Iberia and North Africa have no meaningful El Niño signal in either direction. Gran Canaria, Madeira, Andalusia and Morocco should simply do what they always do, which in a winter like this one is quite a nice quality to have.
1 · Gran Canaria
Best for a first winter escape
The island is fifty kilometres across and rises to 1,949 metres in the middle, and that one fact is really the whole appeal. You can start a morning at sea level in shirtsleeves, climb through banana terraces into pine forest, cross a volcanic caldera in cold clear air and come down into a laurel valley that smells of wet moss — all before lunch, and without riding the same corner twice.
Why we would suggest it first. If you have never taken the bike-shaped part of your year abroad, this is the gentlest place to begin. It is four hours from northern Europe, direct, all year round. Nothing closes for winter here — there are no seasonal passes and no snow gates — so you are not hoping for luck with the month you happened to book. And because the island is small, you ride loops out of one hotel rather than repacking every morning, which quietly removes most of the work. If one of you rides and one of you does not, the beach is fifteen minutes from the mountains, and everyone gets their day.
Why this winter in particular. Two small things, both helpful. Air Transat is opening direct flights from Montreal and Toronto to Las Palmas from 12 and 13 December 2026, weekly through 4 April 2027, so riders in North America can reach the island without a European connection for the first time. And Carnival falls early this season — Carnival Tuesday is 9 February 2027 — which means the crowds and the higher prices gather in early February and the rest of the winter is quieter than usual.
If it sounds like your kind of week, we have written a full Guide for Gran Canaria — five riding days, around 880 km, one base.
2 · Madeira
Best when the roads themselves are the reason
Madeira is a single volcanic ridge, fifty-seven kilometres long, standing 1,862 metres out of the Atlantic. Roads here either climb or fall, and a road that runs level for two kilometres is usually doing so inside a tunnel.
Why we would suggest it. This is the most technical riding on the list in any season, and for some riders that is exactly the point. Gradients of one in four, shelf roads a lane and a half wide pinned to the side of a cliff, and around a hundred and fifty tunnels. When the expressway tunnels opened, the old coast roads emptied out, so you often have them to yourself. Nobody rides Madeira for the distances — you might cover a hundred and twenty kilometres in a day and be thoroughly satisfied. They come for moments like the climb out of Encumeada onto the Paul da Serra, where the road hangs above two valleys at once.
The island also has a lovely habit of offering two weathers at the same time: the north wet and the south dry, on the same afternoon, all year. So a grey morning is not a lost day. It is a reason to cross the ridge and find the other one.
Why this winter in particular. The Atlantic islands are the part of this list with no El Niño signal at all, which in a winter this unusual is worth something. It sits at nineteen or twenty degrees on the south coast, week in and week out. Funchal’s carnival peaks around 9 February 2027, so you can either come for it — it is wonderful — or come after it, when the island is quiet and the beds are cheap.
If that appeals, we have written a full Guide for Madeira — five riding days, 746 km, one base in Funchal.
3 · Spain — Andalusia
Best if you would rather the trip moved
The two islands above are riding weeks from a single hotel, which is a lovely way to travel. Andalusia offers the other kind: a loop that moves, with a different town at the end of each day — Ronda, Sevilla, Córdoba, Granada — four cities and four sierras inside one week.
Why we would suggest it. Spain has the best secondary road network in Europe, and remarkably few people on it. It is the second least densely populated country in western Europe, and on a weekday you can ride an hour of mountain road and meet six cars. It is also one of the very few places in Europe where you can ride properly in January: seventeen to twenty-one degrees on the coast, twelve to sixteen up in Ronda, cool and bright, with only the top of the Sierra Nevada road closed.
A good number of the riders you meet there in winter have northern number plates, and they are all there for the same reason.
Why this winter in particular. Easter falls unusually early in 2027 — Sunday 28 March — and that shifts the whole shape of the season. The quiet, affordable winter window runs without interruption from November right through to around the 20th of March, and then prices change quite sharply: Semana Santa runs 21–28 March, and Sevilla’s Feria de Abril follows a couple of weeks later. Both are extraordinary to witness, and both make a week here considerably more expensive.
So if you can travel in mid-March 2027 you get something rather lovely — almost spring weather at winter prices. It is worth booking before Christmas to be sure of it.
If a moving loop suits you better, we have written a full Guide for Andalusia — seven riding days, 1,225 km, out of Málaga.
4 · Morocco
Best if you would like the scenery to change completely
Three and a half hours from northern Europe, and nothing whatsoever like it when you land. High Atlas passes, red gorges, the edge of the Sahara, and mint tea waiting at the top of almost every climb. Of everything here, it gives you the biggest change of scene for the least time in the air.
Why we would suggest it. No other short flight alters the view this completely. Thailand and Vietnam are further from home again, but they also cost you a day of travel at each end, whereas Morocco fits inside a long week.
One thing about the season that often gets left out. The High Atlas passes can be closed by snow — the Tizi n’Tichka tops 2,200 metres — and nights at Merzouga can drop below freezing. December to February is not really the time for a mountain crossing, and we would rather say so now than have you find out in a hotel car park. What does work beautifully in deep winter is the coast, which sits at a comfortable sixteen to twenty degrees.
Why this winter in particular. Ramadan is expected to run from around 8 February to 8 March 2027, with Eid al-Fitr near 9 March — the dates are confirmed by moon sighting closer to the time. Travelling during Ramadan can be a genuinely memorable experience, but the rhythm of the day is different: village kitchens are closed in daylight, and the roads are busy in the days after Eid.
All of which makes late March into April 2027 the window we would aim at this year. The passes are open, Ramadan has passed, the desert is not yet an oven, and the light is long.
A Guide for Morocco is in preparation. You can see where it sits in the series →
5 · Thailand
Best long-haul, and the one this winter genuinely favours
November to February is the cool, dry season in northern Thailand, and it is not a consolation prize — it is the best riding of the year there. Hill roads through Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai province built almost entirely out of corners, in the months when the humidity has lifted and the sky is clear.
Why we would suggest it. It is the kindest long-haul trip on this list. The rental market is well established, the roads are good, the food is wonderful, and a week on the ground costs less than a week almost anywhere in Europe. If you have never ridden outside Europe and have been quietly wondering about it, this is an easy place to start.
Why this winter in particular. This is where the El Niño forecast is simply on your side. A very strong event tends to suppress rainfall across mainland Southeast Asia and bring the dry season on earlier and hold it longer. In an ordinary year you would aim carefully at January. This year the window looks generous at both ends.
A Guide for Thailand is in preparation. You can see where it sits in the series →
And one we would gently set aside this year
Patagonia. November to March is not merely the best time to ride there, it is the only time, and in most years it would have been on this list. But central Chile and west-central Argentina are forecast wet through this southern summer, and Patagonia asks quite a lot of you already — the wind alone is a riding condition in its own right. If it has been on your list for a while, we think it is worth waiting one more year for a kinder season. It will be all the better for it.
Which one sounds like yours
Four questions tend to settle it faster than any amount of reading.
How much time do you really have? A five-day island fits inside an ordinary week off with two travel days either side. Thailand asks for a fortnight to be worth the flights, and there is no shame in choosing the island this year and the fortnight next.
Would you rather the roads were the point, or the place? Madeira and Gran Canaria are riding weeks with a place attached. Andalusia and Morocco are the other way round, and you will want to spend real time off the bike.
One hotel, or a different town each night? An island week means a wardrobe instead of a pannier and your own table at the same restaurant by Wednesday. Andalusia gives you a region instead.
Who is coming with you? All three of the European options are kind to a couple where only one of you rides. Long-haul asks more of everybody.
The part that is nobody’s favourite
None of this makes the planning disappear — the evenings spent cross-referencing road numbers with rental terms and hotels that will let you park the bike somewhere safe. That is the part that quietly keeps a lot of good trips from happening, and it is why we began writing the Guides in the first place: one for each country, with the route, the itinerary, daily GPX files, the rental firms we would use ourselves and the places we would stay, each with a link so you can book it directly.
You still book everything yourself. You simply do not have to go looking for any of it.
See all the Essential Guides →
In summary
| Best for | Flight | Trip | The window this winter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gran Canaria | A first winter escape | ~4 h | 5 days | All winter · carnival crowds early Feb |
| Madeira | When the roads are the reason | ~4 h | 5 days | All winter · carnival crowds early Feb |
| Spain — Andalusia | A trip that moves | ~4 h | 7 days | Nov to 20 March · then Easter prices |
| Morocco | A complete change of scene | ~4 h | 10 days | Coast in deep winter · late March–April |
| Thailand | Long-haul | ~12 h | 7 days | Nov–Feb, wider than usual this year |
Guides for Gran Canaria, Madeira and Andalusia are ready now. Morocco and Thailand are being written. All of them live here →
Questions riders often ask
Where can you actually ride a motorcycle in Europe in winter? The Canary Islands and Madeira are rideable in every month of the year, with no seasonal closures at all. Southern Spain is rideable right through the winter too, at seventeen to twenty-one degrees on the coast, with only the Sierra Nevada summit road closing. Southern Portugal and Sicily can be lovely in a mild year, but those three are the ones you can rely on.
Is it warm enough to ride in December and January? On the Atlantic islands, yes — nineteen or twenty degrees on the south coasts, which is comfortable in normal gear. In Andalusia you will want one more layer than you would in April, and the mornings are properly cold. Anywhere with altitude, reckon on six degrees colder for every thousand metres you climb.
Do I need to bring my own gear? Your own helmet and gloves are worth the space. Jackets and trousers rent poorly, so bring your own if the baggage allowance allows it, in a vented weight rather than winter kit, even in January.
Can I rent a motorcycle in these places? Yes, in all five. The thing that catches people out is how small the fleets are — Madeira’s whole island fleet is a few dozen machines, and in Gran Canaria and Málaga the good bikes are gone two to three months ahead for the popular weeks. It is worth booking the bike before the flight rather than after.
Which is the easiest first winter trip? Gran Canaria, we think. The shortest flight, the shortest trip, one hotel all week, and rideable in whichever month you can get away.
When should I book? For January or February, before Christmas. Flights and the good rental bikes both go two to three months ahead, and if you are thinking about Andalusia in March there is Easter week to plan around as well.f May is the “Grand Opening” and July is the “Main Event,” August is “The Sweet Spot.” You still get all of July’s warm, stable weather and full mountain-pass access, but the crowds start to ease off in the back half of the month. For riders who want the full high-alpine experience without fighting for a parking spot at every viewpoint, August is where peak season starts to loosen its grip.
Take Care Until The Next Time,
Your Nordic Riders
