Scotland's best motorcycle roads are concentrated in a band running from Loch Lomond north-west to the Applecross peninsula and north-east across the Cairngorms — the A82 through Glen Coe, the A87 out to Skye, the Bealach na Bà, the A93 over the Cairnwell Pass and the A939 Old Military Road. Add the signed North Coast 500 loop and you have most of a two-week trip. What makes Scottish riding distinctive is not top speed but variety within a single day: motorway to single track, sea level to a 670 m pass, and weather that changes faster than your route does. This guide covers the roads worth planning a trip around and the practical rules that make them work.
What riding in Scotland is actually like
Three things shape every Scottish trip. First, distances look small on a map and take much longer than the mileage suggests, because sea lochs force the road to go the long way round and single-track sections cap your average speed. Second, a large share of the best roads are single track with passing places, which is a specific riding skill rather than a slower version of normal riding. Third, weather is the dominant variable — you will ride in rain, and a day that starts in sunshine at Fort William can be inside cloud on a pass an hour later. None of that is a complaint. It is why the same riders come back every year.
Top roads in Scotland
| Road | Distance | Character | Start and end |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Coast 500 | 516 miles (830 km) | Signed Highland loop, mixed A-road and single track | Inverness Castle, out and back |
| Bealach na Bà | Sea level to 630 m (2,070 ft) in about 6 km (3.7 miles) | Single-track hairpin climb, the greatest ascent of any UK road | Tornapress, near Kishorn, to Applecross |
| A82 through Glen Coe | 167 miles (269 km) end to end | Rannoch Moor and the glen, wide open sweepers | Glasgow to Inverness via Fort William |
| A87 to Skye | 99 miles (159 km) | Glen Shiel, Loch Cluanie, Skye Bridge, island roads | Invergarry to Uig, Isle of Skye |
| A93 over the Cairnwell Pass | Summit at 670 m (2,200 ft) | Highest main road in the UK, snow gates, fast open moorland | Glen Shee, Perthshire, to Braemar |
| A939 Old Military Road | Lecht summit at 637 m (2,090 ft) | Rollercoaster crests and dips across the Grampians | Nairn to Ballater via Tomintoul |
Open the A82 run to Glen Coe in Google Maps — Glasgow up Loch Lomond and across Rannoch Moor, so you can send it straight to your navigation before you leave.
The North Coast 500 and Bealach na Bà, in one line each
The North Coast 500 is the 516-mile signed loop from Inverness around the north Highlands, and it is the trip most visiting riders build a week around. The Bealach na Bà over the Applecross peninsula is the hardest and best climb on that loop, and worth riding even if you do nothing else on the west coast. Both have their own guides — the rest of this page covers the roads that get less attention and often less traffic.
The A82 through Glen Coe
The A82 runs 167 miles (269 km) from Glasgow to Inverness via Fort William, and the middle third is the classic Highland ride. From Loch Lomond the road climbs to Rannoch Moor — a genuinely bleak expanse of peat and lochans with nothing built on it — then drops into Glen Coe between the Aonach Eagach ridge on one side and the Three Sisters of Bidean nam Bian on the other. A review of Scotland's National Scenic Areas described the journey through the glen on the A82 as one of the classic Highland journeys, and it earns that.
Practically, it is a fast road with slow traffic on it. Coaches, caravans and tourists braking for photographs are constant in summer, overtaking opportunities are real but need commitment, and the glen has laybys that fill by mid-morning. It is also a road with a history of serious collisions, so the sensible approach is to ride it early, take the photographs from the designated stopping places, and accept that you will follow something for a while.
North of Fort William the A82 continues past the Commando Memorial and along Loch Ness to Inverness, which is scenic but much busier. Riders often prefer the quieter B862 and B852 on the south-east side of Loch Ness for the same journey.
The A87 out to Skye
The A87 runs 99 miles (159 km) from the A82 at Invergarry to Uig on the Isle of Skye. It is the best-value road in Scotland for effort spent: fast, wide, mostly well-surfaced, and it goes through Glen Shiel — a long straight-sided glen with the Five Sisters of Kintail rising directly from the roadside — before dropping to Loch Duich and Eilean Donan Castle. It then crosses to Skye by the Skye Bridge, where the tolls were removed in 2004.
On Skye itself the A87 continues to Portree and Uig, but the island's best riding is on the smaller roads: the Trotternish loop past the Quiraing and the Old Man of Storr, and the road out to Elgol. Both are narrow, both are busy in summer, and both are worth the traffic. Ferry crossings from Skye to the Outer Hebrides leave from Uig and need booking well ahead in summer.
The A93 and the Cairnwell Pass
The A93 between Glen Shee in Perthshire and Braemar in Aberdeenshire crosses the Cairnwell Pass, which at 670 m (2,200 ft) is the highest main road in the United Kingdom. The county boundary runs across the summit, and the Glenshee Ski Centre sits at the top. Historically this was a drovers' route from the Lowlands into the Highlands.
What riders remember is the approach: long open climbs across bare moorland with sightlines you rarely get in the west, then a summit that can be twenty degrees colder than Perth. One mile south of the summit is the Devil's Elbow, a notorious double-hairpin bend which was bypassed in the 1960s and is now walkable rather than rideable. The often-quoted 33 per cent gradient for it is a myth — the real figure is no more than about 1 in 6, or 17 per cent.
The road is often blocked by snow in winter and has snow gates at Braemar, at the summit south of the ski centre, and at the Spittal of Glenshee. If the gates are shut, they are shut.
The A939 Old Military Road
The A939 connects the A96 at Nairn on the Moray coast to the A93 at Ballater, running through the Grampians past Tomintoul and the Lecht Ski Centre, where it reaches 637 m (2,090 ft). It is the road riders name when they want the one Scottish route that feels like a rollercoaster — a succession of crests, dips and blind summits across high open ground, with the surface rising and falling in a rhythm you settle into.
It is also the road most likely to be shut. The A939 is sometimes the first road in Great Britain to close due to snowfall, on the section between Cock Bridge and Tomintoul. That is a Scottish weather headline every winter, and a reminder that this is a high, exposed road even in June.
The practical details that decide a Scottish trip
Passing places. On single-track roads, a passing place is for letting faster traffic overtake as well as for passing oncoming vehicles. If someone has been behind you for a while, pull in. Never park in one. Motorcycles can squeeze past where cars cannot, which is exactly why riders need to be careful not to make a habit of it in front of local drivers.
Enforcement. The A9 between Dunblane and Inverness runs an average speed camera system, live since October 2014, and it is the main road most riders use to get north. Plan the A9 as transport rather than sport and enjoy yourself on the roads in the table instead.
Fuel and ferries. Fuel is easy in the central belt and thin on the west coast and in Sutherland, where stations often close early. Ferries to the islands are ticketed and sell out in summer, so book crossings before you plan the day around them.
Weather and wildlife. Rain is a given, wind on exposed passes is common, and deer and sheep are on the road at dawn and dusk. Midges affect campers rather than riders, but they are a genuine consideration from roughly June to August.
Gear notes for Scotland specifically
The recurring theme in the Highlands is that your phone signal will disappear somewhere around Glen Shiel and not come back properly until Ullapool. Anything you rely on for navigation needs to work with the data already on the device — download the whole trip before you leave, and read our GPS navigation setup guide if you have only ever used live routing. A riding system display keeps the map visible in rain that would make a phone screen useless, and our notes on multi-constellation positioning explain why fixes hold better in steep glens than they used to. On the maintenance side, a week of cold starts, wet roads and 600 m passes moves tyre pressures around; our guide to pressure drops in cold weather covers the mechanism, and a TPMS sensor turns it from guesswork into a number. Riders touring on the JADO S6 get maps, tyre pressures and dash cam footage together, which matters on roads where a dispute with a hire car is a plausible way for the trip to end.
FAQ
What is the best motorcycle road in Scotland?
For pure riding, the Bealach na Bà. For scenery at speed, the A82 through Rannoch Moor and Glen Coe. For a full trip rather than a single road, the North Coast 500. Most riders end up naming whichever one they had good weather on.
When is the best time to ride in Scotland?
May, June and September give the best balance of daylight, temperature and traffic. July and August have the most reliable weather and by far the most tourists. Winter riding is possible in the lowlands but the high passes close regularly.
How long do you need to ride the main Scottish roads?
Ten days to two weeks covers the roads in the table without rushing. A long weekend from Glasgow or Edinburgh is enough for the A82, Glen Coe and Skye. The North Coast 500 alone deserves four to six days.
Are Scottish roads hard for a first touring trip?
The roads themselves are not technical apart from the Bealach. The demanding parts are single-track etiquette, sustained rain and long days. Plan shorter distances than you would at home and it is an excellent first tour.
Do you need to worry about closures?
On the high passes, yes. The A939 between Cock Bridge and Tomintoul is sometimes the first road in Britain to close for snow, and the A93 over the Cairnwell has snow gates at three points. Check Traffic Scotland before committing to a high route outside summer.
