What To Do Travel Ideas Ride the Adirondacks: Three Motorcycle Tours Worth Every Mile

Ride the Adirondacks: Three Motorcycle Tours Worth Every Mile

Three routes. Open roads. Pure Adirondack riding.

If you’re looking for a reason to put serious miles on your bike, the Adirondacks deliver. Six million acres of protected wilderness, lake-hugging shorelines, mountain passes, and small towns with big character—and we’ve mapped out three routes to help you ride it all. One day or a long weekend, there’s a ride here with your name on it.

Here for Americade? These routes were built with you in mind. Use them to extend your trip, explore beyond the rally, and discover why riders keep coming back to this region year after year.

People on motocycles

Eastern Adirondack Motorcycle Tour

One day | Lake Champlain Region | Starting and ending in Keeseville

This one-day loop delivers a ride that’s as rewarding as the destination. Starting in Keeseville, kick things off with a stop at the dramatic sandstone cliffs of Ausable Chasm, then head south on Route 9, a rider favorite for its smooth pavement, gentle rollers, and sweeping mountain views. The route winds through Elizabethtown before descending to Lake Champlain, where Route 22 hugs the shoreline through the historic villages of Essex and Willsboro. On the return, the High Peaks rise behind you, making the final stretch just as memorable as the first. End the day with a well-earned stop at Ausable Brewing Company.

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A group of bikers ride along a road with mountains in the background.

Southern Adirondack Motorcycle Tour

Two days | Schroon Lake to Lake George and back | Deep forest roads

This two-day loop covers the kind of Adirondack roads that remind you why you ride. Day one takes you from Schroon Lake through Minerva, home to Sporty’s Iron Duke Saloon, a biker bar loaded with memorabilia and a warm welcome, before continuing along the Hudson River to Indian Lake and on to Speculator. Day two winds through the waterfall-rich towns of Wells and Hope before following the Sacandaga River into Northville and then on to Lake George. The roads favor lakes and small towns over highways throughout, and the scenery earns every mile.

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Donnelly's ice cream stand

Northern Adirondack Motorcycle Tour

Three days | Tupper Lake through Lake Placid | Brews and views

This three-day tour is the most ambitious of the three, showcasing some of the best riding in the northern Adirondacks. Day one winds from Tupper Lake through the St. Regis Canoe Area to Saranac Lake, with a stop at Donnelly’s Ice Cream for sweeping views of Whiteface Mountain. Day two opens with the Whiteface Veterans’ Memorial Highway, arguably New York’s finest motorcycle road, then continues through Au Sable Forks, Jay, and the dramatic narrows of Cascade Pass toward Lake Placid. Day three keeps you rolling out of Lake Placid and through Ray Brook, linking a series of easygoing stops before wrapping up.

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Bonus Miles: More Roads to Explore

Here are some can't-miss routes and roads that will make any Adirondack motorcycle trip unforgettable, perfect for adding onto your route or exploring some of the region’s most iconic rides after Americade.

  • Whiteface Veterans' Memorial Highway
  • Norman Ridge Road
  • Mount Defiance
  • Route 28N (Newcomb to Long Lake)
  • Route 73 through Keene Valley
  • Blue Ridge Road (Route 2)
  • Ausable Chasm Road & Route 9N
  • Route 30 (Speculator to Tupper Lake)
  • Route 9N along Lake Champlain
Motorcycling in the Adirondacks.

Why the Adirondacks?

The park is the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States, bigger than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon combined. For riders, that means hundreds of miles of roads with genuine variety: mountain passes, riverside runs, lakefront cruises, and quiet forest stretches that feel like the rest of the world dropped away. The roads are well-maintained, traffic is light outside of peak summer weekends, and every town along these routes has a coffee shop, a bar, or a local willing to point you toward the best road you’ve never heard of. Fall foliage season, roughly late September through mid-October, is peak riding time, but summer weekends and the weeks around Americade in June are the heart of the riding calendar here.

Motorcycling in the Adirondacks.

Ready to ride?

Start planning your motorcycle tour to the Adirondacks. Explore our regions to find the towns, landscapes, and local stops that line your route so you can make the most of every mile before you ever leave the driveway.