Arkansas Trip Advice

[64East]

I am planning a trip to Arkansas with my Spyder (hopefully this fall). I have downloaded the Arkansas motorcycle guide (fantastic!). I will be in Arkansas for 6-7 days and I would like to split my time between two locations for approximately 3 days each. My wife will not join me for all rides so a town with some daytime activities (shops, etc.) would be great. If I could only pick a couple towns with great Spyder rides and some shops what would you recommend? Eureka Springs, Fayetteville, Hot Springs, etc.? Open to any suggestions. I am tentatively planning on sometime between late September and early November. Can you make a recommendation on the typical best week within this timeframe based upon experience? Thank you in advance for your help and recommendations.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

I am planning a trip to Arkansas with my Spyder (hopefully this fall). I have downloaded the Arkansas motorcycle guide (fantastic!). I will be in Arkansas for 6-7 days and I would like to split my time between two locations for approximately 3 days each. My wife will not join me for all rides so a town with some daytime activities (shops, etc.) would be great. If I could only pick a couple towns with great Spyder rides and some shops what would you recommend? Eureka Springs, Fayetteville, Hot Springs, etc.? Open to any suggestions. I am tentatively planning on sometime between late September and early November. Can you make a recommendation on the typical best week within this timeframe based upon experience? Thank you in advance for your help and recommendations.

Been in that State many many times ..... mostly near Branson Mo. ( for Spyderfest ) some really fantastic riding in the Mar Twain forest ... also Peel's ferry area ..... enjoy ...... wish I were you .:roflblack:....... Mike :thumbup:

[Ex-Rocket]

I live in Arkansas but in the Northeast part of the state where exciting twisties are not very common. So I'm not real familiar with the northwest part of the state where there are twisties galore. Maybe Cruzr Joe will chime in and give you some information on that part of the state. For my twisty riding I have traveled several times to the eastern part of Tenn. were there is so many twisties to do. Sounds like a great trip you have planned, just hope the Covid-19 is over by then.

[ARtraveler]

Eureka Springs is probably the most motorcycle friendly city. It will be past the main tourist season so things will be a little more quiet there.

Lots of great twisties around the Harrison, Jasper, Ponca area. The AR motorcycle tour book is full of good stuff.

[ozarkryder]

That's my area! Late September has Bikes, Blues and BBQ in Fayetteville Sept. 23 - 26. It is supposed to be the 4th largest rally in the US, all for charity. It bleeds over to all of Northwest Arksanas with and estimated 400,000 attendees. (that estimate is too high in my opinion). I have been to all the rallys since the beginning, and the poker run that morphed into BB& BBQ. If a large rally with lots of vendors, bands and events are your thing, this could be for you. https://bikesbluesandbbq.org/ I have friends that came in from out of state for a week to ride the Ozarks and plan it to incorporate some of the rally, and ride for themselves the rest of the week.

Eureka Springs is a great place to use as a base for riding the area. I would most likely just use Eureka as a base, as there are more things to see and great rides in the area the area than you can do in a month, much less than just 7 days. Eureka is an interesting arts community, with many quirky shops eateries, historic places to see and is a very motorcycle friendly place. Bentonville, with the Crystal Bridges museum and the home of Walmart museum is a short distance, there are good rides around Beaver Lake, the Pig Trail is a must and not too far down Hwy 23, and at the south end of the Pig Trail is Ozark AR, just a few miles from Altus which has some very good winerys. Branson and Springfied MO isn't too far, Fayetteville with a few craft breweries and great eclectic dining is a short ride away. Devils Den State Park is a very nice ride as are pretty much all the roads in NWA.

[64East]

Thanks everyone. Especially the information on the Bikes, Blues and BBQ rally and the information on Eureka Springs. I have been looking forward this trip for quite a while. I am hoping that everything will work out so I can go this fall. It sounds like just a great state for the Spyder. ARtraveler - Thanks for the advice on the Harrison / Jasper area. I have read some great information on that area also.

[Big F]

You won't go wrong in Eureka Springs and Branson, trust me. we have done both and plan on same again this year. Lots of awesome riding...
BIG F

[EdMat]

Downloaded the guide. Great information. Wish every State did this.

[ARtraveler]

Downloaded the guide. Great information. Wish every State did this.

It's great starter information. We have used it, but it is amazing what you find just heading down a new country road. And there are a lot of them in our area. :yes:

[cruisinTX]

I have relatives in Bentonville and Rogers; subsequently have spent a fair amount of time there the last few years. I also made a 9-day 1700 mile trip there in October of 2018 on a bike. Part of that trip was spent in a car with my wife who met me at her brother's house in Bentonville about half way into the trip. Some roads I would highly recommend in addition to those already mentioned are hwy 28 from Bole to Ola and pretty much any of the roads around that. It's in the Ouachita National Forest. If you do get that far south, and have not done the Tali-Mena Scenic Byway, it is a must do just for the quality of the road and layout. It runs from Talihina, OK to Mena, AR and is one of the most scenic drives I've ever been on. The planners included a lot of big turn-out areas every few miles so tourists could get off the road to safely stop for viewing. Another great drive is 309 from Paris to Havana that takes you over Mt Magazine. Hwy 7 from El Dorado to Bull Shoals Lake is another great scenic by-way but the best parts are from Arkadelphia to Bull Shoals and include those parts ARtraveler mentioned around Jasper and Harrison.

In a nutshell; anything in AR that is part of a national forest or near any of the big lakes is great riding with great scenery. I requested the travel brochures and maps from the state tourism office and used those along with my Butler maps to plan a great trip. The Butler maps are extremely useful as they highlight what roads are good for motorcycles/Spyders. They are a little pricey, but made of tough water resistant material and were a key part of my planning process.

[bikerbillone]

Hello 64East in Clearwater, Lakeland here, sounds like a great ride. I have a cousin in Bryant, near Little Rock, had the itch to do an AR ride for a long time, I'd like to get to it this year, might be next with all the crazy stuff going on.

[Big Juice]

Northwest Arkansas is an amazing area for riders! Great small towns, great roads, and beautiful scenery, and with good eat'n almost anywhere you stop. If you want a little interesting history, try Hot Springs. Go downtown and walk the old main drag with all the small shops, Gangster Museum as also is a great stop, and eat at the Ohio Club (historic place, where the gangsters always ate). There's also Oaklawn Race Track (horses) to see and visit, and of course the most important thing is the hot spring Bath Houses!! There are some open and there is a bath house museum, all of these on Bathhouse Row. Google for more info, there is a lot to see in Hot Springs (well, I might be a little prejudiced, I live in Hot Springs Village, AR, and the wife and I moved here from Texas because of the motorcycle roads and all the beautiful trees!). Retirement is great and we haven't stopped riding in the 3 yrs we've been here.......

[Northofthesix]

A group of us from the Toronto area headed down to Hot Springs a couple years ago, rented a place on a bay as a home base and cruised on fabulous roads all over the area for a week... fell in love with some of the roads in Missouri as well, fabulous rolling hills rather than twisties there (like riding on a roller coaster), spent a night in downtown Memphis on the way... man that was a great trip!! Sadly we are having to work at cancelling this year's ride in the Vermont/ NH/ upstate NY area...... eventually, we will ride again farther than within our immediate areas!!

[AY4B]

I was planning to go during Memorial weekend with a group. I did read somewhere that the hotels had restrictions not allowing out of state visitors. I would check and make sure those restrictions have been lifted first.