Road	Length	High point
Iowa Driftless Area Loop (IA-76 / Great River Road) Northeast Iowa's Driftless corner was never flattened by glaciers, leaving tall Mississippi River bluffs and steep wooded valleys. The roughly 68-mile Waukon loop links IA-76, IA-26, and US-52, with bluff-top climbs and hairpin descents down to river towns like Lansing and McGregor.	45 mi	—
Loess Hills National Scenic Byway A 220-mile spine from Akron to Hamburg along Iowa's western edge, tracing a globally rare loess landform that piles into sharp ridges above the Missouri River valley. The most dramatic ridge riding is between Pisgah and Little Sioux, and a network of paved-and-gravel excursion loops branches off the main route.	86 mi	—

By Switchback · Updated continuously

Best season

Spring – Fall (varies by elevation)

Surface

Paved two-lane

Verified by

Riders, not car-brain data

In the app

Offline maps + scenic routing

The best motorcycle roads and rider-grade stops in Iowa, mapped corner by corner.

Why ride Iowa?

Switchback scores every road in Iowa by corner density and elevation, not by how fast it gets you somewhere. The result is a shortlist worth the detour — Iowa Driftless Area Loop (IA-76 / Great River Road), Loess Hills National Scenic Byway among them — each mapped mile by mile with the fuel stops, overlooks, and bailouts that actually matter on two wheels.

Plan before you ride

Mountain and high-desert routes in Iowa can be seasonal — verify pass and weather conditions before you commit, top off fuel before long service gaps, and check the mile-by-mile breakdown on each road's page for the named corners, stops, and turnarounds. Pro riders get offline maps for the stretches where cell coverage drops out.

// Frequently asked

Every route is scored by corner density and elevation change, then verified by riders — not pulled from a generic car database. Stops are checked for bike parking, sightlines to your machine, and fuel before the dead zones.

Yes. Your profile, the Trophy Case, core badges, and the full atlas are free forever. Pro ($49.99/yr) unlocks scenic curvy-road routing, offline maps, group ride tools, and AI route narration.

No — browse the atlas and every mile-by-mile guide free on the web. The app adds turn-by-turn scenic navigation, offline maps, group coordination, and your live Trophy Case on the bars.