Royal Enfield and the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) have signed a two-year motorcycle tourism agreement, running to 2028, and the first ride under it just wrapped: twenty riders covering 1,520 km through six of the state’s wildlife and heritage destinations on the new Royal Enfield Bullet 650. It is not a trip the public can book yet. But the loop it rode is one independent riders already do every winter, on their own bikes, starting right about now.
The expedition was flagged off in Bhopal in the first week of October and closed there on October 9, with cultural performances marking the finish. MPTB and Royal Enfield say more “heritage rides” and “off-road trail explorations” are planned across the state over the two-year partnership, though neither side has announced when, or whether, any of them will be open for public registration.
What the Partnership Actually Covers
The MoU focuses on three things: motorcycle tourism, responsible riding, and cultural experiences tied to travel. Trade coverage of the signing, including reports from Autocar Professional and The Bike Junction, names no individual signatories, but confirms the flag-off was attended by Madhya Pradesh’s tourism secretary and officials from MPTB and Royal Enfield. The stated goal is to pull riders toward destinations beyond the state’s usual tourist circuit, a fair description of a route built almost entirely around tiger reserves and temple towns most road-trippers skip.
The Route: Six Stops in Ten Days
The loop started and ended in Bhopal. Each leg mixed highway, forest road and ghat sections, and the riders took in wildlife safaris at Pench, Kanha and Bandhavgarh, a stop at the Pachdhar Potters Village, time with the local Baiga community, and the temples at Khajuraho.
| Leg | Distance |
| Bhopal to Pachmarhi | About 200 km |
| Pachmarhi to Pench | 260 km |
| Pench to Kanha | 205 km |
| Kanha to Bandhavgarh | 270 km |
| Bandhavgarh to Panna | 200 km |
| Panna back to Bhopal | 385 km |
| Total | 1,520 km over 10 days |
The final leg, Panna back to Bhopal, was flagged by The Bike Junction as the hardest of the ride, a mix of forest corridors, ghats and open highway in a single 385 km day.
Can You Actually Ride This Yourself Right Now?
Not as an official MPTB-Royal Enfield trip, not yet. This edition was by invitation, for twenty selected riders, with no public registration process. But the chain of parks it strings together, Pachmarhi, Pench, Kanha and Bandhavgarh, is already a standard circuit for independent motorcycle and self-drive trips through central India, and multiple trip-report operators point to October through March as the best riding window, which is the season that just opened. Budget more than the official ride’s pace if you’re planning your own version: older route write-ups of this same park network flag ongoing road-widening and repair work on stretches of it, so the comfortable 10-day schedule a sponsored expedition can run assumes support vehicles most independent riders won’t have.
No instrumented test of the new Bullet 650 on a 1,520 km route like this has been published anywhere, including by us, so treat the bike’s touring comfort as unproven rather than assumed. What is confirmed is the route, the season, and the price.
What the Bullet 650 Actually Costs for a Trip Like This
The bike that led the ride starts at ₹3.65 lakh ex-showroom, in Cannon Black or Battleship Blue, with no separate trim levels to choose between. On The Spec’d’s on-road price page for Bhopal, where this ride started, it comes to about ₹4.15 lakh on the road, Madhya Pradesh’s 8% road tax adding ₹29,188. On 20% down over a 3-year loan at 12% interest, that works out to roughly ₹11,037 a month.
| City | On-road price | Road tax |
| Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh | ₹4.15 lakh | 8% |
| Mumbai, Maharashtra | ₹4.3 lakh | 12% |
| Gap | ₹15,000 | – |
These are estimates built on current ex-showroom and RTO figures, not a dealer quote, so confirm the final number before booking. For riders chasing a similar circuit on a different machine, The Spec’d’s full list of touring bikes on sale in India is worth a look before the season gets any further along.
What to Watch For Next
Nothing about future editions has been made public: no calendar, no registration link, no word on whether MPTB opens future rides to riders outside Royal Enfield’s own network. Given the two-year horizon both sides have committed to, the more realistic plan for most riders this season is still the one nobody needs a sponsor for: pick the same six stops, go between October and March, and build in slack on the Panna-to-Bhopal leg that gave the official expedition its hardest day.
Can I book the Royal Enfield-MP Tourism ride myself?
Not yet. The first edition was by invitation only, for twenty riders. MPTB and Royal Enfield have announced plans for more heritage and off-road rides through 2028 but have not published a registration process or public calendar.
When is the best time to ride the Pachmarhi-Kanha-Bandhavgarh circuit?
Independent trip operators who already run this route point to October through March, after the monsoon clears and before summer heat sets in, which lines up with when this expedition rode it.
What does the Royal Enfield Bullet 650 cost on the road?
It starts at ₹3.65 lakh ex-showroom. In Bhopal, where this ride began, that comes to about ₹4.15 lakh on the road with Madhya Pradesh’s 8% two-wheeler road tax included, per The Spec’d’s city price pages.
