Best of Morocco on Motorbike

Two weeks is what Morocco actually needs, and this itinerary spends them properly. Rather than sprinting to the dunes and back, it draws a wide anticlockwise circle that covers the four landscapes people come for: the middle mountains and their cedar forests, the imperial city of Fes, the Sahara at Merzouga, and the Atlantic coast, with the High Atlas crossed at both ends. The opening days work north-east from Marrakesh to the reservoir at Bin El Ouidane, taking in the Ouzoud waterfalls, then climb through lake country into the forests around Azrou. A full day is set aside for Fes, ridden as a loop from the same hotel so nobody has to pack: the medina, the tanneries and the oldest urban maze in the world, with the bikes left behind. The route then turns south. Cedar forest gives way to the Middle Atlas plateau, the tunnel dug by the French Foreign Legion, and old Dakar-rally towns on the way to Errachidia, before a short 125 km run puts the group at the dunes of Merzouga in time for an afternoon of optional buggies or a ride out to a ghost village, an evening excursion into the sand and a night at a desert camp. The homeward half is where the riding peaks. A long stage crosses emptied-out desert to the Todra valley and Boumalne Dades, followed by a rest day with an optional loop up the Dades gorge. Then comes a deliberately short leg to a lake near Ouarzazate, a big day over the Anti-Atlas through Tazenakht, capital of the carpet trade, and Tallouine, where the saffron is grown, into the argan country around Taroudant and its riad and market. The last three riding days reach the ocean by way of the remote roads through Paradise Valley to Agadir, follow country lanes to the eighteenth-century fortress town of Essaouira, and finish with the wide plains between the Atlas and the Atlantic back into Marrakesh for the bikes' return and a farewell dinner. Fourteenth-day departures are flexible, with time for one last look at the city if the flight allows.

Fourteen days and eleven riding days on the most complete road loop Wheels of Morocco run: Marrakesh out to the Middle Atlas, down to the Sahara, west through the Anti-Atlas to the Atlantic and back. The route is entirely sealed and the operator pitches it at experienced riders happy with long days and constant corners, with stages between roughly 120 and 290 km. Highlights come in order rather than in a rush: the Ouzoud falls and the lake at Bin El Ouidane, a day trip into imperial Fes and its tanneries, cedar forests and the Foreign Legion tunnel, a desert camp at Merzouga, the Todra cliffs, a rest day at Boumalne Dades, saffron country at Tallouine, then Agadir, Essaouira and the plains back to Marrakesh. Hotels, dinners, guide and support vehicle are included.