Magical Morocco Motorcycle Tour: Mountains, Oases & Casbahs

Sixteen days is enough to ride Morocco north to south and back without skipping anything, and this is the tour IMTBIKE built for people who would rather see the whole country than sprint to the dunes. It opens in Spain. The first stage runs from Malaga to Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on the African coast, and the second climbs into the Rif to Chefchaouen, the mountain town painted in a hundred shades of blue. Fes follows, with a full rest day for the medina, its tanneries and the labyrinth of streets that no map really covers. The push south is the longest ride of the trip, about 350 km from Fes through the Middle Atlas to Erfoud and the Sahara dunes, followed by a second rest day in the desert. Anyone who has only seen the Sahara in photographs will find the scale hard to process: a dune field the size of a city, and silence at night. The southern section is the richest riding. From the desert the route takes the Todra gorge to Boumalne Dades, about 250 km, then crosses to Zagora in the Draa valley, roughly 280 km through palm groves and stone desert, and continues to Ait Ben Haddou, the fortified village above the river that has doubled as half the ancient world on film. The 280 km stage over the High Atlas to Marrakech is the classic crossing, and a third rest day there covers the souks and the Jemaa el-Fna. The homeward leg is not filler. Two more riding days, around 200 km into the pre-Atlas hills and 220 km on to Tangier, cover the western interior most tours never touch, before the ferry back to Malaga on day fifteen and flights home on the sixteenth. IMTBIKE rate the skill level as intermediate, with advanced ratings for scenery and for history and culture, which is a fair description. Fifteen nights in hotels and riads, fifteen breakfasts, twelve dinners, a new BMW with three cases, a guide riding with the group and a support vehicle for luggage are all included; lunches, fuel, tolls and drinks are not.

IMTBIKE's long Morocco itinerary: sixteen days out of Malaga with fourteen riding days and around 2,964 km, taking in Spain, the Rif, the Sahara and the High Atlas. After crossing to Ceuta the route climbs to the blue town of Chefchaouen and continues to Fes for a rest day, then runs 350 km south to the dunes beyond Erfoud, where a second rest day is spent in the Sahara. The southern leg links the Todra gorge and Boumalne Dades, the Draa valley at Zagora and the kasbah at Ait Ben Haddou before crossing to Marrakech for a third rest day. The return follows the pre-Atlas hills back to Tangier and the ferry to Malaga. Stages run 160 to 350 km on new BMW machinery, with hotels, riads, a guide and a support vehicle included.