Sea and Sun Motorcycle Weekend in Morocco

Not every trip to Morocco needs two weeks. This one compresses the country's best coastal riding into three days between an arrival evening and a departure morning, and does it without the desert transit stages that eat time on longer tours. The first ride leaves the workshop outside Marrakesh and heads south-west, using the open, sweeping roads that run along the flank of the Atlas towards the Souss valley and the Atlantic at Agadir. It is a day of long third and fourth gear curves rather than tight switchbacks, and it ends at a resort on the coast; riders with an appetite for a walk can take the optional detour into Paradise Valley, the palm-shaded river gorge inland from the coast road. Day three is the one the tour is named for. The route runs north along the Atlantic, on tarmac that threads between sand dunes and low scrub, with a stop at the surf break at Sidi Kaouki and a visit to an argan oil cooperative, before arriving at Essaouira. The fortified port and its UNESCO-listed medina are worth the afternoon: ramparts over the water, a working fishing harbour, and a wind that has made the town a fixture on the kitesurf circuit. The final ride is deliberately unhurried. After a slow morning in Essaouira the group turns inland and crosses the rural plateau between the ocean and the mountains, rocky and open country dotted with argan trees and small market villages, back to the workshop for bike hand-back. The fifth day is a transfer to the airport at whatever time your flight demands. The riding is entirely sealed but not benign: the coast road narrows, the surface changes, and Moroccan traffic requires attention, so the operator asks for riders who are comfortable at a decent pace on unfamiliar roads. Accommodation is four and five star, breakfasts and dinners are covered, and a support vehicle joins once the group reaches five riders. It is a short tour that behaves like a long one, with the same guide, gear and logistics as the operator's two-week itineraries.

A five-day, three-ride escape from Marrakesh to the Atlantic and back, built for people who can only get away for a long weekend. Day one is arrival and briefing; the riding starts with the run south-west over the Atlas foothills to Agadir, continues north up the coast to Essaouira through dunes and argan country, and finishes with a return leg across rocky farmland to Marrakesh. Wheels of Morocco rate the route as 100 per cent good tarmac, but the roads are narrow and twisty enough that they ask for experienced riders. Stops along the way include Sidi Kaouki, an argan oil cooperative and the UNESCO-listed medina at Essaouira, with an optional hike into Paradise Valley for anyone with energy left. Bikes run from the KTM 390 up to the BMW R 1250 GS, with hotels, dinners and airport transfers handled.