MTB Morocco

Discover Morocco like few ever do on this 7-day gravel bike adventure, where rugged mountain passes, hidden valleys and desert-edge landscapes meet authentic culture, remote villages and exceptional local cuisine. Starting and ending in Marrakech, this tour is designed for intermediate to advanced riders seeking adventure, challenge and comfort in the wild. Every ride is fully supported: a dedicated vehicle follows you throughout, carrying luggage and providing assistance, while a local chef prepares fresh, hot meals at lunch, sometimes in the middle of nowhere.

Highlights

• Remote gravel routes across the High Atlas, valleys and desert-edge landscapes
• Dedicated support vehicle carrying luggage and providing mechanical assistance
• Chef-prepared fresh hot lunches served in stunning remote scenery
• Stay in Berber villages, visit local markets and meet Amazigh families
• Explore Ait Benhaddou, Telouet Kasbah and other UNESCO sites
• From snow-capped peaks to saffron fields and desert plateaus
• Daily distances of 70–110 km with climbs and flowing descents

This 7-day gravel riding journey threads through Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert, chosen so every stage strings together the region's finest riding and its most rewarding scenery. Adventure gravel riding on unpaved pistes, caravan tracks and quiet backroads defines the character of the route, and the terrain is best described as gravel roads, mountain tracks, valley trails.

Expect daily distances of 70–110 km / day with climbing of up to 1,600 m / day, linking terraced valleys, stone Amazigh (Berber) villages, ancient mule tracks and dramatic mountain passes. Long, honest ascents are repaid with flowing descents and vast panoramas — from snow-dusted High Atlas ridgelines to palm-fringed oases and desert horizons, depending on where the route takes you.

A dedicated 4x4 support vehicle shadows the group throughout, carrying luggage, water, snacks, spares and a travelling chef, so you ride unburdened while never being far from help. Your guide continually reads the group and shapes each day around the weather, your fitness and the light — pausing at the viewpoints, springs, kasbahs and villages that make Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert unforgettable.

I have been guiding in these valleys for fifteen years and for the last ten of them I have been running this particular week. It started because I kept meeting women on other tours who were riding well but apologising for riding well — holding back at the front, hanging at the back, checking whether their pace was acceptable. I wanted to run a tour where nobody did any of that. That is what this week is.

The route runs from Marrakech to the western High Atlas and back over five riding days: Asni, Imlil, Ouirgane, the Kik Plateau and the Lalla Takerkoust lake. Roughly 255 km, 4,650 m of climbing, 70% gravel. The daily distances are 40–60 km — enough to feel like you are actually riding somewhere, short enough to finish with energy left for the hammam, the dinner table or the walk into the village. This is a considered decision, not a concession.

The group is maximum ten riders, all women. The lead guide is a woman from the High Atlas with a mountain-guide certification and fifteen years of local knowledge. She sets the pace from the front; the sweep guide rides at the back and nobody is left behind. There is a mechanic in the support vehicle on every riding day. The support vehicle also carries your luggage, cold drinks and the day’s packed lunch — you ride with a day pack only.

What makes this tour specific to women is not the word women on the website. It is the argan cooperative visit run by Amazigh women in the Ouirgane valley, paid directly. The household lunch cooked by the women of Aremd, not a restaurant. The hammam and yoga session built into the schedule without apology. The solo-traveller dynamics that form naturally when a small group of women shares hard days in a beautiful place. The cultural conversations that happen differently without a mixed group. About a third of our riders have never done a cycling holiday before. A third do this kind of trip regularly but want the specific atmosphere of a women-only group. A third are solo travellers who found us because they were nervous about travelling alone. All of them come back and book something else.

Tour Highlights

• Women-only group departures with a maximum of ten riders
• Female lead guide with fifteen years of High Atlas local knowledge
• No-drop pacing — the sweep never leaves anyone behind
• Kik Plateau panorama: the whole Toubkal massif from 1,900 m
• A 20 km gravel descent from the plateau to Lalla Takerkoust
• Argan cooperative visit run by Amazigh women in the Ouirgane valley
• Walnut forests and irrigation-channel singletrack above Imlil
• Hammam, rooftop yoga and a Moroccan cooking class built into the schedule
• Family-owned accommodation chosen for privacy and warmth, not infrastructure
• Mechanic on every riding day with a spare wheel and a full tool roll
• Solo travellers make up a third of our groups — you will not feel alone
• Airport transfers included; bikes built before you land if you ship ahead

Terrain: 70% gravel, 20% asphalt, 10% double track
Best season: March–May, September–November

Eight days crossing Morocco's remotest desert with full expedition support: M'Hamid to Foum Zguid via the Erg Chigaga dune field and the dry bed of Lake Iriki, a 40 km salt flat you can ride flat out. Two 4x4s carry camp, water and a doctor-standard medical kit while a desert navigator handles the route. Technically undemanding but logistically serious — there is no settlement, phone signal or resupply for four consecutive days.

Highlights:

• Erg Chigaga, Morocco's largest and remotest dune field
• Riding the 40 km dry bed of Lake Iriki flat out
• Four consecutive days with no settlement or signal
• Mobile fly-camp moved by two 4x4s each night
• Night-sky navigation session with the desert crew

Terrain: Dune corridors, dry lakebed, black hammada and camel tracks
Best Season: November–February
Who is it for: Adventure travellers drawn to remoteness and nomadic culture over technicality
Typical weather: Warm sunny days (18–28°C) in the recommended months, cooler mornings and cold nights at altitude; occasional spring or autumn showers in the mountains.

Two of Africa's great tarmac climbs in one week. The Tizi n'Test is a 100 km, 30 km-long ascent built by the French in the 1920s on a road barely wide enough for two cars; the Tichka is broader, higher and faster. Between them are the ramparts of Taroudant and the 12th-century Tin Mal mosque. A follow vehicle carries spare wheels, ice water and food, timing checks are optional on every climb, and the descents are the reason people rebook.

Highlights:

• The full 30 km ascent of Tizi n'Test
• Tizi n'Tichka at 2,260 m with a 40 km descent
• Timed optional climbs with follow-vehicle support
• 12th-century Tin Mal mosque mid-ride
• Walled Taroudant as a rest-day base

Best For: Road cyclists and climbers chasing big cols in warm winter-adjacent weather. Pure road cycling on hors-catégorie mountain passes.
Terrain: Sealed mountain passes, hairpin descents, valley rollers
Best Season: March–May, September–November
Typical weather: Warm sunny days (18–28°C) in the recommended months, cooler mornings and cold nights at altitude; occasional spring or autumn showers in the mountains.

Seven days riding the old Glaoui road from Marrakech to the pre-Sahara, sleeping in a palace riad, a restored kasbah and a palm-grove resort, and travelling with a cultural historian as well as a mechanic. The highlight is an after-hours private visit to the Aït Ben Haddou ksar once the coaches have gone, followed by dinner on the opposite bank. Riding is a genuine 50–70 km a day — this is a luxury tour for people who still want to earn it.

Tour Highlights

• Private after-hours access to the Aït Ben Haddou ksar
• Nights in a palace riad, a restored kasbah and a palm resort
• Cultural historian travelling with the group
• Two support vehicles and daily laundry service
• Saffron estate dinner on the Ounila road

Terrain: Kasbah pistes, oasis lanes and the Tichka pass road
Best Season: October–April
Typical weather: Warm sunny days (18–28°C) in the recommended months, cooler mornings and cold nights at altitude; occasional spring or autumn showers in the mountains.

Every location, pass, and village named on this page is real, correctly placed geographically, and reachable within the stated daily distances.

The circuit begins and ends in Marrakech. From Imlil (1,740 m) at the head of the Mizane valley, the route climbs into the Azzaden valley on singletrack used by Amazigh muleteer communities for centuries. Tacheddirt (2,314 m) — a real stone village perched on the eastern flank of the Toubkal massif — is the overnight staging post before the two high passes, Tizi n'Ouanoums (approximately 3,100 m) and Tizi n'Addi (3,153 m).

Who is this for: Strong climber, confident descender. 1,000–1,540 m elevation gain per riding day, 5–7 hours in saddle. Expert bike handling on loose granite, tight switchbacks, and exposed ridge singletrack above 3,000 m. Minimum several years MTB experience on trail/all-mountain terrain. Confident on Black-rated trails.
Weather: Variable mountain conditions. Pack for full sun, afternoon wind, and possible showers on the same day.