Overview
Join us on this 4-day tour, where you will spend 3 days cruising through the wild High Atlas Mountains. You will push your limits with some steep uphills, and feel the wind on your face as you speed downhill into the traditional Berber villages, giving you a taste of the remote mountain life. Have a taste of a different side of Morocco at a different pace.
Highlights
- Explore the bustling city of Marrakech
- Experience hair-pin turns and thrilling downhills
- Cruise through traditional Berber villages
- Adventure into the remote High Atlas Mountains
Itinerary
We will pick you up in Marrakech, and drive you to your comfortable, traditional riad in the stunning ancient medina. You will have a bike fitting, and we will then have a short bike tour of Marrakech to get you accustomed to your new ride. After, you will have time for exploring the souks, bargain with locals, browse through the handmade crafts, and soak up the vibrant atmosphere of the famous Jma el Fna square, before resting your body in the riad before the upcoming cycling adventure!
After breakfast, your guide will pick you up for your riad for an early-morning transfer into the stunning mountains. You'll watch modern life drop away as the road curves deeper into the Moroccan highlands.
Your bicycle journey will start near the beautiful Lake Takerkoust, where you start with a flat road before starting the ascent to Takherkhourte Village. We will then zigzag our way up to the Kik plateau, which will reward you with a great view of the mighty peaks of the Atlas Mountains and Mount Toubkal; the highest peak of North Africa, towering over Morocco at 4167m. After a nice ride through terraces and local adobe villages, a exhilerating downhill will bring you down to the large village of Asni. If you still have some energy we can ride the remaining 17 km of a tarmac road leading uphill to the mountain village of Imlil, nestled between 3000m peaks. Otherwise we will pack our bikes and our 4x4 will give us a lift to our stunning riad, overlooking the valley and villages of Imlil, where we will spend the night
After a delicious, local breakfast, we will begin our ride with a challenging climb to the mountain pass of Tizi n'Tamatertat, which reaches 2230m. From the top, you will enjoy dramatic views of the majestic High Atlas summits including Mount Toubkel, and the villages below which scatter the mountainsides. After a comfortable downhill, we will stop at the traditional village of Wanskra, we will follow a dirt track which snakes it way down the lush valley. The track is awesome, over hanging the deep valley with its green terraces and beehive like villages clinging to the dry mountain hillsides. Our ride is punctuated by the kids are always amazed to see visitors on MTBS. We will arrive at Ansi once more, which marks the end of our ride, which means a delicious, locally cooked meal and bed in a traditional Berber house.
After a filling breakfast, our journey will start. We will ride a short flat section before testing our physical abilities on a long and challenging uphill climb, where the hard work will pay off as we enjoy the superb viwes of the contrasting flat plains far north and the imposing summits of the Atlas Mountains above us. We will continue riding a nice track heading east, until we arrive above the amazing Ourika Valley. A mixture of trails and tracks will lead us to the bottom of the verdant valley where our day of cycling ends. After packing our bikes, a short transfer will lead us back to vibrant Marrakech.
