Morocco

Happy Valley, Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert Tour : 8 days - 6 days riding

Period: September - MayFull biking license required
Starting from€2,300Book now

6-Day On-Road Atlas Mountains Motorcycle Tour

Embark on a 6-day biking adventure into Ait Bouguemez — AKA The Happy Valley — one of the best-kept secrets in Morocco. Thanks to its cool, rich soil, this region is home to fields of wheat and barley that glow golden in the sun, red, rugged, rocky hills, and colourful fruit orchards that lend the air delicious aromas.

On this Atlas Mountains and Sahara desert tour, you will ride through High Atlas landscapes on our dual sport adventure bikes, experiencing ancient traditions and interacting with the Berber community. You’ll immerse yourself in the lively atmosphere, vibrant colours, and diverse scents of incense and spices. 

Stay in local-style accommodations, including converted kasbahs, to enhance your experience. With nearly 30 years of experience in Morocco, we know the best biking routes, attractions, and accommodations. Our tours blend cultural immersion with exciting adventures, taking you off the beaten path to explore the country’s landscapes and landmarks.

You also have the option to extend to seven days by adding a night at the Dades Gorge. This extra day includes local biking explorations and relaxation by the hotel pool. And as one of our Morocco Sahara Desert tours from Marrakech, you can start and end your journey in the famous “Red City” for the ultimate convenience. 

Read the full 8-day itinerary (including arrival and departure days) for this Happy Valley and Atlas Mountains excursion below! If you have any pre-booking questions for the Motor Adventures team, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Looking to test yourself on an off-road enduro experience instead? We think you’ll love our range of hard enduro Morocco off-road tours.

Morocco Sahara Desert Tour from Marrakech Highlights 

  • Marrakech (“The Red City”), one of the Imperial cities and a UNESCO site
  • The ancient fort of Ait Ben Haddou, once an important stopping place for the slave/spice camel trains coming from the south — another UNESCO site
  • The GEOpark of Mgoun — another UNESCO site
  • Staying in converted kasbahs (castles) over 200 years old.
  • Experience the famous switchbacks in the Dades Gorge.
  • High Atlas Mountains and the stunning Jebel Saghro range
  • Cross 3000m-high mountain passes

Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert Tour Price Includes

  • 7 nights twin-share accommodation in 3-5* hotels and auberges.
  • All breakfasts, evening meals. Water, some soft drinks and snacks in the support vehicle for during the day.
  • BMW GS 1250, or GS 900/850/800 or KTM390 Adventure, equipped with topbox (if requested) for 6 riding days.
  • Quadlock mounts, mobile phone and USB cable. Installed on request, with our daily routes in Wikiloc.
  • Support 4×4 vehicle equipped with first aid equipment, compressor, tools etc., carrying passenger luggage.
  • Staff have medical training.
  • A motorcycle guide, plus support vehicle driver and Motor Adventures rep to make sure all runs smoothly. All have good local knowledge of the areas we visit.
  • Return airport transfers to and from Menara Marrakech airport to our hotel (on arrival and departure days).

Note: We have a fleet of 15 adventure bikes of which a couple are lowered. Please request this possibility at the time of booking and we will do our best to comply.

We are very confident our bikes will not have anything other than minor problems, and we feel sure that you, as temporary “owner” of our bike, will look after it as if it were your own and as such will return it to us in good order. If the bike becomes unusable due to an accident then you could be doing the rest of the Happy Valley, Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert Tour in the support vehicle. So, please go carefully and take care of our bikes – and yourselves!

What’s Required on This Morocco Sahara Desert Tour from Marrakech

A full biking license is needed — so bring it with you! Sorry, but if you don’t have it with you, you won’t be allowed to bike.

  • All airfares to/from Marrakech airport where the tour starts and finishes.
  • A personal medical insurance with repatriation (Obligatory).
  • Fuel, anticipate about 150 euros for the entire trip following the itinerary.
  • Please bring a 50-litre soft bag without wheels for your personal clothing and essentials. Remember, you’ll be in biking gear most of the time, so pack wisely!
  • Visas are normally not required but check for your nationality.
  • Drinks, alcohol and snacks at the hotels.
  • Bike deposit: GS1250 – 1900€ | GS900/850/800 – 1500€ | KTM390 – 700€
  • Bring your riding gear: armored jacket, riding pants, strong boots (enduro or Timberland), gloves, helmet (with visor or goggles), waterproofs, and a two-litre drinking system for hydration.

VERY IMPORTANT

Motor Adventures carries a medical box in the assistance vehicle and we are always on hand should you need help.

Please advise if you are ALLERGIC TO ANY MEDICATION or food before the tour commences.

Atlas Mountains Motorcycle Tour Accommodation

Small Hotels, Riads, and Auberges Wherever We Stop

Our trips to the Sahara desert from Marrakech don’t sacrifice comfort! We use a selection of accommodations, always the nicest available in the areas where we stop. These include 3* local auberges and inns, and on three nights we stay in original old kasbahs (castles) that are over 200 years old and have been totally renovated and conditioned into small hotels.

Most of the hotels have swimming pools, but they’re normally cold!

Riad Sirocco | Riad Cascade d’Ouzoud | Dar Ahansal | Dar Blues | Kasbah Imdoukal | Kasbah Ellouze

Atlas Mountains Motorcycle Tour Itinerary

Your day of arrival into Marrakech. You’ll be picked up at the airport and driven about 40 minutes to our pleasant hotel just north of Marrakech, where your bikes will be waiting for you. Inspection, paperwork and handover of the bikes will be around 16.00 and then if you like a 30min taxi ride into the “Red City” to the main square of Jemaa el Fna, where all the action comes alive around 19.30. A snack at one of the many cafes on the square is very typical. Back to the hotel and a good night’s sleep before your adventure begins.

Leave the hotel. Pleasant morning biking through olive groves and on backroads until we turn onto the main road where we refuel. On across country on beautiful winding roads to our lunch stop in a small French owned hotel. Their cuisine is wonderful and much comes from their own gardens. Then a further 80kms on easy gravel tracks to our accommodation. You’ll stay near the breathtaking Cascades d’Ouzoud formed by seven waterfalls fed by the waters that rise in the not-so-distant mountains of the High Atlas. Standing at a height of 110 metres, the water falls in several levels, but not in free fall. You’ll get close up with the cheeky macaques waiting to “ambush” you for food, and probably not resist buying a small souvenir from one of the friendly Berber stall holders.

We leave after breakfast. Passing the man-made lake of Bin el Ouidane we travel on through Africa’s first GeoPark, a UNESCO Heritage site at M’Goun, winding our way upwards on pleasant gravel tracks. Spectacular views across the valleys, and major drop-offs, so careful!!! Overlooked by the impressive Imsfrane Cathedral Rock at 1872 meters, a structure similar to that of a medieval church, the area is distinguished by its Aleppo Pine forests, the contrast of colours – brown rocks, red earth and green pines, and its river valleys.

Today we take you through what is perhaps the most beautiful valley in the High Atlas – Happy Valley. Surrounded by an arena of stunning mountain peaks, you’ll meander through the many picturesque villages built of red soil, hidden away in green valleys and wild landscapes, some forgotten or at least never found, as they are not a part of any normal tourist route. In Springtime the valleys turn a wonderful selection of pink and white as almond, cherry and apple blossom take over. You’ll see nomads tending their livestock, and countless carts transporting goods and locals around the area. We leave Happy Valley traversing three mountain passes – highest at 3005 meters. Now we are down in the Dades River Valley area. A unique kasbah for our stopover tonight, set in a palm grove and serving delicious food.

After a good breakfast we drive up the famous switchbacks of Dades Valley and through the narrow Dades Gorge. Back down and then heading further south, we cross the wonderful lunatic landscapes of the Jebel Saghro Mountain range over the Tizi n Tazazert pass to the edge of the desert at N’Kob. A small “dry” (no alcohol) country town with a varied selection of beautiful old kasbahs (castles), many in different stages of collapse. We experience staying in a converted +200 year old one tonight.
Turning back north we traverse another area of the spectacular Jebel Saghro nicknamed Monument Valley for its impressive rock formations. After lunch in a 400-year-old kasbah we pass through the film mecca of Morocco, Ouarzazate, and on to Ait Ben Haddou, another UNESCO Heritage site and in days past one of the stopping places for the vast camel trains bringing spices and slaves north. Experience another beautifull converted kasbah.
Staying on the backroads we journey along the twisting roads of the Telouet valleys before joining the main arterial road from Marrakech to the desert. We cross the High Atlas over the Tizi n Tichka pass at 2205 meters and then turn off onto the quieter backroads south of Marrakech, through olive groves, palmeries and across dry riverbeds back to our hotel.

Your departure. After breakfast you will be transferred to the airport at a time to connect with your flight.

We hope you have enjoyed exploring this part of The Kingdom with us and will be back on another adventure with us sometime in the future.

Happy Valley, Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert Tour 

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