Adventure | 6-Day Tour Happy Valley: 8 days - 6 days riding

Period: September - MayFull biking license required

Starting from€2,300Book now

Details

Embark on a 6-day biking trip and ride through the High Atlas landscapes, experience ancient traditions, and interact with the Berber community. You’ll immerse yourself in the lively atmosphere, vibrant colors, and diverse scents of incense and spices in Morocco.

With nearly 30 years of experience in Morocco, we know the best biking routes, off-road tracks, 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. Visit Marrakech and Ait Ben Haddou, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and venture to the Sahara Desert.

Start and end your journey in Marrakech on our dual sport adventure bikes. Stay in local-style accommodations, including converted kasbahs, to enhance your experience.

Highlights

Marrakech “The Red City” one of the Imperial cities – UNESCO site
The ancient fortress of Ait Ben Haddou was once a significant resting point for the camel caravans carrying slaves and spices from the southern regions. It is now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The GEOpark of Mgoun – UNESCO site

Staying in converted kasbahs (castles) over 200 years old.
Experience the famous switchbacks in the Dades Gorge.
High Atlas Mountains & the stunning Jebel Saghro range
Cross 3000m high mountain passes

What’s included

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).

What’s required

A full biking license is needed – so bring it with you! Sorry 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-liter 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 2L Camelback 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 COMMENCING THE TOUR.

Accommodation

SMALL HOTELS, RIADS AND AUBERGES WHEREVER WE STOP.

We use a selection of accommodations, always the nicest available in the area we are stopping. 3* local auberges and inns, and on three of the nights, original old kasbahs (castles) over 200 years old, totally renovated and conditioned to be small hotels.

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

Itinerary

Day 1 - Arrival Day

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.

Day 2 - Marrakech to Cascade D'Ouzoud | 190kms

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.

Day 3 - Cascade D'Ouzoud to Zouit Ahansal | 180kms

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.

Day 4 - Zouit Ahansal to Dades Gorge | 180kms

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.

Day 5 - Dades Gorge to N'Kob | 150kms

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.

Day 6 - N'Kob to Ait ben Haddou | 150kms

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.

Day 7 - Ait ben Haddou to Marrakech | 190kms

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.