Hi,can anyone please help?We are planning our first motorcycle trip abroad (rented a BMW Funduro/booked hotel in Marrakech)and would like some ideas/must see places.We have bike for 4 days and will be there for 6 days.We would like to see the famous sights and possibly spend a night under the stars on a safe dune.Any help very much appreciated,thanks,Richard and Helen

Getting to the dunes and back again will take most of your four days, so I'd forget that and instead book a donkey ride on Blackpool beach instead.

What I'd suggest is...
Day 1: South from Marrakech to Ouarzazate over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, stopping at Bikershome.
Day 2: East from Ouarzazate to Dades Gorge then on to Todra Gorge, stopping at Auberge Le Festival
Day 3: North from Todra to Imilchil then west to Azilal, stopping at Hotel Tanout
Day 4: West from Azilal via Cascades d'Ouzoud and Imni n'Infri at Demnate back to M'kech.

All of these routes are in good condition and I've ridden almost all of them over the last few weeks. Get a Michelin 742 map to check out the route and if you want more info (like where exactly to go), then please post.

Tim

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

If I had 4 full days to ride out of Marrakech two up on a Funduro I'd say heck, it's our big adventure and try and upgrade to a boxer; the Mrs will tank me. Then I'd:

1. Head over the pass and turn south for Tazenacht - nice small carpet making town and a ride that just gets better and better. In Taz I'd suss out the selection and start negotiations over a small carpet.

2. Have a lie in then carry on to Foum Zguid - another chilled town that opens out onto the real Sahara (next town, Timbuktu). Then I'd realise how hot it is down here this time of year and decide to park up at a hotel in town and enjoy the afternoon off with an OJ in the square. Maybe I'd go out for an evening ride with no baggage into the desert to see what riding on the piste is really like.

3. Next day I'd head back north but turn east for lunch in Agdz - another brilliant ride - then head over a pass for Bikershome in Ozt, as Tim suggested - great food and lodgings. It's easier to locate coming from the SE.
Or, I'd ride west down to Kasba el Joua turn off, up to Akka Ighern and right through on the tarmac up onto the plateau and the N10 (Route MA11 - lunch at Agadir Melloul), then turn east back to Taz in the sunset and make the deal on that carpet. A traffic-free tarmac ride through the desert that, unless I'm very much mistaken, will blow your mind.

4. From Bikers or Taz, I'd enjoy that brilliant first day ride in the other direction back over the pass to Marrakech. Back at the hotel I'd admire my lovely new carpet and have a nice feed.


If that 1000-odd miles doesn't satisfy you then ask for a full refund at the airport. It's just inside on the right next to tourist information ;-)

Ch

PS - All dunes are safe in Morocco but avoid riding into the night. Not everyone uses lights as 'they wear out the battery'.

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Adventure Motorcycling Handbook 8 • Morocco Overland 3 • Overlanders Handbook 2 • Twit

Superb program! Top quality advise. Good for eyeryone. Nice text!

Thanks a lot.

Rui.

Hello Tim!
I'm at final step in organizing my trip to Morocco (thanks again for all the infos you gave us inside other useful threads of this Sahara board).
I ask you the following question, since you know the Country very well: I and my girlfirend will arrive in Marrakech around noon of August 9, so we'll visit the town in the afternoon and overstay at night.
The following day, early morning, we will be bound to Essaouira, stay there 5-6 hours and return back to Marrakech late afternoon in order to be there before sunset.

Now your suggestion: is it worthy to spend that day in Essaouira or is it more convenient to use it completely to spend another day in Marrakech? (we'll stay only 10 full days in Morocco).
I ask you this because I would stay in Marrakech also that "full" day, but my girlfriend would like to go to Essaouira (that does not attract me so much, according to some reports I been reading all over the web).
Thanks for your suggestion! (of course, this question is "open" not only to Tim, but also to anybody else...)

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Nick and his 2010 Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré

All the guide books suggest Essaouira and the posters on the Moroccan branch of Thorn Tree seem to like it, but I'm not so keen--there are so many other places to go in Morocco.

But if your gf want to go to Essaouira, keep the peace. And anyway in August Marrakech will be baking hot and you might be glad of the cooler breezes on the coast. Alternatively head for the mountains for cooler air. Ouirgane is nice, see LookLex / Morocco / Ouirgane

Tim

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Thanks, Tim, I'll try to join Ouirgane to our trip in some way!!

Cheers from Italy.

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Nick and his 2010 Yamaha XT1200Z Super Ténéré