Spain to Morocco (Dec 2019)

[Joteism]

Hello All

I live in Madrid, and plan to take a trip out to Morocco next month (December). I've never been to Morocco before, or ridden the bike so far out, so I thought company would be great.

I don't have a full plan yet, but the general idea is for me to ride the motorcycle to Tarifa and take the ferry to Tangier (I'm fine with any port). I have one week, so I'd like to set a pretty tight itiniery going through the Atlas Mountains primarly off-road. Based on some of research I've done on this forum and advrider, hotels/motels are probably the best option at this time of year.

I have a 2016 Yamaha WR250R. I got it earlier this year, and it's my first dual-sport bike. I rode it solo from Madrid to Algarve (Portugal) in August, with portions of it off-road. So my off-road experience is definitely relatively limited, but I'm very excited about this trip. One thing I know that I don't have to worry about is the bike.

Let me know if you're interested in joining me, or if you have any tips/insight you'd like to share! Dates are totally flexible at this point.

Thanks!

Jote, 33

[Tim Cullis]

There's three (some say four) Atlas mountain ranges in Morocco. With only one week on a 250cc bike, I'd advise you to ignore the High Atlas, the Anti Atlas and the Saharan Atlas, and keep to just the Rif Mountains and Middle Atlas ranges otherwise you will spend too much of your valuable time getting to places.

CHEFCHAOUEN on the edge of the Rif Mountains is a good first night spot to aim for, see my write-up at N30 Through the Horns

There's some better photos at Six weeks in May/June 2012

AZROU in the Middle Atlas mountains is a good place to aim for your second night, stopping in Cedres Hotel or Hotel Panorama. There's volcanos, springs, lakes, wild monkeys and cedar forests. Have a read of my write-up (and map) of visiting the wild monkeys: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel...ar.Forest.html

If you take a look at the map I've linked below, you will see a typical volcano called Jebel Hebri together with other volcanos around. In Jan/Feb Jebel Hebri is often a ski centre. You will see a thin track leading off to the south west. This leads into an offroad wonderland with volcanic vents, cedar forests and beautiful tracks. You can see some photos on the link below.

Map: https://tinyurl.com/jebel-hebri
Photos: M22 Volcanic Vents and Cedars

[Joteism]

Originally Posted by Tim Cullis

There's three (some say four) Atlas mountain ranges in Morocco. With only one week on a 250cc bike, I'd advise you to ignore the High Atlas, the Anti Atlas and the Saharan Atlas, and keep to just the Rif Mountains and Middle Atlas ranges otherwise you will spend too much of your valuable time getting to places.

CHEFCHAOUEN on the edge of the Rif Mountains is a good first night spot to aim for, see my write-up at N30 Through the Horns

There's some better photos at Six weeks in May/June 2012

AZROU in the Middle Atlas mountains is a good place to aim for your second night, stopping in Cedres Hotel or Hotel Panorama. There's volcanos, springs, lakes, wild monkeys and cedar forests. Have a read of my write-up (and map) of visiting the wild monkeys: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel...ar.Forest.html

If you take a look at the map I've linked below, you will see a typical volcano called Jebel Hebri together with other volcanos around. In Jan/Feb Jebel Hebri is often a ski centre. You will see a thin track leading off to the south west. This leads into an offroad wonderland with volcanic vents, cedar forests and beautiful tracks. You can see some photos on the link below.

Map: https://tinyurl.com/jebel-hebri
Photos: M22 Volcanic Vents and Cedars

Thank you very much for the detailed response! I'll heed your advice and stick to those parts for the week. Actually it's perfect, as I'll have no option but to return!

Google directions are via N2 (Tangier to Chefchaouen) and N13 (Chef. to Azrou), which I assume are both paved roads. Would you recommend these major roads between places, and then explore off-road once I get to the destinations, or is it easy enough to find alternate off-road routes in both cases (I have a wikiloc account).