Rookie to Morocco
 

Dear Travel Mates,

I will be rookie in Morocco beginning of March and would like to share my plan as I’m open for any suggestion and have some questions. My bike will be a Transalp 650 with onroad tyre + I will be alone so no offrad plan. I checked a forum here , bought Chris Scott’s book, checked Morocco knowledgebase (thanks for it). I will have 10 days from and back to Malaga where my bike parking. I try to use R and P roads as much as possible but have to compromise due to tight timing.

Day1 Malaga – Asilah (Ferry to Tanger Med )
Day2 Asilah – Marrakesh (highway 530 km, evening city tour Marrakesh)
Day3 – Marrakesh – Tizi’n Test - Taliouine ( 242km)
Day4 Taliouine – Ait ben Hanou – Quarzazate (209km) (maybe up and down Tizi N’Tichka if have time)
Day5 – Quarzazate – Dara Valley – Tazzarine (270km) – or other city instead overnight in the region?
Day6 Tazzarine – Merzouga – (200km) – is the road N12 all tarmac between them?
Day7 –Merzouga – Azrou 370km (a bit long)
Day8 Azrou – Asilah (mostly highway 382km)
Day 9 Asilah – Malaga

My route a bit touristy I know and still miss Dades Gorge, Fes, Chefchauen etc – but most probably I will come back later again.
Question: The plan above only 9 days and has one spare day still in it. Do you have recommendation where to spend + 1 day and to do a round tour around (I’m thinking on Quarzazate) or to split day 7 and 8 to three days? Any other recommendation welcome. Thanks

From Merzouga I would head to Tinerhir then up the Todra Gorge to Imichil then Midelt

Sounds perfectly do-able. 300-400-500kms is easily done in a day on the roads in Maroc, but you won't get the chance to stop and look much. Your plan for 200 odd kms will allow that.

Roads are very good in general. you will get forced off them every now and again where there are roadworks, but you should have no serious problems. People will help out if there is a problem.

N12 was just being finished just east of Tazzarine when I was there in April last year, so it should be finished. Even if it is not paved, is is well used very easy gravel, so again no problem.

You may find it cold up in the mountains. I was there in April and it was about 10 degrees in the high atlas, a lot of snow on the ground above 2000m but all roads open. in Mezouga it was 35 degrees +, so be prepared for differing landscapes, but that is part of the fun.

As for your day off, Mezouga or Efroud are places with lots of tourist potential. I spend a day in Azrou which I really loved, going up to the cedar forests. hanging out with tortoises and monkeys, looking around the market. Wherever you stop, it certainly won't be like Europe.

Have a great trip

The N12 has been tarmac from the junction with the N9 and Merzouga for years?

Oops sorry forgot the last bit to the N9 is the R108 and the N12 goes south down to Zagora

In early March, Marrakech sunrise will be around 0700, sunset 1830.

Day 2: is about 6 hours with fuel stops so if you hit the road by 9am you'll be there by 3pm or so.

Day 4: getting to the top of the Tichka will be about an hour from the N10/N9 junction. Once there you could take the scenic route back via Telouet which will take maybe 1.5+ hours. Or just chill out in Ouarzazate.

Day 5: There's no hotels in Tazzarine that I'm aware of. There's a few at Alnif but do NOT stay at La Gazelle. For a first time visit to Morocco I'd suggest the more northerly route via Boumalne du Dades (bottom of Dades Gorge) and Tinerhir (bottom of Todra Gorge). There's lots of hotel opportunities in both gorges.

Day 6: the N12 east of Tazzarine is tarmac.

March is likely to still be cold in the north, so personally I'd spend the spare day in Merzouga—it's supposed to be a holiday! Then you are relaxed for the longish day from Merzouga to Azrou. But Warden's suggestion is also good.

Thanks to all of you for the good advices I will take them in to account

Hi,
I agree with Tim regarding accommodation in Tazzarine.
For your spare day either opt for Merzouga and enjoy a camel ride, bivouac in the dunes and check out the sunset and sunrise or Ouarzazate where you can then surely ride the Tichka and visit the Fint oasis and studios or take a day enduro ride with one of the operators there. Weather will be fine by then.
Although this year winter is mild and there has been no snow in the mountains, I just rode Fes-Merzouga and return via Ouarzazate-Marrakech in December and morning temps are chilly. In March it will be better but dress for extremes. Morning in the mountains can vary between 0 to 6 degrees in March while daytime it will be around 25-28. Merzouga the same with cold nights and temp rising quickly. In March you can already reach 30s. On New year's eve we had 28 during the day and -3 at night.
Anyways, if you need weather or road update or help with the accommodation, let me know.
Cheers

The route down looks good, for the route back I would suggest that you try and go via Todra or Dades gorge. Really gorgeous ride, but beware - on my way North from Tinghir last August all the bridges were gone, all washed away - rivers were passable though. I just waddled the bike through. If you go that way I highly recommend Auberge le Festival, Todra Gorge. Lovely guys there and their Masaka is a nice change from dammed tagine!

For your night in Merzouga its worth going out into one of the desert camps, by camel if your ass can stand the pain, they are not comfy. It's as touristy as it comes but worth it.

Respect to you doing it that quick, I did a similar route (quite a few more stops) and took three times as long! All looks a bit rushed, Marrakesh really needs two days to explore rather than one night, but if that's what you've got then it's not a bad plan. Good luck, Morocco was my first trip out of the European comfort zone, was really good to me.

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

Arrived back
 

Hello
The rookie arrived back from his first Morocco trip, first because for sure it was not the last one. The route was mainly as planned with a bit different split between the days. Enjoyed very much and again thanks for the community for the infos available here.
My RR is here :Newcomer to Morocco | Adventure Rider

I can just propose to all who was not there to visit Morocco.

I will contribute the accomondation topic of Morocco with my experiencies soon.

Thanks for sharing your ride report Amilk, it made great reading and the photos are brilliant; I'm really looking forward to my trip next month!

I enjoyed your report & photos & look forward to more, well done!

Hi, planning my first visit to Morocco and your RR was a great read. How many hours riding did it take to get from near to Tangier to Marrakesh please? Your map on the RR goes to Meknes I think.

OK I see what you mean. I attached wrong picture for this day. The road from Ashilah towards Marrakesh was just highway and at Rabat I turned towards Marrakesh. Like this it was 6hours ride with minimal stop time just to fuel up. Sorry again the map not good there. That route was backwards.

No problem and thanks for that information. :thumbup1:

I'm thinking of getting the early ferry to Tangier Med and then heading south quickly as like you I have a restricted timescale. And while I can see the area to the north of the Atlas mountains has its beauty, I'd like to see the dry arid part first on this trip. I don't mind cruising at 120 kph on the motorway if it gets me to where I want to be, and, at least on the motorways the use of the road will not be too different for a European, and so will also help the transition (I hope).