Atlas Mountains bike tours put you on the best riding in Morocco: a 700km range of mule paths, passes and terraced valleys rising to 4,167m at Toubkal, an hour from Marrakech. We have guided these trails for over thirty years and we live in them.
From two days to nine, on mountain bikes, e-bikes and gravel bikes. All of them start in Marrakech.
VTT
9 jours / 8 nuits
Une vraie traversée : départ à 2 300 m dans l'Atlas, arrivée en se baignant dans l'Atlantique.
From€3,090 per person
VTT
8 jours / 7 nuits
Huit jours de singletrack en altitude, de la vallée d'Imlil au plateau du Kik, en dormant chaque nuit dans un gîte berbère.
From€2,690 per person
VTT enduro
8 jours / 7 nuits
La semaine la plus raide et la plus technique que nous organisons. Oukaïmeden à 2 660 m, des mulets pour porter les vélos et des descentes qui durent des kilomètres.
From€2,790 per person
VTT à assistance électrique
6 jours / 5 nuits
Six jours dans les vallées de l'Atlas en VTTAE Bosch. Le séjour qui permet à un groupe de niveaux différents de rouler ensemble.
From€2,090 per person
VTT
3 jours / 2 nuits
Le court séjour qui a quand même un goût d'expédition — d'Imlil à Amizmiz, à travers trois vallées.
From€720 per person
VTT à assistance électrique
3 jours / 2 nuits
Trois vallées, deux nuits en montagne, et un moteur qui rend les cols agréables.
From€890 per person
The trails here were not built for bikes, and that is exactly why they work. For centuries the only way to move goods between Atlas villages was by mule, so a network of paths was cut along the contours — graded gently enough for a loaded animal, wide enough for one, and running continuously from valley to valley. They descend beautifully.
The range gives you altitude without expedition logistics. You can be at 2,300m on the Tizi n'Tamatert within two hours of leaving your riad, and back in Marrakech for dinner. Very few mountain ranges of this size sit so close to an international airport.
The terrain changes fast. The Imlil and Azzaden valleys are green and terraced with walnut and cherry; the Kik Plateau is high, open and fast; the country west of Amizmiz is dry, rocky and technical. A week here rides like several different trips.
March to May and September to November are the good months. Spring gives you green valleys, water in the rivers and snow still lying on the high peaks. Autumn is drier, the trails are faster and the light is better for photographs.
June and September are rideable but hot in the low valleys — we start earlier and use the higher routes. July and August we generally avoid for multi-day trips, though day rides at altitude still work.
Winter is underrated. Between December and February the valleys below 1,800m are pleasant to ride in, cold and clear, with snow on the tops as a backdrop rather than a problem.
A typical multi-day tour rides 30 to 40km with 800 to 1,200m of climbing, taking four to six hours including stops. That is a moderate distance by road standards and a significant one off-road, especially with consecutive days.
You ride with a light pack. The 4x4 carries bags, spares, water and lunch, meets you where the road crosses the route, and is available if you have had enough for the day. Nobody thinks less of a rider who takes the vehicle up a climb.
Nights are in village gîtes — family homes that take guests, with simple twin rooms, hot showers and the best food on the trip. They are not hotels, and that is the point.
Most tours top out between 2,300m at the Tizi n'Tamatert and 2,660m at Oukaimeden, which we use on the enduro trip. Altitude sickness is not a concern at these heights, but the air is noticeably thinner on the climbs and it gets cold at the passes even in summer.
Not for all of them. Our e-bike tours and day rides are graded easy and suit anyone who can ride a bicycle confidently. The multi-day MTB and enduro trips are genuinely intermediate to advanced and we are honest with people about that before they book.
Imlil, our usual trailhead, is about 65km south of Marrakech — an hour and a half by road. Every tour includes the transfer, so you do not need to arrange anything.
Yes. Plenty of people add a two-day Toubkal ascent or a run south to the Agafay or the dunes either side of the riding. Tell us what you want to see and we will build the whole trip.
Tell us when you are coming and how you like to ride. We will build something around it and tell you honestly whether it suits you.
Or call +212 653 93 6003