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Anyone planned there own MTB holiday in Morocco? I would be taking my own bike and the flights look straight forward enough but how do you plan it in Morocco? Would be looking at heading for the Atlas Mountains in the north. Bike company's are looking for over £1200 for a week. I can get my own return flights for £200ish and would need transfers, accommodation/food and guide possibly. I don't think that would cost around 1K. Any help much appreciated!
I haven't, but I did do a certain amount of faffing about by myself not far from Imlil in the summer. I do not think that there were very many people doing their own thing. Everyone I met was friendly, open and perfectly helpful, but [u]everyone[/u] asked whether I was alright and where my guide was. They spoke much better French than they did English, and I did not find the slightest evidence of usable maps. Lovely part of the world though. I kept seeing trails that looked as though they would be marvellous. 🙂
Cheers for the reply. I have been looking for good maps to no avail, I think I may need to get a guide. I was thinking Marrakech would be the best place to fly into as transfers and guides etc would be easier to come by. Only spending 7 nights so don't want to spend to much time fafin about. Happy to sleep in hostels as long as I have plenty of food I'll be happy.
I used Exodus.
Routes an my (specific tour guide) was great
BUT
- overpriced
- chicken tagine 3 times
- enforced carpet sales visit
- enforced shopping visits
- bad itenary (*New Year - boondock 0 horse humpty. buzzing lively village, lightening visist - should have done 2/3 night there awesom)
- cold showers.
Rapture surf camp Morocco - recommnded - accom (bunks, foods, AWESOME)and about 1/4 Exodus price.
Don't know what bike routes like nearby but as a base providing bed+food - MUCH better than Exodus).
From those I've spoken to, Morocco is one of those places that seems to be easy to get to, easy to get around, and cheap once you're there.
The trick is knowing where to go, and where to avoid; for this reason companies seem to think it's ok to hold punters over a barrel!
I'm also keen to see Morocco this year, and am thinking of off-road "touring" rather than just bagging singletrack, so am watching replies with interest 🙂
Guy and Sarah at flowmtb.com do a trip to morrocco, good value and they will know all the good bits
Went with Cycleactive last year after doing LOADS of research. Cycleactive's riding is far more technical than Exodus, and I understand their local guide is exclusively contracted to them. I'd be interested to hear how people get on with organising private guides etc, but we were more than happy with what we go for our money (4x4 back-up that extended our reach by driving us into the hills everyday). No enforced shopping either. Can't speak highly enough of Cycleactive and our holiday with them, and thought it was one of the few places where I [i]would[/i] want the local knowledge/vehicle back up/guiding of an organised group trip (compared to Europe, USA etc).
I'd say that the prices we (and the other guys) charge are pretty fair - the price seems pretty high, but when you consider that you get a 4x4 plus driver (around 1k euros for a week), plus a guide, plus all meals included, plus no faff about which route to ride, where to stay, am i going to get ripped off etc etc... and uplifts to the good stuff, and not carrying your kit around is a big bonus. but all that costs money.
Chicken tagines is a bit of a sore point - but that's the staple, if you want more variety, or more expensive food, then the price goes up. We try our hardest to not get that every day, but lack of communications (mobile reception, email etc) means that you often can't warn ahead that we'd rather not have chicken tagine!
As for self guided - it can be done - so long as you speak a bit of french you'll be fine. If you want to ride up the mountains as well as down, and carry your own kit then you've got no worries.
Finding places to ride however will be hit and miss- and I for one wouldn't want to climb for half a day in order to risk not finding that awesome singletrack descent down the other side. But for some people that's half the adventure, and fair enough.
As for maps - you can get 1:100,000 maps from good map shops (stanfords) and a 1:50,000 around Imlil from the same place. They'll give you an idea of where the mountains are and where there might be a good trail, but as always, the best ones just aren't on there..
One more bit of advice - there's pretty much always a mule track between two villages - so long as the 4x4 road DOESN'T go a direct route, the mules tracks will - and those are the trails you want to be riding (if you want the rocky techy stuff)
We're finalising our plans for this spring and autumn and should have a trip up on our site shortly - it'll be around 900-1000 euros for a week. And will be ****ing awesome 🙂
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/guybowden/sets/72157622860828086/ ]and look like this[/url]
Guy
[url= http://flowmtb.com ]flowmtb.com[/url]
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CycleActive trip.
As most of the above say, you're paying the money for local knowledge and convenience.
I took my bike on a coastal package trip some years ago and without a gude failed to find anything other than jeep tracks or unridably steep footpaths in the week I was there. I'd thoroughly recommend the country though.