Is Morocco good for a cycling or bike-packing trip?

Morocco rewards cyclists who come prepared and punishes those who do not, so let me be honest on both counts. For road cyclists, the High Atlas is a bucket-list arena — the Tizi n’Tichka climbs over 2,200 metres of relentless switchbacks, the Tizi n’Test is even more dramatic and lonely, and the traffic up there is light. The gorges, the Ourika valley and the Ounila road past Aït Ben Haddou give you stunning, varied days. The riding is genuinely top tier; it is just hard, with sustained climbing and thin air.

For gravel and bike-packing the country is even more exciting. The Anti-Atlas, the Jbel Saghro traverse, and the pistes threading toward the desert give you days of off-tarmac riding through Berber villages, palmeries and lunar plateaus where you might not see a car for hours. The "Atlas Mountain Race" and similar ultra-distance events have put Morocco firmly on the bike-packing map, and the network of small tracks rewards anyone with the navigation skills and self-reliance to use it.

The honest difficulties are heat, water and remoteness. Away from the towns, resupply points are far apart, shops are basic, and in the south water sources are scarce and the sun is brutal — a hot afternoon in the pre-Sahara can be dangerous on a bike. This is not casual touring; it demands fitness, good planning, plenty of carried water, and ideally a companion or a tracker. Drivers are mostly courteous but the occasional fast, close overtake and roaming livestock keep you alert.

My recommendations: ride spring (March–May) or autumn (October–November) and avoid the summer entirely in the south. Decide honestly whether you want full self-sufficiency or a supported tour where a vehicle carries your gear, water and a spare bike — for the desert sections I usually steer first-timers to a supported trip. Bring spares and tubes (bike shops are scarce outside cities), tip on the side of carrying too much water, and check route conditions and resupply points before you set off.