I Biked Across Morocco on My Honeymoon. Here's How That Went.,
Nora FiermanI went on a 10 day bikepacking trip in Morocco in the spring of 2026. Okay so firstly, why Morocco?
Great question! Me and my husband (this was technically our honeymoon - I know, what the heck) have been bikepacking in Africa before, in a country called Lesotho, and we were interested in going back. Lesotho is a country within South Africa, so we wanted to try the north! Morocco also has a famous bikepacking race called the Atlas Mountain Race and we knew it would mostly be roads versus singletrack. From research, we saw that restocking and water were never an issue on the route and we liked the concept of doing a point to point ride - south to north. Tom asked me if this was the choice, I said yes, and we booked tickets!
I think when people hear Morocco, they think sandy desert, dry, Aladdin style. I'll admit, I'm guilty of not knowing much about the country before getting there. But the Atlas Mountains run throughout the northern half of Morocco and they are certainly snow covered. In fact, Morocco has a ton of water.
We started our journey in Imilchil, which is kind of in the center of northern Morocco. The man driving us to our starting point told us a tale about two large lakes and how they formed. The story goes that a woman and a man were forbidden to wed so they cried themselves to death, thus creating the lakes.
We stayed in a gite, which is essentially a guest house, the first night. We'd become familiar with these. They were only $50 a night for two people with breakfast and dinner. Now that's a score. The gites are also cool because you get to interact with local business owners, eat Moroccan food, and sometimes meet other travelers. Tom and I were sick of vegetable tagine by the end. Literally just a pile of steamed veggies. Protein was hard to come by as vegetarians.
The first 5 days were my favorite of the trip, so essentially our time in the Atlas was my favorite. It felt like we were never truly alone. There were apple orchards everywhere and if there wasn't a farmer in the orchard, there was a Shepard with their sheep or a woman on a donkey or a small town with a few homes. People stared at us with curious eyes, kids would yell at us, trying every language they knew to get us to say something back. Tom waved at every single person he saw and they waved back with an eager smile.
The first 5 days felt like the only English we heard was to each other. In northern Morocco, Spanish, French and Arabic are the popular languages, but as you go south, French and Berber are spoken. Tom speaks Spanish, I'm useless.
The first three days, we knew we had some rain to dodge in the evenings and from meeting some Americans at a restaurant on our drive down, they warned us that the rains come in strong and hard.
On day one, we were ahead of schedule and wanted to add more miles onto the day but the rain came and the road we were supposed to take was, as the one guy who could speak the smallest bit of English said, was kaput. After hiding out in a shelter, we realized the rain was probably turning the roads into peanut butter and there was more rain coming. We went back to the gite (guesthouse) and settled in for the night. I won't complain about a hot shower and the opportunity to wash chamois.
We also had rain day two so we got going early. This day felt like a transfer day. We had to reroute around the beautiful sections because there have been a lot of mudslides which have destroyed roads. We saw rain where we were going and after battling some intense headwinds, we found a shelter and decided to see if we could wait it out. It never rained where we were, but we were a bit timid about pushing into what looked like bad weather because we knew we were camping and we currently had a roof over our heads. Clearly sheep had been sheltered here, but we decided to bunker down anyway.
Day three was the last day we knew we had rain. We didn't get as far as we wanted on day two because of the rain, but we were able to make it up. My highlight from this day was the French motorbiker we saw at a cafe who gave me his dates and poured me a cup of his tea. He was so sweet! We made it to the gite that night in a town with a waterfall. We got some hot Msemen (a traditional, layered Moroccan flatbread, the best) and walked around.
I was feeling a bit anxious because each day, we ended riding mid afternoon and I knew we could have kept going. That's the competitive part of me coming out. At the same time, it was really nice to get to experience the little towns we stayed in. After all, this was our honeymoon. No need to rush!
Day four was the hardest day so far. We had our first hike-a-bike. The road wasn't steep but it was covered in rocks so traction was not a thing. We went through a very beautiful town with two huge waterfalls pouring off a mesa. A boy sat very close to us as we ate snacks. We then had another climb and we were treated to the same rubble-covered road situation. It was also sheltered from the wind so it was hot. We got to the top, laid down under a tree, and all of a sudden there were Shepards. That felt so confusing because we had been alone on this climb only to see other people around. We navigated through a national park only to end the day by seeing monkeys! There was supposed to be pizza by an Italian couple that moved to Morocco but they were out of food. After shedding a tear, and giving my butt a rest, we found a camping spot a mile away from where the day was supposed to end and settled in.
Day five was officially half way through! We were off to Fes, our first big city. We went through Ifran, which felt like the most European town we went through in Morocco. It was supposed to be 35 miles of descending into Fes, but that felt like a big lie. I was also dealing with some sit bones that were toast and chafing. But the fields of poppies were absolutely incredible.
We took a rest day in Fes because we felt like we were here, we should see the places we are in! We treated ourselves to a hammam, which is where they essentially scrub your skin to remove the dead skin and wash you. It felt incredible. We went to the tannery, cruised around in the market, and enjoyed a day off the bikes.
Ever since the rest day, my body started to just feel fatigued. I'm not someone to count protein, but it was hard to get enough (any, frankly) as vegetarians.
On day 6, we went around a huge reservoir. We got some mid ride orange juice and some apricots. The gite we stayed at that night was up the steepest road there ever was. I only complained a lot. But the views from the roof of the sunset were the most beautiful. And the guesthouse owner gave us orange, apple, strawberry juice that was simply incredible. Juice is popular in Morocco. Oranges grow everywhere! There were also two other bikepackers there, so we were happy to chat!
Day seven is where the tummy took a turn for the worse. First I went down. Tom followed that night. It was after a steep, steep day. We extended the day because we knew we had two big climbs and we had daylight so we kept going. We ended up both exhausted pitching our tents. That climb we added on was insanely steep, and it was pavement. We were going nowhere fast. My tummy was not happy, Tom's was following. I hadn't had an appetite the entire trip. A note on that - that's normal for me on longer efforts, which is why fueling becomes super important, I'll share more tips and tricks on this in the future! Needless to say, eating wasn't something I was eager to do. I woke up in the middle of the night with a tummy cramp so bad I couldn't move. It wasn't the best night.
The next day, We had to finish the last mile or so of the climb and then had a long descent. We rerouted this day for a few tummy reasons and went through Chefchaouen, grabbed some lunch (and juice!) and had one more climb before the gite. The last climb was hot, I wasn't feeling great, and spirits were low. At least we had a fun, steep descent to the gite. The gite was in the national park under some huge limestone cliffs.
Day nine navigated through the national park, into a beautiful canyon and then a heinous hike-a-bike which then dropped us down into a valley. The day was gorgeous, but mentally I was suffering. Tummies started to improve and all of a sudden, I felt hungry and this girl wanted pizza. When we made it to our AirBnB, Tom found a pizza restaurant with 4.7 stars and let's just say, one star would have been generous. But that was a warm up for another dinner, of course. The AirBnB had a washing machine, which was such a treat, so we washed our clothing and went to bed early before our last day!
Would our final day into Tangier be a nice, smooth pedal?! No, of course not, because in Morocco, gradients are 15% at least - paved. The day started with 2,000 feet right out the start. We finally saw the sea after a long day and knew that Tangier was close! The mountains were crested with windmills and we knew we had finally (almost) made it. After seeing a rogue cow walking in the street, we put our heads down and pedaled to the AirBnB.
The highlight of my trip actually happened after it was all said and done. On day 10, we went to pick up our bags from the folks who had stored our spare clothing bags and they invited us in for Moroccan mint tea. We got to ask all the questions while hearing from locals. It was a really special experience.
There's a lot of detail I'm not including here, this email is long enough already! But that's the trip summary. In hindsight, I wish we had started further south, but not too far south because I think it is truly very sandy the more south you go. Navigating those towns, seeing how wildly different life is for some compared to the luxurious life I live at home, is remarkable. Travel by donkey. Maybe one car in the town. Chickens everywhere, cement floors potentially. Cellphones, however, have made their way into all parts of Morocco. Seeing a Shepard lying on the grass and scrolling is something I didn't expect.
Frankly, the first 5 days, my preferred part of the trip, also felt so selfish. Two white kids, on their honeymoon, choosing to spend their time biking through a country where people in some parts only got electricity ten years ago. My bike is more valuable than someone's yearly income. In a way, it felt wrong and foolish.
But that's what I love about bikepacking. It's hard, so hard. But you get to experience other places in a more intimate way. You have to sit with these feelings because, well, all you can do is pedal. I'm not sure what to do with those thoughts yet, if anything, but it felt hard to escape them.
Anyway, feel free to reply to this email if you have any specific questions about the trip! I'm always here to answer.
Linking my daily reels below.
Happy adventuring!
Nora