What it Was Like to E-Bike Across Morocco – From the High Atlas to the Sahara Desert!

On an early winter morning, I geared up to pedal 64 km from Ifrane – Morocco’s only Alpine ski town – to Midelt, at the edge of the Sahara Desert. Despite wearing several layers, I could barely feel my fingers under my gloves. It was 4 degrees Celcius, and the wind numbed my cheeks. We cycled through a forest filled with giant cedar trees, and within a few kilometers, the landscape turned into large rolling meadows resembling the Mongolian Steppes, filled with thousands of grazing sheep and the occasional nomads tending them. Warmed by the winter sun, I slowly shed my layers. The arid landscape transformed again, and filled me with nostalgia for Ladakh. All around me rose the Middle Atlas mountains in multiple hues – dry, barren, stark and incredibly stunning.

It was Day #8 of a two week cycling trip with Intrepid Travel, and I had to pinch myself again – I was really cycling in the Atlas Mountains, and experiencing the mindboggling natural beauty of Morocco on two wheels!
My first trip with Intrepid Travel

Morocco has been on my radar for quite a while. When my partner and I finally sat down to research our trip, we were gripped by the idea of slowly cycling through the country – like we’d done through Central Switzerland.

Intrepid Travel’s 2 week Cycling Morocco trip sounded perfect, with an interesting mix of Morocco’s highlights and offbeat, community-supportive travel. We’d have local guides, luggage transfers and support vehicles; all we had to do was show up and pedal.

The next thing I knew, I was packing layers to cope with the hot sun and cold weather in December in Morocco. We boarded a flight to Casablanca, then a train to Marrakech, met our local Berber guides and 11 fellow cyclists, and embarked on what was one of the most stunning cycling adventures of my travelling life!