Why this ride
406 km from Fès to Fès, about 4 h 41 of riding. It goes by way of Rabat, Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V, Ville nouvelle and back through Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Fes long day · Ville nouvelle
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 406 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 41
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fes
Fes holds the largest car-free urban area in the world, or so it is often said, and walking through it for an hour makes the claim credible. The old medina, Fes el-Bali, is a maze of nine thousand alleys, according to the usual count, wedged into a valley and descending in terraces toward a stream. It was founded in the late eighth century and grew into one of the great intellectual centres of the Islamic world. The Al-Qarawiyyin, established in 859 by a woman named Fatima al-Fihri, is often described as the oldest continuously operating university in the world, and its library and mosque remain at the heart of the old city. The medina is on the UNESCO list.
Read the complete Fes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fes is where the day begins. Next is Rabat.
2. Rabat
Rabat is the capital of Morocco, and it has an easy, civilised feel compared with the bigger rush of Casablanca. The city sits on the Atlantic coast where the Bou Regreg river meets the sea, facing the old pirate town of Sale across the water. The Kasbah of the Udayas, a fortress with a blue-and-white village inside it, stands on a bluff above the river mouth. Its gardens and narrow lanes are a quiet place for tea and a look at the sea. In the twelfth century the Almohad ruler Yaqub al-Mansur started to build a huge mosque here, and it was never finished.
Read the complete Rabat write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rabat comes up about 200 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V.
3. Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V
Rabat's great unfinished monument stands on a bluff above the Bou Regreg river, and its story is one of ambition cut short. In 1195, the Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur began building a mosque that was meant to be the largest in the world, with a minaret to match, and when he died in 1199 the work stopped. The Hassan Tower, a square shaft of red sandstone, rose only to about forty-four metres, half the planned height, and around it stand rows of broken columns that were meant to hold up the roof. The earthquake that flattened Lisbon in 1755 did more damage, but the tower still stands, a beautiful stump.
Read the complete Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 201 km into the recorded legs you reach Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V. Next is Ville nouvelle.
4. Ville nouvelle
When France took control of Morocco in 1912, Marshal Lyautey decided to leave the old cities alone and build new ones beside them, and Rabat's Ville Nouvelle is the best-known result. Laid out by the architect and planner Henri Prost on a grid of boulevards, the district has wide avenues shaded by palm and orange trees, white buildings with green-tiled roofs and a calm, elegant style that mixes European Art Deco with Moroccan details. Rabat has been the capital since 1912, and these avenues were built as its seat of government.
Read the complete Ville nouvelle write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ville nouvelle, about halfway. Next is back through Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V.
5. back through Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mosquée Hassanet mousolée Mohammed V sits at 305 km, about halfway. Next is back through Rabat.
6. back through Rabat
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Rabat write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Rabat comes up about 206 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fes.
7. Fes
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Fes closes the day.
Leg by leg
Fes to Rabat
Fes → Rabat is 200 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Rabat to Fes
back through Rabat → Fes is 201 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.