Morocco Tizi n Tichka (295 km)
Marrakech to Ouarzazate · one way, about 295 km back to the start
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Why this ride
From Marrakesh it runs 295 km to Ouarzazat; allow about 3 h 59 of riding. The stops in between: Taddert, Tizi n Tichka and Ait Benhaddou. The highest point is about 2,250 m. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Roadbook
- Marrakech
start
Marrakech announces itself with a smell before it shows its face: woodsmoke, orange blossom, leather, grilled meat, with mint and diesel in the mix. The city, founded in the later eleventh century by the Almoravids, grew from a camp of tents at the edge of the Haouz plain into the capital of a series of Berber dynasties. Its walls and many of its buildings are built of local red clay, giving it the nickname of the red city, and behind them sits the old medina, a maze of lanes where mopeds, donkey carts and tourists push through together. The Koutoubia mosque, whose minaret rises about seventy metres above the roofs and dates from the twelfth century, is the landmark you steer by.
Jemaa el-Fna, the great square at the medina's heart, wakes up in the late afternoon, when food stalls roll out and the smoke begins to rise, and storytellers, musicians and snake charmers draw their circles of onlookers. It is theatre, and it is also a place to eat well: grilled lamb, harira soup, and fresh orange juice for little money. For something quieter, the Majorelle garden, with its cobalt-blue walls, and the old madrasa of Ben Youssef, offer relief from the noise.
For a rider, Marrakech is the doorway to the High Atlas. The Tizi n'Tichka pass, at 2,260 metres, carries the N9 road over the mountains to Ouarzazate, with a long, steady climb through red hills, then a series of hairpins, tunnels of cloud and views over terraced villages with flat-roofed houses. It is the main route to the south, so it is shared with trucks, buses and shared taxis, which overtake with confidence, and the surface can be broken at the edges. In winter, snow and ice can close it for hours, and the weather changes fast, so look at the forecast. Start early, because the mountain air gets bumpy and cold by the afternoon, and the descent toward the desert side is dry and bright.
Marrakech is a city of more than eight hundred thousand people, so fuel and workshops are easy to find, and the main stations are along the ring roads. Town riding is wild, with scooters appearing from every side, so ride defensively and park the bike in a guarded lot. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, because summer heat can top forty degrees, and the cold nights of winter can surprise you. Take some cash, and agree on prices first.
- Taddert
scenic
Taddert is a small village strung along the N9 high in the Atlas, a few hundred metres below the Tizi n'Tichka pass, which at around twenty-two hundred and sixty metres is the highest main road crossing of the range. Every vehicle that makes the journey between Marrakech and Ouarzazate comes through, so the village has a lively roadside life, with cafés, mineral and fossil shops, and men waving at passing riders. Fuel is available, which helps, because the climb on both sides is long.
The road itself was built in the 1930s by the French and has been repaired and widened many times since. It climbs from Marrakech in a series of broad bends, with long, steep gradients and hairpins that drag trucks to a crawl, and this makes overtaking a daily challenge. Rock falls and potholes are common, and mist, rain and snow in winter can close the pass or demand chains. Between December and March, check conditions before you go. In the early morning, with a clear sky and cold air, the descent towards the desert side is wonderful.
Around Taddert, the landscape changes dramatically. The northern slopes are green with walnut and almond groves, and the villages are built of terracotta-coloured mud brick. After the pass, the colours turn to red and ochre, and the valleys are dry and wide. A few kilometres off the main road, the kasbah at Telouet, once the seat of the powerful Glaoui family, who ruled the region under the French, stands in crumbling splendour with its painted ceilings still visible.
Practical advice is simple. Fill your tank here or in Ouarzazate, bring cash in dirhams, and buy water. Mint tea at a roadside café is a good rest, though the sweetness may surprise you. Beware of dogs, goats and children near the road, and of lorries cutting corners. Bargaining is the norm in the shops, and a smile goes a long way. Spring and autumn offer the best weather, while summer is hot on the southern side.
- Tizi n Tichka
scenic · 2260 m
The Tizi n'Tichka is the high road across the Atlas, the route that takes the main Marrakech to Ouarzazate highway over the crest of the mountains at about 2,260 metres. Below you, valleys of red earth and green terraced fields drop away toward the Sahara, and above you the bare slopes are patched with snow until late spring. In the Berber language tizi means pass, and the name has the sound of the wind itself.
Culture here is Amazigh, or Berber, a mountain people with ancient traditions of building in mud brick, weaving and farming on tiny irrigated terraces. Villages cling to slopes like extensions of the rock, their kasbahs flat-roofed and towered, in the same colour as the soil. Close to the pass a side road leads to Telouet, a huge kasbah of the Glaoui family, who ruled the region in the early twentieth century with French support, and whose crumbling halls still hold intricate plaster and tile work. Further on, the fortified village of Aït Benhaddou has featured in countless films.
The road itself was built by the French in the 1930s and is a delight and a trial, with continuous bends, hairpins and drop-offs on the southern side. Lorries crawl and sometimes block the narrow sections, and surfaces can be broken by frost and rockfall. Weather on the pass is serious: snow and ice can close the road in winter, and fog and rain can make it treacherous, so check conditions. Spring and autumn offer clear air, though a cold wind blows even in summer. Roadside stalls sell minerals, fossils and rugs.
Fuel is available in Marrakech and Ouarzazate, with some stations on the road between, but the stretch over the pass can be thin, so fill up before climbing. Small cafes at the top serve mint tea and tagine, and stopping for a warm drink is a good way to take in the views. Bargain gently with stallholders, who are friendly and persistent, and start early to avoid the afternoon lorries and the heat of the southern slopes.
- Ait Benhaddou
scenic
Aït Benhaddou looks like a sandcastle that someone left to harden for four hundred years. The ksar, a fortified village of rammed-earth towers and flat-roofed houses stacked up a hillside above the Ounila river, sits about thirty kilometres from Ouarzazate on the old caravan track between the Sahara and Marrakech, and it was listed by UNESCO in 1987. The walls glow red-ochre in the evening, the towers have geometric patterns pressed into their upper storeys, and the whole cluster is reflected, on the rare days when the river runs full, in the water below.
The place is a monument to the trade that made it. Caravans carrying salt, gold, slaves and cloth came up from Timbuktu and across the desert, and this was a stop where merchants rested before crossing the High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka. Today only a handful of families still live inside the old walls, while most of the village has moved across the river into modern houses, and the earth buildings need constant repair after rain. Cinema found it early. Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator and the Game of Thrones series all used it, which explains the souvenir shops and the camels waiting for hire.
For a rider, the approach is the thing. The N9 descends from Taddert in long, broad curves into a drier, redder landscape, with the road dropping toward the Ouarzazate basin in stages and the colour of the rock changing from brown to a deep brick. A short side road leads to the ksar from the main highway, and the surface is generally fine. Morning or late afternoon light is best for both riding and photographs, since the midday sun flattens everything, and in July and August the heat is considerable.
Small cafés on the river bank serve mint tea and tagine, and you can cross the river on stepping stones or, when the water is high, on a small footbridge. Keep some cash for the entry to the upper terraces, which usually costs a few dirhams, and wear shoes with a decent grip, because the paths are steep and loose. Go before the tour buses, if you can manage it.
- Ouarzazate
finish
Ouarzazate is a town built where the High Atlas gives way to the desert, and the light there is so strong and clear that the film industry came to rely on it. It sits on a high plateau at the southern foot of the mountains, with the pale red earth and flat-topped hills of southern Morocco spreading out in front, and it has been the location for films such as Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator and numerous others. Huge studio complexes on the edge of town offer visits, with sets of ancient Egypt and Tibet standing in the dust, but the real attraction lies in the kasbahs.
The Taourirt Kasbah, in the town itself, was the residence of the powerful Glaoui family, who ruled much of southern Morocco in the early twentieth century, and its mud-brick towers and intricately painted rooms give some idea of their wealth. About thirty kilometres away, the fortified village of Aït Benhaddou, a UNESCO site, rises on a hillside above a dry river, its towers and walls of clay glowing orange at sunset, and it is one of the best-preserved examples of southern Moroccan earthen architecture. Amazigh, or Berber, culture is strong here, and many people speak Tamazight as well as Arabic and French.
The famous ride is the road over the Tizi n'Tichka pass, which links Ouarzazate with Marrakech, about two hundred kilometres away. The pass crests at about 2,260 metres, and the road twists up the northern slope in long bends through villages of red mud houses, then drops down toward the dry south. The surface has been improved in recent years, but heavy trucks crawl up the climbs, and landslides or snow can close the road in winter. In summer it is hot in the lowlands and pleasantly cool at the top. Go early, since the light is best in the morning and the traffic is lighter.
Ouarzazate has fuel stations, workshops and plenty of hotels and cafés. In the evening, restaurants serve tagines and mint tea. Be aware of speed checks along the main road, which are common, and carry cash for small purchases. The best seasons are spring and autumn, with clear days and moderate temperatures, while July and August are very hot on the plains.