Reviews

Cycling

Good trip

Great trip

Really enjoyed cycling in Morocco – especially areas off the beaten track. Fantastic scenery, great guides and really friendly people

Morocco's Great South October 2022

Amazing trip. We covered so many varied areas and types of terrain, from rocky desert to lush valleys. The six days of cycling were packed with fantastic views, challenging cycling, great company and accommodation that ranged from a Berber guesthouse to former palaces. Our guides and support staff were wonderful. We learned a lot about Moroccan culture, history and geography. The snacks and lunches were great with a focus on the local produce (nuts, fruit – dried and fresh – breads – vegetables). Who knew Morocco produced so much food. Be ready to experience the culture and the country in this trip and be well looked after by the supporting staff..

A fantastic cycle trip..

I was looking for a trip where the focus was definitely on the cycling and this 350km across the spectacular Moroccan terrain didn’t disappoint. There was plenty of uphill and plenty of downhill so it was always interesting. There were some rough patches of road where you needed to keep your wits about you but the vast majority of the time they were very quiet with good surfaces and one felt you were on a real adventure passing through remote villages off the beaten track. The trip notes probably undersell the nature of the cycling as there are two definite climbing days and the other days are pretty lumpy however you can take it as easy or as hard as you like. Day 6 of only 45kms has a 24km 1200m climb, and after 4 days of 70kms across undulating terrain it proved quite the challenge in temperatures well above 30 degrees. There was plenty of opportunity to rest and fuel up and there was always the option to jump in the minibus. Excellent lunches of salad, flat breads and accompaniments were prepared by the guides and a good selection of snacks and drinks were available at stops both morning and afternoon. We also had brand new or nearly new bikes. The accommodation was good especially in the smaller towns. Some really interesting places to stay with real charm, perhaps the hotel in Agadir the least satisfying. After spending the previous four days in small towns and villages, this conventional hotel despite being near the beach was a bit of a culture shock but, it did emphasise the feeling we were seeing lots of different sides of Morocco. It was only 8 days but I felt I was away for a lot longer and it was really immersive.

Great trip with a wholly misleading description and trip notes

This is a challenging trip with 350km of cycling and 4,500m of elevation gain – enough to kill even a Cannondale e-bike! The trip notes are poor and misleading, the itinerary is great but compressed with very little downtime. Most hotels are authentic/interesting if the big city hotels are discounted. Agadir is a hurried and unsatisfactory destination.

As always the local guides are excellent and make up for the poor admin at Exodus; nothing is too much trouble for them.

Be prepared for .....

… all weather types in November! We had expected to be cycling in sunshine but only had one whole and one half day of sun. It was bitterly cold, with driving rain, high winds and even snow; we got to the top of the longest climb on Day 2 in a white-out! Thankfully, we had gone prepared with plenty of layers – make sure you do too. The positives: amazing scenery, fantastic group of people, well led, a real sense of achievement: I’d never cycled more than two days in a row, yet I managed six consecutive days with challenging climbs; dietary requirements (gluten and nut free) well catered for; evening meals tasty and plentiful; comfortable saddle – better than mine at home! The negatives: the accommodation on the second night (the first day of cycling) was atrocious: no heating; a trickle of a shower which was either boiling hot or freezing cold, so I couldn’t shower; concrete beds with no top sheets although plenty of blankets but so heavy and large they couldn’t possibly have been washed between guests which wasn’t at all hygienic; generally the bathrooms in several other hotels were very poor quality, (especially the one on the fifth night of cycling); we were not advised until just about to set off on the first day of cycling about wild dogs roaming freely in the mountain villages which was extremely unnerving – thankfully most didn’t bother with us; sardines and sweetcorn every day for lunch! Would I go again? No, but I am pleased to have completed the trip.

Morocco - Cycling the Great South

good trip

Cycling Morocco's Great South

An excellent tour, well supported and well managed, but spoiled by Exodus’s failure to warn us adequately about the very cold cycling conditions high in the mountains.

Most Inspirational Moment

Cycling on quiet, well surfaced mountain roads in spectacular country

Thoughts on Group Leader

Very good

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be aware that the information that Exodus produces on the climate in Morocco applies to low altitude cities like Marrakech, but not to the high mountain villages and towns where we stay. You need to be prepared for the equivalent of UK winter cycling in February.

Reply from Exodus

We would like to thank Tony for his feedback, although we are very sorry that the tour he had planned to join was cancelled. Whilst we can confirm that this departure did not go ahead, we are sorry if he would have preferred to join a later tour. Our trip notes advise that there is the possibility of much colder weather in February, but we nonetheless regret that Tony felt inadequately advised. We were pleased, however that he had an excellent tour and that he found the group leader to be very good.

Tom Harari – Product Manager

Quiet roads among beautiful rugged scenery

This was my first cycling trip and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Morocco is a super winter holiday destination and I will definitely be booking more trips in the saddle! Beautiful rugged landscapes.

Wonderful autumn cycling trip

Just returned from really great cycling trip. Lovely route – we chose this trip over ones with other companies because of the route, mix of the mountains and time on coast in Essaouria. This was our first trip with Exodus and my husband Graham and I were very impressed. Fantastic tour leader in Liz, she managed every aspect of the tour superbly – logistics with the support vehicles – during rides never more than 10k away from drinks etc and sweeper support at rear in case of incidents. On the route there are lots of long ascents and Liz described what to expect extremely well in terms of the uphills and downhills, no-one got into the van on any of the rides and I believe this was due in large part to Everyone having confidence in Liz’s descriptions and timing of stops etc. Coming over the high pass on day 3 we encountered very heavy mist, Liz managed the descent extremely well with everyone feeling safe and comfortable with the ride down. Fantastic fun group of people to ride with, everyone gelled and mixed in together really quickly and whilst there was of course a range of fitness and technical cycling ability, it was relatively modest and at stops it was on average 15mins between first and last of the group arriving. Due to nature of the trip, lunches are roadside picnics every day, these were simple but fresh and filling. Accommodation is also simple but clean, in the first couple of places in the mountains there was some issues with lack of hot water, but to be honest whilst this isn’t ideal I think you need to accept that this type of issue can happen when travelling in a large group in the mountains in Morocco. We were fortunate that weather was kind to us every day, if we’d arrived cold and wet lack of hot water would have been more of an issue. Support team with Liz were v friendly and helpful as well. Really recommend trip