Riding the famous, or as some might say, infamous Tizi-n-Test Road in Morocco will reward you with some of the most dramatic and breathtaking sights the country has to offer, while also providing a suitably interesting and challenging road to ride your adventure bike on.
Planning your Ride on the Tizi-n-Test Road
If your point of arrival is around Tangier, which it most likely will be if you’re arriving from Europe, get your bike across to Morocco by ferry from Gibraltar. By all accounts it’s smoothest and easiest to arrive at the port of Tanger Med rather than Tangier itself. From there you can take the A4 and then N2 to Targuist, where you can get onto the N8 and follow it all the way down to the Atlantic coast, where it passes through Marrakech and ends in Agadir. From Agadir you can take the N10 to just past Oulid Berhil, and then get onto the R203 (Tizi n’Test Road).
The R203 (Tizi n’Test Road) is a gravel mountain road, around 170km long with plenty of places to stop and explore along the way. It is well worth spreading the distance out over a couple of days so that you can really sink your teeth into the landscapes and vistas. The pass itself sits at 2,092m / 6,867 ft above sea level was blasted out of the Atlas Mountains by the French in 1929.
Highlights
Besides the Tizi n’Test Pass itself, it’s worth making a stop in Taroudant, with its high crenellated city walls and bustling markets. The Atlas Mountains, of course, will provide plenty of spectacular scenery along the route.
Fuel, Accommodation, Weather and other Concerns
Petrol is readily available and of a generally high quality in Morocco. As long as you keep an eye on your fuel levels and fill up in towns, you shouldn’t have to worry very much about getting stranded. Driving in Morocco can be dangerous, as other road users may regard the rules of the road as “flexible” rather than set in stone, and you’ll need to be alert at all times for dangerous overtaking and other such behaviour. Also, while you can get by with English in the major centres, when heading off the beaten track you may find Arabic or French to be the only languages the locals understand. Regarding weather, rain isn’t a major concern but extremes of temperatures, hot and cold, can make riding uncomfortable in summer and winter. Accommodation varies from five star hotels to very basic camps.
http://www.dangerousroads.org/africa/morocco/377-tizi-n-test-road-morocco.html
