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First time to Morocco First time to Morocco
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Morocco Topics specific to Morocco, including Western Sahara west of the berm
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  #1  
Old 10 Dec 2022
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First time to Morocco
Good day all
My wife and I are planning to tour Morocco starting about March 15/2023. We are from Canada but have parked our bike in Europe for 4 years. We've done all our own routings mostly out of Milan in that time and are quite comfortable on our own.
We are thinking of a trip of 10-12 days after leaving our rental condo in Estepona Spain.
We would stay on tarmac mostly.
We are riding our own BMW R1200GS which is registered in Ontario, Canada. We use green card insurance for our travels so far but understand we would need to purchase Morocco insurance separate.

The question is should we be leaning towards a guided tour first time, or a self guided tour made up by a tour company or a DIY?
Thanks
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  #2  
Old 10 Dec 2022
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I think it will be no problem to drive in Morocco without a group. I did it plenty of times. Plenty of hotels with safe parking available.
I have a green card ( insured in Belgium) and my card is valid in Morocco too, so no need to purchase insurance at the border. Look at your Green card to see if it is valid in Morocco
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  #3  
Old 11 Dec 2022
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I agree, assuming you are experienced travellers you ought to be able to manage Morocco on your own, especially compared with the price of guided tours.
The key is to have the first days booked, after which you can wing it. Off the ferry aim for somewhere like Asilah (1 hour).
booking.com is popular in Mk.

Depending on your tolerance for hassle, I would leave on foot city exploration (Fez, Marrakech, etc) for another fly-in trip and stick to enjoying the great riding down south.
Or do them on the way back when you're more acclimatised.
I'd also head south over the Atlas and to the desert fringe.
Another country compared to the busier north.

Details on entry and docs here:
https://sahara-overland.com/2014/12/...getting-there/
Last edited by Chris Scott; 13 Dec 2022 at 11:56.
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Old 11 Dec 2022
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Scott View Post

Depending on your tolerance for hassle, I would leave on foot city exploration (Fez, Marrakech, etc) for another fly-in trip and stick to enjoying the great riding down south.
Or do them on the way back when you're more acclimatised.

I'm not sure if it's the same further south but certainly in Tangiers this summer the street hassle level was close to zero - something that really surprised me as I've been there many times and its always been something you have to cope with. I was talking to one of the locals about it and he told me that when tourist levels dropped to zero with Covid they all had to find something else to do. Tourist levels were still down this summer so their alternative employment was still the better bet. He expects they'll be back but it may take a while to ramp up.
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Old 12 Dec 2022
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A tour company will make a 9 day route which includes a GPS with the route, hotels, breakfasts, and a booklet giving ideas what to do.
Riding my own bike.
3,000 Euro.
Thoughts?
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  #6  
Old 12 Dec 2022
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Morocco is a well mapped,tourist friendly,modern country.There is absolutely no need to join an on road,guided tour.If you are a little nervous use Reise Map and Booking.com to plan your trip and never forget that a Plan is only a base line that can be changed
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Old 12 Dec 2022
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That’s crazy money for any tour. And even more so for a road based one without a guide present. Well over double what I would charge for a guided off road tour.

Even if you allowed €1000 for top class hotels (and they would be on that budget) the company are pocketing the rest for a few hours work. Shameful really.

This autumn was crazy with the amount of guided bike groups. I have never seen it so busy with motorbikes and overlanders. Campervans numbers were hugely down though.

I could sell you a self guided itinerary with gps routes etc but it’s just not worth it for you. For a road based trip, sit down with a copy of the rough guide and work out where you are interested in visiting and ask questions here. I’ll be happy to point you towards interesting roads between stops and im sure others would chip in with suggestions.
Last edited by TheWarden; 12 Dec 2022 at 23:41.
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  #8  
Old 13 Dec 2022
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Thanks for your input. We will do it ourselves with input from the group.
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  #9  
Old 13 Dec 2022
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I typically use my bmw garmin gps to navigate and build the route using base camp.
However it appears no no mini sd cards are available for North Africa. Do you guys just use your cellphone for navigation?
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  #10  
Old 13 Dec 2022
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A mini SD card for a fitted BMW GPS?
Not sure how they work but you can buy a Garmin map for North Africa for just £20 and it's pretty good.

https://sahara-overland.com/2016/12/...-map-reviewed/
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Old 13 Dec 2022
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I thought Garmin had a North Africa map set available? I install open street maps for North Africa onto my Garmin Montana. Mostly I've been using the North Africa Topo maps downloaded from gmaptool.eu over the last few months

Google Directions work in Morocco now after being blocked for years. Alternatively mapy.cz is pretty good on the phone. Giaia GPS is very good but difficult to get the hang of or maps.me works ok.
Last edited by TheWarden; 14 Dec 2022 at 02:23.
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  #12  
Old 13 Dec 2022
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There is def a garmin street view sd card for morrocco , I bought it second hand off of this forum for under 20 pounds.....its currently on loan to a friend.
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Old 13 Dec 2022
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I ordered the sahara overland map. It won't load on my gps It says it's having trouble retrieving the purchased content. I'm not an IT guy.
Any ideas?
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  #14  
Old 13 Dec 2022
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I phoned up Garmin. They tell me it's not compatible with Navigator V.
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Old 14 Dec 2022
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The card I had works in a gamin 550 ? The bike one that I think is similar to the bmw thing , or u could pick up a cheap zumo 50......it works in that too .
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