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Red and ochre hills around green fields in a valley of the Atlas Mountains, under heavy cloud
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Atlas Mountain Race route map and checkpoints

An unsupported bikepacking race across Morocco, 1,331 km from Ouzoud over the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas to the Atlantic at Essaouira.

March 13 to 20, 2027 Morocco, from Ouzoud to Essaouira

The Atlas Mountain Race is a fixed route, unsupported, single-stage race run by The Mountain Races, the same team behind the Silk Road Mountain Race. The clock never stops and there are no prizes. You ride solo or as a pair with everything you need on the bike, and buy food in village shops along the way.

For 2027 the start moves from Beni Mellal to Ouzoud, in the foothills of the Atlas. The route climbs onto the Toujodine plateau, crosses the High Atlas by the M'Goun gorges, and runs south through the Anti-Atlas before turning north up the coast to Essaouira. The organizer describes it as gravel, single and double track and old colonial pistes, with very little tarmac and some walking.

The organizer warns that a handful of sections run over 100 km with essentially no resupply. Download the map before you go: your phone's GPS shows where you are on it without a signal, and the places below tell you where the next checkpoint or town is.

This is an unofficial guide: Goat Maps isn't affiliated with Atlas Mountain Race. Check the official site before you enter or race.

Atlas Mountain Race course map

Every course's checkpoints on the Goat Maps topo map. Each course has a map of its own further down.

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Atlas Mountain Race courses

CourseDistanceClimbingStartTime limit
2027 route1331 km (827 mi)24,688 m (80,997 ft)

Atlas Mountain Race 2027 route

Ouzoud to Essaouira over the High Atlas, through the M'Goun gorges and across the Anti-Atlas.

Distance
1331 km (827 mi)
Climbing
24,688 m (80,997 ft)

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From Ouzoud you start climbing straight away, toward the peak locals call the Cathedral of Imsfrane, then up a piste onto the Toujodine plateau. Tabant is the first big place to resupply and rest; the organizer puts it 180 km in. Right after it comes Tizi n'Aït Imi, at 2,910 m the highest pass the race has ever used: rough tarmac up, gravel down.

Then the M'Goun gorge, about 14 km where the track turns to a mule path and then to the river itself. Expect wet feet and around 10 km of pushing. If rain makes the gorge unsafe, the organizer has a detour over Tizi n'Aït Hamad, at 3,005 m the highest paved road in Morocco. CP1 is planned at the Awayou Hotel in Boutharar.

Kalaat M'Gouna is the last real resupply before about 100 km of rocky desert piste to Afra, so leave with plenty of water. Taznakht comes before CP2 at the Auberge des Etoiles in Asserraragh, above the Aguinane oasis. After it comes the old Colonial Road, a long climb with no resupply. CP3 is at the Hotel Espace Tifawine in Tafraoute. The last stretch crosses back over the Atlas on the climb the organizer calls the Moroccan Stelvio and follows the coast north to Essaouira.

The route file notes that the line just after the gorge may still change before the start, where a road is being built.

A hiker in silhouette above hazy ridges at Tafraoute in the Anti-Atlas
Nourdine D. / Unsplash

Applying

There's no open entry. You apply, and the organizer assesses whether you can make safe decisions in the mountains. They'd like you to have done multi-day bikepacking trips, ideally off-road in remote places. When this page was checked, the general application window for 2027 had closed, and successful applicants were due to hear on 24 July. A quarter of the places are kept for women, and women's applications stay open until those places fill.

Entry is £375 a rider, plus £50 to rent a tracker if you don't have one and a £50 sponsorship fee if you promote sponsors during the race. Half is a non-refundable deposit once you're accepted. The balance is refundable up to three months before the start. Entries can't be transferred, and Moroccan riders get a discount.

You'll need medical insurance that covers extraction and repatriation, and a doctor's note that names the race.

Getting to the start and home from the finish

The Ouzoud waterfalls dropping over red rock into a green gorge
Sergio Teixeira / Unsplash

Ouzoud, the village at the Ouzoud waterfalls, is about 150 km from Marrakesh. The organizer moved the start there for 2027 because it suits a big group of bikepackers better than Beni Mellal did.

You finish on the coast at Essaouira, at the restaurant El Yakout. Essaouira-Mogador Airport is 7 to 8 km from town. The entry fee covers taking your bike box to the finish.

Bike, kit and resupply

The organizer recommends a hardtail 29er with tyres of at least 2.0" and a lowest gear no harder than 1 to 1. They also note that at the end of each race many gravel bike riders wished they'd brought a mountain bike, and no one on a mountain bike wished the opposite.

Required kit includes front and rear lights, a helmet, a basic first aid kit, a sleep system you're comfortable in at 0°C, a waterproof jacket, a down or synthetic jacket, a survival blanket, a spare derailleur hanger, and warm gloves that are at least water resistant.

The checkpoints aim to have hot meals day and night, but beds aren't promised. Between them you buy food in village shops and cafés. The route file marks these, and the bigger stops are Tabant, Kalaat M'Gouna, Afra, Taznakht, Tafraoute and Aït Baha.

Weather

Cannons along the sea wall of Essaouira's old town in low sun, with the Atlantic behind
Dimitri Ana / Unsplash

Past editions have been cold in the mountains. The 2025 preview expected temperatures below freezing at night. In 2026 record snowfall meant the planned route was never ridden, and some riders took a wind detour before CP1. For 2027 the race moves a little later in the year, after Ramadan.

At the finish, Essaouira averages March highs of 19.4°C and lows of 13.3°C, by NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals.

Atlas Mountain Race checkpoints and GPS coordinates

For crews and spectators: each place on the map in decimal degrees, latitude first. Paste them into any map app or add them as waypoints in Goat Maps.

  • Ouzoud (start)

    785 m (2,575 ft)

    32.01324, -6.71736

  • Tabant (resupply)

    1,857 m (6,093 ft)

    31.65830, -6.42069

  • Boutharar (CP1)

    1,594 m (5,230 ft)

    31.38597, -6.13014

  • Kalaat M'Gouna (resupply)

    1,430 m (4,692 ft)

    31.23788, -6.12855

  • Afra (resupply)

    30.71137, -6.23770

  • Asserraragh (CP2)

    1,504 m (4,934 ft)

    30.21763, -7.57961

  • Tafraoute (CP3)

    996 m (3,268 ft)

    29.72243, -8.97210

  • Essaouira (finish)

    5 m (16 ft)

    31.51139, -9.76982

Atlas Mountain Race FAQ

When is the Atlas Mountain Race 2027?

From 13 to 20 March 2027, starting in Ouzoud and finishing in Essaouira.

How long is the Atlas Mountain Race?

The 2027 route is 1,331 km with 24,688 m of climbing. The organizer says the distance changes from year to year and that riders can expect about 8 days.

Is there a time limit?

The organizer's public page doesn't give one. The 2025 results list one rider as finishing outside the cutoff, at just over 10 days.

Can you ride the Atlas Mountain Race as a pair?

Yes. A pair can share kit, draft and help each other, but nobody outside the pair can help either of you.

Where are the checkpoints on the Atlas Mountain Race?

There are three. The organizer's 2027 route file puts CP1 at Boutharar, after the M'Goun gorge, CP2 at Asserraragh above Aguinane, and CP3 at Tafraoute in the Anti-Atlas.

Is the Atlas Mountain Race a good first Mountain Race?

The organizer recommends it as the place to start. The rocky ground makes it tough, but you avoid the altitude and weather of the Silk Road Mountain Race and the relentless climbing of the Hellenic Mountain Race.

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Updated . An unofficial guide, from the organizer's published information. Coordinates from the organizer's course and OpenStreetMap contributors. Photos from Unsplash. Organize a race? We help with course files.