Sahara Challenge 2027 (Lisbon to Dakar)

Twenty nights from Lisbon to Dakar, a classic car rally across Spain, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal, 5,250 kilometres.

The operator rates this at its toughest tier and the route earns it: Atlas passes, Saharan ergs, two nights of bivouac camping in the dunes and a finish in Dakar, which is where the original rally ended from 1979 onwards.

Seville opens the European leg, then the ferry from Tarifa to Tangiers. Rabat follows through the Rif foothills by Chefchaouen, the blue-painted town, then Fes by way of the Roman remains at Volubilis, and Ifrane, an alpine-style resort in the cedar forest. Erfoud comes next through wadis and mountain roads near the Algerian border, at the edge of the dunes where Dakar competitors still test, with a desert loop day of competitive sections. Bin El Ouidane follows by the Ziz gorge and Lac Tislit, then Marrakech with a rest day, Essaouira, and the long run south into Mauritania and Senegal.

Eligible cars run from pioneer pre-1920 through vintage and classic to pre-1985 4x4s by invitation, and the event is a qualifying round for the 2028 Peking to Paris. The detailed inclusions were not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth settling in writing. Winter is the season, since the Sahara at any other time of year is not survivable in an old car. Visas for Mauritania and Senegal need starting early, and the car needs shipping home from Dakar, which is a cost and a piece of planning worth settling before entering rather than after. Two nights under canvas in the dunes is the part of the itinerary most entrants remember, and the part that makes the toughest-tier rating fair.