Ait Ben Haddou is a fortified earthen village on a hillside above a river, UNESCO listed since 1987, and you see it properly by climbing to the top. The ksar is a cluster of kasbahs behind a single wall, built on the old caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech, and a handful of families...Read More
Ouzoud is the highest waterfall in North Africa and the day there is built around one thing: getting to the bottom and back up. The water drops about 110 metres in three stages into a pool you can reach on foot, and there are resident Barbary macaques in the olive trees on the way down....Read More
Imlil is a village at 1 740 metres at the end of the road into the High Atlas, and what you do there is walk. It sits at the foot of Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa, and it is the last place a vehicle can reach: everything above it moves on foot or...Read More
Agafay is a stony desert thirty minutes from Marrakech, and almost everything to do there happens in the late afternoon and evening. There are no dunes: it is a landscape of grey hills and dry riverbeds that empties completely at sunset, which is the whole appeal. It works as an evening rather than a day....Read More
Ouarzazate is where the Atlas ends and the desert begins, and it is best known for two things: the film studios and the kasbahs. Most visitors pass through on the way to the Sahara and see it in an afternoon, which is roughly what it deserves on a first visit. The town itself is modern...Read More
Essaouira is a walled fishing port on the Atlantic, three hours west of Marrakech, and the whole town fits inside a morning of walking. The medina is UNESCO listed, the harbour still works, and the wind never stops, which is what makes it bearable in August and cold in January. It is the easiest day...Read More
Merzouga is a village on the edge of Erg Chebbi, and almost everything to do there happens on or around the dunes. The sand rises to roughly 150 metres, which is what separates it from every other desert in Morocco, and what you do there is dictated by the light: activities happen at either end...Read More
A day trip from Marrakech starts around 17 to 30 euros shared and 20 to 75 euros privately. A multi-day desert tour runs from 80 euros shared to 270 euros for a four day private circuit with a luxury camp. The spread is wide because four things move the price, and none of them is...Read More
A shared desert tour from Marrakech costs roughly half what the same route costs privately, and the difference is the vehicle, not the destination. On a shared trip you travel with five to fifteen other people, leave at a fixed hour and follow a set route. Privately, the vehicle is yours, you choose the departure...Read More
Budget 400 to 600 dirhams a day per person for a mid-range trip, and take more cash than you think you need once you leave the cities. That covers meals, taxis, entrance fees and tips, but not accommodation or tours, which are usually paid separately. The dirham is a closed currency: you cannot buy it...Read More
