7-day roadtrip in the Moroccan High Atlas

This adventure in Morocco's High Atlas begins in Marrakech. On this first morning, you'll pick up your hire car early from the airport (many hire companies are present, including Avis and Hertz) before setting off for Aït Ben Haddou.

Leaving Marrakech, the road soon offers breathtaking scenery. Winding through the peaks of the High Atlas, this winding road alternates between colourful mountains, Berber villages, palm groves and centuries-old kasbahs. It's enough to immediately immerse you in the atmosphere that awaits you along this route!

To get to Aït Ben Haddou, you have two options: follow the N9 to Tabourahte and branch off towards Aït Ben Haddou, or take the small road through the village of Télouet. If you have the time, we can only recommend this route.

After crossing the Tizi N'Tichka pass, head towards Télouet. You'll find yourself on a small, winding mountain road with vertiginous switchbacks and one breathtaking view after another! In Télouet, be sure to visit the superb Kasbah perched at an altitude of 1650 metres.

It takes around 4 hours to drive to Aït Ben Haddou from Marrakech. On arrival, take the opportunity to admire the sunset over the Ksar.

The day begins in style with a visit to the Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou. This is one of Morocco's best-known ksars (a castle with a fortified village and Berber architecture) and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This magical place has been the setting for many films, so you may have seen it in Game of Throne, Gladiator or Lawrence of Arabia.

As well as being quite famous, this village is also quite touristy. To make the most of it, we recommend arriving early in the morning. You can easily spend half a day wandering the ochre-coloured streets of this terracotta village and discovering its little shops. You can choose to have lunch inside the Ksar itself or in one of the restaurants on the other side of the river with a view of the Ksar.

In the afternoon, take a leisurely drive back to Skoura and its famous palm grove. Allow around 1h30 for the journey.

This morning, head for the Skoura palm grove, one of the most beautiful and unspoilt in the area. Take the time to stroll through this magnificent green palm grove, where only the birds disturb the silence. You'll discover kasbahs, each more beautiful than the last, hidden away among the palm trees. We particularly recommend a visit to the Amridil Kasbah.

In the afternoon, take the road back to Tinghir for a journey of around 2 hours 15 minutes. We recommend that you sleep in one of the guest houses dotted along the road between Tinghir and the Todra Gorge, which often offer superb views of the local palm groves and mountains, or in the gorge itself.

Here, the scenery is unparalleled: at the bottom of a vast red canyon, immense palm groves form a river of greenery and are overlooked by the ruins of abandoned kasbahs. And today, you'll be leaving the car behind to discover the sumptuous Todra gorges on a 4-hour hike.

The walk begins with the most beautiful part of the gorge: impressive pink cliffs rise up all around you. At the end of this canyon, take the staircase on the left for a loop of around 3h30. This hike offers superb views of the mountains, palm groves and small villages that make up this magnificent tableau.

This morning, the journey back to Marrakech begins, but with a few new stops. The first of which is the mythical Dades Valley! Once past Boulmane Dadès, just 1 hour from Tinghir, you start a stretch of road that hides a succession of breathtaking landscapes. Take the time to stop regularly to enjoy them. The highlight is the famous road that winds through the Dades gorges.

Feel free to leave your car behind and explore the gorges on foot. Around Tamellalt, for example, you can take a 3-hour walk to get close to the famous " monkey fingers ".

Today, we're heading for the last stop on this roadtrip: the mythical town of Ouarzazate! From Boulmane Dadès, the drive takes around 2 hours 15 minutes. Here, the desert landscape is always tinged with ochre and red.

Ouarzazate, the "Hollywood of Morocco", has long inspired film-makers. So don't miss a visit to the Ouarzazate film studios, where you can see the sets of films such as Asterix, Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven.

Then, to round off the day in style, head for the Fint oasis, around ten kilometres from Ouarzazate. This oasis is a veritable jewel case of greenery and is well worth the diversions to enjoy some last moments of peace and quiet before the return journey!