Overview

Day trip from Marrakech to Ait Benhaddou Kasbah

Planning

We will cross the Atlas Mountains. The winding roads, changing scenery, colorful valleys, shepherds with their flocks, Berbere villages high up on the hillsides, make this a picturesque drive. And when we get to Tizi’n Tichka Pass, we’ll be at the highest point in the Atlas Mountains. as you reach the far side of the mountains the landscape changes dramatically, becoming semi-arid and desert-like.

Here is the Kasbah architecture with turrets on all the buildings, adorned with grilled windows and soft peach colored walls. These traditional houses are made of adobe, highly suitable for the climatic conditions of the south. After the Tichka pass, you leave the main road and take a side road to the Telouet Kasbah, which belonged to the Lords of the Atlas, the Glaoui family, which stands in ruins after the last Pasha fled the country after the departure of the French.

From there you continue for lunch at Ait Ben Haddou along the newly asphalted road. The afternoon is spent exploring the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ait Benhaddou, which has been used as a backdrop for many Hollywood blockbusters. It was one of the most important fortress strongholds on the old Salt Road caravan routes, where traders brought slaves, gold, ivory and salt from sub-Saharan Africa to Marrakech and beyond.