Out and back · 10 excursions
Day trips
Leave after breakfast, be back for dinner. The mountains are an hour and a half away, the Atlantic is under three, and the stone desert is closer than the airport.
The High Atlas & Imlil
An hour and a half from the Jemaa el-Fna and you are at the foot of the highest mountain in North Africa, in a walnut valley where the road runs out and the mule track starts.
Asni · Imlil · Armed
The Ourika Valley
The closest mountains to the city, and the coolest air. A river valley of terraced gardens, roadside cafés built over the water, and a chain of waterfalls at the top of it.
Tnine Ourika · Setti Fatma
Ouzoud Falls
The highest waterfall in North Africa, dropping in stages into a gorge full of olive terraces — with resident Barbary macaques who have entirely worked out the tourists.
Azilal · Ouzoud
Essaouira
Out through argan country to the Atlantic: Portuguese ramparts, a blue working harbour, a medina on a grid, and wind that does not let up.
the argan road · Essaouira
Agafay, After Dark
A stone desert half an hour from the city — camels at sunset, dinner under canvas, and the High Atlas holding the last of the light on the horizon.
Agafay
Aït Benhaddou & Ouarzazate
Over the Tichka and back in a day. The stepped earth ksar above the Ounila, and the studio town that has stood in for half the ancient world.
Tizi n’Tichka · Aït Benhaddou · Ouarzazate
Also running
Four more, with no photograph yet
Izil runs these and has not shot them. Rather than illustrate them with somebody else’s picture of somewhere similar, they are listed plainly until there is a real one.
Paradise Valley
A palm gorge in the Anti-Atlas with a river running through rock pools you can swim in. A long day from Marrakech and a short one from the coast.
moderate — Some walking on uneven ground, early starts, a night under canvas.
The Medina, Eaten
An evening on foot through the souks and the food stalls, eating at the places that have no sign and no menu because they have never needed either.
easy — Long drives, short walks. No fitness requirement.
Sunrise, from the Air
Up before dawn, over the palmeries and the villages of the Haouz, with the Atlas going pink along the whole southern horizon.
easy — Long drives, short walks. No fitness requirement.
The Palmeraie on Quads
Half a day in the palm groves and dry riverbeds north of the city — tracks, dust, and mint tea in a village at the turnaround.
easy — Long drives, short walks. No fitness requirement.
Longer
Everything past a day is a journey
24 multi-day routes from Marrakech, Fes, Casablanca and Tangier — three days to fifteen.