Ait Ben Haddou

Ait Ben Haddou is a fortified village of earth towers that once guarded the caravan route between Sudanese gold and Marrakech. It is also a film set, which you will be told. Walk up anyway. The granary view is the point.

Go early or late. Midday is for the buses we are not on.

When to visit Ait Ben Haddou

Any season works, but the light is best early in the morning and late in the afternoon, when the earth towers glow red and the tour buses are gone. Summer middays are hot on the climb to the granary, so we time the visit carefully.

Getting to Ait Ben Haddou

Ait Ben Haddou is about three and a half hours from Marrakech over Tizi n’Tichka and around thirty kilometres from Ouarzazate. You cross the Ounila river on stepping stones or a footbridge and walk up through the lanes of the ksar; the climb takes about twenty minutes. Several families still live inside and welcome visitors to their homes and workshops. Many tours stop here on the way to the Dades Valley or on the return to Marrakech.

Authoritative background: UNESCO listing for the Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou (UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou).

Morocco desert tours