With snow capped peaks, verdant valleys & traditional mud built Berber villages, the Atlas Mountains provide excellent trekking plus a terrific respite from the madness, noise and high heat of Marrakech. Continue reading for our guidebook to accommodation in the Atlas Mountains, trekking weather and also options.
The High Atlas Mountains would be the most quickly covered area of the Atlas Mountains as well as arguably most stunning, the High Atlas Mountains, are just a two hr drive from Marrakech centred all over the trail head town of Peak and Imlil of Toubkal. This guidebook is largely concerned with this place.
A Day trip Atlas mountains may be gotten to from Marrakech. However because of the two hr drive each way, we’d prefer to endorse staying overnight. Multi-day treks are a fantastic method to feel the landscape as well as pretty traditional Berber culture, or maybe you are able to just unwind on the rooftop terrace of a charming mountain guesthouse and also ingest the ideas over an excellent guide as well as several mild short walks.
Accommodation in the High Atlas Mountains
Since the appearance of the (deservedly) legendary Kasbah Du Toubkal, the Atlas Mountains have established a good reputation for stylish and indulgent hotels. Kasbah Bab Ourika stands apart for majestic situation and clean indulgence. Douar Samra wins the appeal award hands down with a wonderfully earthy rambling village home with a just so shabby chic. And whilst the Kasbah Du Toubkal is much more costly, the excellent terraces, lounges and also views pull together to produce an excellent stay.
Hotels are clustered around 3 broad areas, Imlil, Ouirgane and the Ourika Valley. The Ourika Valley is closest to Marrakech situated in the foothills of the Atlas range. It’s a remarkably picturesque valley, but is a lot more heavily populated and highly frequented by tourist coaches with fewer good sports options. Generally speaking we do not suggest this particular part except for Kasbah Bab Ourika, an extremely tall class boutique hotel which consumes a prominent hill in the center of the valley. The Ouirgane area has a selection of options that are great like the superb Domain Malika. Nevertheless, in case you’re attempting to stay away from the heat of summer season and or maybe you’re keen on running and then the Imlil area is our favoured option, the scenery is very remarkable, temps are just a little cooler as well as the village is in the center of a fantastic community of walking trails.
Trekking in the High Atlas Mountains
Basing yourself in a resort (or maybe even on one day trip from Marrakech) you will find a number of great day walks it’s possible within the Imlil region and also the near-bye Ouirgane National Park. The spot around Imlil provides hikes to neighbouring excessive passes or even a maximum of the shrine on the first trail to Toubkal, whilst Ourika and Ouirgane provide much less dramatic much more minimal key scenery and milder walking.
A well balanced itinerary may consist of two to three nights in Douar Samra (or maybe Kasbah Du Toubkal in case you are able to pay for it) with just one or maybe 2 morning hikes and also lots of time to take in the ideas from the roof terraces & gardens. It’s very possible to move on your very own, but trails are not marked and manuals are very good, fairly in expensive and very highly recommended.
A multi day trek is really the easiest way to see the mountains. Most hotels live in relatively modernised villages, but for a multi day trek you are able to check out the usual mud built Berber villages, several gorgeous valleys and also extremely high mountain scenery. All our multi day treks add an instructions manual, cook (who will make a cooked picnic lunch on the trail, dinners and also breakfast all from scrumptious natural ingredients) and mules to hold the gear of yours.
2 to 3 day valleys and villages treks aren’t dis similar to the idea of a Nepalese tea house trek. These treks are made with a light itinerary (typically 5 6 hrs max hiking per day), stay overnight in standard village gites and also when the guide of yours usually takes you for tea in a village house. These treks stay away from the harder high passes staying below 3000m, making them ideal for cold weather as well as for all those whose main goal is pleasure rather compared to examining peaks & passes by. We are likely to focus the majority of our valleys treks across the Azzaden and also D’knt Valleys since the blend of scenery, varied trails and classic villages is tough to fight. We’ve just recently shut down the traverse trek from Imlil to Ourika Valley traverse, because a recently available street is constructed along the majority of the path.
Toubkal is climbed on treks from two times up to six. We do not advocate the two day path as it heads up as well as back down via the same, over trafficked route. In 3 times, you are able to summit Toubkal and appreciate the fantastic scenery of the Azzaden Valley. In 4 or 5 days, there’s also time to examine the more remote villages and valleys. The six day Toubkal Circuit may be the supreme Atlas Mountain trek, having an extensive group around Toubkal, reaching the remote and hitting high alpine areas around Lak D’Ifni.
It’s well worth noting you are going to need an excellent sleeping bag (it becomes cool during the night at altitude), good walking shoes and waterproofs or maybe boots in case you’re planning on going over a multi day trek.
Accommodation on multi day treks often entails some combination of camping out, village gites (guesthouses) and mountain huts (where necessary). Gites are traditional village houses which function as an inn for visitors and also may be a fantastic cultural experience. Areas are extremely easy and you will find blank bones shared bathrooms. If you would preferably not encounter the shared facilities, then we are able to provide 2 to 3 day treks staying at the Azzaden trekking lodge, a 3 (en suite) bedroom village outpost on the Kasbah Du Toubkal within the Azzaden Valley.