Towns /Cities / Sights around Marrakesh, Marrakesh

hi, yes youve got good answers here especially Windcity's - Im very experienced with driving around at night in Morocco and have driven the road to Ouirgane a number of times - its good road but drive as Windcity has said esp as its your first time driving in Morocco - but its really not so difficult to do so.
March is beautiful though if it is later March then unfortunately you will have missed the almond flowers along the road from Ouirgane to Tin Mal - several areas in the valleys along that way they are prolific so its a stunning sight along there - but in March up the road to Imlil is lovely in March and many other areas have lots of flowers to brighten the countryside such as around Tafraoute and around Ourika.

but you will do well with a week and a car based at ouirgane - definitely drive up to Imlil - you will see flowers/trees in blossom in March up that way, park in the village and take a walk up to Kasbah Imlil for stunning views 360 degrees. its 25 dirham pp to get in and includes a drink which is well worth it. The mountain guides will be out in the middle of the village to approach you to offer their services - as I have previously found its worth it - to maximise your time and extend your opportunities to meet locals. They are all professional certified/registered guides there and they need money too so its worth it. Nice to go with one up to the kasbah but there is a lovely circuit around the villages that take you past the waterfalls that you will see down below from when you are up the top of the kasbah.
The road also continues on another 5 km on from Imlil and this is a nice drive with some lovely views and scenery and to where some of the oldest villages in Morocco are.
Im yet to finish making my page for Imlil but its great up there esp in March.

Ive got a bit of a page on Ouirgane if youd like to look at it - a guided tour around the village is worth the money spent for a couple of hours - and even have a visit into whoever guides you's home for tea and bread and a donation.

Definitely drive along to Tin Mal and to the viewpoint over from the top of TiznTest - even do it all as a good day trip to Taroudant and back again if you leave early enough in the morning.

Then yes do a day trip up to Oikemaiden and Ourika valley - if you ski then take what you could ski in - there was heaps of snow when I was there in Feb and there usually still is in March for the chairlifts to run - skis and boot hire at the lifts - and worth the experience to say you skiied North Africas highest skifield and went on the highest chairlift!

Driving from the airport is not really much of a problem - its finding the turnoff to Ouirgane - each time Ive been there the signposts have been covered by trees - you might find that you go past the road and need to turn around to check the road or otherwise get a taxi at the airport to go ahead of you to navigate for you should only be about 10 dirham.

Get some dirhams out from the ATMs at the airport.

If you are at all worried then just stay the night in Marrakech, have a walk around the souks and up to Musee Marrakech in the morning for a couple of hours to see some sights and then head off about midday.
I like Hotel Toulousain when I have a car as its fairly easy to find and easy for parking. Its not far from the tourist office down a side street/parallel road. You could get a taxi to go ahead of you to find it for you.
YOu could also then drive to the marjane supermarket to stock up on some good Moroccan red wine supplies etc if you wished also before you head off on your way to Ouirgane.

All the best, a week in March with a car is a delight!

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Tin Mal Mosque was built in the year of 1153 by Abd el-Moumen, the successor of the founder of the Almohad dynasty Ibn Toumert. Tin Mal village became the spiritual capital and artistic centre of the Almohads. After the decline of the dynasty, it became again a simple village in the High Atlas and the mosque deteriorated and became more or less a ruin. Nowadays it is largely restored by the UNESCO - there is still no roof - and a rare opportunity for non-Muslims to visit the interior of a mosque in Morocco.

Coming from Marrakech along the Tizi-n-Test road we followed after the village of Ijoukak the N’ffis Valley. Suddenly the mosque appeared, standing on a hill in the valley. It looked from a distance more like a fortress than a religious building.

It seemed like the caretaker was waiting for us, because he welcomed us immediately after leaving our car. He showed us around in the mosque with its impressive interior: beautiful arched pillars of pink stone and plaster stalactites, the original Mihrab with nice decorations, the cedar wooden doors now replaced by new ones, some original water pipes and the nests of two owls. The interior was severely damaged and just the Mihrab and the colonnade in front of it are well maintained. The rest of the pillars were rebuilt.

It was so interesting walking around, getting an impression of a Moroccan mosque and shooting pictures as well. The mosque still doesn’t have a roof and the sun was shining into the building causing mysterious shadow patterns from the horseshoe arches.

From the car park we had stunning views of the snow covered mountains of the High Atlas and the green N’ffis Valley.

Information
Tin Mal Mosque is situated about 10 km’s south of the village of Ijoukak, about 100 km’s from Marrakech along the Tizi-n-Test road (S501). It takes about two hours of driving. The mosque is open daily except Fridays and we had to pay a small entrance fee. We visited Tin Mal with a ‘grand taxi’ on our day trip to the pass.

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Asni is a small Berber village along the main road to the Tizi-n-Test Pass. Its location is rather scenic with good views of the Toubkal, with a height of 4167 metres the highest mountain of Morocco. The village is spread along the road with some shops and local cafés along the road.

First we had a Moroccan coffee in one of these local cafés together with our driver, before entering the weekly souk of Asni, which is hold every Saturday. Just behind the gate we reached a completely different world, although having seen the Kasbah and souks of Marrakech.

This rural souk looked like we were back in the ‘middle ages’. Fruit and vegetables are spread out on the ground, paths are muddy and most people look poor. In another part of the market vendors were selling chickens and goats, next to the stall of a (donkey)blacksmith. Perhaps most remarkable was the ‘car park’ with a huge number of donkeys. You may find it turning to the left after the entrance gate.
Such a rural souk is much more authentic (I would say a must see during a Marrakech visit) and we liked it much more than the more commercial souks in the city.

We were more or less alone between locals and after making an overall picture of the market some of them were rather angry. So we accepted the ‘help’ of a conman, although we intended not to accept offers from anybody. To be honest it felt quite comfortable strolling around with him. At the end he offered some Berber souvenirs and after a lot of bargaining (from 400 to 70 Dirhams) we bought one.
Be aware: Asni seems to be well known as hustlers, touts and conmen village.

Information
Asni lies about 50 km’s from Marrakech and is accessible by bus or grand-taxi. We visited the market during our trip to the Tizi-n-Test Pass.

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Just the drive from the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass road (coming from Marrakech you have to turn to the left about 5 km’s after the pass) is quite an adventure. It is a narrow road, mostly sealed and on a couple of places we had to drive through a dry stream. We were passing a couple of Berber settlements, all with red/pink houses and people working on the fields, before reaching the tiny village of Telouet.

Telouet lies on an altitude of 1800 metres and is surrounded by snow-capped Atlas Mountains in fantastic scenery.

Telouet has two ‘faces’: the one along the ‘main’ road with some shops (carpets, gifts) and cafés/restaurants and the other off road is the real village with a school, mosque, narrow ‘streets’ and little more or less mud huts.
After parking our car immediately a guide, named Aissa, offered his services and we walked with him through the village, saw the old slave quarters, where still descendants of the slaves of Pasha el-Glaoui live and passed the Mellah River on our way to the Kasbah.

Back in the village we had a cup of tea with him, visited a carpet shop and had a lunch in one of the restaurants (see tip). Telouet has also two small hotels. On Thursdays there is a weekly Berber market in Telouet.

What a peaceful and quite place, such a difference from the hustle and bustle of Marrakech.

Directions
Turn off from the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass road (signposted) and follow the narrow road into the valley for about 20 km’s.

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In the past Telouet was an important stop for camel caravans from Marrakech to the Sahara. The Glaoui brothers built a Kasbah on this place controlling the traffic to/from the south. It was the main residence of Al-Thami el-Glaoui, Pasha of Marrakech. It was built in the 19th and 20th century and housed up to 1000 people. After the independence of Morocco in 1956 the Kasbah deteriorated and nowadays is more or less a ruin, although our guide told the building should be restored.

We were approaching the Kasbah from the (old) village of Telouet along the slave houses and crossing the Mellah River with great of the building. Coming closer and closer the building became more and more impressive with its massive red mud walls.

Through a courtyard with camel stables and a minaret of the former mosque we reached the wooden gate into the palace. Although most of the buildings are really ruins, there are just two rooms, which still gave a good impression of the wealth and power of the Pasha. The central reception and the harem room are beautifully decorated with stucco work, carved cedar wooden ceilings, painted doors and fantastic zellij tiles. Windows do have nice ironworks, which invites shooting a picture of Telouet and the mountains.
These two rooms look like the palaces in Marrakech.

Information
For Telouet turn off from the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass road (signposted) and follow the narrow road into the valley for about 20 km’s. You can not miss the impressive Kasbah, otherwise a ‘guide’ will offer his services bringing you to the palace and showing you around. We had to pay 20 Dirhams for the guide and the entrance fee (10 or 20 Dirhams) to the caretaker.

Its a good proper road to get there and Ive been up it myself - in a car! I usually recommend rental cars as best way to get about for tourists there - or hire a grande taxi from Marrakech for the day - ie go down to the big grande taxi rank and hire a driver and taxi - usually no more than 750 dirham for the day and you can make a good day of it - otherwise rent a car for whatever days youre around and see more nice places around the area - such as out to Tin Mal on the way to TiznTest and even keep going over the pass and down to Taroudannt.
Generally if the roads get snowed on the snow ploughs are out to clear the roads.
Theres skiiing available up at Oukaimden as well - hire equipment on the spot there.
Dont worry too much - just go and see what happens and enjoy the place and your trip - whatever happens people are about to deal with the situation and youll be fine!

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Two days after my fall, and with one day of our holiday already lost to doctors and clinics, we decided to press ahead with our original plan of a day trip to the coast, as sitting in a taxi watching the scenery go past seemed a lot easier than tackling the streets of Morocco on foot. And so it proved – we had a lovely relaxing, though long, day out which showed us that something at least of our holiday could be retrieved despite the unexpected and unwelcome change in our circumstances.

Leaving after an early breakfast we headed west through a fairly dry and dusty landscape interspersed with villages and small towns. Most of these serve as markets for the Berber farmers in the surrounding area, so were full of life and interest for us. We stopped several times en route – for coffee, to visit a carpet co-operative (and succumb to temptation there!) and to see the local oddity known as “goats in trees”. We arrived in Essaouira in time for a leisurely lunch in the main square. The light was beautiful, the sea air refreshing, the activity around us fascinating but much less frenetic than in Marrakesh. After lunch Chris had a walk around the port area and took lots of photos, while I sat on a bench and did the same in the square. I then managed a short hobble around a few streets in the old town before it was time to head back to Marrakesh. It was dark as we approached the city and a huge red moon was rising – a sign of hope after the mess of the previous day and a wonderful end to our day out.

We travelled by grand taxi and paid 900 dirhams for the whole day (£72) which was good value given how long we were out and how helpful Mokhtar was in making accommodations for my restricted mobility. With more people sharing the taxi it would of course be cheaper, and I believe you can also book tours by minibus, or of course hire a car to drive there yourself. For more about our day out please see my separate page on Essaouira.

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I love just wandering around the backstreets of any town or city, and 'getting lost' Never knowing what's around the next corner, and finding those 'hidden gems' Also it doesn't cost anything, and often my memories (and photo's ) last longer than any souvenirs.- oh and it's good exercise too!

Marrakesh was a fantastic place, to wander 'off the beaten path' with it's maze of narrow winding streets. As a lone female, I felt quite safe, and spent most days wandering around the Medina and Mellah areas.

Each corner revealed something new, both on street level, and above. Either in the different architecture, or in local activity.

The boys in the picture were one example of local life, which I encountered, they stopped playing football,and a game pushng this wheel around, to chat with me, before carrying on with their game.

I especially (for some strange reason, but since being on VT realise that others have the same interest!) like old doorways, and Marrakesh has old doorways aplenty!

A few times, I was re- directed to 'The Square' I wasn't sure if the locals thought I was lost and this was where I was looking for, or they didn't want me (and my camera) 'on their land'