--- title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Ouarzazate, Morocco | Wimup" description: "The 10 best things to do in Ouarzazate, ranked: Ait Ben Haddou, Atlas Studios, the Taourirt Kasbah, the Fint oasis and Skoura, with day trips and transport." url: https://wimup.com/city/ouarzazate type: City guide updated: 2026-09-08 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Top 10 Things To Do in Ouarzazate Ouarzazate, Morocco · Africa · By Wimup Editorial, 13 min read The plateau town where the High Atlas stops and the pre-Sahara starts, built up as a French garrison post from 1928 and turned into a studio town in the 1960s. Nobody comes for the boulevards. They come for what is parked around it. ## Quick answer Ouarzazate is the door to the Moroccan south and the country’s film town at the same time. Two studio backlots and a Glaoui kasbah fill a day inside the town itself. The reason to stay longer is everything around it: Ait Ben Haddou half an hour west, the Skoura palm grove forty minutes east, and the Draa valley, the gorges and the dunes all starting here. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** Mar · Apr · Oct - **Ideal length:** 2 to 3 days - **Budget per day:** $40–80 - **Language:** Tashelhit and Arabic, French widely spoken - **Getting around:** On foot along Avenue Mohammed V, hired car or grand taxi beyond - **Tourism board:** [Official site](https://www.visitmorocco.com/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ## The 10 best things to do in Ouarzazate ### 1. Walk the ksar of Ait Ben Haddou before the coaches UNESCO ksar · Ait Ben Haddou, Ouarzazate Province, Morocco The most filmed village in Morocco is a stack of earthen houses climbing to a communal granary, and the climb is the point: the terrace at the top reads the whole Ounila valley. Cross the footbridge, take the stepped lanes up, come down through the houses. The Marrakech coaches own the middle of the day. - **Time:** 2 to 3 hr - **Cost:** Free to enter the ksar - **Best at:** First light or the last hour - **Tip:** Use the footbridge rather than the stepping stones after rain Links: [UNESCO listing](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/444?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) ### 2. Tour the standing sets at Atlas Studios Film studio · Route de Marrakech N9, Ouarzazate 45000, Morocco The backlot that turned this town into Ouallywood. A Tibetan monastery, an Egyptian tomb and a Roman street stand in the gravel, plywood and painted plaster up close and entirely convincing at thirty metres. Visits go in guided groups and take about an hour. - **Time:** 1 hr - **Cost:** Ticket at the gate, guided tour included - **Best at:** Morning, before the light flattens - **Tip:** Ask at the desk what is shooting; sets close with no notice ### 3. Read the Glaoui century at Taourirt Kasbah Kasbah · Avenue Mohammed V, Taourirt, Ouarzazate 45000, Morocco The Glaoui family’s Ouarzazate seat: a rammed-earth pile of towers, narrow stairs and painted cedar ceilings on the town’s main avenue. Earthquake repairs have kept part of the interior shut, and the lived-in mud-brick quarter behind it is the better half of the visit anyway. - **Time:** 45 min - **Cost:** Ticket at the door - **Best at:** Late afternoon, when the walls go orange - **Tip:** Keep walking into the old quarter behind the kasbah ### 4. Drop off the plateau into the Fint oasis Oasis · Oasis de Fint, Ouarzazate Province, Morocco Fifteen kilometres south of town the hammada splits open and a green river valley appears with four small villages along it. The last stretch in is rough piste, which is why most people arrive by 4x4 or with a driver. Kingdom of Heaven and Babel both shot here. - **Time:** Half a day - **Cost:** Free, driver or 4x4 extra - **Best at:** Late afternoon - **Tip:** A saloon car makes it in dry weather and should not try after rain ### 5. See a kasbah still in the family at Amridil Kasbah · Palmeraie de Skoura, Skoura 45500, Morocco Forty kilometres east, inside the Skoura palm grove, a seventeenth-century kasbah still held by the Nassiri family who built it and run as a museum of oasis life: olive press, grain measures, a well with its wooden gear. This is the kasbah printed on the 50 dirham note. - **Time:** 1 hr - **Cost:** Ticket at the door - **Best at:** Morning, then walk the palm grove - **Tip:** Pair it with the piste north to Kasbah Ait Ben Abou ### 6. Cross to Telouet through the Ounila valley Kasbah · Telouet, Ouarzazate Province, Morocco The Glaoui stronghold that once controlled the pass stands half ruined, and the reception rooms that survive hold the best plasterwork and zellij in the south. The road in from Ait Ben Haddou follows the Ounila valley, which is the reason to go rather than the way to save time. - **Time:** Full day with the valley - **Cost:** Ticket at the door - **Best at:** Spring, when the valley is green - **Tip:** Do it as a loop to the N9, not out and back ### 7. Take the Draa road over the Tizi n’Tinififft Scenic drive · N9 towards Agdz, Ouarzazate Province, Morocco The N9 south climbs a bare pass, then drops into the first palm groves of the Draa, the longest river in Morocco. Agdz, about 68 kilometres out, is where the palmeraie starts in earnest and the mud-brick ksour begin to line the valley floor. - **Time:** Half a day to Agdz - **Cost:** Fuel, plus a driver if you want one - **Best at:** Morning light on the pass - **Tip:** Fill the tank in Ouarzazate; stations thin out past Agdz ### 8. Compare the newer backlot at CLA Studios Film studio · Route de Marrakech, Ouarzazate 45000, Morocco The second studio in town, younger and built for the productions Atlas could not hold. The standing sets lean Egyptian and Roman, the crowds are thinner, and a visit answers the question the first tour raises: how much of this town actually works in film. - **Time:** 1 hr - **Cost:** Ticket at the gate - **Best at:** Morning - **Tip:** Access depends on what is shooting, so check on the day ### 9. Find the storks on the towers at Tamdaght Kasbah · Tamdaght, Ait Ben Haddou, Ouarzazate Province, Morocco Seven kilometres past Ait Ben Haddou, another Glaoui kasbah crumbles quietly with stork nests on its towers. Gladiator filmed here. There is no ticket desk and usually nobody else, which after the ksar is the whole argument for driving on. - **Time:** 30 min - **Cost:** A tip for the caretaker - **Best at:** Spring, when the storks are nesting - **Tip:** Add it to the ksar rather than making a second trip out ### 10. Watch the water and the birds at Mansour Eddahbi Reservoir · Barrage Mansour Eddahbi, Ouarzazate Province, Morocco The dam on the Draa holds the reservoir that made the modern town possible, and its shallows pull in flamingos and waders on migration. It sits a short drive east, and it works best as a stop on the way to Skoura rather than a trip of its own. - **Time:** 1 hr - **Cost:** Free - **Best at:** Winter and early spring for birds - **Tip:** Bring binoculars; the birds sit well out from the shore ## Best kasbahs & ksour in Ouarzazate Four more earthen strongholds within an hour of town, none of them on the coach circuit. 1. **Kasbah Tifoultoute** (Kasbah · Tifoultoute): A Glaoui kasbah eight kilometres west, used to house the Lawrence of Arabia crew. The terrace is the reason. 2. **Kasbah Ait Ben Moro** (Kasbah · Skoura): A seventeenth-century kasbah at the western edge of Skoura, restored as a small guesthouse looking across to Amridil. 3. **Kasbah Ait Ben Abou** (Kasbah · Skoura): The second largest kasbah in the Skoura palm grove, largely unrestored and reached on foot through the gardens. 4. **Dar Lahsoune** (Ruin · Skoura): A former Glaoui residence on the piste north of Skoura, empty and unstaffed, on the way to Ait Ben Abou. ## Best restaurants in Ouarzazate Six kitchens in a town where most visitors eat at the hotel, which is the argument for walking out. 1. **La Kasbah des Sables** (French-Moroccan · Centre): French and Moroccan cooking in six small rooms around a lantern-lit pool. The room is as much of the evening as the plate. 2. **Restaurant Douyria** (Moroccan · Taourirt): A restored mud-brick house beside the Taourirt Kasbah. Camel and goat tagines, and a terrace facing the reservoir. 3. **Chez Dimitri** (Moroccan and Mediterranean · 22 Avenue Mohammed V): On the main avenue since 1928, when it was also the town’s shop and petrol pump. Moroccan and Mediterranean, film stills on the walls. 4. **Le Relais de Saint-Exupéry** (French · 13 Boulevard Moulay Abdellah): A French kitchen on Boulevard Moulay Abdellah, run by a Bordeaux chef. The most formal cooking in town. 5. **Accord Majeur** (French · Centre): A small French-run dining room near the Berbère Palace, and the place locals send you for a change from tagine. 6. **Patisserie Habous** (Cafe and patisserie · Avenue Mohammed V): A pavement terrace on the avenue for cake, pastries and coffee. The best people-watching in Ouarzazate. ## Best crafts & markets in Ouarzazate Four places to buy something made in the province rather than trucked in for the coaches. 1. **Centre Artisanal de Ouarzazate** (Crafts · Avenue Mohammed V): The state craft centre on the avenue, with fixed prices. Useful as a benchmark before you haggle anywhere else. 2. **Taznakht carpet weavers** (Carpets · Taznakht): The Ait Ouaouzguite weaving country, about 80 kilometres west on the N10, and the source of the flatweaves sold in Marrakech. 3. **Taliouine saffron cooperatives** (Saffron · Taliouine): Morocco’s saffron town, west along the N10. Harvest and sale run from late October into November. 4. **Ouarzazate municipal market** (Produce · Centre): Dates from the Draa, almonds, olives and spices, bought where the town buys them rather than off a tour stop. ## Best day trips in Ouarzazate Six runs out, from an hour and a half away to a long day on the road. 1. **Dades Gorge** (Gorge · Boumalne Dades): Red canyon walls and the switchback road above Boumalne Dades, about two hours east. 2. **Todra Gorge** (Gorge · Tinghir): A 300-metre limestone slot near Tinghir, wide enough for a road and a river. Climbers work the walls. 3. **Valley of Roses** (Valley · Kelaat M’Gouna): The Damask rose terraces around Kelaat M’Gouna, at their best in the weeks either side of the May harvest. 4. **Tamnougalt** (Ksar · Agdz): A ksar in the Draa palmeraie just past Agdz, still partly inhabited and far quieter than Ait Ben Haddou. 5. **Zagora and the lower Draa** (Oasis town · Zagora): Three hours south down the palm valley, and the last town before the piste to M’Hamid and the dunes. 6. **Jbel Saghro** (Mountains · Nkob): The black volcanic range between the Draa and the Dades, walked on multi-day traverses out of Nkob or Boumalne. ## Best desert trips in Ouarzazate Three ways to reach sand from here, and only one of them is a day trip. 1. **Erg Chegaga** (Dunes · M’Hamid): The bigger, emptier dune field, reached by piste beyond M’Hamid. Two nights out is the honest minimum. 2. **Erg Chebbi** (Dunes · Merzouga): The postcard dunes at Merzouga, five to six hours east on tarmac the whole way. Easier to reach, busier at sunrise. 3. **4x4 and quad tracks around Fint** (Adventure · Fint): Half-day runs on the pistes south of town, sold by most Ouarzazate agencies and hotels. ## Best neighborhoods in Ouarzazate A town of 79,000 has three parts worth naming, and the guide books only mention one. 1. **Taourirt** (Old quarter · East): The kasbah quarter at the east end of the avenue, and the only part of town with lanes rather than blocks. 2. **Avenue Mohammed V** (Centre · Centre): The centre: banks, bus offices, the craft centre and the pavement cafes where the film crews sit between calls. 3. **Tabounte** (Residential · South): Across the river on the Zagora road, with its own kasbah and palm gardens, and no visitors in them. ## Best kasbah stays in Ouarzazate Five places to sleep, from a town hotel to a palm-grove kasbah forty minutes out. 1. **Le Berbère Palace** (Hotel · Centre): The big town hotel, close to Taourirt and the airport, with a pool and a hammam. Where crews are put up. [Website](https://www.berberepalace.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) 2. **Le Temple des Arts** (Riad · Centre): A riad in town with rooms decorated as film sets, which in Ouarzazate is less of a gimmick than it sounds. 3. **Dar Daif** (Guesthouse · Talmasla): A mud-brick guesthouse in the gardens at Talmasla, on the far side of the river from the centre. 4. **Ksar Ighnda** (Hotel · Ait Ben Haddou): A garden hotel at Ait Ben Haddou, which buys you the ksar at first light before the coaches arrive. 5. **Ksar El Kabbaba** (Kasbah hotel · Skoura): A restored kasbah in the Skoura palm grove, with a pool under the palms and the oasis to walk into. ## Festivals & annual events in Ouarzazate (2026) - **Yennayer, the Amazigh new year** (Jan): A public holiday since 2024, and a real one here: this is Tashelhit country, marked at home rather than with parades. - **Almond blossom in the oases** (Feb): The palm groves at Skoura and along the Draa go white for a fortnight, and the light is at its cleanest. - **Marathon des Sables** (Apr): The six-stage desert ultramarathon assembles in Ouarzazate before moving out to the start line in the south. - **Rose Festival, Kelaat M’Gouna** (May): Three days of floats, music and rose water at the head of the Dades valley, timed to the Damask rose harvest. - **Ramadan** (Varies): The date moves back about eleven days a year. Kitchens shut in daylight, the town wakes properly after sunset. - **Eid al-Fitr** (Varies): Two days that close almost everything. Buses and shared taxis fill days ahead, so book or wait it out. - **Throne Day** (Jul): The national holiday on 30 July, marked with flags along the avenue and official ceremonies at the province. - **Date harvest in the Draa** (Oct): The palm groves south of town are picked through October, and the market fills with the year’s Boufeggous. ## Must-try dishes in Ouarzazate, Morocco - **Tagine berbère**: The vegetable pyramid of the south: carrot, potato, courgette and tomato steamed over onion and oil. - **Medfouna**: The stuffed flatbread of the pre-Sahara, filled with spiced meat and almonds and baked in the ashes. - **Couscous with seven vegetables**: Friday lunch across Morocco, and the one meal a household will always cook properly. - **Harira**: Tomato, lentil and chickpea soup, eaten year round and first at every table after sunset in Ramadan. - **Khobz mella**: Nomad bread, cooked buried in hot sand and ash. Gritty crust, and the point of a desert night. - **Draa dates**: Boufeggous is the valley’s prize variety, soft and dark. Bought by the kilo at the town market. - **Amlou**: Ground almonds, argan oil and honey, spread on bread at breakfast. A Souss export, sold all over the province. - **Atay**: Green tea with mint and a great deal of sugar, poured from height. Refusing the third glass is rude. ## Ouarzazate transport & airports - **Ouarzazate Airport** (OZZ): A couple of kilometres north-east of the centre, so a taxi in is a five-minute run. Royal Air Maroc links it with Casablanca, and European charters come and go by season. [Website](https://www.onda.ma/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - **Supratours and CTM buses** (Coach): Marrakech is four to five hours over the Tizi n’Tichka, with departures morning and afternoon. Supratours is ONCF’s coach arm, so a rail ticket can be booked through to here. [Website](https://www.oncf.ma/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) · [CTM](https://www.ctm.ma/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - **Grands taxis** (Shared): Shared saloons leave from the ranks when they fill, and cover Ait Ben Haddou, Skoura, Agdz and Boumalne. Pay per seat, or buy the empty seats to leave sooner. - **Hire car and the N9** (Drive): The region only really opens up with a car. The N9 north crosses the Tichka to Marrakech in about four hours, the N10 runs east to the gorges, and fuel thins out south of Agdz. ## Ouarzazate at a glance - **Country:** Morocco - **Region:** Drâa-Tafilalet - **Population:** About 79,200 (city, 2024 census) - **Founded:** French garrison and administrative post, from the late 1920s - **Nickname:** The door of the desert - **Language:** Tashelhit and Arabic, French widely spoken - **Currency:** Moroccan dirham (MAD) - **Time zone:** UTC+1 - **Calling code:** +212 524 - **Airports:** Ouarzazate (OZZ) - **Power:** 220V, types C and E - **Emergency:** 19 police, 15 ambulance, 177 gendarmerie outside cities ## Interesting facts - The Noor solar complex north-east of town was built to a design capacity of 580 MW. - Kasbah Amridil, in the Skoura palm grove, is the kasbah printed on the 50 dirham note. - The ksar of Ait Ben Haddou has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1987. - The town sits at 1,151 metres, which is why winter nights here drop close to freezing. - Chez Dimitri has been on the avenue since 1928, when it was also the shop and the petrol pump. ## Ouarzazate travel FAQ ### How many days do you need in Ouarzazate? Two if the town is the point: one for the studios and Taourirt, one for Ait Ben Haddou and Tamdaght. Three or four if you use it the way most people do, as the base for Skoura, the Draa valley and the gorges. ### Is Ouarzazate worth stopping in, or only worth passing through? Worth stopping in, but for what it opens rather than what it is. The town itself is one kasbah, two backlots and a long avenue. Everything that makes the trip is within two hours of it, and nothing else in the south is as well connected. ### When is the best time to visit Ouarzazate? March to April and October to November. Summer runs past 40C on the plateau and the pistes are punishing in it. Winter days are fine and bright, but the town is at 1,151 metres and nights get cold enough to want a heated room. ### How do you get from Marrakech to Ouarzazate? The N9 over the Tizi n’Tichka, about 200 kilometres and four hours by car. Supratours and CTM run the same road in four to five hours with morning and afternoon departures. There is no railway; the nearest railhead is Marrakech. ### Can you actually visit the film studios? Yes. Atlas Studios and CLA Studios both take visitors on guided tours of the standing sets, and both close areas without warning when a production is shooting. Check what is on at the gate rather than planning a day around it. ## Nearby guides - [Marrakech](https://wimup.com/city/marrakech.md): Morocco · 10 picks - [Agadir](https://wimup.com/city/agadir.md): Morocco · 10 picks - [Essaouira](https://wimup.com/city/essaouira.md): Morocco · 10 picks - [All of Africa →](https://wimup.com/africa): 67 cities Part of the [Morocco guide](https://wimup.com/country/morocco.md) · [Africa](https://wimup.com/africa.md) ## Sources - [Ouarzazate tourism board](https://www.visitmorocco.com/en?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Walk the ksar of Ait Ben Haddou before the coaches: UNESCO listing](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/444?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Le Berbère Palace (official site)](https://www.berberepalace.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Ouarzazate Airport (official site)](https://www.onda.ma/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Supratours and CTM buses (official site)](https://www.oncf.ma/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Supratours and CTM buses: CTM](https://www.ctm.ma/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.