Ait Benhaddou

Aït Benhaddou is a village made up of several small kasbahs, each stretching some ten metres into the air. There are no more than a handful people living here now, but even in its heydays there can’t have been more than a few hundreds. it’s one of those exotic places you dream of visiting. A few families still live around the kasbahs (you’ll be invited to visit the interior of some of the houses for a small fee 10-20 dirhams), but most have moved away, or into the ordinary settlement on the other side of the river. Aït Benhaddou is most beautiful in the hours before the sun sets, when the Saharan sun lights up the red walls of the kasbahs.

If you want to visit a smaller, less visited Kasbah travel a further 20kms up the road to Tamdaght. It’s not quite so imposing but has a truly timeless feel.