◊
The 1000-plus year old mudbrick village of Ait Ben Haddou is Morocco’s beloved picture-perfect postcard. It’s one of the most photographed spots in the country and on almost every visitor’s wish list. This exquisite, fortified village (or ksar) has been a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site since 1987 and is one of the most visited tourist spots on the high traffic route between Marrakech and the Sahara Desert.
Now, here’s the thing: I was sceptical. I’m always distrustful of excessively trendy, potentially congested destinations because I’m a cynic and aim to avoid unnecessary hassle, inflated prices and my fellow Englishmen on our jaunts. I’m especially careful to dodge places with large tour groups.
However, despite my concerns, we had a magnificent time and Ait Ben Haddou was definitely worth visiting! So, I thought I’d channel my surprise and document the best way to visit without a tour, how to avoid the crowds, what we did and what we loved!
◊
IN THIS GUIDE //
Visiting Ait Ben Haddou
WHY VISIT AIT BEN HADDOU?
WHAT IS KSAR AIT BEN HADDOU?
– DO PEOPLE LIVE IN AIT BEN HADDOU?
WHERE IS AIT BEN HADDOU?
GETTING TO AIT BEN HADDOU
– FROM MARRAKECH
– FROM OUARZAZATE
BEST TIME TO VISIT
WHERE TO STAY
– AIT BEN HADDOU OR OUARZAZATE?
FILMS AT AIT BEN HADDOU
ENTRY FEES
HELPFUL TIPS FOR VISITING
TOURS TO AIT BEN HADDOU
FINAL THOUGHTS
This post may contain affiliate links. If you book through these links we may make a small commission at zero cost to you. It helps us pay for the upkeep of this blog. Thank you!
WHY VISIT AIT BEN HADDOU?
Set in the beautiful Ounila Valley || so there is plenty more to explore if you have a car
UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987 || which is cool
Photography spot || it’s the perfect place to take *the* picture of traditional southern Morocco
Filming location || it has been used for some seriously legendary productions
Friends will be jealous || obviously
Independent travel friendly || totally do-able without a guide or tour
Free entry || technically, although residents may try to charge you
Comfortable accommodation || there are loads of decent options nearby
Easy access || on a paved road between Marrakech and Ouarzazate
Surprisingly decorative || one of the most pretty ksars I’ve ever seen
–
RELATED POST | 12 MUST-SEE HISTORICAL MOROCCAN LANDMARKS
WHAT IS KSAR AIT BEN HADDOU?
Ait Ben Haddou is an earthen clay, fortified village (known as a ksar).
Located in central southern Morocco in the Ounila Valley, the village is on a historic salt trade caravan route that ran between Marrakech and the Sahara. The trade routes that ran across this region were strategic hubs for merchants on their way east, reaching as far as Sudan. According to UNESCO, the village dates to the 11th century, but most of its present-day structures are estimated to be from around the 1800s. The city felt far older to me – possibly because my imagination has been conditioned to envisage this place in biblical times.
Inside the defensive walls are dwellings (the larger, fortified ones, are called kasbahs), a graveyard, some small shops, street vendors and, around the base, space for agricultural animals.
This is actually one of many ksars you can see on a road trip around the area. However, Ait Ben Haddou is definitely the most famous, probably because of Hollywood, and is certainly one of the most spectacular.
Construction and architecture | the dense, hillside ksar was constructed with rammed earth, mud, wood and clay bricks, typical of many places in the deserts of southern Morocco (you’ll also see a lot of this adobe Berber style architecture in Marrakech, too!). Even from a distance, the iconic and highly ornate square, triangle and diamond motifs are easily spotted, setting this ksar apart from others nearby.
The tall, highly decorative towers were ingeniously built to reduce the load on the lower storeys by using rammed earth at the base of the structure and lighter mudbricks for the upper floors. The thick walls and small windows were to aid in temperature regulation for the extremes of the desert. This traditional Berber architecture is pretty cool stuff.
Damage | in September 2023, the ksar was damaged by the substantial 6.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred near Marrakech. This caused cracks and partial collapses in some of the buildings, including the hilltop granary. It’s still worth visiting; the damage has not restricted access or caused it to be dangerous (follow instructions and signs though).
DO PEOPLE LIVE IN AIT BEN HADDOU?
Presently, there are still a few families who choose to live within the ancient fortress walls of Ksar Ait Ben Haddou. The new town, just across the creek to the south-west, houses most of the village’s population.
In the 1940s there were 90 families living in the ksar, but the importance of the village dwindled as the ancient salt caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech became obsolete. The town then became more dependent on arable work and, in recent years, tourism.
In 2011 a new pedestrian bridge was built across the adjacent Ounila River. The objective was not just to link the ksar and the modern side of Ait Ben Haddou, but also encouraging residents to move back in to boost tourism, according to UNESCO.
WHERE IS AIT BEN HADDOU?
The desert, mountain village of Ait Ben Haddou sits in the southern foothills of the mighty Atlas Mountain range, adjacent to the Ounila River, within Ounila Valley.
The nearest major city to Ait Ben Haddou is Marrakech, around 180 kilometres northwest via the highest pass in Morocco, the Tizi n’ Tichka Pass. This scenic route through the valley can take 3-4 hours, or more, to drive depending on traffic congestion and number of stops!
An easy, 30-minute drive southeast of Ait Ben Haddou is the popular town of Ouarzazate, Morocco’s Hollywood in the desert.
Many visitors take organised tours from Marrakech to visit Ait Ben Haddou, enroute to the Sahara, usually via extra stops in Ouarzazate and Tinghir.
GETTING TO AIT BEN HADDOU
Ait Ben Haddou is just off the main road between Marrakech and Ouarzazate, so it’s relatively easy to access.
There are bus, taxi and minivan options, but the simplest and most flexible way is to rent a car! Morocco is an amazing country to drive in – safe, polite and genuinely pretty straightforward. If you’re curious about self-driving in Morocco, check out our honest guide to driving in Morocco.
Marrakech to Ait Ben HAddou
Car | the journey is roughly 180 kilometres, around a three-hour drive, south-east along the N9 across the Tizi N’Tichka pass. A slightly slower but more scenic option is to take the paved P1506. We did this route, twice (and it’s worth it) with notable stops at Kasbah Telouet, Anmiter and Kasbah Tamdakhte. There is no need for a high clearance vehicle on either route.
Minivan | smaller minivans will go directly to Ait Ben Haddou from Marrakech. Typically, the journey takes around four hours. This is the more comfortable travel option and can be arranged online using the travel aggregator 12Go.
Bus | there are no direct public buses to Ait Ben Haddou from Marrakech. There are, however, buses to nearby Ouarzazate, with journey times ranging from three and a half to five hours. The two main bus companies for the route are CTM and Supratours and it is possible to book online with both. However, if you have difficulty with either site, 12Go also has tickets, charges a tiny bit more but is easier to use and in English.
Tour | there are day trip and multi-day trips, leaving from Marrakech, available through Get Your Guide. A day trip might be rushed though, so only choose this option if you have no other choice.
Taxi | outside Gare Routiere, Marrakech’s main bus station, is a shared taxi (grand taxi) stand, which will take you directly to Ait Ben Haddou once your chosen car is full.
Train | there is no train from Marrakech to Ait Ben Haddou.
OUARZAZATE to Ait Ben HAddou
Car | the drive northwest from Ouarzazate to Ait Ben Haddou is an easy 30-kilometre, half an hour drive, via the N9 and P1506.
Bus | there is no public bus from Ouarzazate to Ait Ben Haddou.
Taxi | there are options for shared taxis (grand taxis) or hiring a private taxi directly from Ouarzazate to Ait Ben Haddou. Look for ‘Place des Grand Taxis’ outside the Gare Routiere on Avenue Moulay Abdellah (or ask your accommodation, they’ve always been helpful with organising transport with us in Morocco!).
Train | there is no train from Ouarzazate to Ait Ben Haddou.
CAR HIRE FOR YOUR MOROCCO TRIP
We always rent our vehicles all over the world, including our recent trips in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Jordan and Morocco, with Discover Cars. They’re often the most affordable, plus they paid out immediately on an insurance claim we made when our car took some heavy damage in Sicily. We fully recommend them.
If you book through the link below, we make a small profit, at zero cost to you, which helps us write these posts with no advertising! We only endorse products and companies we actually use regularly. For more information, read our position on affiliates.
–
TAKE A LOOK BELOW OR CHECK CAR RENTAL
BEST TIME TO VISIT AIT BEN HADDOU
Generally, the best months to visit Ait Ben Haddou are in the shoulder seasons of March to May, and from September to November when the temperatures are lower then the scorching summer.
Winter | there are fewer visitors in winter, even though the weather is mild and it doesn’t rain much – I’d consider this a great time to visit, too. Temperatures can drop to 10 degrees C, which is chilly but not uncomfortable with a jumper or coat (although apparently it has snowed at Ait Ben Haddou before, which I think would look beautiful!).
Summer | the only time I’d personally avoid visiting Ait Ben Haddou is between June to August, when the weather is on fire (well above 30 degrees C), the crowds are high and accommodation is pricier.
Crowds | in terms of people, the mornings and evenings are (unsurprisingly) the best times to visit, due to the masses of tour buses that rock up throughout the day. They are also the most beautiful times for light, too.
Our experience | we visited in October and it felt far warmer than the forecast temperatures! We drove around the surrounding valleys during the busier part of the day. We then took a wander to the ksar later in the day, and early the next morning, crossing over the Ounila River via stepping stones, missing all the tour buses. It was perfect.
–
RELATED POST | THE 15 MOST BEAUTIFUL MOROCCAN CITIES
WHERE TO STAY AT AIT BEN HADDOU
Ait Ben Haddou is split into the old ksar on the north-east of the creek, and the small, contemporary village on the south-west. The main road runs right through the centre of the new village, which is lined with small restaurants, numerous hotels and guesthouses.
We would recommend a night in Ait Ben Haddou, rather than just a day trip, if you can. The village is peaceful and the old ksar never ‘closes’, so you can visit in the morning and later in the evening after all the tour buses have left for the day.
Our hotel recommendation | we chose to stay at the incredible Bagdad Café in the little village opposite Ksar Ait Ben Haddou.
It’s super stylish, in an understated, minimalist way, with beautiful rooms surrounding a pool and it’s all set in customary adobe style architecture. It was so comfortable; I genuinely didn’t want to leave. There’s also parking and freshly made breakfast, plus the traditional dinner is very highly rated by guests. Truthfully, it was one of the places where I felt completely at ease on our Morocco road trip (that’s a rare thing for me!). The hotel is adjacent to the walkable route across the river to the ksar, avoiding the hassle of the pedestrian footbridge, too.
It was one of my favourite hotels in Morocco, *by far*. Honestly, I can’t recommend it enough – just check the reviews on Booking.com if you need anymore persuasion!
Ait Ben Haddou or Ouarzazate: which is better?
While there are plenty of accommodation options in Ait Ben Haddou, many people on a tight timescale will stay in Ouarzazate as it’s on the way to the Sahara (plus has more food and accommodation options). We stayed in both Ait Ben Haddou and Ouarzazate, because there are lots of thing to do in both!
Honestly, both towns are nice in different ways, and each have things to do, beautiful scenery and great hotel options. If you’re in a rush, though, Ouarzazate is probably your best bet. More so if you’re arriving from Marrakech, as Ait Ben Haddou is along the route.
Our hotel recommendation | we (oddly) chose to stay in the motel-style Ibis in Ouarzazate, opposite the kasbah. Now, we wouldn’t usually recommend a branded hotel, but it has some outrageous roof top views, an insane swimming pool, perfect location and super easy parking. It also had a surprisingly reasonable price-point.
For a more personal service, consider Riad Dar Rita in Ouarzazate instead. It’s beautifully decorated, has a stunning rooftop and our friends who stayed there raved about it!
FILMS AT AIT BEN HADDOU
Ait Ben Haddou has been used for scenes in over two dozen films and TV series, including:
Game of Thrones
Time Bandits
The Jewel Of The Nile
The Living Daylights
The Mummy
Gladiator
The Man Who Would Be King
Lawrence of Arabia
There are several museums in Ouarzazate dedicated to the prominent film industry in Morocco, including the Atlas Studios and the Cinema Museum (temporarily closed due to a fire at the end of 2024), so definitely consider checking them out if you’re an enthusiast.
Personally, I’m a fan of the classics like Lawrence of Arabia, The Man Who Would Be King and Jewel of the Nile, so it was pretty cool visiting the filming locations of places that shaped my imagination as a kid. (Since I was a huge Indiana Jones and Aladdin fan growing up, my view of the world was just snake-filled jungles, rolling deserts and hidden temples full of traps!). Visiting southern Morocco was amazing for my inner child.
–
RELATED POST | A GUIDE TO DRIVING IN MOROCCO
IS AIT BEN HADDOU FREE TO ENTER?
Technically, yes, Ait Ben Haddou is free to enter, however there is an unofficial 20 MAD fee that is often charged to visitors at the main entrance (near the big front gate). The fee is said to be for renovation and maintenance; however, this is not a UNESCO thing, just a local family thing.
So, if you are happy to pay, then that’s cool. If you’d prefer not, in the tips below is a way of avoiding it. We’d prefer to spend our 20 MAD with a local artist or on food, as it’s not clear where the fee is going (I’m wondering how UNESCO funds the maintenance of the village?).
There are also small rooms and homes inside the ksar that an individual will charge 10 or so MAD for entry – this is perfectly reasonable – I wouldn’t want randoms wandering about in my house for free, either.
–
RELATED POST | A MOROCCAN COAST ADVENTURE
HELPFUL TIPS FOR VISITING AIT BEN HADDOU
Fee | enter around the far side of the ksar so you don’t have to pay the unofficial tourist fee. Just cross the river, do not enter the walls or arches and keep following the path until you reach 31.047066, -7.127889. Here, you can just wander in and nobody will charge you a thing. Maybe consider buying one of the many beautiful examples of art, here, though.
Views | there are loads of viewpoints of Ait Ben Haddou, all from outside of the ksar. The best are up on the hill just outside the entrance at 31.046879, -7.127263 and further up the main road at 31.040814, -7.125377.
Bridge | I didn’t actually realise this (my research was clearly on top form), but there is a river that runs between the village and the ksar. There is a bridge on the western side of the ksar that crosses the river, built in 2011, but you will be charged to use it. We just crossed the river via stepping stones at around here 31.044806, -7.128653 and avoided any issues.
Crowds | Ait Ben Haddou is genuinely as picturesque as images online make it out to be, but with that perfection comes busloads of visitors. Busloads and busloads and busloads. They all get dropped off by the bridge, so avoid that region if you’re crowd-averse, like us.
Directions | people will direct you the wrong way – it seems like a fun game for them to get you to wander into a place where an unofficial fee might be requested. We were having a look around and an older teenager sent us through an arch as he claimed it was the entrance. Safe to say, it wasn’t, and all we found was a slightly sad horse.
River | the Ounila river only runs for some of the year. It was flowing quite heavily when we visited, but if you go during summer or after a long period of no rain, it’ll probably be dry. This makes it easier to cross over (we had to be really careful on the stepping stones), but a little less scenic! Just be aware – there 100% will be small kids who will insist on helping you over the stepping stones for a fee, even if you ignore them, they’ll help you anyway.
Thoughts | people describe Ait Ben Haddou as ‘frozen in time’, which, I guess, in some respects it is. However, it’s also inhabited by vendors selling all the usual Moroccan wares, and it certainly didn’t feel the same as exploring a remote Mayan pyramid, the Nabataean city of Petra or any of Tunisia’s incredible Roman ruins. Timelessness comes with an atmosphere, which I found was hard to find when constantly confronted with vendors.
DAY AND OVERNIGHT TOURS TO AIT BEN HADDOU
There are both day or multi-day tours available, depending on your time constraints, which are great if you do not want to take public transport or drive yourself.
We cannot vet any tours personally as we self-drove, however, we’d recommend checking reviews carefully and be aware of anyone recommending tours online if they have something to gain out of it.
Our go-to is Get Your Guide. It is a helpful platform, purely from the number of reviews, especially for popular Sahara tours, which almost always include Ait Ben Haddou as one of the stops.
If you choose to book through our link, we might make a little commission. This will cost you nothing and it helps us with the upkeep of this blog – if you do, then thank you!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Despite my very cynical nature, I really enjoyed our visit to Ait Ben Haddou. It’s as pretty as it looks in pictures and, despite its crazy popularity, didn’t feel full of hassle or people. We also stayed at one of our favourite hotels in Morocco, which took me by surprise when I was expecting very little from the entire experience. It’s somewhere we will no doubt be returning to, sometime in the future (we could spend years exploring the Atlas Mountains).
If I was visiting Morocco, even for a short holiday, this outstanding ksar and the surrounding area would most certainly be at the top of my wish list.
We hope this mini-guide is helpful and that you have an enjoyable trip, no matter how you choose to visit!
Hi, thanks for visiting our blog! If this post has been of help to you, or you’ve just enjoyed our random ramblings and musings, say thank you by buying us a coffee! It helps keep The Restless Beans blog up and running without ads.
Thank you, Claire + Nick
