Route from Skoura to Ait Ben Haddou
Ait Ben Haddou was the fourth part (4th day) of our route from Merzouga to Marrakesh. It was only a short drive from Skoura to Ait Benhaddou, an hour and 15 min drive over 73km. We had considered just visiting Ait Benhaddou and then drive straight to Marrakesh for the night. Unfortunately the thought of driving 3.5 hour to Marrakesh seemed too tedious especially when we did not know how much effort/time/energy we would need to explore Ait Ben Haddou. Our motto of a road trip to to enjoy the sights leisurely.
On hindsight after experiencing Skoura we felt that part 3 and part 4 of our route from Merzouga to Marrakesh could be combined. We needed not stay a night in Skoura, just stopped at Skoura to visit its Kasbah Amridill and Skoura Palmeraie then drive on to Ait Benhaddou to visit the famous ancient city before staying a night in the vicinity.
We left Skoura at about 10am and arrived at Ait Ben Haddou (new village) at about 11.15am. The road leading into the “new village” was just one straight road with mud houses (looking like kasbahs) on both sides. We drove toward the outskirt of the new village to our hotel for the night, “Riad Caravene“.
We arrived at our hotel early to rest and relax and then to visit Ait Ben Haddou somewhere later in the afternoon near sunset time.
Ait Benhaddou
At about 4.30pm we left the comfort of our hotel to visit Ait Ben Haddou. We read from the internet that viewing the fortified village in the evening would be the best time to see it. The new village and Ait Ben Haddou was separated by the River Ounila and the most impressive view of Ait Ben Haddou would be somewhere on a high ground in the new village along the river.
We parked our car by a the side on the main road of the new village and walked into the smaller lanes leading to the river which was pretty dry at that time of the year. There was a lane that led to a bridge crossing the dried river into Ait Ben Haddou.
We were not going into Ait Ben Haddou yet but looking for a place that gave a view of the entire fortified village. From the google map “Camine La Terrazza” seemed like a good place to view Ait Ben Haddou. Unfortunately “Camine La Terraza” was closed. So we went about checking out those buildings nearby.
Walking down the lane in the new villageWe found a roof top cafe with a wonderful view. There we ordered mint tea and some local finger food and had the greatest time admiring Ait Ben Haddou from afar.
Ait Ben Haddou was a fortified village/town/ksar along a caravan crossroad between the Sahara and Marrakesh from the medieval period till the 19th century. Caravans carried salt, slaves, textiles, sugar and spices through the Ounila corridor on their way to Marrakesh
Ait Benhaddou was declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Today it is a living historic settlement, enclosed by defensive walls with corner towers. The ksar contained stacked mud houses, a mosque, public squares and several fortfied kasbash. This Moroccan city was the site of many famous iconic movies, Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Mummy (1999), Gladiator (2000) just to named a few.
Many families had relocated to the new village across river Ounila for modern convenience. Only a small community of local stayed back to upkeep the place.
The ksar were built on a hill with most of the reddish sun baked mud brick houses concentrated at the lower end of the slope, stacking up the slope. At the summit was a lone standing badly weathered tower with a long stretch of wall just below it. Though this Ksar was a human creation it blended very well with its surrounding.
Our Stay
Our stay was at Riad Caravene, it was located near the end of the new village. There were other accommodation in the new village and a few in Ait Ben Haddou, but we were looking for “something” more comfortable and ended up chosing Riad Caravene.
When we checked into the hotel in the early afternoon we were delighted. At the entrance of the hotel main building was a beautiful pool with relaxing sundeck. On the roof of the hotel was a sunbed with a lovely view of the surrounding
At the ground level of the hotel was the dining area and several beautifully decorated sitting areas. The entire place had this light color ambience, it was cool and cosy compared to the hot and dusty exterior, outside the hotel
Our room was on the upper level. The room felt very cosy and cool and the light coming into the room from the window had a lovely golden hue. We loved this place!
The room had a ensuite toilet, it was clean and bright. The cost of the room for two with breakfast in the morning was Eur100 a night. This place was definitely more costly than others but we enjoyed our stay very much.
We had our dinner at the hotel restaurant sited on the ground level. The dinner for two was 475MAD. It was lovely and delicious dinner.
Breakfast was pretty standard.
