Morocco - Marrakech, Atlas Mountains and Desert with Intrepid!

On the 24th of March 2025, I flew from Manchester to Marrakech for a 4 night tour with Intrepid. This was my first ever (albeit short) trip with a touring company and it did not disappoint.

After a 3 hour flight from Manchester we arrived into Marrakech airport, having met our tour guide Ibrahim we made our way directly to Amal restaurant in Marrakech, this is a not for profit restaurant that accepts women in to study for culinary experience to enable them to go on to seek a career in the chef or catering industry.

We then moved on to a tour of Marrakech focussing on the medina with our private guide and our tour guide, taking in the sights, sounds and smells of this amazing city, with a stop at the Secret Garden an oasis in the heart of the Medina, highly recommended and definitely worth a visit.

Late afternoon, early evening in day one, we checked into our Marrakech accommodation, this was to be our stay for the first night at the stunning Riad 48 and Spa.

Riad 48 and Spa opened on the 1st of October 2024 and is ideally located within the Medina, it is a boutique hotel with a spa and a rooftop terrace facing the sunset and the Atlas Mountains, with stunning sunset views.

The Riad is in a modern contemporary style with a traditional twist, it has 10 individually designed rooms all with Moroccan materials, and various locations across two floors. Breakfast was fresh and home made by the chef and the staff were attentive and friendly.

Our evening meal was at the beautiful La Maison Arabe in Marrakech, this is a hotel and a restaurant, where we dined on the terrace around the outdoor pool area and experienced wonderful Moroccan cuisine.

For day two we set off to the Intrepid office in Marrakech to meet the team in resort and learn more about their programme in Morocco.

In the afternoon we made our way to Tahnaout, this was around a 45 minute drive from Marrakech so we could experience a typical Moroccan (outdoor) cookery class and wow what an experience this was!

Tahnaout is set in a rural setting like a beautiful tented camp, split into two tables of five we were taught how to make traditional Moroccan dishes in tagines and salads combing herbs and spices and then ate these for lunch - they were delicious!

Moving onward on day two, we drove a further one hour, up into the high Atlas Mountains and visited Education for All, a boarding house which allows girls (aged 11-14) in rural Morocco to live in a safe, supportive place as they continue their education.

We then drove on to Ouirgane, a village in the Atlas mountains for our next two nights stay at Kasbah Africa.

Kasbah Africa is a truly unique lodge in a breathtaking High Atlas river valley location, the hotel is run by a passionate and friendly local Moroccan team, Kasbah Africa offers comfortable accommodation and delivers a rustic, laid-back Berber experience.

With just eight suites, three sky domes and a Berber cottage, Kasbah Africa houses an outdoor pool, a beautiful terrace with amazing views of the Atlas Mountains and great star gazing opportunities with the little or no light pollution.

Day three saw us take a half day hike with a local guide, in the beautiful landscape of the High Atlas Mountains, we passed through traditional Imazighen villages, whilst navigating boulder sand crags and running streams.

Our lunch stop on our hike was at a local family’s guesthouse, where we learned how to bake bread using traditional Moroccan methods and how to brew Moroccan tea like a local.

On day four we left the High Atlas Mountains to take the two hour drive into the Agafay Desert, this is located around thirty kilometres south of Marrakech. The drive en-route was simply stunning with lush Green fields, sheep farms and breathtaking views of the snow capped Mount Toubkal too.

Our last and final night was at Yes We Camps Lodge and Spa in the Agafay desert, this houses luxury tent accommodation, with an outdoor infinity pool, outdoor dining and bars and a real chilled out vibe.

Our last night included a sunset camel ride across the desert above the camp, this was a fabulous experience and a very fitting end to our amazing trip.

The friendliness of the Moroccan people, the knowledge of our tour guide Ibrahim and all these experiences in such a short space of time, have made me eager to discover more about what Morocco has to offer and to also consider incorporating tours into my future travel plans too.

It’s safe to say Morocco has captured my heart ❤️