4-Day High Atlas Trek from Marrakech with Berber Village Stays

Opt for an early morning departure from Marrakech, taking a pleasant drive south through the Moulay Brahim Gorge and upper valleys to arrive at the higher foothills of the western High Atlas Mountains and your trailhead at Imi Oughlad (1450m).

Savour the view of Jbel Toubkal at 4167m, the highest peak in North Africa, as well as Aglzim at 3650m and Aksoual at 38847m, looming before you.

Then, meet the Berber muleteer crew.

Go on an acclimatization hike up switchback mule tracks, passing cornfields, woods, pine, and juniper to reach Tizi n'Tachte (2000m).

Stop to look back down on the Imlil and Ait Oussaden valleys before carrying on for another half hour to Imi n'Ifri, where you will settle for a field picnic.

From here, make a slow hike for about two and a half hours south-west, down along a dirt track to Assif n'ait Oussaden and the red clay terraced village of Tiziana (1750m). Your accommodation will be in a bivouac or gite.

After breakfast, set off on your hike up along the Assif n'ait Oussaden Valley, passing through walnut groves.

Head up to Tizi n Taghrhourte (1995m) and continue through a rare, almost flat stretch to arrive at Assaka spring. Here, you will stop for a field picnic amidst silence after two and a half hours of relatively easy walking.

Take a downhill hike along the edges of the forest until you reach the Berber village of D'knt (1870m), or Agouns n'Assoul. You will have dinner and spend the night in a bivouac or gite.

Set off for this morning's hike up through groves of walnut trees and fields of corn and barley, greeting the many sheep and goat herders, as well as women and children at work.

Traverse Tizi n Tagdalit, then descend among the juniper trees until you come to a small spring set among the trees. Here, you'll stop for a picnic lunch.

Once refreshed, go down winding tracks on the upper slopes for some three hours to reach a small river at the beginning of the Valley of Assif n'ait Oussaden.

Later, enter the village of Tizi Oussem (1850m) and then continue up to the summer village of Tamsoult for your camp or gite.

Trek to a small waterfall at Azib Tamsoult and return to cross the Tizi Mzik pass (2,500m).

Join the main Toubkal Valley at Imlil (1,900m).

Have lunch before the drive to Marrakech.