Morocco Road Trip – Photo Diary

Originally posted on July 9, 2018 @ 11:04 am

While I’m going to write more than one Morocco Travel Blog, this is going to be only a photo diary of my two weeks in Morocco.

In the map below you can see the route we covered in one week, the rest of the time I spent in Marrakech and Essaouira.

Well, I left Essaouira after only one night because I had some bad experiences and didn’t feel safe there at all.

Generally, my Morocco trip was very polarizing, something I never experienced that strongly before.

I was completely amazed by the stunning landscapes and the most beautiful architecture I’ve ever seen, but at the same time very disappointed by the vibe, (non-)hospitality and food in Morocco.

If you’re planning a trip, please make sure you read these 7 Essential Morocco Travel Tips You Have To Know Before Going.

If you’re planning on road tripping the country (which I would definitely recommend over taking public transport!), it’s also important to read these 8 essential tips for driving in Morocco.

1. Marrakech to Ouarzazate – The Atlas Mountains

One of the best things about Morocco: Cheap, delicious and fresh Orange Juice wherever you go!

When we finally arrived in Ouarzazate, we found this beautiful hidden gem outside the town, by the lake: Ecolodge L’ile de Ouarzazate.

Some food and a Berber Music jam session helped us recover from this exhausting drive that ended up taking like 7 hours.

2. Ouarzazate to Merzouga – The Sahara Desert

The next morning we left early again, because we had a 5h 9min (366 km) drive ahead of us – according to Google.

It obviously took a lot longer again because of all the stops we needed to make to take photos.

The landscapes slowly turned more deserty and the greens faded.

We made it to Merzouga 2-3 hours before sunset and got ready for our glamping adventure in the Sahara desert.

A one-hour camel ride and sunset over the sand dunes later, we had a hot shower in a luxury tent in the middle of the desert. Crazy.

3. Merzouga to Todra Gorges – The Canyon

Since we were really tired from all the driving, we decided to take a different route back to Marrakech and make two stops on the way instead of one.

The 200km drive was supposed to take 2h 42min, so we arrived in Todra Gorges in the afternoon and had some time to relax and walk between the canyon.

This was probably the most impressive landscape of the entire trip for me, I absolutely love canyons, they make me feel so tiny.

Not that I ever feel big with my 157cm height 😀

Morocco was definitely the trip of the most special accommodations! In Todra Gorges, we found this insanely cool hotel/guest-house built into a canyon: Auberge Le Festival Todra Gorge.

The rooms were actually carved into the rocks, how cool is that? It’s basically built straight into the gorge, unlike the many guesthouses and hotels in the town a few kilometers away.

It also has quite good food as opposed to almost all of the hotels and restaurants we’ve eaten at before, and is super eco-friendly.

Definitely check it out when you’re there!

For a more casual view of this road trip, you can watch my Instagram story highlights of Morocco here.

4. Todra Gorges to Aït Benhaddou (via Gorges du Dadès)

Another day, another drive. We were gonna spend the night in Aït Benhaddou, which would have just been a 1.5hr drive (80km),

but I really, really wanted to find this cool zigzag road that I saw everywhere on Instagram lately, so we did quite a big detour.

Although I recently decided not to center my trips around certain Instagram photo spots, this one was an exception.

Isn’t it the coolest road you’ve ever seen?

Since we went to Morocco during Ramadan, we were really looking forward to staying at a more international hotel and have a nice glass of wine after this intense road trip.

And like all other places before, this one was incredibly special and beautiful again.

It’s called Kasbah Tebi and I can highly recommend it, we had an amazing time there.

5. Aït Benhaddou to Marrakech

Moroccan traffic jam?

6. Marrakech

You can pretty much do most of Marrakech’s highlights in two days.

I didn’t do everything, skipped on the tanneries e.g., cause I was really exhausted from the constant hassle and had to catch up on work.

Here’s a few places worth seeing, though: Jardin Majorelle is definitely a very pretty and colorful garden, but also very crowded and not exactly cheap, the entry fee without visiting the YSL museum is 70 Dirham.

If you’re on a budget, I recommend you skip this one and visit the next places I’m listing instead.

If you’re into stunning architecture and Instagram, this is your place: Palais De La Bahia.

Be prepared to wait a bit for your perfect Insta shot since there are lots of girls in waving dresses with their Instagram husbands 🙂

Entry fee is only 10 Dirhams.

Another great photo location are these tombs in the center of Marrakech, though not as big and stunning as the Palais mentioned before.

Entry fee is 10 DH as well.

This beautiful shopping “mall”, called Ensemble Artisanal, is perfect if you’re tired of the noise and hassle of the souks, here you can just look without being bothered.

The pieces have price tags as well, so you won’t be overcharged – also recommendable to go here first to get an idea of prices before you head to the souks.

That’s it for my personal Morocco Travel Blog – Photo Diary.

Hope these photos are enough to convince you that a road trip in Morocco ain’t a bad idea 😉

7 Essential Morocco Travel Tips You Have To Know Before Going

Driving in Morocco – 8 Essential Tips To Survive Your Road Trip

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