Ait Benhaddou and Ouarzazate Day Trip

  Ait Benhaddou and Ouarzazate Day Trip overview  :

• Visiting Ait Benhaddou and Ouarzazate
• Having the chance to enjoy Berber villages.
• Explore Taourirte Kasbah .
• Enjoy visit the actual place of making movies in Atlas Studio.

Itinerary FOR; Ait Benhaddou and Ouarzazate Day Trip :

 Ait Benhaddou

Out of the big city, music will be your guiding friend along the road. After a couple of kilometers, you will start noticing some Berber villages at the beginning of the mountainous chain. Don’t worry, a 4×4 vehicle is your device to reach you to Ait Ben Haddou.

When you arrive in Berber villages, you will know more about the culture of the place in addition to what most makes it distinguished. However, the native people of these villages are adopted to the lifestyle in the mountain. Livestock and agriculture are the basic sources of living there. Even though, they are used to the tough way of living, they are warm and very welcoming to every new culture or visitor.

A short time of relaxation, grabbing a cup of tea in one of the scattered terraces is a good idea to refresh your energy in the morning. After that, we are 2160m away from the High Atlas in Tizi n Tichka Pass, where we are not away to reach the ancient Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou.

The fortified village of Ait Ben Haddou is known as Ksar, which means ”palace”. The great and the luxurious location is an assembly of kasbahs as well; a great wall surrounds that. However, Ait Ben Haddou is considered as the UNESCO world heritage site. Moreover, it is one of eight other places of Moroccan’s world heritage sites.

Once you are there, you will visit the Ounila valley, where Ait Ben Haddou lies on. It is called ” the salty valley of Morocco”. This explains the importance of the Ksar long time ago as it was an essential station for travelers and traders who used to transport gold, silver and slaves from Africa to Europe. Ait Ben Haddou was the place where merchants and travelers meet together when they rest and relax.

You are going to visit some of the most attractive places in Ait Ben Haddou ad=s the most famous locations of international films. You are going to observe the most influential film backdrop. In Ait ben Haddou, the scenes of Hollywood movies were shot, such as Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, The Mummy and many others. In the monumental studio of Ait Ben Haddou, you will be travelled through times, imagining yourself Denerys Targarian, entering the village of sands. It is such an exciting experience to feel what your favorite actors had played.

You will enjoy lunch in one of the best terraces, overviewing the valley. This is quite interesting.

Ouarzazate

We are going to drive 30 kms from Ait Ben Haddou to the film making industry city of Ouarzazate. It is the famous natural studio of Morocco where cinematographic art museum exists. The peace of Ouarzazate is combined in its meaning. However, it is a Berber word, which means tranquility and serenity.

There are many attractions to visit in Ouarzazate, but Taourirte Kasbah is the first place to visit. It is Morocco’s largest Kasbah and the home of the former ruler, Pacha Glaoui. Ouarzazate meets authenticity and modernity at the same time; this means that it is a site of special features that worth visiting.

The second place to visit is the cinematographic arts museum. It is situated in the entrance of the city, including a huge collection of studio necessaries. In other words, the museum contains everything related to film making as VFX technics, cameras, tools, chambers and everything a movie requires.

Once you are in Ouarzazate, it is essential to visit the actual place of making movies in Atlas Studio. It is an interesting site to discover, taking photos in every location. This sounds funny! Don’t you think so?

Our trip comes to end around sunset when we are going back to Marrakech.