Ouarzazate
The gateway to the south, and Morocco's own Hollywood — vast film studios beside a very real desert kasbah.
Ouarzazate calls itself the door to the south, and the name fits — everything east and south toward the desert routes through here. It's also, improbably, one of the world's biggest film production centres: Atlas Studios has built sets for everything from Lawrence of Arabia to Game of Thrones, taking advantage of the same clear desert light that makes the real kasbahs nearby photograph so well.
It's rarely a destination in itself so much as a well-placed overnight stop, and I treat it that way — a comfortable base for the Taourirt Kasbah and the studios, before the road continues into the Dades and on to the dunes.
Cross the sand by 4x4
Desert pistes and hidden oases on the tracks between kasbah and dune.
Taourirt Kasbah
A vast former residence of the Glaoui family, its towers still dominating the old quarter.
Atlas Film Studios
Sets and props from decades of desert epics, still one of the largest studio complexes in the world.
The road to the Dades
The start of the mountain and gorge route east — kasbahs at every bend from here on.
Clear skies and comfortable heat for exploring the kasbah and studios.
The same easy desert-edge climate as spring.
Very hot — best treated as an overnight stop rather than a lingering one.
Cool, clear, and quiet — good light for photography.
Ouarzazate as the desert gateway
Nearly every southern route runs through Ouarzazate, between Ait Ben Haddou behind you and the Dades Valley or Zagora ahead.
Mustapha uses Ouarzazate as the natural staging post before the Dades and the dunes.
Envie d'explorer Ouarzazate ?
Donnez vos dates à Mustapha et il fera de Ouarzazate une étape d'un voyage qui ne ressemblera qu'à vous.