Our top 5 places of South Morocco

Morocco is country that enthuse. It is easy to travel and offers a lot. It is paradise for photographers and nature lovers, for those that like contrasts, flavors and authenticity.
Morocco is red and green, is terracotta, is sweet and spicy, hidden and veiled, wild and authentic, colorful and aromatic, loud and silent, berberian fairytale from Thousand and one nights – here and now.
To see the whole country, you will need approximately three weeks. But most of us has only 10 to 14 days’ time, so it is necessary to decide. To explore more touristic north side or less known but more authentic and naturally beautiful middle and south part of the country?

Most of the time, but not always, we decide on those criteria:
Less is more. Nature before cities. Authentic and non-touristic places before over-crowded and touristic.
We chose south Morocco and enjoyed every second. Well, maybe not every second – I would be glad to forget about camel-back ride. 

Beside the fact that Morocco is one of the most photogenic courtiers we have ever been to, is traveling Morocco quite inexpensive. We flew from Milano Bergamo to Marrakesh and paid 100 € per person for both way tickets. We slept in little hotels and Kasbah at least middle price range, but anyway we paid only 50 € per night for 4 persons. And there is also splendid and delicious Moroccan food. Roads are great, those on less touristic south part included. By the roads you can see “argan goats” and camels, but also many traffic controls. It is normal that you are checked by the traffic control more than once. As it is normal to get penalty 🙂 . But don´t be afraid, as you can talk to the officers regarding penalty and at the end you pay only symbolic price. Talking to them seemed really important. It was more important to ask us where we live, how we live, what do we do at home, what do we do for a living… than to give us a penalty (even though we were driving a little more than allowed). It was part of great traveling experience.

We were traveling in the beginning of November and we stayed there for 10 nights. In general autumn and spring are the best seasons to visit Morocco and 10 nights long enough to explore south or north part in easy pace. Our starting point was Marrakesh with its medina and square Jemma el – Fna, which was great introduction to colorful and aromatic berberian fairytale.
Our 11-days long path on the map:

If you decide to explore beautiful south part of Morocco any day soon, you shouldn´t leave out those five really excellent traveling spots (we favored nature before cities, even though we could put Marrakesh, Essaouira and Unesco´s Ait Benhaddou on this list as well):

1. Erg Chebbi
On the edge of South east of Morocco, near border with Algeria, there are dunes of Erg Chebbi. You should make a reservation in one of fairy-tale kasbas in Merzouga, located just by beautiful red dunes and go there with camels early in the morning to see sunrise. You can also arrange spending the night in the desert with Bedouins. Even though the camel ride was exhausting and painful and climbing on a dune was even more difficult, the sunrise was gorgeous and worth all the effort. Silence and colors of the desert. I found it true that the most beautiful things happen outside of your comfort zone.

 

2. Draa valley
River Draa is the longest river of Morocco and it is making wonderful oasis by its basin and contrasts of colors between desert, mountains and green oasis full of palm trees and plantations. On our way, this part of Morocco was the most genuine, wild, non-touristic and authentic. If you are interested in rarely walked paths and hidden gems of Morocco than you shouldn´t leave out this south edge of colorful country.

 

3. Legzira
When we bought plane tickets to Morocco, we didn´t know our itinerary yet. We always start planning our travels by looking at the photos on web. And when I saw photos of Legzira, wonderful beach with red rock arches and wild nature, I said: we will go there. And so we adjusted our trip to that 🙂 . We made reservation of accommodation in Agadir, town by the sea, that was our starting point for one-day trip to Sidi Ifni and Legzira. On seaside area, around Agadir and Essaouira, we had opportunity to watch famous “argan-goats” on even more famous argan trees. They eat argan fruits and then they poop them and out of them locals made the best argan oil on the world 🙂 . Yeah, that´s how it goes.

 

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4. Ouzoud
We are crazy over waterfalls so we were not able to leave out beautiful waterfall by red rocks – Ouzoud. It was great idea for one-day trip from Marrakesh. Don´t forget to treat yourself with gorgeous tajine on the edge of cliff with a view on waterfall by red rocks. Too beautiful. Tajine is traditional Moroccan dish made of vegetables or meat in special pottery – tajins.

 

5. Todra and Dadas valley
When traveling Morocco – especially if we go to its middle and south part – we cross Atlas mountain range, which is an experience worth traveling to this part of the world. Picturesque ravines Todra and Dadas are part of Atlas mountain range and with its canyons, steep streets, mountain passes and oasis in between are paradise for photographers and nature lovers. Dadas valley is also named valley of hundreds of kasbas, that are, with their terracotta color, in great contrast with green oasis. Some of those kasbas were used as scenery in many of American films. If you intend to travel to Morocco in spring, you shouldn´t leave out Oasis of roses in Dadas valley, where thousands of rose bushes bloom (Damascus rose beauty) and oils, perfumes, soaps and other cosmetic produces are made of them.

 

I hope that photos conjure up at least a little of berberian fairytale of Thousand and one nights, that we experienced when traveling in Morocco. And maybe we helped you making the decision to go to that beautiful country. Don’t wait to long 🙂 .