Aït Ben Haddou y la travesía del Atlas

This is the longest day in the catalog and it should be planned as one. You leave by seven, cross the Tizi n'Tichka at 2,260 meters, and reach Aït Ben Haddou late morning. The pass earns the drive on its own: switchbacks, walnut valleys, and snow on the shoulder in winter.

The ksar is a fortified village of packed earth stacked on a hill above the Ounila river, occupied since the eleventh century and UNESCO-listed since 1987. You cross the riverbed, climb through the houses to the granary at the top, and look south towards the pre-Sahara. Lunch faces the ksar.

You are back in Marrakech after dark. Do not plan anything else around it, and expect close to eight hours in the car.