Ourika Valley
Barcelona | Food | Marrakech | Ourika | Moroccan Food | Travel Tips
We were deciding between Agafay desert sunset dinner and camel ride or a drive out to Ourika Valley. I'm so glad my husband suggested watching some vids to make a call. Ourika Valley is beautiful to see and the hike to the waterfall was the highlight of the trip for me.
Ourika Valley is 1.5-2 hours drive from Marrakech. An hour in, and you can see an open view of the valley. A guide showed us a Berber House nearby. Berber is the traditional people of North Africa, before the Arabs came in 7th-10th century.
From the house (listed on Google Maps as Dar Fatima), you can see a beautiful view of the Atlas Mountains, some with snowy peaks. The house house was built using clay and straw. The owner was proud to share that his father's ancestor built the house 300 years ago, and it stood despite the magnitude 6.8 earthquake in 2023. Also fun to see is a small one-person sauna in the yard.
Deeper into the valley, you'll see tons of restaurant seatings next to the Ourika River, perfect for a relaxing and enjoyable meal with views.
We hired a guide to take us up to the Setti Fatma waterfalls, about a 30-minute hike. The hike itself is fun, and along the way you also learn about the Berber (Amazigh) people. After more than a thousand years of intermarriage with Arabs, the population is quite mixed. However, in the Atlas Mountains there are still more Berber communities, while in the cities people tend to identify more with Arab culture.
On the way down you'll see some friendly monkeys, very easy to feed. You can also pay for camel rides along the drive.
