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Spend three days in the beautiful Atlas Mountains with a choice of multi day treks or simple relaxing in a boutique Mountain hotel. Then, transfer to Marrakech and treat yourself to a stay in a stylish, boutique riad and lose yourself in the atmospheric souks.
The stunning High Atlas Mountains lie an hour and a half's drive from the Medina in Central Marrakech and provide a welcome contrast from the chaos of the City. Valleys are dotted with ancient Berber Villages consisting of simple mud houses built almost on top of each other. The views are magnificent, with arid valley sides, lush valley floors with sparkling mountain streams and of course the towering peaks that the range is renowned for.
If you prefer to stay in comfort and have a more restful time, then our day walks option, staying at the charming Douar Samra offers the best of both worlds. Douar Samra is a very tastefully developed traditional village building with gorgeous gardens and terraces and a genuine sense of authenticity. Using this as your base, we recommend some time to relax and a couple of days walking with our mountain guides. We still provide a cook, so you can enjoy a delicious cooked Berber picnic at a picturesque viewpoint.
If you are feeling more adventurous and choose our standard trek option, you will head off for 3 days trekking through the valleys, passing through small villages and staying in basic gites. Supported by mules carrying your belongings and an English speaking guide, your meals are also included, freshly prepared and enjoyed with stunning views of the mountains.
After the Atlas Mountains, you will transfer to Marrakech, a city that you just can't help but fall in love with. Categorised as a Unesco World Heritage site, the focal point of the ancient medina is the world famous Djemma el Fna. The large square comes to life at night with food stalls, story tellers, snake charmers and acrobats. Away from the square, are the enticing souks, which consist of small winding roads full of colourful market stalls selling anything from slippers, to herbs and spices to ornaments. For the more culturally inclined, the ancient Bahia and Badi palaces offer an intriguing insight into how the imperial kings used to live. Here, you will be staying in a stylish boutique hotel, a luxurious retreat from the souks and busy medina.
On your third day in Marrakech, we have included an optional half day cookery course at the world famous La Maison Arabe. Working in a beautiful kitchen, you will first be taken shopping to purchase some of the necessary ingredients and will then be shown how to prepare some traditional dishes. A communal meal at the end of the workshop rounds of a fantastic experience.
The Atlas Mountains Valleys treks are designed to be suitable for those who’d rather see more of the villages and valleys than tackle the high peaks. Because they avoid the higher altitude passes, they are also suitable all year round. The treks are suitable for anyone with a reasonable level of fitness and children are welcome (assuming they are used to walking). Please note that the accommodation used is simple, with shared bathroom facilities. If you would prefer day treks, whilst being based at a more comfortable guest house, this can be arranged.
Marrakech is an intoxicating city which delights all of your senses. Away from the main square, the medina is made up of many small winding streets, or derbs. Everyone, without exception, gets lost when they visit Marrakech, The best way to deal with this is to relax, embrace the experience and take a mobile phone with you so that you can call you riad if you get lost.
Atlas Mountain Gites
Our rating: Down to earth
- Traditional villages
- Private rooms
- Very basic
- Shared bathroom
Atlas Mountains
Douar Samra
Our rating: Mid-range
- Stylish Berber guesthouse
- Lovely gardens
- Fantastic views
- Warm service
Atlas Mountains
Riad Dar Hanane
Our rating: Boutique
- Traditional chic riad
- Beautiful rooftop terrace
- Individually and tastefully designed
- Free wi-fi
Marrakech
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Option 1: Boutique Marrakech and Standard Trek
Combine a stay in a boutique riad in Marrakech with our valleys and villages trek in the Atlas Mountains staying in simple gite accommodation.
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Option 2: Boutique Marrakech and Atlas Mountains Day Walks
Combine a stay in a boutique riad in Marrakech with a relaxing break in the Atlas Mountains at the charming Douar Samra guesthouse with relaxing day walks included.
Average reviews for Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
(based on 10 ratings)
Reviews of this experience
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The Imlil accommodation ( Dar Adrar) & food were just right (5/5) although it came as quite a surprise (albeit a pleasant one for us) that the last 10mins of the transfer from airport to accommodation was by foot & luggage by mule.
The guide Lasan and the cook Rashid were both excellent and literally went out of their way, an extra 3 hour walk for them, to help us on our return trip, it having snowed quite alot during the night, and so making the original planned return route difficult. Both 5/5 and Rashid's meals (5/5) produced on a mountainside were better presented, better tasting, and better quantities (too much sometimes) than some of the restaurant meals we subsequently had in Marrakech.
The Riad Dar Hanane was also good with very attentive service (perhaps occasionally over attentive for our tastes) and the overall feel of the Riad was perhaps a little sterile, but again that is a matter of taste; and breakfast quantities were a little spartan (4/5 - a loaf each instead of one to share is all that is needed and to be fair we did not request this at the time - I suspect it would have been granted). Aziz was very genial and, as it turned out, the hand drawn maps by Mohammed were valuable for navigating Marrakech.
The behind the scenes organisation in Morocco appeared faultless (5/5)
The UK bookings advice & service also good.(4.5/5)
Overall we had a very enjoyable break (5/5). Thank you
Richard Fuller
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
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We had a great trek and thought the Atlas mountains were really beautiful. The tour guide and the muleteer were both excellent and would score 5/5 without a doubt. The standard of the food we were served was excellent and probably the best we had on our whole holiday. I couldn't believe the trouble that Samir had gone to on the first day when we arrived for our lunch of freshly prepared food and mint tea.
Christine Wardle
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
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Tourdust has just delivered us a superb 5 day holiday in Morocco. Everything worked smoothly from the planning to the support on the ground. We stayed in 3 different places - each one true to the description on the website. Food that was included in the trip price and the food that we purchased at the Riad was of exceptional quality - fresh produce and huge portions. We were welcomed by the local hosts with generosity. We would not hesitate to recommend this trip to others.
Paul Bullen-Smith
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
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Our Guide was first class on our trek, very knowledgeable and always open to questions and was especially open in terms of background to the villages, the people of Morocco as well as the history of where we were trekking. The food, and Chef who prepared our meals, were delightful as well. The food was always more than enough and in the circumstances (on the side of a mountain pass) was first class and fresh. It really made a difference to have the meals prepared fresh and they were always plentiful. We were worried about the Taxi due to Marrakesh being notoriously difficult to find any location due to the mazey streets but the Taxi picked us up from our hotel dropped us at our Trek, and vise versa, no problem at all, which was a relief and very welcome after 2 days trekking. As far as the the whole experience all we can say is that we both loved it and are planning to use Tourdust again in the near future. The service from the booking process, Taxi Driver, Guide, Cook and anyone else we encountered on our experience was second to none. I cannot recommend Tourdust highly enough.
I would just like to add though it might be nice if you add some info on the website about the villages. What I mean in that is we visited a family in a village that had very little but were kind enough to invite us into our home. We also encountered children in the village. Rather than handing out money like confetti we would of liked to have brought some simple items from home which may have been well received by the children, colouring books, pens or something as simple as balloons, playing cards or something of that nature. Something that is practical rather than tipping being the only currency. I realise that this might not be for all your consumers but as a side note I think it would of made a world of difference to us, we did feel slightly uneasy when visiting the village and the warm reception we recieved that we couldn't offer something back that would of been better than trying to tip someone.
Leighton Harvey-Smith
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
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Very impressed with Tourdust right from enquiring about experiences to our departure. Always very helpful and efficient. We went on the cookery course in Marrakesh and recommend it to anyone of any skill level. The hotel was amazing with fantastic kitchen facilities and when we went to the spice market we were taken through all the herbs and spices and all there uses! A great experience all in all!
SallyStrudwick
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
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An exhilarating two day trek soaking up beautiful scenery in the High Atlas. The guide was excellent, spoke good English and very knowledgable. We had many laughs with him. The picnic up the mountain was a very happy moment... a freshly cooked tagine tastes so good in the mountain air. Highly recommended
YoTakatsuki
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
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I'd give it a 5. Can't think of improvements. The experience itself was great and the guide/muleteer were both fantastic - friendly and generous guys who obviously knew what they were doing. It was the best experience of my holiday there - both the agency and the guides themselves were helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. So much of the trip exceeded my expectations and I wouldn't hesitate to book again.
Marcus Perry
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
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We had a wonderful and rewarding time in the Atlas Mountains. We loved the flexibility of the route and pace, which was possible because we had the guide to ourselves. This is definitely something Tour Dust has above the rest. Ali the cook and his trusty mule were also a bonus!
CLARE MACDONALD
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
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we have just returned tonight from Morocco and would like you to know how much we enjoyed our Atlas Valley Trek. The guides were fantastic and we were very impressed with Atlas - they responded extremely well to a situation which unexpectedly presented itself : Nanette's leg was causing her some pain so our schedule was slightly altered to give a shorter trip on the 2nd day (the anticipated 6 hours of walking was actually more like 8 hours which in the circumstances would have been too much so the 6 hour day which was then provided was preferable).
Just to give you some feedback - the change of plan was in fact a benefit in other ways as we did spend a very cold night in an unheated shelter on our first night and the change meant that we had a delightful night in a guest house in Imlil instead of a second freezing night in unheated lodgings. It might be useful in future in terms of info you give out to your guests at this time of year - winter sleeping bags are required even for an indoor mountain stay as the mountain gites aren't heated although the guest house in Imlil was. We both had adequate sleeping bags but hadn't expected to be quite as cold as we were when we got into them!
Overall this was a great tip and we would definitely use your company again for booking similar holidays in other areas.
June
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
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Tourdust made the booking of our 2-day trek in Morocco extremely easy. I called them up first to ask a bit more about the trek that I wanted to do and what kind of equipment we should take with us. These were all answered very quickly and I even got some advice for other parts of our trip in Morocco. The trek itself went exactly as it should have done, we were picked up promptly from our Riad, the guide was extremely knowledgeable and very friendly and the walk itself was off the beaten track and we saw only 2 other travellers during the full two days which was excellent and made for the true walking experience we were looking for, nothing touristy at all - Thank you!
Rebecca Hardy
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
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- Prices from
- 569 525 GBP (8 days) per person (10% Discount applies for departures 1st June - 31 August 2013)
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