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Atlas Mountain Gites & Camping

Our rating

4/10

Price guide

Highlights

- Very Basic Private Rooms
- Very Basic Shared Bathrooms
- Camping in summer / Gites in Winter
- Sleeping Bag Required

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Overview

The mountain gites can be real gems, but they can also be very basic. Each village in the Atlas Mountains has a gite. The gites are part government funded part locally owned guesthouses and are simple traditional buildings with a number of private rooms and shared facilities.

The rooms in some are little more than Berber salons - bare bones rooms with soft cushions placed around the room, which serve as a dining area for your group and sleeping area. You would typically expect a private room for your group (although in very busy periods, this may not always be the case).

The bathroom facilities are usually bearable but not exactly welcoming, some of the more basic gites may only have squat toilets. Hot showers are sometimes available, the gites do charge 1 or 2 Euros, but we do cover that cost (ask your guide).

The best thing about the gites is that you can usually get a private room for your party (even if there are only two of you), they are situated right in the heart of traditional Berber villages and some have outdoor terraces with wonderful views.

In the summer months, we will typically camp instead of staying in gites. We put on a private camp for you using modern dome tents and a mess tent for dining. There are some fantastic sites available and although few offer any facilities to talk of, except for a mountain stream to wash in, they can be a welcome alternative to sleeping in a crowded dorm room full of other trekkers. It is even possible to camp in the grounds of the Toubkal refuges and avail yourself of the bathroom, kitchen and sitting room facilities in the buildings. Modern dome tents are provided along with roll up sponge mattresses for sleeping on. Meals are served in a mess tent. For toilets, the crew will dig a fresh hole for each visit and put a small toilet tent by way of privacy (toilet roll is provided, but we always recommend taking a roll yourselves as back-up).

If you would rather stay in comfort we can offer a couple of alternatives. You could either base yourself in Imlil at a nice hotel or guesthouse and head out on day treks (instead of a multiday trek), or we can modify your trekking route to take in the Kasbah Du Toubkal 'luxury' trekking lodge and a couple of the newer gites which have private ensuite rooms (very limited availability), this does involve some degree of compromise on the trekking route, but may be worth it if comfort is your priority. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss these options.

If you are climbing Toubkal, then we have to use the Mountain Refuges, such as Neltner Hut and the Lepiney Refuge, both dorm style mountain huts. Anybody tackling Toubkal is going to have to deal with the mountain refuges. You can expect fairly crammed in dormitories, shared bathrooms and plenty of noisy trekkers spoiling your hard earned sleep. So no different really than mountain huts in the rest of the world. In winter and when it is cold, we use the dorms in the refuges, otherwise in warmer weather, we prefer to camp in the grounds of Neltner. That way we can avoid the dorms, but still make use of the bathrooms, dining rooms etc.

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Suggested Itineraries for Atlas Mountain Gites & Camping

What customers are saying after travelling with Tourdust

Average Rating

based on 513 reviews

(5.00/5)

  • Hi Lisa and everyone at Tourdust,
    We've had a wonderful time on our holiday and wanted to pass our appreciation to you. Everything has been expertly planned and executed, allowing us to enjoy the holiday to its fullest. Special appreciation to Muhammed, Ibrahim, and Omar, our Atlas guide, cook, and muleteer, who couldn't have done more for us and were just generally wonderful and hardworking. Riad Hanane is a perfect base in Marrakech to complement the trekking as it's ina less touristy area of the medina, which we appreciated. The staff and accomodation was superb.Thank you again for a trip to remember!
    Bob, May, Grace, and Lucas

    MissingRobert B reviewing Marrakech & Mountains Family Trek on 20 February 2023

  • Hi Ben

    Just to enlarge on my earlier, our M'goun trip couldn't have gone better. A great itinerary, altho perhaps an extra gentle day around the plateau before the summit might have eased things but that couldn't be helped given the road change. Our team were all fantastic, couldn't have been more solicitous for our comfort. Hakim our guide a real star. Food delicious. Kit was great - tents held up in a biblical storm, mattresses most comfortable ever (good thing as ground often v stony), loo worked well. You have a good local agent. Riads excellent, esp Adore. Great value.

    Many thanks. William

    MissingWilliam M reviewing Mgoun Summit Trek on 26 October 2022

  • Hi Lisa, Got in at 4.30 this morning. It was absolutely incredible! Dar Adrar is as wonderful as ever and Hamed is an incredible host there- it was lovely to see him again! He couldn't do enough for us. Mohammed Eight our guide up the mountain was also absolutely amazing- we all managed the ascent due to his expertise and care. A once in a lifetime experience- my calves have finally stopped hurting now :) Thanks again to you and Tourdust for organising an amazing trip. Jen

    MissingJennifer J reviewing Climb Mount Toubkal on 18 October 2022

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