April 2024: Morocco was a country that I had visited in the past but not in any real depth because I considered it too touristy for my taste and there were just too many other interesting north African countries to explore that were more intrepid. But I wanted to give Morocco a fair shake and now that I was planning a 3-week trip with my family and infant daughter, I wanted to visit Morocco for the same reasons why I mostly avoided it in the past, because it is touristy, and because of the presence of its extensive tourist infrastructure, I figured it would be easier and safer to visit Morocco with a baby. I am so happy that we did visit Morocco because we all decided that Morocco was our favorite experience in our 3-week trip. It is easy to understand why. Morocco is beautiful, exotic and there really is a lot to see. We ended up staying for 4 days in Morocco and in retrospect I wish we allocated more days, but we also planned to see more of the region, southern Spain, Sardinia…. This was our itinerary for the trip:
Day 1: Fly direct from Paris Orly via Transavia Airlines to Ouarzazate. Hire a car and drive to Skoura and stay in LaMa Desert Lodge in Sahara Desert oasis village.
Day 2: Drive to Telout via Bennadou casbah. Stay in guesthouse in Telout in Atlas Mountains.
Day 3: Drive to Marrakesh and stay in a 500-year-old family run traditional riad in the old city.
Day 4: Depart Marrakesh to Malaga Spain via Ryan Airin afternoon.
Our route
Skoura-Sahara Desert Oasis Village
Our first stop in Morocco was Ouarzazate and we arrived on the first day after the end of the Islamic holiday of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr. It is also called the “Festival of Breaking the Fast and marks a 3-day holiday where families get together and partake in celebration and feasting. The airport and city were sleepy, and few people were in the streets. At the airport, the manager of our rental car agency was waiting for us in his casual Islamic robes because of the holiday. He mentioned he was only at the airport because of us. I was given a free upgrade to a Land Cruiser, a luxurious car for this part of Morocco. Luckily, I had reserved our rental car otherwise there would be nowhere for us to rent one since everything was closed and no taxis were available. We had an hour drive to Skoura through the desert and with a baby in the car, I spare no precaution and I wanted to buy water, but we had a hell of a time trying to find an open store. Gas stations were not selling anything but fuel. We resorted to driving down some of the residential streets where we finally found one small shop that appeared to be open. But we didn’t have Moroccan money since there wasn’t an ATM at the airport and all we had was euro. Paula and her mom went into to the shop to buy water and the women in the shop was having trouble finding change and the scene attracted a lot of attention and soon a crowd of welcoming veiled Moroccan women gathered around to watch out of curiosity. Armed with water and snacks, we set off to Skoura on empty desert roads passing the occasional ancient ruins of a casbah,
An old casbah in Skoura
Skoura is best described as a small oasis agricultural village in the Sahara Desert with the Atlas Mountains visible in the distance. We turned off on a narrow dirt track to our hotel, the L’ma Lodge, a traditional Moroccan hotel known for its traditional architecture amidst a lush walled date plantation. The lodge wasn’t cheap but I decided that we needed a reward at this point in our travels and we had almost a full day to relax in the gardens of the lodge and lounge around in the pool so I wanted to do so somewhere nice where we could recharge.
Paula in our beautiful room
Morocco is a country that is well known for its hospitality, and this was no exception at the Lma Lodge. The moment we arrived, we were pampered and welcomed with tea and amazing Moroccan food. We enjoyed tea at an outdoor table overlooking the well-manicured garden. it wasn’t long before we started to become sleepy and after our rooms were prepared, we took a very long overdue nap in our air-conditioned rooms.
In the afternoon, I woke up to cooler temperatures to explore some of the abandoned casbahs outside of the grounds of our lodge, where the mudbrick ruins were once part of fortifications to protect Skoura from bandits and invading armies. Life in the village is very rural and date plantations stretched for as far as I could see. Farmers living in mud brick houses farmed with a combination f mechanical machinery and donkeys.
My favorite place in our lodge was the roof top terrace where we had an incredible view of Skouras’s date palm plantations and the mountains. From the terrace, we watched the sunset. It was the perfect place to relax.
Indie enjoying the view from our rooftop terrace at L’ma Lodge
View from the roof top terrace of the garden and date plantation
At night the gardens came alive with an Aladin like magical atmosphere. Most of the other guests of the lodge were British families with their children too and the gardens were full of the sounds of children playing. Small cozy tents with colorful carpets and cushions were scattered throughout the garden beneath palms and lit up with candles and lanterns. There was one small hut for children with toys where for Indie to play with before dinner. Then we had a large Moroccan dinner with multiple courses and locally grown red wine at a candle lit table inside the garden.
Aladinn like tent in the garden lit up with candles and lanterns at night
Aladinn like tent in the garden lit up with candles and lanterns at night
Paula and Indie
Indie and Paula in the toy tent
Cienne and Indie
Magical Nighttime garden
The next day we slept in before having breakfast in the garden and then I took Indie into the oasis like pool for a swim. She loved every minute of the experience and giddily fluttered her feet in the water and so did I.
Indie and I in the pool
Family pool experience
Route Across the Atlas Mountains
From Skoura, we drove up into the Atlas Mountains, the highest mountain range in northern Africa which separates the coast from the Sahara Desert and runs almost the entire length of Morrocco. Our destination was a small family run guesthouse in Teloua but first we had a few stops along such as the 11th century fortified mud brick city of Ait Bennadou, which just might be Morocco’s most popular tourist attraction. Today the ancient city is still inhabited by several families, who depend heavily on tourism. Visiting the city was nice but to be expected the path leading to it was heavily lined with shops, cafes and just about every commercial tourism enterprise under the sun. It was a nice place to stop and visit for a few hours and even know it’s very photogenic, I prefer less photogenic and lesser-known villages in other parts of Morocco.
Mud Brick City of Bennadou
Paula and Indie at the Mud Brick City of Bennadou
I was worried about the condition of the winding roads over the mountains, but the roads were great and there were few vehicles on the road maybe because of the holiday and this made driving a lot more casual. I did get my first speeding ticket in my life for going 2 miles per hour over the limit at the entrance of a village where a team of Morrocco policeman in old fashioned uniforms lied in wait with a radar gun. I was waved down and taken to a small chair on the side of the road where I felt like a middle school student being discipled by the principal. I was scolded for speeding, given a 15 USD fine that I had to pay on the spot and my passport and license was recorded.
View of a village along a river deep in a canyon gorge
Snow capped Atllas Mountains
Berber Village in the Mountains
After a few hours’ drive, we arrived in the Berber village of Telouet. This is where our guesthouse was located on the edge of a river canyon in the mountains. When we arrived, I went inside to check-in, and no one was there. The doors were open, and I searched all floors and not a soul was present. I figured the owner was at the mosque praying and I made a few calls. A man answered apologetically and 10 minutes later showed up at the door half dazed from having just awakened from a nap in the vehicle parked next to ours. He was instantly drawn to indie and kept making googly faces at her and tickling her feet. This we would discover was a common reaction among men in Morocco, who seemed to really love babies even more than the women. The guesthouse was comfortable and cozy albeit very dusty and not the most sanitary, which normally isn’t a big deal for me but now with a baby, I was more concerned. The best part of our stay was the huge traditional Moroccan meals and endless kettles of sweet tea.
Paula, Indie and Cienne in the guesthouse
Large Moroccon dinner in the guesthouse
Old wooden doors in the flower bed outside the guesthouse in morning
Near our guesthouse was a casbah I wanted to see that was famous for its murals and beautiful interior. It was also the casbah of a ruler who betrayed one of the previous kings. This meant that the man and his family were ostracized from Morocco and his casbah was left to fall apart. It was also hit badly from a recent powerful earthquake that left thousands dead in the Atlas Mountains. Now the Telouet casbah isn’t safe to enter and is awaiting restoration from its current owners but this is unlikely to happen any day soon. I still wanted to try and visit the casbah and we drove down small dirt roads to find it. The front of the casbah had numerous tourist shops now shuttered and closed and school kids played soccer out in front of the casbah. The only two shop keepers that were present both tried to lure us into their shops and their desperation for any kind of tourism income led to an ugly verbal altercation between them that threatened to get violent, so I quickly put Indie back in the vehicle, and we said goodbye to them.
Soccer match in front of an old abandoned casbah in Telouet
Staying in a 500 Year Old Riad in Marrakesh
On the 3rd day after driving through more mountain roads and the crazy narrow streets of the 1000-year-old imperial city of Marrakesh, where I dodged donkey carts, motor bikes and had to adapt to a completely chaotic flow of vehicles. After all of this I was tired and i decided it was easier to return our rental car one day earlier than to have to figure out where to park it in the old city and drive any more in the crazy city. it was hot and 110 degrees and much warmer here than in the Sahara and I hired a taxi from the rental car center at the airport after waiting in a long outdoor que in the sun to take us to our riad, a small traditional family run traditional home that according to the manager was 500 years old. To get to the riad, our taxi dropped us off at the entrance of a narrow alley way in the old city that was only accessible via foot and motorbike, and we hired a nearby man with a wheelbarrow to carry our luggage as we walked 20 minutes to our riad through narrow walkways. The riad was perfect and we instantly fell in love with its solitude and architecture. The interior was 3 floors high and had an open ceiling peering into the sky. There was a small swimming pool with a fountain, and we were greeted to afternoon tea and biscuits while relaxing in the quiet open roofed home. The home was so comfortable and exotic. The air was sweet with the scent of incense, common in Morocco homes. The riad had a calming environment with hypnotic sounds of water flowing from the stone fountain into the swimming pool and calls to prayer being played from muezzins in nearby mosques that lulled me into a much-needed nap in our blissful home for the next few days.
Old mosque in marrakesh as scene from the roof top terrace of our riad
Pushing Indie down the side walk to the riad
Inside the riad
Magical riad
Common area
Paula and Indie in our bedroom
Indie and I going for a swim in the pool inside the riad
At night we had a huge traditional dinner on the rooftop terrace of the riad overlooking the old city of Marrakesh. One of my friends arranged for us to meet a Moroccan girl who lived in Marrakesh and freelanced as a guide. She joined us for dinner and then I watched Indie while she took Paula and her mom to see Marrakesh. The city after Ramadan was boisterous and full of life at night. Music, clapping and drums resonated throughout the medina. It was nice to see so many locals instead of tourists celebrating but I decided the crowds and noise were too much for a baby to handle, so I stayed back with her since I had already visited the medina on a prior visit.
Our meal on the roof top terrace of our riad
Tea and biscuits
Reluctantly we left our cozy riad in the afternoon for the airport to fly via Ryan Air on a quick flight to Malaga, Spain, where we continued our journey.