Fez to Marrakech two day scenic route with maps

[Tim Cullis]

The main national RN8 road is not a great solution for driving from Fez to Marrakech as it's a busy single lane route almost all the way and not at all conducive to a relaxing time. I always recommend getting off the RN (national) routes and instead travel on RR (regional) and RP (provincial) routes instead where possible.

This is a two day route plan through the Middle Atlas that on the first day incorporates lakes, karst scenery, 'little Switzerland', volcanos, wild monkeys, cedar forest and a massive river formation, finishing at Khenifra. The altitude varies between the 400m of Fez reaching 1750m at Ifrane and ending at 1000m in Khenifra. Despite being a route through the mountains the Middle Atlas is very much a plateau highland with no steep ascents and few dropoffs. The first day route map is at https://tinyurl.com/fez-ma-khenifra

---------- DAY 1 ----------

Leave Fez on the RN4, there are some cave houses that you *could* visit in Bhalil but they are not easy to find as most have house-like outbuilds at the front. But see note at the end of this post.

Sefrou is the cherry capital of Morocco and has a medina with crenulated walls, good place for your first coffee stop. As you climb slightly from Sefrou towards Annoceur you might spot huge kilns on the right of the road which is where the local limestone is 'cooked' with the local cedar wood to make quicklime that it used for building cement. Quicklime was at one time used for theatre stage lighting, hence 'in the limelight' expression.

Past Annoceur take a right onto the RP5106 through an area of orchards with nets against the frost. Take the right fork at the next two junctions heading for Dayet Aoua (dayat is a seasonal lake, which might be full or empty). Pass by the left side of the lake, then when you reach the main RN8 road turn left for Ifrane (pronounced ee'fran), crossing a bleak karst limestone plateau.

You pass the beautiful university of Al Akhawayn as you enter Ifrane, lessons here are given in English and there are many foreign students as well as the children of affluent Moroccans



Ifrane was built in the 1920s during the French protectorate very much in the model of the British hill stations of India, to give families somewhere to retreat to in the melting pot of summer. Ifrane can get heavy snow in the winter and the houses have steep roofs in the style of the French Vosges mountains which is why Ifrane gets referred to as 'little Switzerland'.

I've then shown a little detour to the right to Ain Vittel (ain is spring, Vittel is one of the mineral waters of Morocco). On this detour you descend through a water meadow which is a popular picnic spot for locals, then end up at a (normally) impressive little waterfall.



Regaining the road you will pass the lion of Ifrane on the right (carved from a limestone outcrop in the early 1930s), carry straight on with what is now the RR707, you might then get a glimpse the King's palaces through the trees to the left. Fork right at the next junction onto the RP7231, driving through the cedar trees. After about 5km take a small road to the left signposted Michlifen and you will start to descend into the caldera of an extinct volcano (how cool is this?) which is used as a ski resort in winter months. You ascend via a separate road passing the King's ski lodge on the way.

As you approach the main RN13 you will probably make out other ski runs on the side of Jebel Hebri to your left, this is another volcano. Turn right (north) onto the main road and after about 4km you will reach a crossroads with souvenir huts where you are more or less guaranteed to see the macaca sylvanus monkeys (aka Barbary apes).



From the 'monkey crossroads' take the P7217 opposite the sales huts, this is a lovely quiet and relaxing drive through the cedar forest. It's very much a volcanic zone and you will see many volcanic vents that have plugged and filled with water (aguelmam).

When you reach the junction with the P7311 you could turn right/north for another coffee in Ain Leuh. Ain means spring, leuh is wood, and the 'spring of wood' name refers to the huge quantity of high quality cedar in the area. Otherwise turn left/south and after a while you will reach source of the Oum er Rbia (mother of springtime) river. Most of Morocco's rivers rise in the Middle Atlas which is known as the 'Tower of Water' and the Oum er Rbia is Morocco's longest river.

You need to park and walk gently uphill for about ten minutes until you see the river emerging, fully formed, from the rocks.



There will undoubtedly be a chance for more refreshments here, but probably steeper prices.

Regaining the P7311 route continue south with an optional detour to Aguelmame Azigza that in the summer months is a popular wild camping area for the locals and visitors alike. The video below starts at Azigza, then shows the drive back to Oum er Rbia.



Continue south to the junction with the P7306 where you turn right/west. You are still in the beautiful cedar forest but as you descend towards Khenifra the cedars give way to the evergreen holm oaks that are found at lower altitudes. I have waypointed the Atlas Zayane hotel which is an adequate but rather modern soul-less place, so if anyone finds somewhere nicer to stay I'd love to know.

Zayane is the name of one of the Amzigh tribes (the King's mother is Zayane). In 1914 the Zayane confederation won a large battle at Hebri, south of the town, against the French who lost 600 troops, more info at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaian_War

---------- BHALIL CAVE HOUSES ----------
Beginning of day 1: Bhalil and its cave houses, take a look at this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTX0ucWkIk0&t=1195s

We have a cave house in the Altiplano de Granada in Spain and I can attest to the temperatures quoted—never below 14ºC in winter, even when it's -5ºC outside, and never above 22ºC in summer, when it can be 42ºC outside.

[Tim Cullis]

---------- DAY 2 ----------

The main stopping points on the second day are the very 'amazigh' town of Aghbala, the Bin el Ouidane reservoir, the cascades of Ouzoud and the natural bridge of Imi n'Ifri. There's also an optional exploratory walk to a hand-hewn geode mine. All of this area is still the Middle Atlas mountains.

The route map is at https://tinyurl.com/khenifra-marrakech

Leave Khenifra on the RN8 heading south. You may notice a memorial on a hillock on the right about 6km further on to the battle of Hebri (which I think is at modern day Lehri) during the French conquest. Another few km on take a left turn onto the RP7308, signposted El Kbab. Before you reach El Kebab fork right to join the RR503 then a bit further on turn right onto the RP3214 to Aghbala.

As an aside... Much of the unique culture of Morocco was maintained through the centuries due to the fact that successive invaders including Romans and Arabs only managed to subdue the coastal plains, an area known as the 'Bled el-Makhzen' or land of the treasury, which was under the control of the Sultan. The mountains and deserts were known as the 'Bled es-Siba' or land of anarchy and remained under the control of the tribes in those areas, in a peculiar situation where the tribes acknowledged the Sultan (a direct descendent of The Prophet) to be their spiritual leader, but not their ruler. You can read more on this subject in Gavin Maxwell's 'Lords of the Atlas' book.

Under the terms of the 1912 protectorate, the French promised to bring the whole country under the command of the Sultan, but the Amazigh tribes were fierce fighters and the Ait Atta confederation wasn't finally subdued until 1935 which explains why there are still strong traditions held in rural areas. A few years back I met an elderly lady who had child memories of the battle times. As you travel around you will see the 'z' symbol of the tamazight script (tifinagh) which looks like this 'ⵣ', painted on walls and doors. You tend not to see much of the amazigh writing, but Aghbala is a huge exception where the population seem determined to keep their 'free men' (meaning of amazigh) identity.

The Spanish were having their own problems subduing the Rif mountain tribes in their protectorate, resulting in 13,000 killed in the battle of Annual, that historians point to as being one of the factors leading to the Spanish Civil War.

Thinking some more on this subject, something like 80% of the population are ethnically Amazigh (the preferred word instead of Berber) and I could not understand why the 'city Berbers' would refer to the countryfolk as Berber as if they were a different ethnic group. I now think this has to do with the differentiation between makhzen and siba, and the fact the siba tribes were the 'fighting barbarians' that the word Berber comes from.

Back to the route... Aghbala is also a good place for a coffee break. Carrying on south, at the next junction you need to turn right on what Google Maps thinks is the R317. Unfortunately this is one of many roads renumbered five years ago that Google hasn't got around to updating and it is now the RN12. You are not on this long before turning left onto the RR306.

Alternative route (1)... If you are pushed for time you could miss much of the above route by staying on the RN8 quite a bit further and passing the El Hansali reservoir, until you come to the R317 (really the RN12) junction where you turn left and come out to the junction with the RR306 as above.

Back to the main route... There's a fuel station in Ouaouizight, carry on past the beautiful Bin El Ouidane reservoir, the largest in Morocco. Towards the end perched right at the top of a high lookout there's the ruin of a French Foreign Legion fortress. You are not supposed to take photos in the area of the dam, but dashcams rather ruined that rule. On the other side of the dam you join the RN25 (Goggle thinks it's still the R304) to Azilal.

Alternative route (2)... If really pressed for time you could have stayed on the main RN8 all the way from Khenifra past Beni Mellal and then about 12km further on turned left on the RN25 (Google thinks R304) to Afourer and then onto the dam where you turn right for Azilal. This video below shows the approach from that direction.



Back to the combined route... Turn left about 12km past Azilal onto the P3105 to Ouzoud. A cascade is a waterfall that has several drops and the Cascades d'Ouzoud are normally spectacular. Zoom in on the Google Maps link I've provided and switch to satellite view. When you get to the circle by the parking area waypoint there are two ways to explore. The first is to take a footpath to the right and this will bring you out at the top of the falls, per video below.



The top of the cascades is heavily calcified which creates a bit of a rim and I remember swimming right in the water flow in the 1980s—I must have been mad. Anyway, back to the parking circle, and this time take a path to the left down a long series of steps to get a view of the falls from the bottom.



Another view from the cliffs opposite



There's lots of accommodation and eating options in the immediate vicinity and it's cool to stay overnight and explore whilst there's not all the day trippers around. The monkeys tend to be more active in the mornings and evenings as well.

Back to the route... Retrace your steps back to the RN25 and turn right, probably signposted Demnate (pronounced Dem'enet). A few km past Tanant turn left (south) for Demnate. Carry on through Demnate on what is probably signposted RR307 to Imi n'Ifri which is at the junction of the RR302 which actually crosses the massive natural bridge. Imi is mouth, and Ifri is grotto, so this is the mouth of the grotto. Park up and walk down the wide steps at the northern end of the bridge. My short video...



And a longer video better showing the walk down



You should pass through the entire bridge but keep a lookout behind you as at one point the opening forms a highly accurate map of Africa! There's another set of steps up at the southern end. Allow 40 minutes for this.

Passing back to Demnate, exit on the RR210 to Marrakech. This is a straight road which can be driven at higher speed than in the mountains, the scenery is pretty initially then becomes boring as you near Marrakech.

If you have time you could do a diversion to a geode mine. When you see the geode sellers by the side of the road, ignore the sparkly ones with very bright colours, these are made in someone's kitchen. And many years ago I learned to beware of amythyst as when I washed my specimen the purple dye ran off revealing plain quartz. But the real geodes that you see are not just picked up off in the countryside, they run in seams that have to be mined. This is a route to a mine that I saw grow over the decades from a single simple pit to huge openings extended hundreds of metres, all dug by hand.

So after passing Sidi Rahal, take a track to the left. Difficult to explain which track but you can see a building at the end. Turn left at the building then right and pass through the little village, you will then probably choose to park up where the track crosses a stream bed. Walk on another 500m and you will see a schoolhouse towards the right and climb up the rubble to the mine. There's a guy in the village who will sell geode samples.

And that's the end, back to the RR210 and into Marrakech.

[tony johnston]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for taking the time to prepare and share the above posts.My navo and I will be driving from Fes to Marrakech during the winter and will now certainly do this route which we have been faffing about for years.