Imlil 1-day itinerary

Arrive in Imlil from Marrakech — the journey takes 1.5 hours by shared taxi (MAD 50-60) or private transfer (MAD 300-400) via the Tizi n'Test road through the Moulay Brahim gorge. Imlil sits at 1,740 metres in a valley beneath Mount Toubkal (4,167m), the highest peak in North Africa and the entire Arab world. The village is a cluster of stone and mud-brick houses surrounded by walnut and cherry orchards on steep terraced hillsides. Drop your bags at a gite (mountain guesthouse) and take a morning walk through the valley — follow the river path past watermills, irrigation channels, and Berber farming plots.

Hike from Imlil to Aroumd (also spelled Armed) — a traditional Berber village perched on a hillside 30 minutes above Imlil at 1,940m. The trail follows mule paths through walnut groves and past terraced fields where Berber families grow barley, potatoes, and walnuts using methods unchanged for centuries. Aroumd has a cluster of stone houses with flat roofs used for drying crops and sleeping in summer. The Kasbah du Toubkal — a converted feudal kasbah now run as a lodge — offers stunning views of the Toubkal massif from its terrace and serves excellent Berber meals to non-guests for lunch.

Return to Imlil for dinner at your gite. Mountain guesthouses serve traditional Berber meals — typically a vegetable tagine or couscous with seven vegetables, followed by fresh fruit and mint tea. The food is simple, generous, and cooked by the family that runs the gite. After dinner, sit on the terrace and watch the stars appear above the mountains. At 1,740m, the air is clear and the night sky is brilliant. The silence of the High Atlas after dark — broken only by donkeys and the river — is a profound change from the chaos of Marrakech just 90 minutes away.