Skoura

As you head off down the Dades Valley, towards the Sahara, Skoura is one of the biggest settlements you’ll encounter, a short way outside Ouarzazate (you may even find yourself staying here in a wonderful restored kasbah). An impossible number of palm trees seem to be pressed into the elbow of the confluence of two rivers. Narrow pathways twist amongst the trees, linking kasbahs and ksour (fortified villages). Kasbah Amridil is the most impressive, and is visible from the road; it vies with Ait Ben Haddou for the most famous Moroccan kasbah (a battle it probably wins as it’s featured on a bank note, not a claim Ait Ben Haddou can compete with!). Depending on whether you’re staying locally or just passing through, you can make a brief stop to photograph and admire, or take your time and get lost amidst the palm trees and crumbling fortifications that stretch for several kilometres.