Atlas Mountains and Berber Villages Day Trip from Marrakech

Left Marrakesh for a short trip to the mountains. Our guide was well informed and lots of fun. Our destination was a short drive and he took time to explain where we would go and what we may see. Our weather was good and we were brought to a small field where the locals met us to take us on a short camel ride. Dresses as the locals we experienced a short trek around the field, not too exciting but if you have never ridden a camel it would be ok. We then stopped for a small snack of olives and bread. We continued our drive to several small towns where we were shown women's cooperatives where they make local oils and rugs. There was never pressure to buy and it was very informative. Stopped for a short lunch and then up to a beautiful waterfalls. You may wish to hire a donkey, made it so much easier to trek.

We were picked up on time directly at our hotel. The driver didn't speak much English and we were often guessing about what the day would include- we kept a positive attitude and were very rewarded. After a stop at an Argan oil cooperative we were dropped off at the foothills of Mt. Toubkal. We set off on a 2 hour hike to a waterfall, rug cooperative, and lunch. The hike was not too difficult and the views were beautiful. Our local guide shared a lot about the villages and Berber culture. We really enjoyed our escape from the big city to spend time in the mountains.

Guide English has been very bad, people would not recognise the half of what he said. Generally tour have been interesting and we seen a lot of things. At the end we had a surprise - we have been told that our price is not covering lunch, so we need to pay additional 7 euro per person for that. I hope VIATOR will sort this out...

We, a party of six adults, really enjoyed our day trip but the description of the day does not accurately reflect the challenge of the ‘walk’ up the mountain. If you have any mobility problems then this trip would probably prove to be more than moderately challenging - if you haven’t then its an excellent way to spend the day. You should bring some cash with you as the, welcome and very tasty, meal isn’t included in the price of the day trip, something we hadn’t initially realised. The Hotel pick up worked like clockwork no problems; we were a little concerned that the minibus driver was regularly on his phone for the duration of our journey - but we made it there and back so I guess that may be the norm !

I'll start with the positives, the trek through the mountains to the waterfall was amazing however we only walked for around 40 minutes despite the tour saying a 1-3 hour trek. Granted snow was forecast but it was pretty dry and the walk was nowhere near the length of time as the ltinerary. It was nice to see the berber villages and see how they lived however the trip to the berber market was a waste of time in my opinion as was the trip to the argan oil cooperative, I personally felt like it was just a way to try and get you to spend money. My friend and I didnt want the lunch due to having booked a dinner reservation for the same evening however we had to tell staff at the cafe 4 times that we didnt want to eat and even then were questioned why we werent eating (not everyone eats for eatings sake, sorry). You also dont get picked up from your hotel/riad. We were emailed the evening before the trip and given a meeting point, luckily for us our riad was near the square so we only had to walk a few minutes but I know some others on the tour had to walk 20 minutes to get to their meeting point. Omar the tour guide was super friendly but was bit 'touchy feely' which made some of the females feel uncomfortable. Overall, I probably wouldnt recommend this tour unless you are happy to be ferried about in a minibus all day to spend money and walk for a little bit. The reason i havent marked this down lower is because despite the length of time the trek to the waterfall was incredible.

Having a Berber guide was great as we learnt the culture and history of the local people. Our guide and driver could not do enough for us, my wife was assisted with mountain walk, a visit to his own home for tea.Time was not an issue. The star of our holiday.

This tour was unique, you are place in the real nature and cultural experience with the Berber people of the atlas mountain. Beautiful views of the snowy mountains, and flowing water.. There’s lot of climbing and descend to do... Karim was the perfect guide patience and attentive to his clients. They serve me the best chicken and vegetable tagine ... thanks karim.

We had a great day on this trip with our guide Mohammed “potatoes”. He was very knowledgeable about the area, able to point out any highlights - including richard branstons hotel. We were picked up from our Riad and taken to the minibus. From here the first stop was camel riding which was excellent fun. From here we went on to breakfast of traditional bread with various oils, seeing how Argand oil is traditionally produced. We then continued our journey into the Imlil valley, stopping in the heart of it for a traditional lunch (extra cost of 75 dhr). Our guide then took us into the Berber village and served us mint tea in his home. We then explored the rest of the village before taking a scenic route back to Marrakesh with stops for photos and to watch the sunset over the desert. All in all it was a great trip!

Aziz was an amazing guide. He was so accommodating to our needs as a group. He really looked out for our best interest and made the day's trip so special. You must experience this with a guide like him.