15 Things to Do in the Ourika Valley, Chosen by Local Guides

• 15 activities, from easy visits to mountain walks
• A practical tip from our guides for each one
• Which ones fit into a single day from Marrakech

The Ourika Valley is a valley of the High Atlas that starts about 30 km south of Marrakech and ends at Setti Fatma, the last village on the road, at about 1,500 m. The main things to do there are the walk to the seven Setti Fatma waterfalls (about half an hour to the first falls), lunch at a table beside or in the river, a walk between Amazigh villages with lunch in a family home, and visits to women's argan cooperatives, roadside potters and Berber rug sellers. The Nectarome and Anima gardens, the Monday souk of Tnine Ourika, a short camel or quad ride and the road up to Oukaïmeden, a ski resort at about 2,600 m, complete the list. Spring has the strongest waterfalls, summer is cooler than Marrakech but brings afternoon storms, and weekdays are much quieter than weekends.

We live and work in this valley. This list gathers our favourite things to see and do between Tnine Ourika and Setti Fatma, from the ten-minute stops to the half-day walks, with the tip we would give a friend for each one.

Coming as a family? See the Ourika Valley with kids.

Is the Ourika Valley worth visiting?

Yes, for most people, as long as you know what kind of place it is. The Ourika is a lived-in mountain valley an hour or so from Marrakech, not a protected park. It is worth it if you want green mountains, earth villages, a river and a short but real walk without a long drive. It is the easiest escape from the city heat, and the closest of the classic day trips (we compare it honestly with Ouzoud and Imlil in Ourika, Ouzoud or Imlil).

Not sure which valley to pick? Our guide to an Atlas Mountains day trip from Marrakech compares the five you can reach in a day.

It may disappoint you if you expect wild, empty nature or one huge waterfall. The road is lined with cafés, shops and roadside stops, Setti Fatma is very busy on weekends and holidays, and some riverside restaurants there are touristy, with prices to agree before sitting down.

How to make it worth it: go early and on a weekday, walk past the first waterfall if your legs allow, stop in a village rather than only in shops, and eat where the guide or locals eat. A few hours on a village path changes the whole impression.

Waterfalls, river and mountains

1. Walk to the Setti Fatma waterfalls

The classic. Above Setti Fatma, a rocky path climbs a narrow gorge where seven waterfalls follow one another. Most people walk to the first falls, about half an hour up, with a few boulders to scramble over and small cafés along the way. Beyond, the path gets wilder and harder. Spring, with the snowmelt, is when the water is strongest.

Tip: wear closed shoes with a good grip and keep your hands free. In summer, go in the morning, because afternoon storms can make the river rise quickly. Our full guide to the Setti Fatma waterfalls covers route, season and safety.

2. Eat lunch at a table in the river

In Setti Fatma, restaurants set tables and chairs on the gravel banks and sometimes in the shallow water, reached by small footbridges. You eat a tagine with your feet in snowmelt, with the mountains all around. It is simple food, but the setting is what people remember from the day.

Tip: agree on the price before sitting down and ask whether drinks are included. After rain, owners pull tables back from the water, so follow their lead. See what to order in our guide to Berber food in the valley. If you would rather cook the tagine than order it, we run a cooking class with a family in a village of the valley, 60 EUR per person.

3. Walk between villages and have lunch with a Berber family

The best way to understand the valley is on foot, on the paths that link the villages above the road: terraced fields, irrigation canals (seguias), walnut trees and earth houses. With a local guide, the walk ends in a family home where lunch is cooked for you: tagine, bread from the clay oven, mint tea.

Tip: this is the activity our guests talk about most afterwards. It is a half-day walk at an easy pace, 60 EUR per person for the guide, the walk and the lunch, with transport from Marrakech as an option (120 EUR per vehicle for 1 to 7 people): see the trek and lunch with a Berber family.

4. Go up to Oukaïmeden

At Aghbalou, a road branches off the valley and climbs to Oukaïmeden, a ski resort at about 2,600 m, one of the highest in Africa. In winter, when there is snow (roughly January to March, varying a lot from year to year), there are ski lifts and rental shops. In summer the high plateau is green, with shepherds and prehistoric rock engravings.

Tip: bring warm layers even in spring, as it is much colder than the valley. We combine Ourika and Oukaïmeden in one of our packages (180 EUR per vehicle for 1 to 7 people, 260 EUR for 8 to 17).

Crafts and cooperatives

5. Visit a women's argan cooperative

Along the road, cooperatives run by women show how argan oil is made: cracking the nuts between two stones, roasting the kernels for culinary oil, grinding them on a stone mill. Argan trees grow in the south-west of Morocco, not in Ourika, so the kernels are brought from the argan region.

Tip: taste the culinary oil with bread and amlou before buying, and do not feel obliged to buy. Our guide to the women's argan cooperative explains how to spot quality oil.

6. Watch a potter at work

Several roadside workshops in the lower valley make tagine dishes, water jars and plant pots from local clay, fired in kilns beside the workshops. You can watch the wheel turning and choose a pot straight from the stacks drying outside.

Tip: if you want a tagine to cook with, choose unglazed or food-safe glazed terracotta and ask how to season it. For packing and shipping advice, read our guide to the pottery village of Ourika. We also run a hands-on pottery workshop, 30 EUR per person, where you shape a piece on the wheel with the potter and take it home.

7. Look at Berber rugs, without pressure

Rugs woven by women in the Atlas villages are sold along the valley road, from flat-woven kilims to thick wool pile rugs. Seeing them in the valley, rather than in a medina bazaar, lets you ask about the wool, the dyes and who made them.

Tip: turn the rug over to check the knots and look for natural dyes, and take your time. Bargaining is normal but should stay friendly. Our Berber rugs guide gives the names and what to check.

Culture and village life

8. The Ecomusée Berbère at Tafza (currently closed)

In the village of Tafza, near Tnine Ourika, a restored earth building houses the Ecomusée Berbère de l'Ourika: everyday objects, clothing, jewellery and old photographs of Amazigh life in the valley. It is small, calm and one of the few places that explains what you see from the road.

Tip: the museum has been reported closed since the September 2023 earthquake, with no reopening announced, so ask us before planning it. Meanwhile, a women's cooperative or the Nectarome garden nearby covers similar ground. Background in our guide to the Ecomusée Berbère.

9. Share mint tea in a Berber house

On the way up, we often stop in a village house where a family welcomes visitors for tea and fresh bread with olive oil. You see how an earth house is organised: the courtyard, the bread oven, the terrace where fruit dries in autumn.

Tip: accept the first glass, and if you do not want more, just say so politely. Ask before taking photos of people, especially women. More on customs in our page on the people and culture of the valley.

10. Go to the Monday souk in Tnine Ourika

"Tnine" means Monday, the day of the weekly souk at the entrance of the valley. It is a working market for the villages, not a souvenir market: vegetables, spices, tools, livestock, barbers and tea stalls.

Tip: go in the morning, when it is most lively, and keep your valuables in a front pocket. It is the easiest way to see ordinary valley life, and it fits naturally into a Monday day trip.

Gardens

11. Walk through the Nectarome aromatic garden

Near Tnine Ourika, Nectarome is an organic garden of aromatic and medicinal plants, many of them familiar in the kitchens and remedies of the valley. The visit explains how plants are grown and used, and there are natural products to buy.

Tip: it is a quiet stop for families and plant lovers, and a good contrast with the waterfall walk. See our guide to the Nectarome aromatic garden.

12. See the Anima Garden by André Heller

Near the Ourika road, about 27 km from Marrakech, the Austrian artist André Heller created Anima, a garden mixing exotic plants, paths and contemporary art installations. It feels very different from the rest of the valley, closer to an open-air gallery.

Tip: give yourself time to wander rather than rushing through, and combine it with the valley rather than making a separate trip. The garden runs its own shuttle from Marrakech, which needs booking. More in our Anima Garden guide.

13. The YSL Beauté Ourika Community Gardens (not a regular visit)

About 30 km from Marrakech, YSL Beauté created the Ourika Community Gardens, inaugurated in May 2019. The main garden covers about 2 hectares and was designed by the landscape architects Éric Ossart and Arnaud Maurières. At the opening, the brand counted more than 40 plant species, among them roses, iris, saffron, lemon trees and marigolds, used to study and grow ingredients for its products. A cooperative of local women tends the plants, with training supported by the brand.

Tip: we could not find any public opening hours, tickets or visit programme. The gardens are not run as a regular tourist attraction, so ask us before planning anything around them. For a garden you can actually walk around, choose Nectarome or Anima.

Outdoor activities

14. Take a camel ride or a quad ride

On the way to the valley, some farms offer short camel rides along the palm groves and red earth, and quad rides on dirt tracks. It is an easy add-on for families and groups who want something lighter than a mountain walk.

Tip: the camel ride is short, so wear long trousers, and on the quad ask for a helmet and a briefing. Both can be combined with Ourika in our packages: the vehicle at 120 EUR for 1 to 7 people, plus 15 EUR per person for the camel ride or 30 EUR per person for the quad.

15. Stay a night in the valley

Most visitors leave in the late afternoon, which is exactly when the valley becomes quiet. Guesthouses, gîtes and small lodges between Tnine Ourika and Setti Fatma let you have evening light on the peaks, a dinner cooked at home and an early walk before the day crowds arrive.

Tip: in summer, a night here is a real break from the heat of Marrakech. Our guide on where to stay in the Ourika Valley compares the areas.

Ourika Valley with kids

The valley works well with children because the drive is short and the day can be cut into small pieces: a river to throw stones in, footbridges, animals in the villages, a camel ride, a garden. Here is what we tell families.

• The waterfall path is rocky and steep in places. Children who like to climb usually love it; keep a hand on young ones near edges and on wet rock, and use a hiking carrier rather than carrying babies in your arms. Stopping at the first fall is a perfectly good goal.
• The river is cold, fast and stronger than it looks, especially in spring. Paddling at the edge is fine with an adult beside them; no swimming in the current, and leave the riverbed if storms build in summer.
• Car seats are not standard in Moroccan vehicles. Ask us when you book and we will tell you what we can arrange.
• Lunch: riverside restaurants serve simple food such as omelettes, salads, tagines and fruit, easy for most children. Bring snacks, water and sun hats.

Families who also want a taste of the desert near Marrakech can read this guide to the Agafay desert with kids, the stone desert south-west of the city.

How to fit it in one day

You cannot do all of this in a day, and you do not need to. A good day in the valley from Marrakech usually looks like this: morning pickup at your hotel or riad, about 1 hour to 1 hour 30 of driving through Berber villages to Setti Fatma, depending on traffic and stops, a stop at an argan cooperative, maybe tea in a Berber house or a look at a pottery workshop, then Setti Fatma for the walk to the first waterfalls, and lunch at a table by the river. You are back in Marrakech in the late afternoon.

That is exactly our Ourika Valley day trip from Marrakech: private vehicle, driver speaking English, French and Spanish, from 120 EUR per vehicle (1 to 7 people), with lunch and a local guide for the waterfalls as options. Tell us which of the stops above interest you most, and we adjust the day.

Only have a morning? Our Ourika half day leaves Marrakech at 7:00 am for the walk to the first waterfalls, with breakfast at a table in the river as an option, and you are back in the city around noon. It costs 120 EUR per vehicle for 1 to 7 people.

A few tips for planning:

• Pick four or five things, not ten. Driving from one end of the valley to the other takes time.
• Go early in summer: walk in the morning, eat by the river at midday, and stay away from the gorge if storms build.
• Avoid weekends if you can: Setti Fatma is much busier on Saturdays and Sundays.
• Check the season: spring for waterfalls, winter for snow at Oukaïmeden, autumn for orchard colours. Our weather guide goes month by month.

Sources

• L'Oréal, YSL Beauté Ourika Gardens (cooperative of Berber women, more than 20,000 m²)
• Le Matin, Les jardins collectifs de l'Ourika (2 hectares, Arnaud Maurières and Éric Ossart, inaugurated in 2019)
• YSL Beauty, Ourika Community Gardens
• Explorer.land, The Ourika Community Gardens project
• Wikipedia, Oukaïmeden (ski area between 2,600 and 3,200 m)
• Wikipedia, Ourika Valley (about 30 km from Marrakesh, Setti Fatma as last town on the paved road, Monday souk)
• Anima Garden, official website, visitor information (27 km from Marrakech, shuttle)