The Ourika valley in the Atlas mountains close to Marrakech is a great destination for a one-day trip from Marrakech. When you have already spent a view days in Marrakech, it is a great option to escape the buzzing city and to gather new impressions of Morocco.
There is a big waterfall that can be explored when heading to the small mountain village Setti Fatma which gives you an astonishing view on the mountains and valleys near-by. At the beginning, the trail is quite steep and leads you through the village passing many craftman showing their work. When leaving the village behind, the trail is quite challenging from time to time. That’s why there is a local guide joining the tour and assisting when the way is getting steep or when you have to jump from one rock to the other. Compared to that, the way back from the waterfall to the village is quite comfortable. It gives a great chance to enjoy the landscape and the great view. With a bit of luck and a good guide, you might see some goats resting in the scarps as well as some monkeys in the trees when coming closer to the village. Most of the local berber families have a dog. His main job is to raise an alarm when one of the monkeys try to steal vegetables and fruit from the garden.
When we visited Setti Fatma in October there were only a view other tourists in the area. Nevertheless we were told that it can be really crowded during high season in August. Apart from that I wouldn’t want to go there during summer time, as we had still 28-30°C in October and that is absolutely fine for me 😉
