Aït Ben Haddou, the impressive adobe settlement in the south of Morocco, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and absolutely worth seeing!

Aït Ben Haddou: impressive world cultural heritage site made of clay


After a long drive along wind­ing roads, the first view of the forti­fied village of Aït Ben Haddou seems like a dream from 1001 nights: Tower houses made of red clay, stacked on top of each other, grow­ing up the barren hill from the lush palm grove by the river and blend­ing in with their surroundings. 

Aït Ben Haddou is the best-preserved adobe settle­ment in Morocco and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. A visit to the most beau­ti­ful village in Morocco, which is now one of the most visited sights in the coun­try, is defi­nitely a worth­while stop on your round trip. 

ait ben haddou blick vom fluss

Inter­na­tional visi­tors’ inter­est in Aït Ben Haddou has been aroused by numer­ous film produc­tions. The best known are certainly Game of Thrones and Glad­i­a­tor.

We give you an overview of the history and archi­tec­ture of Aït Ben Haddou and tell you what you need to know for a visit.

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How do you get to Aït Ben Haddou?

Aït Ben Haddou is located in the province of Ouarza­zate on the south­ern edge of the High Atlas and can easily be explored on a day trip from Marrakesh or as a stop on a road trip.

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A day trip from Marrakesh * is feasi­ble and is also offered by many agen­cies, but it means sitting in the car for over 7 hours — leav­ing little time for explor­ing. The day trip­pers there­fore start very early and don’t get back until late. If you are look­ing for an alter­na­tive excur­sion, you are sure to find what you are look­ing for in our blog arti­cle on the most popu­lar day trips from Marrakesh.

The clas­sic day trip program includes a drive over the High Atlas with a stop in Aït Ben Haddou, followed by a visit to the film studios in Ouarza­zate and then the long drive back. After all, it is from Marrakesh to Aït Ben Haddou over 180 kilometers. 

It is more relaxed to plan the impres­sive village as a stop on a road trip through Morocco’s south.

Both a day trip and the multi-day trips can be booked as a group tour or as an indi­vid­ual trip with a private driver.

Of course, you can also visit the town in your own rental car.

ait ben haddou weltkulturerbe blick vom fluss

The itin­er­ary for a visit as part of a multi-day round trip to the desert* is simi­lar to a day trip: start in the morn­ing in Marrakesh and drive over the High Atlas with a photo stop at the Tizi n’Tishka Pass, then arrive in Aït Ben Haddou after a wind­ing 4‑hour drive.

After a visit to the village and a pause in one of the restau­rants, the tour contin­ues to Ouarza­zate, usually for a visit to the film studios and then an overnight stay.

This is also quite enough to have seen Aït Ben Haddou, as the village is not partic­u­larly large. However, the morn­ing hours between the red clay walls are partic­u­larly atmos­pheric and worth seeing. It is there­fore perhaps a good idea to spend the night in Aït Ben Haddou. 

The sunrise from one of the roof terraces of the surround­ing hotels is also magnif­i­cent. The sunset is rather unspec­tac­u­lar, but the soft light in the evening is ideal for taking photos in the village itself. 

A visit to the village is partic­u­larly nice in the morn­ing and late after­noon, when the day tourists have gone and it is quieter.

It is also nice to drive from Marrakesh via the Telouet Valley with the large Glaoui Kasbah and then via the Ounila Valley.

The narrow green ribbon along the river, the crammed houses in the small villages and the magnif­i­cent land­scape have a very orig­i­nal feel. Two-day tours with an overnight stay in Aït Ben Haddou* are offered from Marrakesh, which leave enough time to discover the villages and kasbahs in the surround­ing area. 

Looking for a hotel in Marrakesh?

Top loca­tion in the medina, break­fast included, an oasis of peace in the middle of the souks:
The Riad Selouane is the ideal address for your city trip!

Riad Selouane Marrakesh: View into the courtyard and over the roofs to the Ben Youssef Mosque

What to see and do in Aït Ben Haddou?

The charm of Aït Ben Haddou lies in the intri­cate clay archi­tec­ture that stretches picturesquely up the moun­tain. The view from the other side of the river, in partic­u­lar, is sure to make for a photo oppor­tu­nity and is best enjoyed with a mint tea on one of the restau­rant terraces. 

The town itself is divided into a modern and an old half by the river. The old part is of course inter­est­ing for tourists, but almost all the restau­rants and hotels are in the new part. 

The river Assif Mellah (some­times also called Assif Ounila) flows between the two parts of the village, but it does not carry water all year round.

When the water flows in winter and spring, the village looks partic­u­larly beau­ti­ful, as the contrast between the water and the barren surround­ings is impressive.

aitbenhaddou assif mellah fluss

Aït Ben Haddou lies at an alti­tude of around 1300 meters. It can there­fore get very cold at night, espe­cially in winter. Ouarza­zate, one of the most impor­tant cities in the south of Morocco, is approx. 30 km away. 

In the surround­ing area, you can expe­ri­ence the river oasis and the barren land­scape around it on horseback.

The visit of Aït Ben Haddou

To get to the old village center, go down to the river in the new settle­ment. If there is water in the river, take the bridge, other­wise you can simply cross the dry riverbed. Cross the bridge to reach the main entrance to the village, further down by the river there is a side entrance. 

You can explore the small village on your own or hire a local guide for a few euros at the entrance to the village.

A few of the old adobe houses are still inhab­ited and the locals are happy to show you their homes for a small fee. In some houses you can climb up to the roof terrace and enjoy the view. 

ait ben haddou souvenirladen

In the alley­ways there are a few souvenir stores and a few rustic cafés with roof terraces from which you have a beau­ti­ful view of the bustling houses.

The village is located on a steep slope, up which narrow steps lead. If you want to enjoy the fantas­tic view of the village, the river oasis and the High Atlas from the top, you will have to make a stren­u­ous climb. It is certainly a good idea to take a bottle of water and a sun hat with you. Depend­ing on the time of year, the sun beats down mercilessly. 

Once at the top, you have a fantas­tic panoramic view of the river valley, the snow-capped moun­tains and the surround­ing desert land­scape. The view is most beau­ti­ful in the morn­ing and towards evening, when the light is soft. In the midday heat, the view is often dull and lack­ing in contrast. 

ait ben haddou blick von oben

On the way back, you can take the rear exit from the village and walk along the river. From down here you can take great photos of the tall resi­den­tial towers. 

The best view of Aït Ben Haddou itself is from the new settle­ment. There are numer­ous restau­rants, cafés and hotels here from whose roof terraces you can enjoy the view. 

You want to visit Aït Ben Haddou?

At GetYourGuide* you will find vari­ous day and multi-day tours to the south of Morocco

Die schönsten Tagesausflüge von Marrakesch: Ait Ben Haddou.

Aït Ben Haddou as a movie set

Morocco has close ties to the Holly­wood film indus­try. Ouarza­zate is home to the major Atlas Film Studios, which are inter­na­tion­ally renowned and where numer­ous block­busters have been filmed. Marrakesh hosts the annual film festi­val in Novem­ber, which even attracts Holly­wood celebri­ties such as Brad Pitt. 

The impres­sive setting of the village has served as back­drop for more than 20 movies. The best known are certainly Lawrence of Arabia, Glad­i­a­tor and Game of Thrones.

In front of the old village center is an impos­ing gate with two watch­tow­ers facing the river. This decep­tively real gate was built for the Game of Thrones series and has been a major point of contention ever since, as tourists love the gates, but the Unesco is of the opin­ion that they have no place in a World Heritage Site. 

ait ben haddou filmkulisse game of thrones
Die Toran­lage, die für Game of Thrones gebaut wurde

A detailed report on the film­ing loca­tions for Game of Thrones in Morocco can be found at Escape from Real­ity.

The numer­ous film produc­tions have certainly also contributed to the preser­va­tion of the settle­ment. As early as 1970, build­ings and walls were repaired for a film shoot. 

For the film Glad­i­a­tor, a special arena was built outside the village for the glad­i­a­tor fights. Noth­ing of this can be seen today, but photos of the film set can be found in some stores. 

Why Aït Ben Haddou is a Unesco World Heritage Site

Aït Ben Haddou is a tradi­tional forti­fied village, a so-called Ksar (plural: Ksour) of the pre-sahara. 

There are still many ksour in the High Atlas, some are over 1000 years old, many are dilap­i­dated and unin­hab­ited, some have been reno­vated and now house beau­ti­ful guest­houses. Aït Ben Haddou is so unique in its preserved old substance that it has been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1987. 

ksar ait ben haddou befestigtes dorf

However, it was not only the archi­tec­tural ensem­ble that was deci­sive for the World Heritage status. The collab­o­ra­tive orga­ni­za­tion of the build­ing trade is also remarkable. 

In Berber culture, knowl­edge of archi­tec­ture and other tradi­tions has been passed down in fami­lies for centuries.

As with many village commu­ni­ties, the construc­tion of larger struc­tures used to only be possi­ble together.

A special feature of the Berber villages is that most of the villages are owned by the commu­nity and managed by the village coun­cils. The main­te­nance and new construc­tion of build­ings is decided jointly and strength­ens social cohesion. 

The commu­nal build­ings include a mosque, a village square, a thresh­ing floor, a kara­vanserai, two ceme­ter­ies (Muslim and Jewish) and the shrine of Saint Sidi Ali. These build­ings belong to the village commu­nity and are also built, main­tained and repaired collectively. 

Today, hardly anyone still lives in the old ksar, which makes main­te­nance much more diffi­cult. Like every­where else, young people are moving to the big cities and so there are fewer and fewer knowl­edge­able resi­dents left to look after the buildings. 

The Moroc­can govern­ment has launched a program to preserve the unique site, provid­ing assis­tance with repairs to the build­ing struc­ture and rais­ing aware­ness of tradi­tional build­ing culture among the population. 

Aït Ben Haddou is now regarded as a flag­ship for the sensi­tive treat­ment of old build­ings, the needs of the popu­la­tion and market­ing as a tourist destination. 

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Towering buildings made of clay characterize the architecture

Aït Ben Haddou is a typi­cal clay settle­ment of the pre-Sahara. It is forti­fied and surrounded by high walls flanked by strong corner towers. This archi­tec­tural style is wide­spread from Libya to Mauri­ta­nia and is referred to as a pre-Saha­ran settle­ment type.

Although the construc­tion method is the same as it was thou­sands of years ago, the oldest build­ings only date back to the 17th century due to constant renovations.

aitbenhaddou wohnturm

In the village itself, there are houses, some­times real resi­den­tial towers (called tighremt), and build­ings that serve the common good. The narrow alley­ways keep the summer heat at bay, as they are in the shade for most of the day, and in ancient times they were easier to defend than wide streets. 

You can see from the elab­o­rate deco­ra­tions on the houses that func­tion­al­ity was not the only thing that was impor­tant to the villagers.

The upper part of the resi­den­tial towers are deco­rated with geomet­ric patterns which, accord­ing to ancient tradi­tion, are supposed to ward off evil.

The build­ings have only a few windows, but occa­sion­ally have venti­la­tion slits to use the chim­ney effect to cool the living spaces in summer.

ait ben haddou detail lehmbau

The rooms are tradi­tion­ally laid out around inner court­yards and house stables and stor­age rooms on the first floor and living quar­ters on the upper floors.

On the hill above the village is the collec­tive granary, which is unfor­tu­nately only a ruin today.

The group­ing of build­ings around the central granary is typi­cal of this region and was intended to protect the villagers’ most valu­able asset in the event of attacks.

There is no minaret to be found in the old village. Until the 20th century, mosque minarets were only common in large cities. Villages gener­ally had prayer rooms with­out minarets. 

The devas­tat­ing earth­quake in Septem­ber 2023 damaged several build­ings in the old village center. The granary on the hill above the village, which had already collapsed in places, was destroyed even more. Fortu­nately, the entire complex survived the earth­quake with­out major damage. 

By the way: As already mentioned, the forti­fied village itself is called a ksar. A kasbah, on the other hand, is a castle built of mud and can be located inside or outside a village. The kasbah provided protec­tion and living space for the ruling Berber prince, which is why the term kasbah is not appro­pri­ate for Aït Ben Haddou as a whole. 

How does building with clay work?

As there are no forests in this region, people have learned to make use of the build­ing mate­ri­als avail­able: Clay and palm wood.

These mate­ri­als can be found in abun­dance around the village and the clay from the nearby river gives the walls their char­ac­ter­is­tic red tone.

Thanks to the natural build­ing mate­ri­als, the village blends harmo­niously into its surround­ings. At first glance, you could easily over­look the houses as they blend in with the color of the surroundings. 

Clay as a building material for walls

The build­ings in the village are made of clay bricks and the houses are plas­tered with clay on both the outside and inside, which gives them their homo­ge­neous appear­ance. Some houses have a plinth made of field stones, which is partially visible. 

Clay is plen­ti­ful, cheap and can be worked with­out machines. The houses, which are built from dried clay bricks, keep cool in summer and warm in winter. 

The crafts­men who special­ize in build­ing with clay are called maâlems and the tech­niques they use are over a thou­sand years old.

The clay is mixed with straw to increase its strength, spread in molds and dried in the sun.

The bricks are then walled up with — precisely — clay as mortar.

lehmziegel marokko

Because the build­ing mate­r­ial is not very stable, thick walls are needed to support the tall build­ings. The build­ings lean against each other and support each other and it is not uncom­mon for the houses to be liter­ally nested inside each other. 

Palm wood and reed stalks provide the material for ceilings and roofs

The date palms that grow along the river bear little fruit due to the alti­tude, but are used as build­ing material. 

The trunks are used to make ceil­ing beams and the fibers are used to make mats and ropes. The palm fronds are used to make baskets and other utensils. 

Reeds are also processed into mats and used as build­ing mate­r­ial for ceil­ings and roofs.

aitbenhaddou decke palmholz
Decke aus Palmholzbalken und Schilfmatten
aitbenhaddou detail lehmbau decke
Abdich­tung einer Schil­f­mat­ten­decke mit Lehm

For ceil­ings, palm wood beams are laid first, covered with reed mats and then sealed with a mixture of clay and straw

Doors and windows are made of wood. Glass was tradi­tion­ally not used, and some­times ornate metal gridswere placed in the window openings. 

lehmputz und fenstergitter marokko
vergit­tertes Fenster
lehmputz marokko
Lehm­putz mit Strohbeimischung

This econom­i­cal and sustain­able construc­tion method also poses a prob­lem with regard to the not very frequent, but often torren­tial rain­fall: as the bricks are not burnt, there is a risk that the build­ings will simply dissolve with every down­pour. The scorch­ing summer heat also affects the old walls, which virtu­ally crum­ble under the Moroc­can sun. 

Even today, the settle­ment is exten­sively reno­vated every three years, as the sun and occa­sional rain cause the walls to crum­ble. This construc­tion method requires constant repair work, which is tradi­tion­ally carried out by the village commu­nity, but is diffi­cult nowa­days as hardly anyone still lives in the old village. 

This also creates a diffi­cult para­dox for Aït Ben Haddou: the masses of visi­tors cause the frag­ile struc­tures to suffer, but the village needs enough paying visi­tors to main­tain them and the inter­est of the tourists ensures that the main­te­nance of the build­ings is worthwhile.

The history of Aït Ben Haddou

The first writ­ten records date back to the 17th century, but the oral tradi­tion of the settlement’s history goes back to the 11th century. 

The village was named after the first gover­nor of the place, Amghar Ben-Haddou, who ruled here in the 11th century. Aït means clan, so the Berbers of the Ben Haddou tribe live here.

Aït Ben Haddou used to be a trad­ing post along the cara­van route that connected Marrakesh with Timbuktu and Sudan. In the Draa and Dades valleys, there are many forti­fied villages with simi­lar archi­tec­ture, but nowhere are the houses as spec­tac­u­larly situ­ated on the moun­tain­side as here. 

ait benhaddou marrokko ouarzazate

Until well into the 20th century, the inhab­i­tants lived as self-suffi­cient farm­ers, supple­mented by a small amount of live­stock, mainly sheep and goats. In the village’s heyday, more than 1000 people are said to have lived within the forti­fied walls. 

Since the 1960s, a settle­ment with modern ameni­ties such as elec­tric­ity and running water has been built on the other side of the river, and the inhab­i­tants have aban­doned the old clay buildings. 

The road through the Ounila Valley was only paved in 2012, before that the route, which is popu­lar with visi­tors, was a dusty track.

Today, only a few fami­lies still live in the village’s tradi­tional clay build­ings and are happy to show off their homes to paying visi­tors. The village is now more of an open-air museum than a func­tion­ing village community. 

What’s more, its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site means that it cannot be repaired using modern mate­ri­als such as concrete or steel. In this respect, tourism is a bless­ing, as visi­tors come to see the old village, which is there­fore worth preserving. 

Nobody can blame the resi­dents for no longer want­ing to live in the old build­ings, but it would be a shame if the village were to fall into disre­pair. The many visi­tors are there­fore welcome, even if it can get very crowded at times. A visit is defi­nitely worth­while and every visit contributes to the preser­va­tion of this beau­ti­ful ensemble. 

olive twig light brown

The clay archi­tec­ture of Aït Ben Haddou is simply impressive!

Aït Ben Haddou, die imposante Lehmbausiedlung im Süden Marokkos gehört zum Unesco-Weltkulturerbe und ist absolut sehenswert!

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Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh
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