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7 Most Instagrammable Spots in Aït Benhaddou, Morocco's Most-Filmed Kasbah
A UNESCO-listed fortified village on the old caravan route between Marrakech and the Sahara, Aït Benhaddou has appeared in more film and television productions than any other location in Africa, and it photographs like it.
By BigTravel.in Editorial Team · · 3 min read
Aït Benhaddou began as a stop on the caravan route linking Marrakech to the Draa river valley and the Sahara beyond, with its earliest origins traced to around the 11th century, though most of the earthen structures visible today date from the 17th century onward. The ksar, a fortified settlement built up from several kasbahs clustered together, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1987 as one of the finest surviving examples of pre-Saharan earthen architecture in Morocco.
1. The view across the Ounila River
The classic first impression of Aït Benhaddou comes from the riverbank opposite the ksar, where its stacked earthen towers rise directly above the water. Most of the village's permanent residents relocated across the river to a newer settlement decades ago, leaving the historic ksar itself largely open to visitors and photographers.
2. The hilltop agadir
A fortified communal granary, or agadir, sits at the top of the ksar and is reached by a climb through the settlement's narrow passages. It's the highest point open to visitors and gives an elevated view back over the towers, the river and the surrounding valley.
3. The covered passageways
Inside the ksar, narrow covered lanes run between the kasbahs, their thick earthen walls keeping the interior notably cooler than the open hillside, and their rough, sun-baked texture giving a very different frame to the wide exterior shots most visitors take first.
4. Carved doorways and geometric facades
Many of the ksar's surviving buildings retain decorative geometric patterns pressed into their earthen facades around doors and upper windows, a hallmark of the region's pisé, or rammed-earth, building tradition.
5. The riverbank at golden hour
Early morning and late afternoon light picks out the ochre tones of the ksar's walls most strongly, and the riverbank below is generally where photographers gather for that light, with the towers sometimes reflected in the shallow water depending on the season.
6. A film-set backdrop
Aït Benhaddou has been used as a filming location since the early 1960s and has appeared in more major international productions than any other location in Africa, including Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Prince of Persia, The Mummy and the television series Game of Thrones, where it stood in for the city of Yunkai. Its uninterrupted skyline, free of visible modern infrastructure, is precisely what has made it so reusable on screen.
7. Rooftop café terraces
A handful of cafés and guesthouses on the approach to the ksar offer rooftop terraces looking directly across at the towers, a level vantage point that avoids the wide-angle distortion of shooting from directly below.
Traveller tips
- Aït Benhaddou is roughly a three-and-a-half-hour drive from Marrakech, often visited as a stop on the route toward the Sahara.
- A small entry fee applies to visit the ksar itself, separate from the free view available from the riverbank.
- Comfortable footwear matters more than it looks; the interior passageways include uneven, worn stone and earthen steps.
- Summer afternoons in this part of Morocco get very hot; a morning or early-evening visit is more comfortable for walking the full site.
Where this is
Aït Benhaddou, Morocco
