Skoura travel guide

Where is Skoura?

Pre-Sahara · Drâa-Tafilalet. 240 km from Marrakech by road, about 4 h 30 min without stops.

by road from Marrakech, 240 km

4 h 30 min

private tours come here

2

About Skoura

Skoura is the kind of stop the desert route is built around: a palm oasis 42 km (about 45 minutes) east of Ouarzazate, with some of the finest earthen kasbahs in the south and far fewer visitors than Aït Ben Haddou. The Kasbah Amerdil (Amerhidil), a 17th-century Glaoui fortress that once featured on the 50-dirham banknote, sits in a palmeraie of hundreds of thousands of date palms watered by ancient khettara channels. From Ouarzazate it works as a half-day trip — the kasbah and a palmeraie bicycle ride — or as a lunch and overnight stop on the multi-day road toward the Dadès Gorge and the dunes. It is quieter and greener than the headline kasbahs, and rewards anyone who lingers.

Drive from Marrakech with normal stops

5:00 with a stop on the pass

How long to stay

Half-day to 1 night

Nearest airport

Ouarzazate (OZZ) + 45 min drive

Getting there

42 km (45 min) east of Ouarzazate on the N10 kasbah road toward Boumalne Dadès

Best combined with

Ouarzazate, Aït Ben Haddou and the Dadès Gorge in a southern loop

Date harvest

October brings the date harvest — the palmeraie is at its most active and the Medjool dates sold at the roadside stalls are exceptional

Highlights of Skoura

• Which kasbah in Skoura appears on the Moroccan banknote?

  Kasbah Amerdil (Amerhidil), a 17th-century earthen fortress in the heart of the Skoura palmeraie, was depicted on the old 50-dirham note. It has been partly restored and is open to visitors; the surrounding palm oasis can be explored by bicycle or mule.

• The palmeraie and khettara irrigation network

  Skoura's oasis is sustained by a centuries-old system of khettaras — underground gravity-fed channels — that distribute water from the High Atlas snowmelt. Guided walks through the palmeraie explain the traditional hydraulic engineering still in use today.

• Kasbahs Dar Ahlam and Ben Moro

  Two further restored earthen kasbahs in the oasis — Ben Moro is one of the oldest in the region, and Dar Ahlam has been converted into an award-winning boutique property with a superb kitchen.

• Rose valley approach from Kelaat M'Gouna

  Skoura sits at the western end of the rose-valley corridor; arriving from the east in May you pass fields of damask roses harvested for rosewater, perfume and rose-water distilleries at Kelaat M'Gouna.