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Guesthouses and lodges in the High Atlas for hiking and culture.

To sleep in the Atlas itself, the strongest choice on this site is the southern side of the High Atlas: the Dadès Gorges and the Valley of Roses at Kalaat M'Gouna, where three inns are rated 9.8 out of 10. This site has no hotel in Imlil or at the foot of Toubkal, so anyone planning the classic Toubkal trek will need a base outside this list. For mountains in the north, Chefchaouen, in the Rif rather than the Atlas, has 30 hotels on this site. The 14 hotels grouped here mix real mountain addresses with city hotels that simply carry "Atlas" in their name. The Dadès is where I would sleep. Hotel Restaurant Atlas Gorge Dades, rated 9.8 over 408 reviews, sits in Tamellalt, about 15 km up the gorge from Boumalne Dadès, and Auberge Restaurant Oued Dades has the same score. Maison d'hôtes Bab El Atlas, also 9.8, is in Kalaat M'Gouna itself, at Tighremt in the Valley of Roses, and has an outdoor pool. The gorge road, the R704, is narrow, with hairpins and no barrier above the drop on some stretches: drive it in daylight and stop where the tarmac ends unless you have a 4x4. Spring and autumn are the seasons for the Dadès, mild enough for walking; March to May and October suit hikers best. Summer is hot in the gorges and hotter still in Ouarzazate below, so a summer trip means walking early. In winter the gendarmerie sometimes closes the Tizi n'Tichka pass, so I would not plan a tight connection across the range between December and February: the pass lies about 97 km south-east of Marrakech, roughly halfway to Ouarzazate, and there is no quick detour. Ouarzazate, with 4 hotels here, is a desert town at the foot of the range rather than a mountain base. From Marrakech the N9 crosses the Tizi n'Tichka at 2,260 m, on a drive of four to five hours without stops. Oscar Hotel by Atlas Studios, rated 8.8, stands next to the film studios; Dar Chamaa, rated 9.0, is in the palm grove with the Atlas in view from its pool; Hotel Azoul, rated 7.8, has a roof terrace facing the mountains; Hotel Atlas Ouarzazate, rated 7.4, is about 2 km from the airport, convenient for an early flight rather than for the views. Marrakech has 3 hotels in this group, and none is in the mountains. Mandarin Oriental, on 20 hectares outside the walls, has the Atlas on its horizon; La Sultana is in the Kasbah quarter of the medina, beside the Saadian Tombs, and Janat Al Atlas on the Sidi Abdellah Ghiat road at the city edge. They suit a city stay with day trips. Hôtel Atlas in Khenifra is in a Middle Atlas town, rated 7.8 on only 18 reviews. Three more owe the group to their name. Hôtel Atlas Saiss in Fès, rated 7.9 over 668 reviews, is a city hotel in the Ville Nouvelle, at 3 avenue des FAR, about 15 minutes on foot from Fès station. Atlas Safari, for Meknès, stands out of town near Sebaa Aioun, about 37 km from Volubilis; it is rated 8.2, but on 9 reviews only, too few for me to judge. Atlas Orient, in Oujda in the far east, is rated 7.4 over 789 reviews. Book them for those cities, not for the mountains. Who the Dadès suits: drivers on the road between Ouarzazate and Merzouga who want to sleep among cliffs and kasbahs instead of in a town hotel. Who should look elsewhere: trekkers who want Toubkal from the door, and anyone crossing in midwinter without spare days. From Ouarzazate, Boumalne Dadès is about 103 km, around two hours by road. Kalaat M'Gouna and the Valley of Roses have 26 hotels on this site in all, so the inns above are a starting point rather than the only beds in the valley.

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