It was the eighth day of my nine-day tour around Morocco with Much Better Adventures. We were on our way back to Marrakech, the final destination, and where we would all say goodbye to each other. We had spent eight days touring some of the most adventurous and beautiful highlights of this northern African country.
On our way to Marrakech, we stopped in Aït Benhaddou, known as Morocco's "Hollywood City." It's nicknamed this because of the high volume of movies that have been filmed here - and some quite famous ones, at that!
Aït Benhaddou is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with records dating back to the 11th period, but with buildings still standing only from the 17th century. Aït Benhaddou is a historic ksar, situated along one of the main trans-Saharan trade routes across the Atlas Mountains.
A few families still live in the ksar, but most have moved across the river where they make a living as farmers and in tourism. The red of Aït Benhaddou come from the adobe and clay used to make the bricks.
Some of the most well-known films shot at Aït Benhaddou include Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Jesus of Nazareth (1977), The Mummy (1999), Gladiator (2000), Prince of Persia (2010) and A Life On Our Planet (2020), among many others, as well as the Game of Thrones TV series. A visit to Aït Benhaddou is like a wander both back in time and through an otherwordly film set.
I had been in Marrakech during the September earthquake; it was striking to see how far-reaching the damage was, with notable damage to Aït Benhaddou still clearly visible and cordoned off.
You can visit Aït Benhaddou as a day trip from Marrakech; I visited as part of my group tour.
