Morocco
Imlil
One short street of guides and gear ends where North Africa's highest mountain begins.
Imlil is a village of earth houses at about eighteen hundred metres, seventy kilometres south of Marrakech and several worlds away from it. Terraced orchards hold the valley sides up, meltwater runs between the buildings, and the whole place is organised around one fact: the highest mountain in North Africa starts here.
Everything in the village follows from the mountain. Guides, guesthouses and hire shops line the same short street, and Aremd, five hundred metres of climbing higher, is the last settlement before the core of Toubkal National Park, created in 1942 across nearly 380 square kilometres. The September 2023 Al Haouz earthquake struck this province hard and became another chapter in the valley's long practice of rebuilding. Terraced walnut and apple orchards, meltwater channels and earth-built villages keep Imlil from being merely the start of somebody else's summit.
Solo
Guides work out of the village rather than out of Marrakech, so hiring one here means walking with somebody whose valley it is. Ask about the day routes before you commit to the summit; several are better company than the queue up the mule track.
Couple
Walk up to Aremd and stop there instead of pushing on. It is five hundred metres of climbing, the last village before the park, and the view back down the valley is the one people come for without knowing it.
Friends
Make Aremd the shared goal rather than treating Imlil as a car park. Five hundred metres of climbing, orchard terraces and the view back down the valley give the group a complete mountain day without a summit bid.
- The village is the departure point for Jebel Toubkal, the highest summit in North Africa, and its shops exist to equip that.
- Toubkal National Park begins here, created in 1942 and covering nearly 380 square kilometres.
- Aremd, at 1,900 metres, is the last village before the core of the park.
- Terraced walnut and apple orchards climb between Imlil and Aremd, following meltwater channels through the valley.
Atlas walnuts cracked beside warm village bread, from terraces carrying the Haouz geographical indication.
A crisp Haouz apple from the orchards climbing above the village, easy to carry on the walk towards Aremd.
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