3 Best Hotels in Route de l'Ourika, High Atlas

This is a quirky and charming place to stay, eat, relax, and rejuvenate. Each of the traditionally decorated rooms and suites has a fireplace while the two Berber tents are fitted out with showers and toilets. The pool is decked in tadelakt and there are several cozy communal areas with all kinds of books and music for guests to borrow. The food is delicious, inventive, and simple, using seasonal and local ingredients—part of the strong commitment to ecology here. The spa offers a fabulous hammam, a giant double bath, and massages.

This homely guesthouse is only a 20-minute drive from the center of Marrakesh, yet couldn't be more of a contrast. Enveloped in a patchwork of burgeoning gardens, it's a haven for the birds, bees, and humans too. With just seven rooms and suites, comfy living areas, a decent pool, and a friendly staff, it's a congenial place. Children will love feeding rabbits and talking to the sad old donkey; everyone else will love the giant roses, big as artichokes, the countless varieties of fruit trees, and the birdsong at sundown.

This plush ecolodge is hidden in the lush plains beneath the Atlas through which the Route de l’Ourika runs. It’s built from pise (rammed clay), with flecks of straw visible in the baked earthen walls. Rooms and suites are very comfortable, furnished in line with local style—think handmade straw rugs, rustic wooden shutters and doors, iron furniture, and whitewashed walls. The gardens are an ambush of roses with some elegant olive and palm trees punctuating the lawn, while the views of the Atlas overhead are just blissful. With a firm eco-ethic in hand, the staff offers a range of dishes based on locally sourced ingredients. Quaryati insists on a commitment to ecotourism, notably through ethical water use and treatment, energy consumption, and consideration of the local economy.