Ait Benhaddou

32km north of Ouazazate on the other great pass through the Atlas is Ait Benhaddou. We have never yet crossed the Tizi n'Tichka as we either go direct across the Atlas from Taroudant or are travelling west through Ouazazate but we did visit Ait Benhaddou. Like Taroudant walls it is now a World Heritage site. It has been a location for numerous films, Jesus of Nazareth, Orson Welles' Sodom and Gomorrah and most memorably Laurence of Arabia and Gladiator.
You approach the kasbah now a deluxe hotel, arrive early before the coaches. There are a couple of cafes and a post office and a row of tourist shops down a lane towards the river bed. There is then quite a long walk across the wadi bottom which in January was muddy and had water in the centre and then a steep ascent up the village. People gather with donkeys to help you cross and save the trudge up. The coach tours seem to include this in the price. It is impressive but to my mind not wildly more so than some other sites although the scale is perhaps more.