Why should you jump Ouarzazate and stay at the Lodge at Amora in Skoura.

On the way or Marrakech and Merzouga, most visitors will spend a night or two in Ouarzazate, the front door of the Sahara desert. Ouarzazate is the little Hollywood of Morocco, which houses some movie studios and many kasbahs nearby appeared in movies and television shows like Gladiator and Game of Thrones.

While staying in Ouarzazate to break the long journey towards the Erg Chebbi sand dunes makes sense, you will have a more pleasant stay if you travel a little further at the Skoura Palm Grove and book a room with the AM lodge.

Of all the places we stayed during our two weeks in Morocco, we appreciated the The lodge The best (yes, even more than the four seasons of Marrakech.) This is the absolutely perfect place to stay and relax after many driving and visits.

AM Lodge in Skoura

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The lodge is an adobe lodge traditionally built just on the outskirts of the city of Palm Oasis de Skoura. He is detained and built by hand by a French Belgian couple, who raises a family on the property. The lodge is made up of the main house, a riad and a large garden with hundreds of palm trees and fruit trees.

We reserved for two nights, but we could have spent a laziness under the palm trees in one of the many external salons dispersed in the ground and on the roof of the riad.

If you do not want to spend your day to bed in a hammock, the property also offers a swimming pool, a badminton plot, a bocce / pétanque field and several playgrounds for young children.

You can also visit rescue donkeys, goats and horses or walk in organic kitchen gardens. Customers are invited to visit the kitchen and enjoy the living room in the main house.

One thing you will immediately notice about the lodge is the meaning of style and peace. The decor is timeless and elegant, but authentic in design. The neighborhood is so quiet during the day, because the few guests are generally exploring during the day trips.

Accommodation at the Ame Lodge

We stayed in a spacious suite of two bedrooms on the ground floor of the Riad. Again, I fell in love with the elegant decor of the minute we entered. There was a living room with a sofa, a coffee table and floor pillows dispersed with a large storage unit.

The master bedroom had a Queen bed and was divided by a wall in the living room and the second bedroom. Hannah stayed in the second room, with two twin beds. Although there is no door separating his room, just curtains, the wall offered a lot of privacy.

The bathroom was large, with double sinks, a shower on foot (with a chandelier) and a closet of separate water for the toilet.

Dinner at the Ame Lodge

AM Lodge cultivates its own vegetables and herbs, and even press their own olive oil. As you can imagine, the food is fresh and delicious. Breakfast is placed every morning between 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. The buffet consists of a range of fruits, cereals, hard -boiled eggs, pancakes, pastries / breads, and a range of fresh honey to the amlou (the “Moroccan nutella”.)

Lunch must be pre-arranged because most guests are exploring. However, when we were in town, we attended the weekly market, then picked up goat cheese incredibly made at the bearded boss in town that we brought back for lunch and the staff prepared it well for us with olive oil and bread.

Dinner is served from 7:30 am, although you can go there earlier and enjoy the wine before your meal. There is no menu and the dishes are served as a family for each group. Everything we ate during our two nights was delicious, especially the salad with goat cheese. After days of tagine, having something fresh was a welcome change!

A stay at AM Lodge is certainly a luxury experience, without the price of the luxury complex.

Check the current prices and see more photos on Tripadvisor

Things to do near Skoura

If you are a film buff, you can visit the film studios in Ouarzazate, but personally, I prefer more culturally relevant experiences when I travel. I would recommend the following:

Ait Ben Haddou

A visit to the UNESCO accommodation site of the Kasbahs of Ait Ben Haddou Coche the two boxes for lovers of cinema and history.

Ait Ben Haddou was a place to shoot for films like Prince of Perse and Gladiator. It was also the framework of the Slaver City of Yunkai series in the Game of Thrones series. However, long before the films put it on the map, this collection of 11th century kasbahs was an important stop along the caravan road to the sea.

Today, you can visit the village and see its excellent examples of mud brick architecture and stop to see some of the craftsmen live and work in Ait Ben Haddou. If you have time and energy, you can climb the Watchtower at the top of the hill for a superb panoramic view through the Atlas mountains. A one hour visit can be organized with a local guide for around 200 dirhams (about $ 20).

Telouet

A little further is another Kasbah that deserves to be visited in Telouet. From the outside, it looks like a ruin in ruin and you may be wondering if it is worth the detour, but continue to enter and you will be impressed by architecture.

You can visit the different rooms allocated to the owner’s wives, with the room given to the first woman offering the best views and the most beautiful mosaics.

After exploring inside, you can also climb on the roof for a view of the mountains. It costs a few dirham to enter, and there is no guided tour, but it does not take long to explore by yourself.

Rose Valley & Tadra Gorge

If you visit in April or May, you will enjoy visiting the Rose Valley when the flowers are in bloom. This is where the production of rose oil, rose water and other products by the country is based. Even if the roses do not flourish, you can always stop in one of the cooperatives managed by women in the region, such as the Rosamgoun cooperative to find out more about the product manufacturing process, sample a few and buy a few to bring home.

A walk in the Tadra gorges is another excursion of a popular day of Skoura or Ouarzazate, which you can also make on your way to / from the desert. After lunch in the neighboring town of Tineghir, you can approach the throat. Try to find a place to park along the road (or ask your driver to drop you off), so you can walk in the dramatic 300 -meter cliff ravine.

Market day in Skoura

Every Monday is the day of the market in Skoura and the sellers and the farmers travel miles to bring their goods for sale. Likewise, neighboring residents and villagers go to town to get their supplies for the week. Part of the market is more a flea market with used goods.

But the majority of the market is dedicated to products, meat and spices. You will see everything, living goats with covers loaded with oranges, tomatoes and other local products. When you visit, keep in mind that many sellers do not want you to take photos of their goods and most people are also upset if you take their pictures, so be careful where you point your camera.

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