Nine places around Tamraght and Taghazout that nobody tells you about
The famous things here are famous for good reason. But a week is long, and the best hours of it are often the ones that were not on the list. These are ours.
- 9places the guidebooks skip
- 7:00when the bread comes out
- WednesdayAourir’s souk
- 1930sthe lighthouse at Cap Ghir
1. Imourane beach at eight in the morning
Tamraght’s own beach, south of Devil’s Rock, before the parasols are out. Fishermen with hand lines, a man running with his dog, the hills behind the village still pink. Walk to the river mouth and back; it takes forty minutes and you will meet nobody.
2. The skatepark by the beach
A concrete bowl between the camper parking and the beach ramp at Imourane, built by the community and not on any map. Busy at dusk with local kids who are very good; bring a board if you ride, or sit on the edge and watch.
A week is long, and the best hours of it are often the ones that were not on the list.
3. The bread ovens of old Tamraght
Follow the smell at seven in the morning through the lanes above the mosque. Families still bring their dough to the communal ovens, and the baker will sell you a round loaf, hot, for a few dirhams. Eat it on the roof with the house’s amlou.
4. The Wednesday souk at Aourir
Five minutes south, the Banana Village holds its weekly market on Wednesday mornings: the whole valley comes down with vegetables, olives, spices, live chickens, second-hand clothes and a cart that sells snails in broth. No tourists, real prices, done by noon.
5. The banana stalls of Tamri
Half an hour north, where the road drops to the mouth of the Tamri river, the roadside is lined with stalls of small, sweet local bananas grown in the valley behind. Stop on the way to the dunes or Imsouane; a kilo costs almost nothing and it is the best banana you will eat.
6. The lighthouse at Cap Ghir
Beyond Tamri the coast turns west to a cape with a white lighthouse built in the 1930s. The track to it is rough (a high car helps) and the view down the cliffs to the empty coves below is the reason to go. Sunset here is quieter than at the dunes.
7. The argan cooperatives on the Imouzzer road
Between Aourir and Paradise Valley, several women’s cooperatives press argan oil the old way: cracking the nuts between stones, grinding the kernels, kneading the paste. Most welcome visitors without a tour, explain the work and sell the oil and amlou at fair prices. Our favourite is the one just before the road starts to climb; ask us.
8. Upstream in Paradise Valley
Most people stop at the first big pools. Keep walking along the river for another half hour and the crowds thin, the gorge narrows and there are smaller pools with nobody in them. Our Paradise Valley day explains the route and the flash-flood rule.
9. The roofs
Every house here has one and the village moves onto them at sunset. Ours are the rooftop of Moonlight hanging over the ocean, and two terraces at Blue Whale facing the sunset, with a chessboard and a brazier. On a clear night, from Moonlight, the moon lays a path across the water: tiziri, which is the house’s name.
The practical part
Before you go
- Getting around
- Imourane, the skatepark and the bread ovens are on foot from Blue Whale. Aourir is 5 minutes by shared taxi. Tamri, Cap Ghir, the cooperatives and the valley need a car (the Kardian for Cap Ghir) or one of our trips.
- When
- Wednesday for the souk, mornings for the ovens and the beach, dusk for the skatepark and the roofs.
