Ait Benhaddou: what the 'Gladiator kasbah' is actually like to visit

Ait Benhaddou is a ksar, a fortified village of red earthen buildings, on the old caravan route between Marrakech and the Sahara. It's appeared in more films than almost any other location in Morocco, Gladiator and Game of Thrones among them, which is both why people know the name and why it can feel crowded by mid-morning.

A handful of families still live inside the walls, though most residents moved to the newer village across the river decades ago as the ksar's earthen buildings became harder to maintain. Walking through it still feels like walking through a real place, not a museum reconstruction.

The climb to the top, past the last row of buildings, is worth doing for the view back down over the ksar and the valley: it takes about twenty minutes and isn't technically difficult, though the footing is uneven in places.

Arriving before 9am, ahead of the day-trip buses from Marrakech, is the single best way to actually experience the place rather than photograph it around other people's shoulders: most private routes through the region build in an early stop or an overnight specifically for this reason.