Thomas Harold Watson

United Kingdom - 09-Mar-24 -

Last summer my little family and I did a road trip from the UK to Morocco & Western Sahara, and Figuig was very high up on my plan. I did not expect much so was extremely surprised when I discovered this hidden gem! You drive hours and hours through nothing but desert to arrived here. I’ve always wanted to go to the real Tatooine (in Tunisia) and Timbuktu (in Mali) and this felt like the two mixed into one as the buildings were all made from mud and looked really unique compared to anywhere I have ever been before. There are date trees everywhere, natural salts on the rocks, fresh delicious water coming out of the ground and beautiful walkways along palmerals with their historic irrigation systems. Right on the border of Algeria (although you can’t cross and according to Algerians this area is rightfully theirs), this place is a must do and well worth the massive drive to get to. We got the ferry to Ceuta, then drive along the northern coast until we reached the Oujda border, then drove 4.5 hours south from there until we reached Figuig, then headed west from there towards Ouarzazate (or more specifically the Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou). This was definitely a route I’d recommend to save yourself having to retrace any steps.