Gateway to the Sahara — kasbahs, Hollywood sets, and rose-tinted desert light
Ouarzazate (pronounced war-za-zat) is where Morocco's paved roads thin out before the Sahara — a crossroads city of ksar mud-brick villages, date palm oases, and the most extraordinary red-earth kasbah architecture on the continent. The Aït Benhaddou ksar across the river is one of the most photogenic UNESCO sites in the world and has served as the backdrop for Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, Game of Thrones, and dozens more films. The Atlas Film Studios are the world's largest; the light is why.
Ouarzazate grew around a French Foreign Legion outpost established in 1928 to control the Draa Valley trade routes between the Sahara and Marrakech. The surrounding ksour (plural of ksar) — fortified mud-brick village complexes — predate the French by 400 years; they were built by Berber and Saharan Arab tribes as combined fortress and community, and many are still inhabited. The colonial-era city centre was planned as an outpost; the old town around the Taourirt Kasbah is Moroccan in every sense.