Detour from Marrakech: Ourika Valley Waterfalls

Dusty and pink at the base of the mountains

Marrakech sits just an hour or so from the base of the Atlas Mountains, which spans nearly all of Morocco and most of Northern Africa. When I originally thought about traveling to Morocco, I wanted to do a 7-day backpacking trek, up to the amazing Jbel Toubkal – topping 4,167m as the tallest peak in all of North Africa. That didn’t happen for our first trip, but we did take a one-day detour to hike up to the beautiful Ourika Valley waterfalls. 

Originally, we were going to hire a tour guide, but inspired by this post from The Hostel Girl, we decided we’d rather go on our own little adventure. Our Airbnb host helped us find a grand taxi to take us to Setti Fatma, and, crammed in to the backseat with 2 other people (2 more sharing the passenger seat in the front), we were off.

The taxi ride is beautiful, if a bit claustrophobic, winding out of Marrakech and up curving roads into the mountains. After about an hour and half, and feeling a little queasy, we were let off at Setti Fatma, which is the village at the base of the Valley. Most of this part of the Atlas Mountains are inhabited by Berbers – famous for their artisan goods, such as the hand-woven rugs that we desperately wanted to bring home and drape all over our stark white New York City apartments. Then we were faced with a dilemma. How do we reach the first waterfall? There were no signs indicating which way to the base of the mountains. An old man followed us around for a bit, flashing his tour guide badge, but he was very chatty while we just wanted to hike. After a lot of back and forth, he gave up and had a little boy lead us to the base of the first waterfall. We wove through restaurant backyards until we finally found ourselves climbing up stone stairways and the rock face of the mountains came into view. We paid the little boy 50 dirham – he asked for more, but you have to be very firm and say you have nothing more – jumped over a few boulders, scrambled across a narrow wooden bridge, and arrived at the base of the first waterfall.

The water is chilly but people were swimming!

I imagine most people stop here to splash around, before heading back to the Valley for lunch. We were determined to reach all seven waterfalls – determined – so we took a few pictures and sipped some mint tea at a restaurant, and asked the waiter to show us how to get to waterfall number 2. This path started behind the restaurant and involved a steep ladder up a wet rock wall, after which you reach a second restaurant with a perfect view of waterfalls 2, 3, and the bottom half of waterfall 4. 

Waterfalls 2, 3 and 4. All of them pour into waterfall 1!

Above the restaurant, there was a fork that led back down to the valley or up to the rest of the waterfalls. We kept climbing up and a friendly (but pleasantly not-chatty) man took it upon himself to be our guide. We followed him across a narrow path winding up and up and up, with breathtaking views of the valley below. Finally, we reached waterfall number 4, and a short walk later, 5 and 6.

I dare you to climb onto that boulder

It started drizzling a bit, but we were so close to waterfall 7. The rain made the remaining rocks slippery and the climb was a little scary. Eventually, we arrived at this gorgeous little inlet, the water pouring in from above.

Hi, I’m a dork

Feeling accomplished, we scrambled back down to the Valley. The path down was quick and easy, although the last hundred feet or so just involved sliding down rocks and dirt until we reached a set of stairs and bridges that led back through the restaurants, across the river, and right to the base of the valley where the same taxi was waiting to return to the city.

Our little day trip was terrific and fun. Finding our own way around let us explore at our pace and enjoy our own company. However, it is a bit hard to figure out the trail on your own, and the guides are very persistent. If we had done our trip at the end of our time in Marrakech, perhaps we would have been more firm in saying no and more capable of doing it ourselves. Then again, our guide for the last six waterfalls was fantastic – and he did the entire thing in rubber flip flops!

We never got his name, but he was an awesome guide!

If you’re not comfortable hiking on your own, that’s fine! Booking a tour in advance can be very expensive, so if you would prefer a guide to take you up to the waterfalls, just ask any of the young men milling about at Setti Fatma. A 100-200 dirham tip should suffice. Happy hiking!