Oukaïmeden
The highest ski area in Africa, at 2,600 metres and less than two hours from Marrakech: on paper, it is spectacular. On the ground, honestly, Oukaïmeden is a modest station, with old lifts, no snow cannons and increasingly unpredictable cover - some years the area stays nearly closed. In winter, you head up for the snow, tobogganing and a small-mountain-station mood, provided you check conditions before setting out. But the best of Oukaïmeden may sit elsewhere: its Bronze Age rock engravings, carved into the stone thousands of years ago, its cool air when Marrakech is choking, its altitude hikes and its Atlas birds. Access runs via the Ourika road, with a branch that climbs up to the heights - a very different world from the green valley below.
Oukaïmeden is the highest point you can easily reach by car from Marrakech: at 2,600 metres, at the end of a turn-off from the Ourika road, it is the highest ski station in Africa. The image surprises at this latitude: tow-lifts, a chair-lift, and in winter, when the snow falls, Marrakchi families heading up to toboggan. But Oukaïmeden is a modest station, with increasingly uncertain snow, and its real interest reaches well beyond skiing: an altitude plateau where the air stays cool when the town is burning, hikes towards the Toubkal summits, and, more than anything, thousands of Bronze Age rock engravings, carved into the stone by shepherds several thousand years ago. It is that raw high mountain, not an Alpine station, you come to look for here.
On this snow season, very unpredictable: what it gives on the town side when the ridge line turns white 30 kilometres away, how winter light re-frames the medina, what a Marrakchi sees in the Atlas from their terrace in January - our Marrakech in winter, the light that changes everything notebook.
On your own or on a tour?
What to expect
About half a day. Times are indicative.
Departure from Marrakech
Ourika road south, then the turn-off climbing to Oukaïmeden: the green valley gives way to bare mountain.
Arrival at Oukaïmeden (2,600 m)
The plateau and the small station, facing the summits. In winter, snow and toboggan. The rest of the year, cool air and open space.
Rock engravings & lake
The Bronze Age petroglyphs carved into the rock, and the small altitude lake, for a quiet walk.
Mountain lunch
Tagine in a Berber house or a station guesthouse, in the warm.
Back to Marrakech
Descent via the Ourika road, sometimes a stop in the green valley on the way.
What you see there
The ski station, at 2,600 m
Oukaïmeden is the highest ski station in Africa, with lifts up to around 3,260 metres. It is a modest station, old-equipment and uncertain-snow: in winter, when snowed, you ski and toboggan in a simple family mood, far from the big Alpine stations.
The rock engravings
Oukaïmeden's quiet treasure: hundreds of prehistoric engravings in the rock, three to four thousand years old - animals first, then weapons and warriors. Neither fenced nor signposted: a guide, or some patience, helps find them.
The cool refuge
When Marrakech passes 40°C, Oukaïmeden offers sharp air and altitude meadows. It is often the most pleasant season to come: hikes towards Jbel Oukaïmeden and the Toubkal national park, mountain flora and Atlas endemic birds for enthusiasts.
The lake and open space
A small dam lake edges the station, a quiet frame for a stroll and a picnic. Around it, the bare plateau, the flocks and the stone villages: a raw, stripped-down high mountain, worlds away from the green Ourika valley below.
What is included
Good to know
Book your day trip
We do not sell the tickets: booking goes through GetYourGuide. The price is the same as direct, a small commission comes back to this guide.
