4 Day Berber Villages and Toubkal Trek from Imlil

This is a four-day route for people who want more from the High Atlas than a quick summit. It crosses passes into quiet valleys, sleeps at a high shepherds’ settlement, at the Toubkal refuge and in the village of Aroumd, climbs Mount Toubkal (4,167 metres, the highest peak in North Africa) on day three and walks out on day four through Berber villages and walnut groves. It is the same mountain as our other Toubkal treks, with a different emphasis: the villages and the pace, as well as the peak.

How this route differs from our other 4 day trek

Our 4 day Toubkal trek from Imlil also goes over the Tizi Mzik pass into the Azzaden valley, so the first part of the two routes is similar. The difference is the second half of the trek. On this route you spend your third night in Aroumd, a village at about 2,000 metres, with a traditional Berber hammam in the evening, and on day four you walk out through the valley and its villages instead of going straight back down. Choose this one if you want to finish with village life and a bath. Choose the other if you want the most direct line to the summit and back.

The four days at a glance

Day one leaves Marrakech for the Imlil valley, at about 1,700 metres, and climbs toward the Tizi Mzik pass with a lunch stop among mountain views, before the night at Azib Tamsoult. An azib is a seasonal shepherds’ settlement. Day two passes a waterfall, crosses the high pass of Tizi Agelzim at about 3,600 metres and drops to the Toubkal refuge at 3,207 metres for the second night. Day three is the summit, an early start for the top, then lunch at the refuge and the descent to Aroumd. Day four is a walk through the valley and its villages, lunch in the shade of walnut trees and the drive back to Marrakech.

Fitness, altitude and weather

You should be in good physical condition. The trek is moderate to challenging, most of it at high altitude, with a pass at 3,600 metres on day two and the summit on day three. Some trekking experience helps, especially for summit day. The plan gives you two nights in the mountains before the summit, which is a gentler way to adapt to altitude than a two-day climb, but headaches, nausea and unusual tiredness can still appear. Report them at once: you should not go higher while they last, and a descent is the answer if they worsen.

Expect changeable weather, with cold nights and the chance of rain. Winter conditions from about November to April can put snow and ice on the high passes and the summit, and then crampons and an ice axe may be required, so tell us your dates and we will say whether the route needs to change.

Your guide and the plan

The guide who leads you is licensed, speaks English and lives in the area, so the valleys and the weather are familiar ground. Route, pace and turn-back time are talked through before you set off and can change on the mountain. Whether you reach the top depends on conditions and on how the group feels, which is why the summit can never be promised.

What is included

The price covers the round-trip transport between your accommodation in Marrakech and the trek, the English-speaking guide, a Berber cook who prepares all the meals on the trek, accommodation in the Atlas Mountains on the three nights, and mules with muleteers to carry your luggage, so you walk with a day pack. Travel insurance, soft and alcoholic drinks and personal expenses are not included.

Shorter, longer or different

If you have less time, the 2 day trek is the fastest way to the summit, and the 3 day trek is the shortest of the longer routes. For more time to adjust, there is the 5 day trek. To see the valley without climbing, our Imlil day trip has no summit and no night out. Compare all the routes on the Mount Toubkal trekking page, or ask us to plan your own.