Are there eco-lodges in Morocco?

Yes, and the sector has matured a lot in the last few years. Morocco's landscapes — desert, mountain, oasis — lend themselves to low-impact lodges, and there's a real cohort of owners doing it seriously rather than slapping 'eco' on a brochure. The most credible ones cluster in a few places: off-grid solar desert camps that truck nothing in and pack everything out, High Atlas retreats built from local stone and earth that employ the surrounding village, and permaculture or argan-farm stays where the vegetables on your plate were picked that morning a few metres away.

What a good Moroccan eco-lodge actually looks like is grounded in scarcity, because water and energy are genuinely precious here. I look for solar power and solar hot water, greywater reuse for the gardens, building materials that came from the land — rammed earth, stone, palm wood, lime plaster instead of concrete — and a kitchen sourcing locally rather than importing. The strongest ones are also socially sustainable: staffed and often part-owned by people from the nearest village, buying crafts from local cooperatives, and channelling money into the community rather than out of it.

Some places I'd point travellers toward as a category: the eco-camps in the Agafay and around Erg Chigaga that run entirely off solar and compost, the mountain ecolodges in the Ourika and Imlil valleys of the High Atlas, the argan and olive farm stays inland from Essaouira, and a handful of palm-oasis guesthouses in the south that have gone properly green. Many double as wellness or yoga retreats, since the same clientele overlaps. They tend to be peaceful, slow-paced, beautifully simple, and a genuine antidote to the sensory overload of the medinas.

My honest caveat is the same one I'd give anywhere: 'eco' is an unregulated word and some properties use it loosely. Before I recommend one I look past the label for specifics — do they actually say how they handle water and power, do they name their community partnerships, is the food really local? Vague green language with no detail is a flag. Comfort levels also vary; a true off-grid lodge may have set electricity hours and no air-con, which is part of the point. Choose with eyes open and an eco-lodge can be the most restorative stay of the trip.