Does it snow in Morocco?

This is the question that makes first-time visitors laugh, and then I show them photos. Yes, it snows in Morocco, and not just a dusting. The High Atlas gets serious mountain snow every winter. Jbel Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa at 4,167 metres, wears snow for a large part of the year, and there is a genuine ski resort, Oukaïmeden, less than two hours from Marrakech where you can rent skis and ride a lift. The Middle Atlas around Ifrane, a town locals call "little Switzerland," looks like an Alpine postcard in January with snow on the chalets.

I have been stopped by snow on the high passes more than once. The Tizi n'Tichka, the main road from Marrakech to Ouarzazate, climbs to 2,260 metres and can close for hours after a heavy fall while the ploughs work. I always tell winter clients crossing the mountains that we keep blankets and flexibility in the plan, because a snow day in the Atlas is a real possibility from December to March. The Berber villages up there know cold winters intimately; the architecture, the thick walls, the wood smoke, it is all built around months of it.

What surprises people most is the contrast. You can wake up to frost in a mountain gîte, drive three hours, and be peeling off layers in the warm desert by afternoon. Even the Sahara has, very rarely, seen a freak snow event on the dunes around Aït Benhaddou and Zagora, which makes global news when it happens because it is so exceptional. But that is the exception. The reliable snow is the mountains, and it is one of my favourite things to show people who think they came to a country with no winter.

If snow is something you want to chase rather than avoid, late December through February is your window, and you should build mountain time into the itinerary. If you want to dodge it entirely, you can, by sticking to the coast, the imperial cities, and the desert floor, but you should still pack a warm layer because the cold air spills down off those peaks into the valleys at night.