Can you do a Gladiator or Hollywood film tour at Ait Ben Haddou?

For lovers of the big historical epics, the Ouarzazate region is something close to hallowed ground. Ait Ben Haddou is the headline location — the fortified ksar appeared in Ridley Scott's Gladiator as the North African city where Maximus fights as a slave, and again in Kingdom of Heaven, alongside a long roll-call of others including Lawrence of Arabia, The Mummy, The Last Temptation of Christ and Alexander. The mud-brick towers and the climb to the granary at the summit are exactly as the cameras found them, which is what gives the visit its charge.

The studios complete the picture. Atlas Studios, just outside Ouarzazate, retains standing sets from major productions — Roman colonnades, Egyptian gateways, fragments of temples and palaces — and the guided tour walks you among them while explaining which films used what. Some pieces are weathered and a few are clearly past their prime, which I always flag in advance, but for someone who grew up on these films there is a real thrill in standing where a remembered scene was staged. CLA Studios nearby offers a similar working-backlot experience.

I encourage guests to treat it as detective work rather than a guided checklist. The landscape around Ouarzazate — the bare hills, the oued beds, the endless clear light — is itself a recurring "character" in dozens of films because it can double for ancient Rome, biblical Judea, Egypt or a fictional desert empire with almost no alteration. Once you start recognising that quality of light from the screen, you see why directors keep coming back. A knowledgeable local guide who has often worked on shoots themselves adds anecdotes you will not find online.

Practically, this slots straight into the standard southern route. You cross the High Atlas from Marrakech, reach Ait Ben Haddou for the golden-hour light when the kasbah glows amber, stay overnight in one of the kasbah-view guesthouses, and tour the studios the following morning. From there you can carry on to the Sahara or loop back. It is one of the rare "themed" tours that requires almost no detour, because the film locations sit right on the road everyone takes to the desert anyway.