Is Ifrane (the "Switzerland of Morocco") worth visiting?

Ifrane surprises everyone, and that's exactly why people ask whether it's worth it. Built by the French in the 1930s as a hill station, it sits at 1,665m in the Middle Atlas and looks nothing like the Morocco in the brochures: steep-pitched Alpine roofs, neat chalets, manicured gardens, tidy streets, and pine forest all around. Its nickname, 'the Switzerland of Morocco', is touristy but not wrong — and in winter it genuinely gets snow. There's even a famous carved stone lion sculpture that everyone photographs.

It's also home to Al Akhawayn University, a prestigious English-language institution with a green American-style campus, which gives the town an unusually polished, prosperous, almost un-Moroccan feel. For travellers, the appeal is precisely that contrast — after the medinas and the desert, Ifrane is a clean, cool, orderly curiosity, lovely for a coffee and a stroll, and a welcome breath of fresh mountain air. Nearby Michlifen has a small ski area that operates in good snow years.

Here's my honest caveat: it's a curiosity, not a sight-rich destination. There are no historic monuments, no medina, no must-do attractions — the pleasure is the novelty of the place itself, and an hour comfortably covers it. Some travellers find it charming and refreshing; others find it a bit sterile and 'too tidy' precisely because it lacks the chaotic character they came to Morocco for. Both reactions are valid.

My verdict: worth a short stop, not a special journey. It sits perfectly on the route between Fes and the desert, right next to Azrou and its cedar forest, so the smart play is to combine the two — the macaques and giant cedars of Azrou plus a coffee stroll around Ifrane make a delightful, cooler-climate break on a long transfer day. As a place to base yourself or detour far for, no; as a quirky, photogenic pause, yes.