What is the kasbah road, the Route of a Thousand Kasbahs, like?

The Route of a Thousand Kasbahs is less a single highway than a string of oases laid along the southern flank of the High Atlas, and it is some of the most cinematic driving in Morocco. The classic stretch runs east from Ouarzazate to Tinghir along the N10, around 170 kilometres, and although you could blast it in three hours, doing so would miss the entire point. I give it a full day and still wish for more.

The first jewel is Skoura, a palm oasis just east of Ouarzazate hiding the magnificent Kasbah Amridil — the one printed on the old 50-dirham note. Walking its rammed-earth rooms and rooftops, with the palmeraie spreading green below and the snow-streaked Atlas behind, is the moment most guests finally understand what a kasbah actually is. From Skoura we carry on to El Kelaa des Mgouna, the rose-growing valley, fragrant in May when the harvest is on.

Then comes the Dades — the valley, the famous serpentine switchbacks, and the gorge where red rock walls close in and the river glints below. I like to drive a little way up the gorge road, stop for mint tea at a terrace cafe perched over the bends, and let people simply absorb it. Boumalne Dades makes a natural overnight if you are pacing the route properly.

The route climaxes at Tinghir and the Todra Gorge, where canyon walls soar three hundred metres almost vertically and the gap narrows to a width you can nearly touch on both sides. Walking the cool, shaded floor with the stream running beside you is unforgettable. From here you can loop on towards Merzouga and the dunes, or turn back — but either way, the kasbah road delivers the southern Morocco of everyone's imagination, fort by fort and gorge by gorge.