What are the best unusual / off-beat things to do in Morocco?

For travellers who've done the classic circuit or simply want something beyond the postcards, Morocco rewards curiosity enormously — there's a wilder, weirder, more remote country waiting just past the standard route, and these off-beat experiences are often the ones people end up loving most. Let me share genuine favourites that go beyond Marrakech-Fes-Sahara.

Some are wonderfully quirky. Near Essaouira you really can see goats climbing high into the argan trees to eat the fruit — it's bizarre, true, and a great photo (just be aware some roadside spots stage it, so a recommended ethical stop is better). The Atlas Film Studios and the abandoned movie sets around Ouarzazate — 'Ouallywood' — let you wander the backlots where Gladiator, Game of Thrones, and countless others were shot. And you can sleep somewhere unexpected: a converted cave dwelling, a remote mountain Berber homestay where you help cook over a fire, or a far-flung desert bivouac in the empty Erg Chigaga rather than the busier Merzouga dunes.

Nature offers spectacular detours most tour groups skip. The Ouzoud Waterfalls, tumbling a hundred metres with rainbows and resident monkeys, are a glorious day trip from Marrakech. Up north, the turquoise pools and 'God's Bridge' rock arch on the Akchour hike near Chefchaouen are a hidden gem. The remote painted gorges and palm oases of the Anti-Atlas around Tafraoute, with its surreal blue-painted rocks, and the Paradise Valley near Agadir, see a fraction of the visitors the headline sights do. And Taghazout has quietly become a world-class surf-and-yoga town if you want to swap monuments for waves.

My honest framing on all this: the off-beat experiences usually cost you more time and a rougher road, and that's exactly the trade. Reaching the Anti-Atlas, Akchour, or Erg Chigaga means longer drives and fewer creature comforts, so they suit travellers with extra days and a taste for adventure rather than someone on a tight first-timer's loop. But if that's you, leaning into the unusual is how you find the Morocco that feels yours rather than the one in everyone's photos — the cave you slept in, the gorge no one else was at, the village that fed you. Tell me how adventurous you're feeling and I'll weave a few of these into your route.