The Hollywood of Africa
Gladiator, Game of Thrones, Lawrence of Arabia and Kingdom of Heaven were all filmed in Morocco. Aït Benhaddou played Yunkai and the Gladiator arena town; the Atlas Film Studios in Ouarzazate host vast standing sets; Essaouira became Astapor; the Sahara stood in for cinema’s great deserts. Visit them all on a private guided tour.
The locations
Four stops where some of cinema’s most famous scenes were filmed — visited in the right light, with the stories behind each frame.
Aït Benhaddou — Gladiator & Game of Thrones
This UNESCO-listed earthen kasbah is Morocco’s most-filmed location. It stood in for the slave city of Yunkai in Game of Thrones and the arena town in Gladiator, and has appeared in Lawrence of Arabia, Kingdom of Heaven and The Mummy. Crossing the riverbed to its ochre towers feels like walking onto the set.
Atlas Film Studios, Ouarzazate
Just outside Ouarzazate — nicknamed the gateway to the desert and "Ouallywood" — sit some of the largest film studios in the world. Standing sets from Egyptian temples to Tibetan monasteries remain on the back lots, where productions including Kingdom of Heaven and countless biblical and historical epics were shot.
Essaouira — Game of Thrones’ Astapor
The windswept Atlantic ramparts and harbour of Essaouira became the slave city of Astapor in Game of Thrones season three — the setting for the Unsullied and Daenerys’ famous reveal. The old Portuguese sea walls and blue fishing boats make it one of the most atmospheric stops on the route.
The Sahara — desert epics
The dunes of Erg Chebbi near Merzouga and the wider southern desert have long doubled for the world’s great sand-swept landscapes, from Lawrence of Arabia to modern adventure films. A night in a private desert camp is the natural finale to any film-locations journey.
How the tour works
A guide who knows the sets
Your private driver-guide knows exactly which scenes were shot where — the corner of Aït Benhaddou that became Yunkai, the studio lot that held Jerusalem — so you see the locations through a filmmaker’s eyes, not a guidebook’s.
Golden-hour timing
We schedule the kasbahs and ramparts for early morning or late afternoon, when the light is cinematic and the crowds have thinned — the same hours the crews chased.
Combined with the desert route
The film locations sit along the classic Marrakech–Ouarzazate–Sahara road, so we fold them into a scenic journey over the Atlas, through the Valley of the Kasbahs, to the dunes.
Behind-the-scenes context
Expect the stories the cameras leave out: how the sets were built, which local crews worked the productions, and how a Berber village became one of cinema’s most recognisable backdrops.
Walk onto the set
Tell us which films you love and your dates, and we'll plan a private Morocco film-locations journey — kasbahs, studios, ramparts and dunes. No obligation, quote within hours.