Amizmiz Valley

Amizmiz is a market town at about a thousand metres where the plain meets the western High Atlas, and it functions as the trading point for the valleys behind it - the Tuesday souk is one of the largest in the region and brings people down from the mountains with livestock, produce, wool and everything else. Behind the town the Anougal and Ouirgane valleys run up into the mountains with terraced villages, olive and walnut, and walking that is gentler and lower than the Toubkal side; a set of two- and three-day circuits between village gites is well established. The town has a ruined kasbah, an old Jewish quarter and a pottery. The epicentre of the September 2023 earthquake was close by and Amizmiz and the villages above it suffered severe damage and heavy loss of life; reconstruction is ongoing and travellers should ask locally rather than rely on older guidance.

What you actually see

• A Tuesday souk - one of the region's largest, drawing the mountain valleys down.
• Gentle valley walking - lower terraced country than the Toubkal side.
• Village gite circuits - established two- and three-day routes behind the town.
• Rebuilding - severe 2023 earthquake damage and ongoing reconstruction.

When to go

Spring and autumn; Tuesday for the souk. A day.

Honest expectations

The 2023 earthquake was centred near here and the district is still rebuilding - accommodation, roads and villages have changed. Ask locally about current conditions. Summer heat on the lower slopes is severe. The town itself is workaday rather than picturesque.

Nearby

Lalla Takerkoust is north-east; Ouirgane is east along the mountain front.