Paradise Valley
After spending a few days in Agadir we were ready to go to our next destination in the direction of Tizgui. We had booked accommodation in a small hotel in the mountains near Paradise Valley for a very good price – Hotel Restaurant Tifrit (coordinates: 30.599090, -9.497355).
Honestly, we were very keen to move out from Agadir as it already was clear that Morocco was going into total lockdown because of COVID and we had a feeling that it would be easier to live in less populated areas rather than attract the attention of local authorities in the city.
The hotel had quite a few other guests from France and the Netherlands, although those came to Morocco a while before we arrived and were already looking for ways to get back to their home countries; all regular flights from/to Morocco were stopped and people were hoping to board on one of the rescue flights.
Before leaving Agadir we stocked up with some food and drinks just in case as we planned to hike in the nearby mountains and there was no big chance of finding any decent shops in that area. The trip took about two hours to reach our hotel; after arrival, we quickly settled in our room, which was large with a nice view towards the mountainous area surrounding the hotel.
Paradise Valley hiking
Before leaving the hotel we made dinner arrangements and went by car around 5 kilometres (3 miles) directly to our hiking starting point, which was chosen because had a large parking lot (coordinates: 30.596774, -9.522854).
How to get there
Arriving there you will see general information about where to go, however, the timings and also the distance is not exactly correct. Also, we almost went in the wrong direction after crossing a small hill after leaving the parking; when you reach a small rural road after going downhill (approximate coordinates: 30.594959, -9.523113), turn to the left and follow the road until there is a sign pointing to a path towards Paradise Valley (approximate coordinates: 30.593968, -9.520802) – you should turn to the right there.
From there going mostly downhill you will reach a river valley (coordinates: 30.588606, -9.526019) and have to continue along the river to the East. From that point, you will have to walk about a mile (1.4 kilometres) to reach the main point of interest of this hiking route (coordinates: ) – a beautiful canyon where you may relax, enjoy the surrounding scenery and even have a meal if you have taken some sandwiches with you.
One thing you have to remember before going on this kind of adventure in Morocco – have enough water with you. We had about 1.5 litres of water each and this was just enough; if we had more that would be much better as we were saving it on our way back to the parking.
A couple more tips before you go
We continued the path after reaching the place mentioned above; it took about a half mile more uphill to get to the next place on the top of a hill. On the way, there were a few nice viewpoints, and however valley walk was more exciting and I would not do that again.
The total distance we walked that day was about seven kilometres (4.5 miles), although it could be even more as the path was not straight at all. If you look at pictures taken in Paradise Valley, you may be surprised how much water is there in the river.
We hardly found any water there because spring in Morocco was dry in 2020 and in March it may be usual that there is no water at all; in June it may be a completely different experience.
So, this was our first walking exercise in Morocco during this trip and we had no idea at that point how many more kilometres we would hike there afterwards – during May alone we walked in total around 55 miles (almost 90 kilometres). Just to add the dinner after our return was very good – perhaps, not a huge but we were not charged for it a lot and were happy to pay our bill the next morning before leaving for Taroudant.