Press cuttings, short films and online articles
Froukje Jansen from Dutch TV travel show 3 Op Reis visits the Kasbah in this short film.
Channel 5 features the Kasbah in their Rough Guide to Eco-Escapes programme.
To view this short film, please click on the movie to start.
“YOU COULD BE CHECKING IN for a late dinner and bed at a palace perched upon a crag that is the most sought-after address in the Atlas… The Kasbah du Toubkal is a noble home reborn with imagination and sheer graft…derelict buildings have been transformed with meticulous artisan credentials – into a Berber Hospitality centre that makes Hollywood stars and location scouts drool…
British Airways, High Life Magazine
“FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, it is now possible to walk the mountains in luxury…
Behind me was London, life, a busy week: ahead a moment of escape…
…the Kasbah, has over the past few years have turned it into one of the world’s great mountain retreats…Kasbah du Toubkal is successful for many reasons, one of the most important of which is the owners’ decision not to do anything without the approval of the people of Imlil…as a result the Kasbah still feels part of the community…. The cloud burned off, revealing a sight of such beauty that I had to sit and stare at it for some time, to be sure I’d remember it…
This was what I had come for: a taste…The real wonder of the lodge lies in the contrasts and combination that have made it possible…the knowledge that you have walked here…that you are just 5 hours away from London and yet along way from home: in remote Morocco, high up a mountain, soaking tired legs in a big, hot bath; close to the stars and yet tucked up in bed.
Anthony Sattin, Condé Nast Traveller, December, 2007
“THE KASBAH DU TOUBKAL, a stunning mountain retreat owned by a British company and run by local Berbers, that dominates the village, physically and economically.
Like most visitors, I came specifically to stay at the Kasbah. Once checked in at the office in the village, I waited for a porter with his mule to come and collect my luggage, and then set off on foot. The steep, 15-minute walk through apple orchards and groves of walnut trees was arduous enough to make it feel like the last stages of a pilgrimage—even though I had come most of the way from Marrakesh in a Mercedes taxi.
The Kasbah has a range of rooms to suit different budgets—from luxury villas to basic dormitories—and activities to suit all temperaments and abilities. You can loll around on over 300 square metres of roof terraces, drinking tea, playing chess, gazing at spellbinding panoramas of the mountains above and the working village below and just listening to the sounds of the valley. Or you can take a Berber-guided trek for as little as an afternoon or as long as a couple of days, and glimpse an insight in to the day-to-day lives of the Ait Mizane community that inhabits the valleys…
…by working in partnership with the villagers, Mike McHugo believed he could develop an innovative and sustainable destination to generate long-term benefits for the community, as well as a profit for his company.
So, how is it unique? First of all, the kasbah is managed by the local Berber community, rather than by professional hoteliers…
…In the meantime, this down-to-earth retreat in the extraordinary setting of the High Atlas mountains continues to set a benchmark for other tourism initiatives in remote areas.”
Francesca Silvani, Financial Times, June 22, 2007
“HOW MANY MOUNTAIN REFUGES in the Alps offer rose water to sprinkle on your hands and face after a hard day’s hike? If that and other traditional Berber touches sound tempting, then look no further…than the Kasbah du Toubkal’s recently opened three-bedroom lodge.”
Tala Skari, TIME, April 18, 2007
“THE VAST ROOFTOP TERRACE of the Kasbah du Toukal provides a spectacular setting. Feast your eyes on the panoramic views of the High Atlas Mountains. Treat your tastebuds to the hotel’s Moroccan haute cuisine.”
Richard Hammond, Green Traveller, January 19th, 2007
Hotels in High Places:
Kasbah du Toubkal Morocco, Sentry Mountain Lodge Canada, Explora Salto Chico Chile, Tempter House America.
“THE BEST WAY TO FEEL ON TOP OF THE WORLD is actually to stay there. Mountain-top resorts may be tough to reach, but the views alone make them well worth the trek. In Morocco, the road less travelled to Kasbah du Toubkal, at the foot of North Africa’s highest peak, begins with a donkey ride…”
Sana Butler, Newsweek International, February 19th, 2007
“THE WALK from the Kasbah du Toubkal to the trekking lodge in Id Izza takes in the spectacular scenery of the High Atlas Mountains.
…don’t be fooled into thinking that trekking lodge is a byword for refuge hut. On the contrary, the house is wonderfully comfortable, with underfloor heating and a wood-burning stove for those cold mountain nights, and three cosy en-suite bedrooms…
some guests simply overnight at the lodge, others linger two or three days to explore the area…It has been a truly beautiful walk, with barely an encounter with other Europeans. From the mountain pass we have followed a steady downhill course away from the desolate heights to the fertile lower slopes, tended by women and children working the fields and men maintaining the elaborate irrigation channels that bring water to the villages…
this is a spectacular and as yet unspoilt, part of the world.”
House and Gardens. February 2007
“JBEL TOUBKAL LOOKED just right – the highest in the Atlas, indeed the highest in North Africa…From the top in bright sunshine, we surveyed a landscape of unspeakable grandeur, of mountains and desert, the great Sahara one way and the plains of Marrakech the other…Back at the Kasbah – oh the joy of a hammam and a comfortable bed.”
Pamela Goodman, Sunday Telegraph, 29th October 2006
“THE KASBAH DU TOUBKAL, a mountain retreat in the High Atlas outside Marrakech…Filled with wild flowers, it opens onto splendid vista – reddish-brown mountains dotted with green walnut groves and boxy mud-brick villages, farmers tending sheep on distant hills and Mount Toubkal rising snow-capped and gray-blue in the distance…
The Kasbah calls itself a ‘Berber hospitality center’ not a hotel. In the brochure, I found this rhetoric self-important; once there, I realized it was entirely accurate. Drinking syrupy mint tea on the terrace, I was a guest…I’m no sucker for eco-tourism boilerplate but I was impressed by the Kasbah’s approach.
“For two days, I sat in a canvas chair on that terrace, reading. The sounds of New York slowly dissipated until all I could hear was the ‘Allahu Akbar’ of muezzins echoing across valleys, the occasional crowing of a rooster, the barely perceptible rustle of a faraway waterfall…I looked up at the remote lodge, a lovely pink stone house atop the town’s highest hill. It was worth the final push.
Our bathroom had a marble tub and plenty of hot running water…After the calm of the Atlas, Marrakech was a blur…We felt as if we’d traversed a thousand years of human development in one long day.”
Rachel Donadio, New York Times, 22nd October 2006
Open Audio Slideshow on New York Times website. Requires Adobe Flash™ Player.
RICHARD HAMMOND finds a new Lodge blazing a trail in the Atlas Mountains:
“The views from the lodge are stunning. Lined with fields of wheat the valley is surrounded by the snow-covered mountains of the Toubkal Massif. The stylish lodge is staffed by villagers and is an outpost of the Berber Hospitality Centre at the Kasbah du Toubkal. The Kasbah is a model of community-based tourism and won ‘Best for a Mountain Environment’ in the 2004 Responsible Tourism Awards.”
Richard Hammond, The Times, 1st July 2006
“THE KASBAH, a rose-coloured fortress overlooking the village of Imlil and shadowed by the snowy peaks of the Atlas Mountains…renowned for having some of the best views in North Africa. The rooms are unabashedly luxurious…”
The Observer, 14th May 2006
“A HILLTOP PALACE in Morocco is a model of ecotourism…”
Richard Hammond, The Guardian, 1st April 2006
“THE KASBAH DU TOUBKAL—a hilltop palace in the Atlas mountains—has been a model for sustainable tourism, creating jobs in remote communities and providing a first-rate experience for guests. …The Toubkal Lodge has been built…to provide a ‘sister’ place to stay. It gives guests who want to hike in the area the option to stay somewhere different”
Simon Calder, The Independent, 4th March 2006
“THE KASBAH DU TOUBKAL…has successfully blended three things to make this an award-winning hotel. Everything is based around Berber hospitality; added to this are Western levels of comfort and a programme of tours and expeditions in the mountains around it.”
Simon Miller, The Independent, 25th February 2006
“BEYOND THE RATIONAL how does one encourage tourism to behave more responsibly?” …HRH The Prince of Wales makes an appeal to all our senses.
“…three aspects in particular stand out for me: environmental balance, appropriate architecture and design, and ensuring that business leadership and management is guided by principles of sustainable development.
“…the International Tourism Partnership (ITP), which I launched at Clarence House in November 2004. The ITP now aims, ambitiously,to encourage the entire travel and tourism sector to aspire to higher standards.
“At present, astonishing as it may sound, there are no international guidelines for planning and building tourist developments. ITP is this year addressing this with the launch of ‘The Sustainable Hotel Siting, Design and Construction Guiding principles’…
“The Guidelines will doubtless highlight some excellent examples of good practice such as the Kasbah du Toubkal in the High Atlas mountains of Morocco. Here, the travel company, Discover Ltd, ensured that they used local expertise, materials and style to rebuild a ruined kasbah. So sympathetically was this done that visitors regularly believe it to be hundreds of years old.
“The approach they followed has since been enforced by His Majesty The King of Morocco as a regional standard, ensuring other developments follow suit. The Hotel was also a winner of last year’s Responsible Tourism Award.”
Condé Nast, October 2005
“ON TOP OF another world looking down on paradise…
You may not recognise the name Kasbah du Toubkal but there is a good chance you will have seen the pictures. The building perches like an eagle’s nest on a rocky outcrop below snow-topped mount Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa at 4165 metres.”
Daily Express, August 27th 2005
“THE KASBAH DU TOUBKAL is a remarkable place…you would go to the Kasbah du Toubkal just for the views. The rooftop panorama is breath-taking…you’ll feel like a guest, not a tourist – a claim often made but rarely borne out by experience.”
Mark Hodson, The Sunday Times, 23rd January 2005
Best in mountain environment
Winner: Kasbah du Toubkal, Morocco The Times, November 2004.
“LIVE THE HIGH LIFE on holiday in one of these hotels with spectacular views. You’ll feel on top of the world.”
Rhiannon Batten, The Independent, April 2004
“IT IS WORTH flying out to Morocco for just one night in this remarkable hotel, a role model for how tourism can help, not hinder…”
Barnaby Rogerson, Cadogan Guides Morocco
“THE ICING on the cake is Kasbah du Toubkal, a castle in the Atlas Mountains, with rooftop views of North Africa’s highest peak, Jbel Toubkal. If there’s a better place to sip mint tea, they’re keeping it secret.”
Jeremy Lazell, The Sunday Times, 30th November 2003
“MORNING BRINGS a view so extravagantly handsome that you can only smile at the cheeky way it checks off those travel-writing clichés; waterfalls, walnut groves, huddled villages and, yes, snow-capped mountains. Given enough tastefully deployed resources any hotel can of course look the part—and this one also has extreme natural beauty on its side—but for me where the Kasbah comes up trumps, even beyond its food and unabashed luxury, is in the friendliness of its staff.
The Kasbah is just the sort of place where I could handle a little collegiate bonding.”
Sue Norris, Financial Times, 22nd November 2003
“A STUNNING RESTORATION of an abandoned Kasbah is one of the most atmospheric places to stay in southern Morocco…The views from the various terraces are breathtaking with Jbel Toubkal rising up sheer behind.”
Time Out Guide “Marrakech and the Best of Morocco”, July 2003
“I WANT TO be here, a piece of heaven close to Marrakech but far from the modern world. The Kasbah du Toubkal is a dream in the mountains close to paradise.”
Marie Claire, May 2003
“FOR THOSE WHO really like to get away from it all, two hours from the hustle of Marrakech, some 5,900 feet up in the High Atlas Mountains, Kasbah du Toubkal is an unusual ecologically sensitive retreat staffed and run by local Beber population. From a distance, this great fortress, backed by snow-capped mountains looks like Shangri-La – no wonder Martin Scorsese used it as a Tibetan monastery for his 1997 film Kundun”
Vogue Magazine, December 2002
“HAVING SURVIVED the drive over the Tizi-n-Test, we needed a refuge. Fortunately, the Kasbah is an outstanding one, sitting on a rock outcrop 1,675 (5,500ft) up in the mountains and quite possibly Morocco’s finest retreat…This month, it was Highly Commended in the British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow awards.”
The Times, 23rd Nov 2002
“…IMPOSSIBLY ROMANTIC remoteness of The Kasbah du Toubkal…take lunch at low, round tables on the sunny rooftop terrace for views that are out of this world.”
Bliss for Brides, May 2002
“I’M WONDERING WHY I’ve been wasting my time elsewhere in Morocco when I could have been up here…a mountain retreat with the best rooftop views in North Africa. Morocco isn’t short of lovely hotels…but none boasts a setting to match the Kasbah…this is the country»s first and foremost mountain retreat.”
Condé Nast Traveller, April 2002
“SITTING ON the terrace having lunch overlooking stunning scenery will explain better than words why weary celebrities would choose this secret setting.”
Hello Magazine, April 2002
“THE JOURNEY should have taken an hour and a half but I stopped at every corner to admire the views. When we rounded the final bend in the road, I gasped with delight. At the head of the valley, The Kasbah du Toubkal perches on a roadless wooded hilltop directly beneath the majestic Jbel Toubkal – at 4165 metres the highest mountain in North Africa.”
Home and Gardens, February 2002
“…IT IS THE VIEW from the carpet-strewn rooftop south towards Mount Toubkal that makes this newly opened palace one of the best hotels in the country.”
The Sunday Times, March 2001