The Cascades d'Ouzoud are Morocco's most spectacular waterfall — a 110-metre drop through a red-rock gorge about 150 km northeast of Marrakech. The falls are hardly secret among Moroccan tourists, but they remain far enough off the main Marrakech–Fès highway that most foreign visitors miss them entirely. That is their loss.
The path down from the plateau winds through olive groves before opening onto a series of terraced viewpoints above the gorge. At the bottom, the Ouzoud Falls feed a wide emerald pool where you can swim in warm months. Barbary macaques — local people call them desert monkeys — work the terraces with practised nonchalance, accepting handouts from cafe tables with unsettling poise. Several small restaurants and cafes are perched above the water; all serve mint tea and tagines at prices that feel almost absurdly cheap after Marrakech.
If you ask a local to show you the source of the water, they will lead you about 6 km east through the olive groves, past an ancient olive press, to a cold artesian spring that bubbles straight out of the ground. It is one of those surprises Morocco keeps producing on people who bother to look.
Getting there: Take highway P24 northeast from Marrakech towards Fès. Turn off at Afourer, then follow road S508 through Bin-el-Ouidane — you will know it by the large dam and reservoir — and continue following signs to Cascade d'Ouzoud. A handful of small guesthouses at the top of the falls make it possible to stay overnight, which is worth doing to catch the falls in morning light without the day-trip crowds.