A few kilometres north of Erfoud, on the road south from Errachidia, the Ksar Maadid is one of the largest and best preserved fortified mud-brick villages of the Ziz Valley. The high crenellated walls enclose a maze of cool, shaded alleys, a small mosque, and several inhabited courtyard houses. Children from the village will usually offer to guide you — a few dirhams is the going rate.
The palmery surrounding the ksar is irrigated by traditional khettara channels, some still in use. The whole valley between Errachidia and Erfoud is studded with similar ksour, but Maadid is the easiest one to visit and gives a good sense of what life in a fortified oasis village looked like a century ago.