Ifrane Voyage Tips and guide

Contents

Ifrane is one of the most beautiful places in Morocco, residing on the Atlas mountain with a population of roughly 80,000 people. The projects of the current Moroccan king - like the university and huge new hotel - have had a large impact on the town. It is not a large town with the majority of the population being farmers, sheepherders, etc, and living outside of the town borders.

The main language in Ifrane is Berber, but you can also hear a great deal of Arabic and French. It is home to Al-Akhawayn University, an American-style university taught in English, French, and Arabic. Nearly all university students will be able to converse fluently in English, but most of the native residents can not.

The climate is mostly cold with a beautiful mild summer, with a great deal of rain in the first few months of the year. The people are overall very friendly.

Overall, there is very little reason to specifically visit Ifrane if you have limited time in Morocco. Unless you're a student here or a member of the king's entourage when he visits, there's not a huge amount to visit here- a carved lion, some parks, funky roofs, lots of storks, outdoorsy things, and a Sunday souq pretty much summarize the town.

Most of the buses comes from Fez and Meknes, which are the two major neighboring cities, or pass through on their route from Marrakesh to Fez.

The easiest way to get into Ifrane is by grand taxi from Fez or Meknes. Both cities are an hour away. Grand taxis in Fez leave near the Fez CTM station.

• grand taxis. Grand taxis arrive in Ifrane at the grand taxi station, which is temporarily located about 300 m southwest of the marché. 

A ride to either town costs 25 dirham, but can be more expensive (30 dirham) on weekends, when half of Fez and Meknes come there. If you find yourself to take a whole taxi yourself, multiply the price by six places (i.e. 150 dirham). At some times (very late/early, during strikes), you may have to pay a good bit more.

CTM has an office at the east end of the marché and buses are likely to stop / depart from there. CTM buses are known to being cleaner and slightly quicker, but the sometimes sketchy buses from other companies are equally safe. They most likely depart from the new Gare Routière which is somewhere southwest from the marché. These buses can be a lot dirtier and a little cheaper. Some might have more stops (longer trip), but they also leaving more often and are thus easier to catch.

Most places are within walking distance, but petit taxis are also readily available. The minimum fare is 5 dirham for small distances (e.g. marché → centre ville), longer distances will be 10 dirham.

Grand taxi drivers are a little more unscrupulous, so try to be aware of how much you should be paying for any given trip.

Places to visit:

• Al Akhawayn University. Normally the campus is closed to non-students, but there are occasional events that allow visitors to see the campus. You can also request special permission from the faculty. 
• Centre-ville. The newer part of the city. Here, you can find the center for tourism, the iconic Lion statue that many tourists like to take pictures next to, the lake and park, and a number of restaurants, cafes, and convenience stores. Note that due to a prolonged drought, as of 2024, the lake (as well as most other water sources in the area) has unfortunately been bone dry for several years. 
• Marché. The marché or souq, open every day, is where the locals buy their supplies. Anything from books and electronics to meat and fruit can be bought here. There are also many restaurants of varying quality and price. 
• Source Vitel. A series of waterfalls, some of which are found inside the forests of Ifrane, others which you should take a taxi to. None are particularly impressive, but all are pretty. As of 2024, however, most are completely dry due to the drought, although there is a bit of water still flowing further north away from the town. 
• Barbary Macaques. A huge number of macaques live in the woods around the town, and if you're lucky, you can sometimes see them in the town itself. The southern edge of the town, near the marche, often has gangs of apes hanging around.

However, Ifrane's main attraction is its natural beauty. It is highly encouraged to hike in the area. You can easily rent a horse and guide for a few hours. It is also only a short distance from Ifrane to a place where you can find and feed wild monkeys.

- Foret Cedre Gourant: A good starting point for many trekking/hiking routes. You can go there by car and park in a touristic area where you can take some photos of monkeys and old trees, or rent a guide for excursions.

• L'Apelle. More high class than most restaurants in Ifrane. The only place that serves pastilla in the vicinity. 
• La Paix. mains around 80 dirham. 
• Forest. A new shiny restaurant. 
• Various cafes. All of the cafes are priced roughly the same, and have roughly the same quality of food. Normally a safe bet, though you can expect only the standard fare: pizza, tagine, harira, brochettes, etc.
• My Lil Rome. A very small restaurant that sells delicious hand-made pizzas that blow all other pizzas in the town out of the water. You may have to wait a while if the guy running the places has just run out of dough, but it's well worth the wait. 50-70d for a large pizza.

A good recommendation for the marche would be to avoid most of the restaurants on the outside edge of the area, as well as most of the restaurants around the square in the middle. These places tend to sell overpriced, low quality food that is aimed at tourists. A lot of the food here is, quite frankly, quite bad, but there are a few places worth eating at.

• Restaurant Al-Akhawayn. Good food. More varied menu than many others. decent prices. 
• Restaurant Chez Amal. Used to serve excellent Kafta-Tajine, but has lost a bit of its atmosphere since the renovation. mains 40 dirham. 
• Chez Said. The sandwiches were famous, but since it moved to a new location, they are not as good anymore. 20 dirham. 
• Chicken Restaurant. Serves good chicken. mains 25-40 dirham. 
• For You. Sells decent junk food type meals such as pizzas, tacos and loaded fries, as well as sushi. One of the better places in town, and very popular with students. Located about 3 minutes away from the marche by foot. Expect to pay anywhere from 35-65d, depending on what you order.
• Platane. One of the better places in the marche. Popular with Al Akhawayn students and less aimed at tourists. 20-50d. (updated Feb 2024)

There are two centers of nightlife in Ifrane: Grand Hotel, and Aglemem.

• The Grand Hotel has a dance club and offers expensively priced alcohol. The clubs are most popular on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, and play only House/Techno music.
• Aglemem is a bar/restaurant that occasionally holds live music events.
• Cafe le Chamonix also sells alcohol. It is probably the cheapest place in town, but still quite expensive.

There is no budget accommodation in Ifrane. The best is probably to stay in Azrou (15 minutes by grand taxi, ~6 dirham).

Apartments can be rented from 100-150 dirham per day, although finding one with clean sheets seems to be impossible.

Several midrange/splurge hotels are found in the city center:

• Grand Hotel. 
• Hotel Michliffen, ☏ +212 535 56 66 07. It is one of most luxurious hotels in the area. There are two pools. From 2500 dirham. 

The grand taxi (share taxi) station, which is connected to the bus station, has regular connections to Fes and Meknes, as well as to smaller towns in the area such as Al Hajeb, Azrou and Immouzer Kandar. None of the smaller towns have any mind-blowing attractions, but are worth a visit if you want to see something of the real Morocco away from the tourists. The taxi drivers all seem honest and do not seem to charge foreigners any more than Moroccans, and because of the university, many of the passengers are likely to be students who are able to speak English and are likely willing to help you navigate.

The bus station has regular coaches to major cities throughout Morocco, but because departure times to many cities are very irregular, it may be worth checking the bus times the day before you plan to leave.