Mount Toubkal
Overview
| Time of year: | 2025: Oct (exact dates tbc) |
| Grade: | Moderate |
| On mountain: | 5 days (other days free to explore Marrakech) |
| Max group size: | 12 participants |
| Fees: | €1,390pp (excl. flights) |
| Additional costs: | Flights (€250 approx), travel insurance, additional tours |
Highlights
- Journey to the Atlas Mountains
- Experience the Berber culture
- Climb North Africa’s Highest Peak
- Mount Toubkal: 4,167m
- Views into the Sahara and across the Atlas mountains
- Great food
- Sensory explosions in the Medina of Marrakech (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
- 20% discount on purchases in our store in advance
What`s included
- All bus transfers in-country
- Accommodation (3 x refuge nights, 1 x gite, 3 x hotel)
- Specialist equipment hire- crampons, down jacket, sleeping bags etc
- Briefing & training day in Wicklow in advance
- All meals
- All tips
- Guided by UIMLA certified International Mountain Leaders with minimum 25 years of professional experience.
- Tried and tested acclimatisation plan
- Animal welfare plan (mules are used for transporting bags to refuge)
- Sustainability policy
- Insurance
Morocco: Mount Toubkal
A week of sensory contrasts awaits. From the Medinas, Riads and Souks of Marrakech to the Berber culture, Atlas mountains and the main goal of reaching the high summit of Djebel Toubkal, North Africa’s highest mountain.
If you’re not sure whether to sign up for this or pay a little extra for the expedition skills course, we will be hosting a zoom session to go through what’s involved in each. Sign up to our newsletter to stay informed.
Standing at a lofty 4,176 metres, Djebel(Mount) Toubkal is the highest peak in North Africa and the main goal of our trip. But there’s far more to this experience than just trekking this mountain. Peaks of this height require planning, acclimatisation, and professional guiding, three skills we are highly experienced in.
Our first night is spent in Marrakesh as the group congregates for their first briefing. The next day an early pickup brings us by coach to the mountain village of Imlil, the gateway to the High Atlas Mountains. That afternoon we start the acclimatisation process with a short hike into the surrounding hills.
No one, no matter how qualified or experienced they are, can climb Djebel Toubkal without hiring a local guide to accompany them. This is a great community initiative, bringing employment to the area and has helped us develop our relationship with the local community. Having a local on our team brings an added cultural dimension to our trek.
The group will be guided however by highly qualified and experienced International Mountain Leaders who love to share their passion for the mountains. You can follow along and enjoy the experience or you can take the opportunity to tap in our knowledge and learn more about the mountain environment we’re in, acclimatisation, navigation and loads more.
With Djebel Toubkal presiding above the rest of the Altas mountains, it takes us a day of hard trekking to reach the mountain refuge where we’ll establish our base.
Before we make our bid for the summit we spend another day acclimatising on nearby peaks to ensure we have the best chance of a successful summit. Summit day itself is an early start as we aim to reach the summit by noon before our descent to the refuge and a well-earned dinner!
Morocco Mount Toubkal / Sustainable adventure
At adventure.ie we take our environmental responsibilities very seriously, we run our events and expeditions in accordance with our sustainability policy. You will find on this experience that we follow the principles of Leave No Trace. We keep our groups small, support local communities and reduce our impact as much as possible. We pay well and tip fairly for the services we use, offering mountain and rescue training to the local guides we work with also.
There are no hidden extras – in-country transport, catering, accommodation, tips etc.
Morocco Mount Toubkal: Accommodation
Our first night will be spent in a hotel in Marrakesh. We then transfer to Imlil for a night in a traditional mountain homestay gite. In the high mountains, we will be based in a refuge, here we will have a large mixed dorm to ourselves. The refuge is basic but very well positioned. Our last night in Marrakesh is spent in a traditional riad with 2 or 3 people sharing a room.
All participants receive a 20% discount on purchases in our store in advance of departure if you need anything but if you hike regularly you will probably have everything you need already.
Mount Toubkal FAQs
This experience is full week, or 8 Days in duration including travel. Aside from the flight days, this gives us 5 days in the mountains and day at the end to experience all the sensations Marrakech has to offer.
No, but you do need a good level of fitness. The five days in the mountains are hard and sometimes long.
Morocco doesn’t have a great reputation for the female traveller. However, on past trips, none of our staff nor participants have ever encountered any harassment, be it in Marrakesh or in the countryside. All participants can expect to be harassed by hawkers trying to sell trinkets in the market in the city but in the mountains, this is very rare. Observing local customs is recommended.
We provide almost everything! All you have to do is get yourself onto an aeroplane, we’ll do the rest. We’ll pick you up from the airport in Marrakesh, provide all accommodations and meals, we choose the most authentic gites for our stay in Imlil, and have exclusive dorms for our groups in the mountain refuge, you will not be sharing with other groups. We also have a warm and cosy dinning room in the hut, where other groups are crammed into a cold dinning room! We’ll also provide any specialist kit required- down jackets, mitts, crampons etc. We strive to ensure social, economic and environmental sustainability in our entire supply chain; fair wages, animal welfare etc. Most importantly, all our expeditions are led by highly qualified and experienced International Mountain Leaders, which means you are in safe hands all the way. While we hire a local guide we don’t depend on them for technical guidance or first aid and we don’t depend on their insurance, we have our own public liability insurance for this type of experience. Add to that a tried and tested acclimatisation plan to give you the best chance of reaching the summit. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for.
We’ll provide a full kit list in advance. Each participant will need boots, rainwear, warm jacket, gloves, hat etc. We’ll provide any technical kit if required. Plus, all participants receive a 20% discount on purchased in our store in advance of the expedition.
We have space for 12 participants on our Mount Toubkal trip.
You need to be over 18, that’s it!
You certainly can! You can pay in as many instalments as you like, for as much as you like, when you like. We’ll give you a payment link so you can pay securely online.
No, but most travel insurance now covers this. Check the details of your insurance before purchasing. We recommend you purchase travel insurance immediately after paying your deposit.
We advise that you are up to date with any vaccines you have for life in Ireland/EU. Additionally, we recommend following the advice of the Tropical Medicines Bureau, for Morocco. You should have a booster for your childhood vaccinations for Polio, Tetanus & Diphtheria if you haven’t received one in the last 10 years. Typhoid and Hepatitis A vaccines are also recommended. They additionally advise consideration be given to Hepatitis B (can be given combined with Hep. A) which many travellers and health-care workers may already have. And also consider a rabies vaccine.
The expedition fees are €1,390pp. This includes:
> All in-country transport
> Accommodation
> Catering
> Any technical equipment
> Local tips and mule hire
> PL insurance
> Expert guiding and highly skilled & qualified guides
> All fees are approximate and depend on final numbers.
As we’ll be climbing high, to over 4,000m, it will be cool and exposed to the wind at times. Participants will need to be equipped for this and we’ll cover this in our Zoom briefing. Nighttime temperatures can be cold. We sometimes get snow on the summit.
Yes, it certainly is and we plan our routes accordingly. We also take other preventative measures like keeping hydrated, climbing high/sleep low and other steps. There is no need for the use of preventative medications. Even with all the steps above some people still feel the effects but these generally wear off after a couple of days.
Generally no, but early snow may happen, if it does we’re skilled at dealing with it and will keep you safe.
No! There are many variables- weather, fitness, altitude and loads more. We’ll do our best to get you to the top but safety always comes first.
Flights, you can have our travel partner arrange these for you or book them yourself with a low cost airline.
The extra kit as per the kit list. If you’re missing anything, we can advise on how to best purchase.
Any extra tours that participants choose to take.
Each participant will require specific travel insurance, see below.
It is essential that all participants take out additional travel insurance for the trip. This should cover repatriation to UK/Ireland and rescue fees. Your insurance must list Morocco as a destination and have trekking as an activity. Let us know if you need details on insurance companies. We also advise that you apply for your EHIC (formally E11): Irish residents. UK residents.
