Ifrane & Azrou: Morocco's Little Switzerland and the Barbary Macaques

An hour's drive from Fes, Ifrane feels like it belongs in the Alps rather than North Africa — red-roofed stone chalets, pine forest, and, in winter, actual snow, at an elevation of around 1,700 meters. It has been nicknamed "Little Switzerland" for exactly this reason.

The Cedar Forests of Azrou

A short drive from Ifrane, the town of Azrou sits inside a vast Atlas cedar forest — cedars here cover roughly 114,500 hectares, representing the majority of Morocco's total cedar coverage. These forests are among the oldest and largest stands of cedar left in North Africa.

Barbary Macaques

This same cedar forest shelters the largest wild population of Barbary macaques on Earth — a species found only in Morocco and Algeria. Around the well-known Gouraud cedar near Azrou, troops of macaques are relatively unafraid of visitors, offering one of the more memorable wildlife encounters available anywhere in Morocco.

Getting There

Ifrane and Azrou sit directly on the route between Fes and the Sahara, which makes them a natural half-day stop rather than a dedicated trip. Several of our tours from Fes pass through this stretch of the Middle Atlas on the way south.