In October 2019 I spent a wonderful week in Marrakech, Morocco – courtesy of my French speaking friends who organised an awesome all-inclusive trip to get together.
It was a week of pool olympics, table tennis matches, theme parties and heart-to-heart conversations until the wee hours of the night.
Naturally, I also found time to go horseriding in the palm tree plantation just outside our villa
Table of Contents
The Location
Cavaliers De L’Atlas is right in the middle of Marrakech Palmeraie. It’s a palm oasis that has several hundred thousand trees and is nothing short of mesmerising.
The weather was perfect in October. A dry, sunny 20-25 degrees Celsius. Because of this, horse tours only go out in the morning or late afternoon.
How to get there
Our villa was 3km away from Cavaliers de l’Atlas, so I coordinated with Sophie (the owner) to send someone to pick us up.
For $10 USD (100DH) we were picked up and dropped off by a confident driver.
The road isn’t always paved so confidence and experience were key to get us there safely!
There’s very little public transport in Marrakech, so I highly recommend you get picked up by the Cavaliers de l’Atlas staff.
Facilities
The stables are built in Moroccan style and feature a small open air arena. I love the flat roofs!
Even though the reviews on the internet are not exactly enthusiastic, the environment at Cavaliers de l’Atlas is great!
While we were waiting to leave for our tour, I saw a few owners come in to take care of their stunning horses. It’s always a good sign when a stable doesn’t just rely on tourists to keep going.
Horses
If I ever have the time to look after a horse, I’m pretty sure I’d love an Arabian horse.
The horses at Cavaliers de l’Atlas are fit and clearly used to running around in the desert. My friends and I were matched to horses based on our height / weight and overall experience before setting off.
Experience
I opted for “The Palm” experience. It’s quiet half day ride around Marrakech’s Palmeraie, which includes a stop for tea in the middle of the desert.
Price: 500DH (56 USD) per person + 100DH for the 4 of us to be picked up from our villa and dropped off.
The scenery is breathtaking and the lead even had us pose in the most “insta-worthy” spots to take photos of us – which was very sweet of him.
Sadly, I didn’t take my phone with me and I’ve since lost the photos of my experience – but hopefully my review encourages you to try this place out for yourself!
What else to do in the area
There’s a Quad adventure place nearby. Together with my friends, we did a 3h experience around the desert.
To say that I was scared is an understatement. The instructor had to sit on my quad for most of the ride—– thaaaat was embarassing. Then again, I’m just not comfortable on small motorised devices. I should stick to horses.
