Summiting Mount Toubkal: A Guide to North Africa's Highest Peak

daniellabarnes

May 21

10 min read

In May 2026, I travelled to Morocco to summit Mount Toubkal - North Africa's Highest peak. Standing at 4,167 metres (13,671 ft), Toubkal sits in the Atlas mountains in Morocco and is one of the most accessible 4000m peaks in the world. This mountain has been in my sights for a long time now, as I've wanted to start climbing higher mountains and it is a relatively easy 4000m peak to tick off and gain some experience.

Mount Toubkal Quick Facts

📍Location: Atlas Mountains, Morocco

⛰️Height: 4,167m / 13,671ft

🥾Duration: 2 days

😎Difficulty: Moderate

🗺️Guide Required: Mandatory

🛏️Accommodation: Imlil & Mountain Refuge

📅Best time to climb: May-October

I booked this trip with Skyhook Adventures who organise your guide, all your food and accommodation.

** I did previously look into doing this without a guide however, due to an attack on tourists back in 2018 it is not possible to summit the mountain without a guide present.

Is Mount Toubkal Difficult? -

If you are used to hiking regularly and have a decent level of hill fitness, then I think most people would manage Mount Toubkal without too many complications.

The trek takes place over two days with most of the distance being covered on the first day. Although parts of the route are a little steep, there are no technical climbing sections or areas of high exposure, making it one of the most accessible peaks in the world.

That being said, altitude can affect people differently. At 4,167m, the summit of Mount Toubkal has roughly 50% less oxygen than at sea level, which can leave you feeling short of breath, fatigued or lightheaded. Taking your time, staying hydrated and maintaining a steady pace will make the experience more enjoyable.

How To Get There -

The easiest option is to fly into Marrakech, the closest airport to the Atlas mountains. Flights from Scotland were extremely cheap, which was a nice surprise. Most organised tour companies will arrange transfers directly from Marrakech to Imlil, but you also have the option to make your own way to Imlil if you would like to spend more time there.

After arriving at Marrakech airport, I took the airport bus into the city centre. Tickets cost 30 MAD (around £2.40)and the journey takes about 20 minutes.

Mount Toubkal Packing List -

Temperatuers in the Atlas mountains can change quickly, especially overnight and on the summit. Here are the things I am glad that I packed:

Warm layers
Hiking boots or trail trainers
Gloves
waterproofs

Snacks - you will be thankful for these on summit day
sleeping bag or liner
ear plugs

head torch
portable charger
sunscreen
sunglasses
basic toiletries

You can rent various items from the tour guides including hiking poles, sleeping bags and even crampons. We didn't realise we would even need crampons in May, as it is usually summer hiking season and they weren't part of the packing list, but the snowfall this season has been much heavier than previous years.

Accommodation -

This was all pre organised through the tour company. We spent two nights in Imlil (the first and last nights) at Riad Bab Imlil, which was fairly pleasantand felt just like being welcomed into someones home. There were only 12 people in our group, plus a separate group from Germany. We had warm showers, a lovely rooftop terrace where you could see the mountains and shared a room between five of us girls who were on the trip.

We stayed in Refuge de Toubkal on the night before the summit. I just want to manage your expectations of the refuge - there's no polite way to put it, but it's pretty grim and crowded but at least it is warm and safe. There must be around 60-80 people staying there at any one time. The dining area on the ground floor, while the toilets and showers are down in the basement. There can often be a queue for the toilets especially first thing in the morning which was round about the same time that all of the toilets became blocked whilst I was there. There is a high chance that you will be sharing sleeping dorms with other groups and find that most of them have bunk beds. There was 26 of us to one dorm when we were there so as you can imagine it can be quite noisy and also quite warm with all the bodies.

Arrival Day

My flight from Scotland was pretty early, so I arrived in Marrakech at about mid day. This gave me 7 hours to explore a little. I wandered around Jemaa el-Fnaae - the lively square full of street performers, snake handlers, monkeys and countless fruit juice stalls. I then walked to Koutoubia Mosque before finding a peaceful park to escape the heat and crowds for a while. This was Cyber Parc Arsat Mouley Abdeslam and is definitely worth a visit if you have some time to kill and want something free to do.

I had met up with two others from the group now, we were scheduled to meet our guides for pickup at 7.30pm at the shell garage. Traffic here was pretty chaotic and we accidentally got into the wrong taxi (he looked keen & as if he was waiting for us 😅) so we ended up doing a nice little lap around the block before finally finding the correct pickup.

We were then on our way to Imlil, after swinging by the airport to pick up four more from our group. The journey takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes, and the roads are incredibly windy but this went quick as we were all chatting and getting to know each other. We couldn't see much by this point as it was already dark, but I have it on good faith that there are mountains out there somewhere.

We reached our mountain lodge at 9.45pm, just in time for dinner, where we were treated to Harira soup - a mix of lentils and pasta (good mountain food), chicken tagine, and melon. We met our guide for the trip, Jawad, and after this we were pretty sleepy, so we headed off to our rooms to prepare for the next day.

Day 1 of Climbing Toubkal

Hooray we woke this morning to views of the mountains (see I knew they were out there somewhere 😅). We met for breakfast at 8 which was mainly breads, cake and spreads and the traditional Moroccan tea.

We were instructed to pack a sack for the mules to carry to the refuge - I originally felt bad about this and wanted to carry all my own stuff but then realised that this is what they were traditionally used for, they are well cared for and they were going up anyway regardless of whether they had my extra bag or not. Mules are the lifeline of Toubkal - the main form of transport for supplies, equipment, everything the mountain needs. They are the main way to support the mountain.

The journey starts by taking you through the village and then past the fields before you enter the national park and you start to feel like you are getting further from civilisation. I was surprised to find plenty of cafes & shops along the way to the refuge, where you could buy snacks and souvenirs. Be sure to have some change for these and in my experience any snack or drink is priced at 20 MAD just to keep things easy 😅. One thing I did notice was how dusty the lower parts of the trail felt, I was definitely drinking more water to compensate for the dry and dusty air.

At about 4.5km from the village you will reach the sign for Toubkal national park which is definitely worth a wee photo stop. Then at around 6k we stopped for a break just before the steep part of the day. At this point there was a hut to buy snacks, a café and a nice running river that you could dip your feet in - beware this was icy cold as it was running straight from the mountains.

Lunch came at around 8km into the hike (roughly the half way point of the whole trek). There are snacks available to buy here, and a bottle of juice is about £2. Oh my days, lunch was delicious - Pasta, cheeses, vegetables, lamb tagine and a banana for dessert. So tasty. We also had some more Moroccan tea, which is poured from a great height to enhance the flavour and show good hospitality to guests. By this point I had realised that the pace of the group was definitely a bit slower than I am used to. The guide keeps everyone together and prioritises acclimatisation, so there were plenty of stops along the route. And although this tested my patience a little😅, it definitely helped to conserve energy for summit day.

From the lunch spot, it was a further 4km to the refuge, which actually seemed to go much quicker than the first half, although it became significantly colder and we came across our first ice patch. Eventually the refuge appeared in the distance looking tiny against the mountains.

When we arrived at the refuge, the snowline was still present and the warm sunny sunshine from early had disappeared. We got shown to our dorm for the night, which we were sharing with another few groups (coincidentally, one was the German group from Imlil). I think it total there were about 26 people - this is why you will be thankful if you bring earplugs. The dorms are pretty basic with bunk beds - I slept on top bunk which was quite the climb to get into. We then met downstairs for some snacks of popcorn & biscuits before fitting our crampons to our boots ready for the next day.

More and more people kept on arriving as we were fitting our crampons, this refuge clearly holds A LOT of people. We had our dinner at around 7pm and then it was time to make sure our things were organised for the early start the next day. I opted to wash and change in the evening and sleep in my summit clothes so that I didn't need to get ready in the morning.

One last thing that was very important - I stood out on the rooftop to watch the sunset and then got into bed to try to get some sleep.

Day 2 of Climbing Mount Toubkal

We had an early wake up call (that's if you could say we even slept) at 3am to get some breakfast. Over night the room was soooo stuffy and warm, so I was glad to get out of it for some fresh air.

From the refuge to the summit it is around 5k but you will cover just under 1000 metres of ascent. We set off in the pitch black with our headtorches on. Looking up, you could see a trail of lights heading up the mountain from all the climbers ahead, like little ants in the darkness. Now, we had to wear our crampons from the refuge as unexpectedly, it was mild winter conditions. Top tip if you have never worn crampons before - walk with your legs a little further apart so you don't catch your trousers or stab your legs. Also trust them, the best thing to do is find a patch of ice and practice on it. You need to feel sure that they will hold you and your weight - and they will. We were not expecting winter conditions but the Altas Mountains has had excessive snowfall this year.

The first path from the refuge was pretty steep, and became a slow slog through slushy snow. With wind gusts of 40mph, often you found yourself having to brace against the wind in order to keep from blowing over. For me, the wind was probably the worst part of it as it just came unannounced and often picked up loose bits of snow and ice which when it hit your legs hurt quite a bit!!

About half way to the summit, two people in our group made the difficult decision to turn back after feeling unwell. It is always a sad thing to see, but at that altitude you really do have to listen to your body and make the right decision for your own safety.

Unfortunately, due to the pace of our group, we didn't quite make it to the summit in time for sunrise. However, watching the sky turn pink and orange over the Altas Mountains was pretty incredible. Looking back down the steep slopes we had just hiked up made me realise just how far we had come in the dark.

Once you reach the plateau, there is still a final ridge line (it should be around another hour from here) to reach the summit. This was pretty rocky ground but we kept our crampons on due to a snow patch further on (and truthfully it probably would have took longer for the whole group to take them off & put them on again). This section was absolutely freezing. The wind was brutal and despite wearing thick sealskin gloves there was times where I could hardly feel my fingers.

But eventually - we made it!!!!!

Standing at the summit of North Africa's highest mountain honestly felt surreal. There was snow capped mountains in every direction as far as the eye could see. There is a large metal structure on the summit of Toubkal (love it or hate it) that marks the highest point and this is where everyone takes their classic summit photos before trying to warm up again.

The descent was long!! Tired legs, loose rocks and slushy snow meant taking extra care on the way back down, although parts of the snow were so soft that you could sort of slide like you were skiing for little sections of it which was really fun.

We stopped back the refuge for a short break and some lunch before continuing the long walk back down to Imlil - which felt like the longest descent ever at this point!!

That evening we had one last meal together where everyone shared stories from the climb and celebrated making it to the summit. Unfortunately, a few of us had picked up a stomach bug somewhere along the way, so the night quickly went downhill from there. Nothing bonds a group faster than all being violently ill together after climbing a mountain😂😭. I can't comment much more about the rest of the evening or the morning after as I was floored but I know I was safely transported back to Marrakech by our guide.

Tips

We were approached by our guide before leaving the refuge about if we wanted to give our porters and chefs something, which we were happy to do so, as it is only fair that they should be recognised for the hard work they have carried out. It can't be easy to provide meals for everyone at that height with limited facilities.

We also gave our guides tips as a group before leaving, to thank them for leading us up the mountain safely.

Climbing Mount Toubkal is a short but incredibly rewarding way to experience a 4000m summit. Despite the strong winds, freezing temperatures and unexpected stomach situation at the end, I'm really glad I did it. I also completely struck gold with my group - every single person was so lovely and definitely people I will keep in touch with.

If you enjoyed my Mount Toubkal Guide, and

you'd like to read about some more mountains I've climbed over 4000m, check out my guides to Gran Paradiso in the Italian Alps and Kilimanjaro.