TOUBKAL

MOROCCO / 4167m

The Atlas Mountains remain an extremely adventurous and largely undeveloped mountain range, but with the added bonus of being extremely accessible. Marrakesh is a couple of hours away, from which budget airlines fly to the UK. There is nowhere so accessible that gives you such a striking cultural shift – whether you’re travelling through traditional Berber villages, getting lost in aromatic, chaotic souks, or climbing snow-covered mountains with views of the baking Sahara desert. That’s what you get if you climb the highest mountain in the Atlas range in winter – the preference for many, as summer gets seriously hot. You’ll walk in through green, steep-sided valleys, before ascending into the high, red-rock canyons of the High Atlas, and finally to the abode of Toubkal itself. A cultural experience as well as a mountain climb – and at 4167m the perfect first slice of high altitude.