The tour ends, the guide walks the group back towards the gate, and it is somewhere around one o'clock. The plaster columns are hot, the light is flat, and everyone wants to sit down. Atlas Studios stands on the western edge of Ouarzazate, on the Marrakech road, and that position decides most of what comes next: little choice right at the gate, a whole town a few minutes east, and quieter villages a short drive west.
Right next to the studios
The Oscar Hotel by Atlas Studios stands beside the studios and has its own restaurants. If you want to eat without getting back into the car, it is the obvious answer, and it suits a quick lunch between the tour and your next visit.
In town, for lunch
Drive or take a taxi back into the centre and the choice opens up. Along Avenue Mohammed V and around Place Al Mouahidine there are cafés and restaurants serving salads, soups, grilled skewers and the tagine of the day. For a midday meal that is the practical solution, especially if the afternoon continues at Kasbah Taourirt or the cinema museum opposite it. We wrote a separate note on eating around Kasbah Taourirt.
Keep lunch light if you can. The tagine worth waiting for is the one that has cooked slowly for the evening.
Dinner after a day of film sets
The evening is a different question. By the time you have seen the studios, the kasbah, perhaps the lake, it is getting dark and you want a proper meal. This is where the western side of town makes sense. Tifoultoute is a short drive west of the studios, on the kasbah road, and its earthen kasbah turns orange above the river at sunset.
A word of transparency: this journal is written by La Table du Berbère, which is at Riad Chay in Tifoultoute, about ten minutes by car or taxi from the town centre. It is not next to the studios and we will not pretend it is. But for many of our guests it sits on the logical side of the day: film sets in the morning, town in the afternoon, dinner on the patio as the light goes. Dinner is served every evening from 6 to 10 pm, by reservation only.
Three ways to shape the day
Studios first, dinner last
Visit in the morning, when the open air sets are cooler and before the groups arrive mid morning. Lunch at the hotel next door or in the centre, then Kasbah Taourirt in the afternoon. Book dinner before you set off, not at 7 pm.
Studios on the way back from Aït Ben Haddou
Coming back from Aït Ben Haddou on the Marrakech road, the studios are on your way into town. A tour in the early afternoon fits naturally, and dinner closes the loop.
Only the afternoon
Do the tour after lunch, then go for tea on the Riad Chay rooftop, open every day from 8 am to 10 pm, before sitting down to dinner downstairs.
Order ahead, not only book
At our table the menu is cooked once you have ordered, and it needs about an hour and a half. Each guest composes a starter, a main and a dessert from the carte, and mint tea and a bottle of mineral water come with it. Send your choices by WhatsApp on +212 6 61 70 38 86 in the morning, or pick them in the booking form. The tagine is then on the embers when you arrive instead of starting when you sit down.
Questions we are often asked
Is La Table du Berbère open at lunchtime? The restaurant serves dinner, every evening from 6 to 10 pm. During the day the rooftop is open for tea or a drink.
How do we get from the studios to Tifoultoute? By car or taxi; it is a short drive west. The contact page has the map and the GPS point.
How long should we allow for the studios? About an hour for the guided tour. Our Atlas Studios visitor guide covers the visit itself, and the Ouarzazate food guide puts all the meals of a stay in order.
Cover photo: an Egyptian temple set at Atlas Studios, by Yair Haklai, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
