Kasbah Tamadot

Richard Branson first saw the kasbah from a hot-air balloon over the Atlas and later bought it from the antiques dealer Luciano Tempo, who had filled it with pieces from his travels. The hotel has kept Tempo's eclectic layers: Moorish arches, carved doors, Indian and Moroccan antiques. It stands on a hill above Asni, a small Berber village in the foothills of the Atlas, with terraced orchards below and the peaks of the High Atlas, Toubkal among them, on the skyline. After the 2023 earthquake it reopened with six new riads and a second restaurant.

The rooms fall into three families. The original rooms and suites in the main building have the courtyards and the older character; ten Berber tents, several with a private hot tub, sit among the gardens; and each of the six riads, bookable since September 2024, combines a two-bedroom pool suite with a tented suite on the roof facing Toubkal. The Asounfou Spa has a traditional hammam with rooms at several temperatures, a heated indoor pool, an infinity pool outside and an open-air hot tub, and the Kasbah Kids Club takes children aged four to twelve off to treasure hunts, crafts and cooking classes.

The Eve Branson Foundation, set up by Branson's mother, works with the surrounding villages on craft training for women and on schooling. On Saturdays the weekly souk fills Asni below the hotel, a market for the valley rather than for visitors and worth a morning of your stay.