Morocco · Béni Mellal-Khénifra
Where to Stay in Khenifra, Béni Mellal-Khénifra
Khenifra is a town of the Middle Atlas in central Morocco on the Oum Er-Rbia river, an old red-walled Berber town famed as the seat of the Zaian and the door to the cedar mountains.
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Where to stay in Khenifra
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Khenifra asks whether you want the kasbah streets or the cedar slopes above. The streets around the kasbah keep the market, the old fort, and the river within a walk, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the town. Red walls rise above the streets.
The river runs below the fort. Out toward the forests and the lakes, the town gives way to the cedar woods, the mountain pastures, and the hidden Atlas lakes. A room in the hills trades the streets for the cool cedar forest, the still lakes, and the high mountain air.
The peaks rise green and cool. Stay downtown for the kasbah, or out for the forests. The red town sits between the river and the cedars.
About Khenifra
Khenifra is the red Berber town of the Middle Atlas.
What is Khenifra known for?
On the Oum Er-Rbia river in the mountains of central Morocco, it grew as the seat of the Zaian tribes, and it keeps the red-earth houses that give it its name, the old kasbah above the river, the cedar forests and lakes of the high Atlas around it, and the springs where the great Oum Er-Rbia is born nearby. The red town climbs the slope. Cedar hills rise all around.
What are the main landmarks in Khenifra?
The old kasbah is the pride of Khenifra. The red-walled fort above the Oum Er-Rbia, raised in the days of the Zaian lords, stands over the river, the emblem of the town, downtown. A stone bridge spans the river.
The old Portuguese bridge arches over the Oum Er-Rbia nearby, while the cedar forests, the mountain lakes, and the river springs mark the country around Khenifra.
What is the history of Khenifra?
Khenifra was the seat of the Zaian. The Zaian tribes, Berbers of the Middle Atlas, long ruled these mountains and grazed their flocks on the high pastures, and Khenifra grew as their chief town by the river. The mountains guarded the tribes.
When the French pushed into the Atlas, the Zaian under their chief rose against them and held the mountains for years in a long and bitter war. The red town grew by the river. Built of the red earth of the hills, Khenifra kept its colour and its old kasbah above the Oum Er-Rbia, and travelers came for the cedar forests, the mountain lakes, and the springs of the great river nearby.
The forests filled with cedar and ape. High above the town the cedar woods sheltered the Barbary apes and the hidden lakes of the Atlas, and Khenifra grew into the market town of the mountains, keeping its kasbah, its river, and its forests. The red walls still glow at dusk.
Khenifra keeps its red town on the Oum Er-Rbia.
Where is Khenifra?
Khenifra lies in the highlands of central Morocco, in the Middle Atlas on the Oum Er-Rbia river. The town sits on red hills above the river, ringed by high cedar forest and pasture, with the mountains rising east to the Atlas lakes and the plains dropping away west toward the coast. The river runs cold from the peaks.
Cedar woods cloak the heights.
What is the climate of Khenifra?
Khenifra has a cool, dry mountain climate. Warm dry summers and cold snowy winters cross the Middle Atlas, with hot days in the high summer and snow on the peaks through the winter. The summer bakes the red hills.
Winter whitens the high peaks.
How do you get to Khenifra?
Khenifra lies in the mountains of central Morocco, in the Middle Atlas between Meknes and Marrakesh. The mountain highway runs to it through the Atlas from Meknes, and roads climb east to the cedar forests and lakes. Grand taxis run the passes.
Meknes lies north down the road.
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Updated August 2026