Auberge Ouahsous

Telouet is a tiny village 120 km from Marrakech, popular mainly for the Kasbah Telouet that was the palace of the Glaoui ruling family in the early to mid 1900s. (more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telouet). This was the main reason we had visited Telouet. It was the last stop of our adventure tour of Southern Morocco and we only stayed for 1 day (which in my opinion is more than enough time to spend in Telouet). Aside from the Kasbah (which can be visited in about an hour or less), there is little else to see, unless you are interested in seeing how people live in a typical Moroccan village. We were dropped off at the Auberge Inn Telouet by our tour guides early in the afternoon. The Auberge is on the main road passing through Telouet, on the way to Marrkach and probably the biggest and most known inn in the village. It is the place where most of the tour groups stop when they visit the Kasbah (as it is very close to it). We found the place on the internet and emailed about availability and agreed on the price beforehand. I would advise to bring your confirmation email with you, that has the price so that there are no surprised when you pay. I didn't see if they had payment options by visa, as we paid by cash (21 euros per person per night). We were greeted by an older man, who was very friendly. He lead us into a huge dining room, where he brought us tea and sweets. He talked with us for a while, he was curious where we had come from and how we liked Morocco. It wasn't long before we realized that we were the ONLY people at the Auberge. Apparently, June is not a very high-season tourist month (most people come in Feb/Mar), so they had no other visitors. I must say that was a little bit creepy, because all the attention was on us, and at times it was kind of uncomfortable. The older man had sat with us for lunch and for dinner, and it was kind of weird to have him there, just watching us. I know that this was his way of being friendly and making sure we had everything we needed, however, it was also very strange to have all the attention directed at us. While we were eating lunch, another man came to greet us, I believe his name was Mohammed (and the person with whom we confirmed the reservation) - he also was nice, but in a slightly creepy way also. He requested that after lunch we go with him to visit his friend's shop. We knew that if we went we would be hassled to buy something, so we got out of it by saying we would go later after we had visited the village. Thankfully, we didn't see him after that, so we were relieved to have gotten out of it. So, beware of this - he had a clever way of phrasing his 'request' (and it was a request, not a question) - but since this was the end of our trip, we had gained a little bit of savvyness to know that it was a sales pitch. The food at the Auberge was very good and it was freshly made to our order. We were hoping to have skewers for lunch, but they were out, so we had tagine, but they were nice enough to get some skewers for us for dinner. It was VERY quiet at the Auberge, which, also was a bit creepy, but I think it's not like this most of the time. I think also, because we were the only ones in the hotel we got one of the nicer rooms on the top floor with a beautiful view of the Kasbah Telouet, that maybe we didn't pay for (we only paid for the lowest priced room). It was quite large and had running water bathroom, which was great. The bed was comfortable, and the room was clean and very charming. We had to wake early to catch the only bus a day to Marrakech, which stopped in front of the Auberge every morning around 6 a.m. Since we weren't with a tour, I think this way was the most economical to get to Marrakech as it only costs 40 dirham per person, however, it takes about 6 hours to arrive to Marrakech. The taxis would cost quite a bit more, and we also had a hard time actually finding one that was willing to go to Marrakech. In the day we were in Telouet, we visited the Kasbah, and after that we walked around in the village. It was refreshing for a change not to be hassled a lot by the salespeople, as it was mostly regular people minding their own business. We did get some kids that would run after us and ask for things, and I wish now that we had brought some things with us to give them. The kids usually start with asking for money, and when you tell them you have no money, then they ask for other things, such as candy, or lipstics and nail polish (usually by the girls). We had no candy unfortunately. One girl asked for our bottled water and another one for a pen, so we gave those things away, as it was very little in comparison to what it meant to them. In retrospect, we should have brought small things with us - pens would have been great... We also walked around and visited the small market, and then walked a bit outside the village and sat in a field, taking in all the scenery. All in all, I think the whole visit of the village would have taken 2-3 hours, and I wouldn't have stayed the night in retrospect, however, since that is how we planned our trip, it was nice to have the experience, and the place we stayed was better than average. For anyone that wants to stay the night in Telouet, I would recommend Auberge Telouet.