Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
all set on a farm with orchards, vegetables and animals. You can get your hands dirty
helping out, ride mules into the hills and tuck into the home-grown food at dinnertime.
Volubilis Inn
( 0535 54 44 05; hotelvolubilisinn@gmail.com; Rte de Meknès; d incl breakfast from Dh1050;
)
On a rise above the Roman site, this huge four-star hotel has rooms with good views
to the Volubilis ruins and countryside. There are several terraces with a couple of restaur-
ants (mains from Dh85) and a noisy bar - the common parts are quite grand although
rooms lapse into 'airport hotel' mood, and lack atmosphere. Ask for reductions out of sea-
son.
HOTEL
€€€
Getting There & Away
The simplest and quickest way to get here from Meknès is to hire a grand taxi for the re-
turn trip. A half-day outing should cost Dh350, with a couple of hours at the site and a
stop at Moulay Idriss (worth an overnight stay in itself).
A cheaper alternative is to take a shared grand taxi from near Meknès' Institut Français
to Moulay Idriss (Dh10) and then hire a grand taxi to take you to Volubilis (Dh40 com-
plete hire). If the weather isn't too hot, it's a lovely 45-minute walk between Moulay
Idriss and Volubilis.
There are no buses to Volubilis.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Moulay Idriss
The picturesque whitewashed town of Moulay Idriss sits astride two green hills in a cradle
of mountains slightly less than 5km from Volubilis, and is one of the country's most im-
portant pilgrimage sites. It's named for Moulay Idriss, a great-grandson of the Prophet
Mohammed, the founder of the country's first real dynasty, and Morocco's most revered
saint. His tomb is at the heart of the town, and is the focus of the country's largest
moussem
every August.
Moulay Idriss fled Mecca in the late 8th century in the face of persecution at the hands
of the recently installed Abbasid caliphate, which was based in Baghdad. Idriss settled at
Volubilis, where he converted the locals to Islam, and made himself their leader, establish-
ing the Idrissid dynasty.
