Bab Zouina

( the story )

A traditional Moroccan retreat house in the Ourika Valley — twenty-four rooms, two fully equipped shalas and two rooftops facing the Atlas.

where it begins

Bab Zouina sits at the foot of the Atlas Mountains in the Ourika Valley, built in traditional Moroccan style around gardens of olive trees, stone trails and flowering beds. It is set up for retreat leaders rather than passing guests: twenty-four rooms that host up to fifty people, two shalas equipped down to the Iyengar ropes and chairs, and two rooftops where you can practise with the mountains in front of you. The kitchen cooks Moroccan, Berber and Middle Eastern food from local produce and the property's own vegetable garden, and bakes its bread every day in an earth oven. Beyond yoga, the house runs workshops in shiatsu, calligraphy, flamenco, eco-construction and photography, and trekking into the Atlas or out to the Sahara.