Toubkal Refuge: What To Expect + Hacks For A Smooth Stay
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Are you planning to summit Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa?
If so, you’ll almost certainly be spending a night at the Toubkal Refuge, the high-altitude basecamp nestled deep in Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains.
Staying at 3,207 meters (10,522 feet) is an unforgettable experience, but it’s definitely rustic and nothing like a regular hotel or guesthouse.
To help you prepare, this guide breaks down exactly what to expect when staying at the Toubkal Refuge, based on my own experience staying here in early May.
✈️ Short on time? Here are some quick recommendations:
🥾 Guide: Toubkal Guide
📲 eSIM: Airalo
☔️ Travel Insurance: SafetyWing (with the “Adventure Sports” add-on)
✨ Free Planning Resources: Get my free Travel Planning Toolkit with budget calculator, Google Maps, planning cheat sheets, and more
Booking Your Stay At Toubkal Refuge
First things first: you are required by law to have a licensed guide to summit Mount Toubkal in Morocco. But even if it weren’t mandatory, having a guide makes the entire experience much more enjoyable!
Your trekking company will handle the heavy lifting of sorting out your Toubkal Refuge reservations, securing your bed, and organizing all your meals.
Plus, they can help you rent any last-minute technical gear you might need—like crampons, sleeping bags, and an ice axe (if needed).
Personally, I booked my trek through Toubkal Guide and was very happy with the service. My guide Omar and muleteer/chef Mohammed took incredible care of us.
🏡 Where to stay before and after: The village of Imlil is the main backpacking hub where hikers typically overnight before and after their trek. I highly recommend staying at the Atlas Imoula Guest House for a comfortable room, private hot showers, and delicious tagine!
What’s Included With Your Stay?
Because you’ll likely be booking this through a guiding company, your stay at Toubkal Refuge generally operates on a full-board basis.
Here is exactly what is included in a standard stay:
A designated bunk space: You get a spot in a communal dorm room with a basic bunk mattress and a pillow. There are also a limited number of private rooms.
All your main meals: This is really through your guiding company, but just know you will get fed during your stay—including dinner, an early-morning breakfast, and lunch on the way back.
Access to shared facilities: Use of the communal bathrooms, sinks, and dining halls.
🚫 What’s NOT included: toilet paper, soap, towels, hot showers (which cost extra), and bottled water/snacks (though you can buy these from the onsite shop).
Arriving To Toubkal Refuge
After a long, uphill trek from Imlil, rounding the final ridge and seeing the stone refuge pop into view is a very welcome sight.
The setting is stunning, as you are completely cut off from civilization and surrounded on all sides by towering High Atlas Mountains. This view was a highlight of my Morocco itinerary!
On the downside, it felt a little chaotic upon arrival. Luckily, Omar knew exactly what to do; he secured our rooms (more on that below) while Mohammed made us a snack of popcorn, chocolate, and nuts—which we ate outside while taking in the beautiful vista.
The Refuge Sleeping Situation
Refuge Room Options
There are actually two separate refuges right next to each other at basecamp: the Club Alpin Français (CAF) refuge and the Les Mouflons Refuge. Both feature dorm rooms, though Les Mouflons also has a limited number of private rooms if you book far enough in advance.
If you prefer to sleep under the stars rather than indoors, there is also onsite tent camping available on the designated grounds around the refuges, which include access to outdoor toilets and showers.
My Refuge Dorm Experience
I stayed at Les Mouflons in Dormitory 2 on the second floor, which featured 16 bunk beds packed into the room.
This is actually one of the smaller dorms in the refuge 😅. I was very thankful to my guide for quite literally grabbing our bags and running inside to secure it for us. We were also fortunate to have nice bunkmates, including a mix of solo travelers and trekkers on a group tour.
Because you are sharing tight quarters with a room full of exhausted hikers—and most definitely some snorers—earplugs and an eye mask are an absolute must.
Most hikers leave the refuge for their summit push between 3:00 AM and 5:00 AM, so expect an early wakeup time (or at least some noisy packing from your dorm mates).
While the outside air and the massive stone building itself are freezing cold, the body heat of 16 people meant our dorm room was actually quite warm! I actually had to unbutton my heavy-duty sleeping bag in the middle of the night.
💡 My Personal Sleep Hack: To successfully sleep through the noise, I combined an eye mask, earplugs, and this exact 31-fan white noise video by Randall’s Relaxation. You can play it on low under your pillow or through noise-cancelling headphones for side sleepers. Thank me later! 🙂
Electricity & Getting Ready in the Dark
Do not expect 24/7 power out here. The refuge only turns the electricity on for a small daily window of time. When I was there, it ran from roughly 7:00 PM to a bit after 9:00 PM.
When our room went to sleep at 9:00 PM, the lights were still functioning, but when I got up to use the toilet around midnight, the entire building was pitch black.
This limited window is when you’ll want to charge devices and lay out your gear for the morning, since you’ll be getting ready in the dark.
While our dorm room actually had wall outlets, the electricity isn’t on long enough to reliably charge everything. You will definitely want to pack a high-capacity portable power bank to juice up your phone, camera, and headlamp.
📱Staying Connected: While Toubkal Refuge doesn’t have public Wi-Fi, I had cell service thanks to my Airalo eSIM. It was even strong enough to send some photos to loved ones through WhatsApp!
🏔️ Tips for a smooth summit morning:
• Pre-pack your daypack: You’ll be getting ready in the dark. Pack your bag and lay out your clothes in an accessible spot the night before. Personally, I used the small space between my bunk mattress and the person sleeping next to me.
• Keep your clothes warm: Sleep with your base layers inside your sleeping bag so they aren’t freezing cold when you pull them on at 2:00 AM.
• Keep your headlamp handy: You’ll need it to navigate the dark refuge hallways as well as the first few hours of the snowy trail in the dark. My go-to is this Lepro LED Rechargeable Headlamp.
Bathrooms, Showers, & Hygiene Realities
Let’s talk about the bathrooms, because they can get a bit…unpleasant.
Facilities are limited; on our floor, there were 4 toilet stalls featuring a mix of Western-style and squat toilets. You must bring your own toilet paper and soap (I like these biodegradable soap sheets), as these are not provided by the refuge.
Because of the sheer volume of trekkers, the bathrooms can get gross quickly. Right before our hike started, the toilet tanks completely ran out of water, making it impossible to flush. Someone had also unfortunately thrown up in one of the communal sinks.
🧼 Hygiene Packing Hacks:
• Bring a hanging toiletry bag with hooks: This allows you to hang your gear up so absolutely nothing touches the bathroom floor.
• Pack a camp towel: I used a lightweight camp towel to shield myself so I could change directly in the dorm room rather than stepping into the wet bathroom stalls.
• Bring slippers/slides: Slippers are handy for navigating the bathroom floor, especially if you have to get up in the middle of the night.
• Skip the cold showers: You can pay extra for a shower (around 2 to 4 Euros), but the water is freezing cold and everyone who tried it complained. Instead, save your money and pack biodegradable cleaning wipes to freshen up!
Toubkal Refuge Food & Water
When you book a guided trek, your team generally includes your mountain guide, a muleteer (who manages the mules carrying your main luggage), and a dedicated cook.
On my trip, which I booked through Toubkal Guide, my muleteer pulled double duty as our chef—and he was incredible. Seriously, it was the best food of the trip!
You’ll enjoy dinner in the onsite dining hall the night you arrive.
The next day, you’ll eat a super early breakfast at the refuge before your summit push, and return to basecamp for lunch afterward before making the long descent back down to Imlil.
🛒 The Onsite Refuge Shop: If you need extra fuel, there is a small shop inside Les Mouflons selling snacks, sodas, candy, and large 1.5-liter water bottles. Make sure to bring cash in Moroccan Dirhams (MAD) for these extras. Expect to pay a little extra than usual—large water bottles are 15 MAD, compared to the standard 10 MAD you often find elsewhere in Morocco. Bring small bills and coins, as it’s not guaranteed they’ll be able to make change for you.
Video Tour Of Toubkal Refuge
To give you an interactive view of the space, I created a short video tour walking you around the refuge:
Your Toubkal Refuge Action Plan
To make your night at Toubkal Refuge as comfortable as possible, here is your quick checklist:
- Book with a top-rated guiding company. Let them handle the reservations, meals, and gear rentals so you can focus entirely on the trek.
- Create a game plan to actually get some sleep. Pack an eye mask, earplugs, noise-canceling headphones, and download a white noise video to drown out the 15 other people in your room. (Remember, you won’t have Wi-Fi, so you’ll want to download the video beforehand.)
- Pack your hygiene essentials. Bring your own toilet paper, biodegradable soap sheets, a hanging toiletry bag, and wet wipes so you can skip the freezing cold showers.
- Pack extra power and pre-install your eSIM. Bring a high-capacity power bank and download an eSIM like Airalo before you head into the mountains so you can stay connected.
Despite the lack of luxury amenities, mingling with other trekkers and trading travel stories while completely surrounded by snow-capped peaks is a memory you’ll never forget.
Keep in mind too that it’s all part of the epic adventure of summiting North Africa’s highest mountain. Taking in 360-degree views of Morocco’s High Atlas beauty from the top of Mount Toubkal at 4,167 meters (13,671 feet) is worth one rough dorm night!
Have questions about staying at the Toubkal Refuge that I didn’t cover? I’m happy to answer questions! Send me a DM over on Instagram @JessieOnAJourney.
