A very Special Place in the World
Come to us, to the edge of life, from the snowy mountains of the High Atlas, over the stony plains of the Anti Atlas to the green Oases and the beautiful Casbahs in the Draa Valley. This was the legendary Caravan Route from Marrakech to Timbuktu. See the river Draa disappearing in the desert - the great sand desert begins, Ride a camel, sleep a night in the desert with the nomads in their tent and watch the incredible Saharan sky with thousands of stars, nebulae and galaxies without optical aid from our Star Terrace.
Dear Guest
My dream was to build a hotel like a Kasbah in the traditional way of this beautiful region in south Morocco. It took 4 years and some stamina to build and finish. In 1998, we opened our Kasbah Hotel as an accomplished synthesis of the Saharan landscape, its specific colors and arid sanddunes with the unexpected comfort of its interior.
Then, inspired by the truly dark Saharan sky, we installed SaharaSky, the first private observatory in North Africa, equipped with state-of-the-art GPS amateur telescopes.
It was not always easy... I am proud, that my observatory with hotel belongs to the leading special places in Morocco -- so very close to the Sahara Desert.
Fritz Gerd Koring, Patron
Stargazing at its Best
We are the first and currently only private astronomical observatory with hotel and restaurant in North Africa installed atop our Kasbah style hotel building on an area of 500m² providing a panoramic 360° view. It is home to a rich inventory of telescopes and a complete set of accessories, including Schmidt-Cassegrain and Ritchey Chretien telescopes with up to 16 inches (400mm) aperture and the finest APO telescopes, such as Takahashi and William for photography.
From our southerly vantage of +30° latitude you will be able to see constellations of the southern hemisphere which are out of range in central or northern Europe. We are blessed with a year average of 300 days of clear, cloudless skies in total absence of light pollution.
Stay in Comfort
You would not expect stargazing in such comfortable surroundings! A unique combination of an observatory with a 3*** hotel on the fringe of the Sahara desert. All Comfort rooms (20m²) and Minisuites (45m²) are equipped with AC and flat screen TV showing European TV programs on ASTRA and HotBird Sats.
My personnel are local Berbers. Our restaurant serves authentic Berber cuisine, while our hotel bar offers the best of Moroccan wines, beers and international brands of liquor. We also provide a billard table and darts.
In our hotel the sky is not limited to night time. In our inventory, we have a special telescope and a special pair of binoculars for safe Sun observation.
Remote Telescope Hosting
SaharaSky offers hosting of your telescope online connected with your PC at home. Details...
SaharaSky offers hosting of your telescope online connected with your PC at home. IMPORTANT: Upon request of our guests we are open all year around in 2024. Leisure activities in Morocco will be limited during Ramadan from March 10th to April 8th, 2024.
ADVICE: From our experience, the local temperatures are most pleasant from September to June.
US, Virginia, Ashburn
FULL
Age 13.17 d
Phase 160.5°
Ecl 62.9°
in Taurus
Welcome to SaharaSky
Stargazing Hotel SaharaSky
offers
Astronomer Team
A dear guest, Fritz (patron) and Patrick (from left to right). Many of our staying guests are professional astronomers.
Senior Astronomer
Patrick (Patte) Innocent from Belgium speaks four languages and is a most talented performer.
Location Map
We are situated in Southern Morocco at the end of the Draa Valley near the small town of Tamegroute (Zagora), a valley of endless palm oases and fortified villages at the foot of the Sahara desert.
Longitude: W05°36'28" | Latitude: N30°14'10" | Altitude: 680m
Since our hotel is far away from city lights, it offers excellent seeing conditions and transparent skies which we are enjoying most days of the year. The sky above can be explored using our large telescopes or simply by stargazing on our Star Terrace.
Morocco can easily be reached by car and ferry and of course by air. All major places are connected by a well developed road system, for which reason Morocco is popular among campers and bikers.
