The Odyssey (2026) Filming Locations in Morocco: Where to Find Troy, the Trojan Horse Beach & More

The Odyssey — Quick Facts

A brief overview before the location details, for context on why this film matters for Morocco tourism.

Aït Benhaddou — The Burning City of Troy

The fall of Troy — the film's opening set piece — was filmed at Aït Benhaddou, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed fortified village (ksar) of red clay and earthen architecture on the historic caravan route between Marrakech and the Sahara. The production built more than 60 temporary structures across 2.5 acres, including a pillared "Temple of Athena" and city gates, and craned in 15 full-grown olive trees to make the ancient city feel lived-in. The set accommodated over 2,000 extras for the destruction sequence.

This is not Aït Benhaddou's first appearance on screen. The 900-year-old ksar has played Jerusalem, Yunkai in Game of Thrones, the arena town in both of Ridley Scott's Gladiator films, and locations in Lawrence of Arabia — it has been "Africa's Hollywood" since the 1960s, when David Lean first filmed there. The temporary Troy set has since been dismantled, but the real ksar — the actual skyline the production built Troy against — remains exactly as visitors have seen it for decades.

Essaouira — Where the Trojan Horse Was Discovered

The windswept Atlantic beaches of Essaouira provided the setting for one of the film's pivotal moments: the discovery of the Trojan Horse and the departure of Odysseus's ships for the long voyage home to Ithaca. Essaouira's fortified ramparts and coastal light have a long cinematic history of their own — Orson Welles filmed scenes of Othello on the same ramparts back in 1949.

The town sits roughly 190 km west of Marrakech, about a 2.5–3 hour drive, and is known for its strong Atlantic winds — the same wind that gives the coastline its dramatic, cinematic quality also makes Essaouira one of Morocco's best windsurfing and kitesurfing destinations.

Ouarzazate — The Production Base at Atlas Studios

Twenty minutes past Aït Benhaddou sits Ouarzazate, Morocco's film industry hub since the 1980s and home to Atlas Studios — one of the world's largest film studio complexes, with sound stages, backlots, and standing sets that have hosted productions from Lawrence of Arabia to Gladiator, The Mummy, Kingdom of Heaven, and Game of Thrones. The Odyssey production used Ouarzazate as its logistical and technical base for the Moroccan shoot.

Atlas Studios offers public tours where visitors can walk through leftover sets from decades of Hollywood and international productions — a genuinely interesting stop even without an Odyssey connection, and one that makes an easy addition to a Sahara-bound road trip.

Marrakech — Palace Interiors

Marrakech and its surroundings supplied interior sequences for the film, including a palace interior used for scenes connected to Menelaus. The market town of Tahannaout, about 20 km south of Marrakech in the El Haouz region, and the stone plains of Agafay were also used for supplementary landscape and city sequences.

Marrakech remains Morocco's most visited city and the natural hub for combining an Odyssey-locations trip with the country's more famous sights — the medina, Jemaa el-Fnaa, and easy onward routes to both Essaouira and Ouarzazate.

Dakhla — The Island of Ogygia

Post-release reporting identifies the White Dune (Dune Blanche) near Dakhla, on Morocco's Atlantic coast far south of Agadir, as the location used for Ogygia — the island where Charlize Theron's Calypso keeps Odysseus captive for seven years in the story. The White Dune is a pale crescent of sand popular with kitesurfers rather than a conventional tourist site.

It is worth noting directly: Dakhla sits within Western Sahara, a territory whose status is disputed and classified by the United Nations as non-self-governing. The area has been administered by Morocco since 1975, and the choice of filming location there drew public criticism from the Western Sahara International Film Festival during production. Travelers considering a Dakhla extension should be aware this is a separate, specialist journey — far removed from the standard Marrakech–Essaouira–Ouarzazate circuit, and one that involves this broader political context.

All The Odyssey Morocco Locations — Summary Table

A quick reference for every confirmed Moroccan filming location, what it played in the film, and how far it sits from Casablanca and Marrakech.

How to Visit The Odyssey Locations — A Practical Road Trip

The good news for travelers: three of the four main Moroccan locations — Aït Benhaddou, Ouarzazate and Marrakech — sit along the exact route our team already drives clients on for standard Sahara desert tours. Essaouira adds naturally as a coastal detour from Marrakech. This means an Odyssey-themed trip requires no unusual logistics — it follows one of Morocco's classic road trip circuits.

Best Time to Visit for the Same Cinematic Light

The light that made these locations worth filming is seasonal. October through April brings the clearest, most dramatic light across the Aït Benhaddou–Ouarzazate–Sahara corridor, with comfortable daytime temperatures. Essaouira is a genuinely year-round destination thanks to its coastal breeze, though its famous wind is strongest in summer — good for kitesurfers, less ideal for calm beach photography.