The Old Guard Filming Locations: Marrakech & Agafay

The Old Guard filming locations sit closer to your riad than the film lets on. Andy’s reunion in a medina lane was shot minutes from Jemaa el-Fnaa. The battlefield that stands in for South Sudan is a stone plateau an afternoon’s drive from Marrakech. The 2020 Netflix film did use Morocco for its African exteriors, on a unit of about two weeks based in the city.

In this guide, we will break down the Marrakech sets from the medina outward and explain how you can visit them on a private tour.

Jemaa el-Fna and El Fenn - The Medina Sets You Can Walk

El Fenn and Jemaa el-Fnaa are where the Old Guard Marrakech chapter starts. Both sit on the shoot’s location list, and between them they carry the opening act: the reunion in a lane, then the rooftop selfie.

El Fenn is a working boutique hotel a few lanes off the square. Non-residents can book the rooftop, and the suite you see on screen is a bookable room.

The square itself is free and open all day, and it is at its best after dusk. Location researchers place the Copley rendezvous on Jemaa el-Fna. The exact café is not confirmed, so treat the square as the solid part and the table as a guess.

What you can reach:

• Jemaa el-Fnaa: free, open all day, liveliest once the food stalls fire up after sunset.
• El Fenn rooftop: book a table for late afternoon, when the terrace looks across the medina to the Atlas.
• Rue el Ksour: a reported set for a lane walk in front of Riad Palais Sebban, a private riad you see from the street.

Agafay - The Stone Desert That Played South Sudan

Agafay is the one set with real screen scale. It starts 30-35 km southwest of Marrakech, 30-45 minutes by road, and rises in pale stone hills above Lake Lalla Takerkoust. The helicopter insertion and the Humvee sequence were shot on this rock.

Nothing built survives and no marker tells you where to stand. The ground is compacted rock and gravel, so it reads as desert at a distance and as a quarry close up. The draw is the landscape itself, which looks much the same in person as it does on screen around golden hour, with the High Atlas foothills behind it.

What to expect:

• Stone, not sand: Agafay is a reg plateau of rock and gravel, not Saharan dunes.
• No shade, no facilities: carry water, wear a hat, and go early or late.
• Camel and quad rides: several outfits run short loops from the plateau edge.
• Tented camps: a ring of desert camps lines the ridge for dinner or a night under canvas.

Lake Lalla Takerkoust fills the rest of a half day if you want water after all that dust.

The Atlas Village, Kettara and Harbil - Sets Beyond Marrakech

The Old Guard Morocco filming locations reach past the city into Al Haouz and Marrakech prefecture. Village exteriors were shot at Obaki, a Berber village on the Plateau du Kik around 1,800 m up, roughly 1-1.5 hours from Marrakech above Lalla Takerkoust.

The camp scenes went the other way. Nile’s revival and the armoured transfer were filmed on a built set at an English airfield, so only the ground under those village scenes is Moroccan.

Drive-through country:

• Kettara: 35-38 km northwest on the N7 toward Safi, around an abandoned pyrrhotite mine worked until the early 1980s.
• Harbil: a rural commune south of the city near Tameslohte, with no centre to speak of.
• Tayzelt and Tamansourt: a hamlet in the Al Haouz foothills and a new town on the same road, both on the shoot’s list.
• No set dressing: no plaques, no markers, and nobody has matched the list to scenes one by one.

Why Marrakech Doubles for War Zones

If you are asking where was The Old Guard filmed, the answer is two countries. Marrakech played Afghanistan and parts of Africa in the same film, while England carried the French town and the London streets.

The Moroccan leg ran about two weeks with a large local crew. The ground changes fast: you can drive from medina lanes to a bare stone plateau in under an hour. Shepperton took the studio work, and a Berkshire airfield supplied the Afghan camp.

That range explains the double act. The same hills read as one country in one scene and as another in the next, and no viewer at home has any reason to doubt it.

Plan the Walk - Where to Base Yourself

One day covers the medina on foot and Agafay at sunset. Give it two and you can add the Plateau du Kik and the Kettara road, which want a vehicle and a driver who knows the turnings. Base inside the medina if you want the square on foot, or in Gueliz if you prefer quiet nights and easy parking.

If the film has you hunting more Marrakech on screen, our guide to the Inventing Anna filming locations in Marrakech covers La Mamounia. That palace carried the show’s luxury escape.

For a wider loop out of the city, the 4-Day Morocco Desert Tour from Marrakech crosses the Atlas to Ait Ben Haddou, the Dades Valley and Merzouga. The 8-Day Morocco Tour: Marrakech, Sahara Desert & Essaouira adds desert nights and the Atlantic coast.

We can customize a tour to match your needs - design your perfect itinerary