Best Places to Visit in Morocco: From Tangier to the Sahara

Tangier sits on the Strait of Gibraltar, where Africa and Europe face each other, and it has long drawn artists, writers and travellers with its mix of Moroccan and European influences. At its heart are the medina and the Kasbah, with views over the Strait to the Spanish coast on a clear day, and the Kasbah Museum in the old sultan's palace.

Beyond the old town, the Caves of Hercules open onto the Atlantic, one of them shaped like Africa, and Cap Spartel marks the north-western tip of the continent. Add the beaches and the café culture, and it is the natural first stop of a trip through Morocco, with plenty of things to do for a day or two.

Chefchaouen, in the Rif Mountains, is famous for its blue-painted streets. Every corner of its small medina shows a new shade of blue, with potted plants and carved doorways, and the main square, Outa el Hammam, is lined with cafés below the old kasbah.

It is calmer than the big imperial cities, and one of the best places to visit in Morocco for photographers. The mountains around it are good for walking, and the Akchour waterfalls and God's Bridge are close by.

Tetouan's white medina, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was rebuilt by Muslims and Jews who came from Andalusia, and it still feels Andalusian: whitewashed houses, green-tiled roofs and craft quarters where the trades are still grouped street by street.

It sees far fewer visitors than Fes or Marrakech, which is exactly its charm, and it sits between the Rif Mountains and the Mediterranean.

Asilah is a small white town on the Atlantic inside Portuguese ramparts, its walls painted with murals by artists who come every summer for its arts festival.

It is quiet, easy to walk and good for a slow afternoon by the sea, with fresh fish on the seafront and a sunset over the ocean.

Fes, also spelled Fez, is Morocco's spiritual and cultural capital and the oldest of its imperial cities. Its medina, Fes el-Bali, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world: a maze of narrow lanes, souks, madrasas and workshops where life still runs much as it has for centuries.

Watch the leather being dyed at the Chouara tannery from a terrace above it, and see the Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas, masterpieces of Marinid architecture. The blue-tiled Bab Bou Jeloud is the grand entrance to the old city.

Meknes was the imperial city of Sultan Moulay Ismail, who surrounded it with walls and gates; Bab Mansour, facing the main square, is one of the finest gates in Morocco.

Half an hour away, Volubilis is the best-kept Roman site in the country and a UNESCO World Heritage site, with its mosaics, basilica and triumphal arch standing in open farmland, just below the holy town of Moulay Idriss.

Morocco's capital is calmer and greener than the other big cities, with wide boulevards and a relaxed medina. The Hassan Tower, the minaret of an unfinished 12th-century mosque, stands beside the Mausoleum of Mohammed V.

The Kasbah of the Udayas, a fortress of blue and white lanes, looks over the Atlantic and the Bou Regreg river, and Chellah mixes Roman ruins with a medieval necropolis. Rabat is also home to the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Morocco's largest city and economic capital shows the country's modern side, with grand boulevards and Art Deco buildings from the early 20th century.

Its highlight is the Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest in the world, built on the edge of the Atlantic with a towering minaret and a retractable roof; it is one of the few mosques in Morocco open to non-Muslim visitors, on guided tours. Walk the Corniche and the Habous quarter, the new medina built in traditional style.

Marrakech, the red city, is Morocco at its most intense and the most visited city in the country. Jemaa el-Fna, its great square, turns from a market by day into an open-air show of storytellers, musicians and food stalls by night, and the medina around it is full of souks for spices, textiles and leather.

See the Majorelle Garden, once owned by Yves Saint Laurent, the Bahia Palace with its tiles and painted ceilings, and the Koutoubia minaret, visible across the city. Riads, fine restaurants and rooftop bars make it the classic end of a trip.

South of Marrakech, the High Atlas, the highest range of the Atlas Mountains, rises to Jebel Toubkal, at 4,167 metres the highest peak in North Africa. Its valleys hold Amazigh villages of earth and stone, walnut trees and terraced fields.

Imlil, about an hour and a half from Marrakech, is the base for walks of a day or more, and the road over the Tizi n'Tichka pass crosses the range on the way to the desert.

Ait Ben Haddou, or Ait Benhaddou, is a fortified village of earth houses climbing a hill above a river, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a backdrop for films such as Gladiator. It is the most famous of the kasbahs of the south.

Nearby Ouarzazate, called the door of the desert, has its own kasbah of Taourirt and the film studios that made the region famous.

On the road between Ouarzazate and the dunes, two canyons cut into the mountains. In the Todra Gorge, red cliffs close in above a narrow river, and climbers come for its walls.

The Dades Valley winds past kasbahs and palm groves, with a famous zigzag road, and the nearby Valley of Roses celebrates its harvest every spring.

No trip to Morocco is complete without the Sahara desert, and for many it is the experience of the whole trip. The golden dunes of Erg Chebbi, near Merzouga, rise up to about 150 metres and are at their best at sunrise and sunset.

Ride a camel into the dunes, spend a night in a desert camp under the stars with Amazigh music and dinner, and hear the Gnawa musicians of nearby Khamlia. Sandboarding and 4x4 trips are there for the adventurous; the drive down, through the Atlas and old kasbahs, is part of the experience.

On the Atlantic coast west of Marrakech, Essaouira is a laid-back port inside 18th-century walls, its medina a UNESCO World Heritage site of whitewashed houses with blue shutters, galleries and workshops.

One of the best places to visit in Morocco by the sea and known as the windy city of Africa, it is a favourite of windsurfers and kitesurfers. Watch the fishing boats come in, eat grilled fish at the port, walk the ramparts with their old cannons at sunset, and come in June for the Gnaoua music festival.