Is Morocco Worth Visiting? 10 Reasons Tourists Love It

Morocco's old cities are the first reason to go. The medinas of Fes, Marrakech, Tetouan and Tangier are walled towns of lanes, souks, mosques and fountains where people still live, work and shop the way their families did for centuries. Fes el-Bali is one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world, and the medinas of Fes, Marrakech, Tetouan and Essaouira are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

The best way to see them is simply to walk: a carpenter planing cedar, bread carried to the neighbourhood oven, the call to prayer over the rooftops, a glass of tea at an old café such as Café Hafa in Tangier, open since 1921. The first time, a guide makes all the difference, because the lanes are a maze and every door has a story.

For many travellers the Sahara is the moment that makes Morocco worth the trip. The dunes of Erg Chebbi, near Merzouga, rise to about 150 metres: you ride a camel into them late in the afternoon, watch the sunset from the crest, eat around the fire in a desert camp and sleep under more stars than you have ever seen.

The desert is a long day's drive from Fes, so it belongs to a trip of a week or more. The road there crosses the Middle Atlas, its cedar forests and the Ziz valley, and the drive is part of the experience.

Morocco has real mountains. The High Atlas rises above 4,000 metres at Jebel Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa, with Amazigh villages, walnut trees and terraced fields in its valleys, and the Todra Gorge and the Dades Valley cut through the rock on the way to the desert. In the north, the Rif Mountains around Chefchaouen offer green hikes to waterfalls such as Akchour.

Spring brings wild flowers and snow on the peaks; in summer the mountains are a cool escape from the heat of the plains.

For many visitors the food alone makes Morocco worth visiting. Tagines slow-cooked with preserved lemon and olives, couscous on Friday, harira soup, pastilla, and in Tangier a breakfast of bissara and the street snack called kalinte. Spices from the market, bread from the neighbourhood oven and fruit that tastes of the sun.

Moroccan cooking is at its best in homes and small local places. The easiest way in is to eat with locals: a food tour through the markets and street stalls, or a cooking class in a family home, where you shop for the ingredients, cook a tagine and share it at the table.

Ask travellers what they remember most and many say the people. Hospitality is a real tradition in Morocco: a guest is welcomed with mint tea, poured from high to raise the foam, in shops, homes and offices, families invite visitors to share a meal, and people are proud to show their country to visitors.

Moroccans are also good with languages. Most people speak Darija and French, many in the north speak Spanish, and English is now common in hotels, shops and among young people.

Morocco is a country of colour: the blue lanes of Chefchaouen in the Rif, the white medinas of Tetouan and Asilah, the red walls of Marrakech, the zellige tiles in every palace and fountain, the dye pits of the Fes tannery. Photographers love it, and so does anyone with a phone.

Chefchaouen is the favourite. About 115 km from Tangier, a two-hour drive through the Rif, it is calm, small and blue from top to bottom. Go early, or stay the night, to have its lanes almost to yourself.

Morocco has been a crossroads for more than 2,500 years. Walk through the Roman city of Volubilis with its mosaics still in place, the four imperial cities of Fes, Meknes, Rabat and Marrakech, the kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou on the old caravan road, and Tangier, where Phoenicians, Romans, Portuguese, English and a dozen consulates left their mark.

The story is easy to follow with a guide: the dynasties, the Andalusian refugees who shaped the northern towns, the protectorates and independence in 1956.

Morocco is the only country in Africa with coasts on both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and at Cap Spartel, just west of Tangier, you can see where they meet. Along the Atlantic come the long beaches of Achakkar and Asilah, the surf towns of the south and the ramparts and fishing port of Essaouira.

The coast is also where Morocco slows down: grilled fish at the port, a swim, a walk on the sand at sunset. It is the perfect rest after the medinas and the desert.

Morocco is a short flight from most of Europe, and from Spain it is closer still: the fast ferry from Tarifa reaches Tangier in about an hour. That makes it easy for a first trip to Africa, a day trip or a long weekend from Andalusia, or a cruise stop in Tangier.

Citizens of the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and the European Union do not need a visa for a tourist stay of up to 90 days. Morocco uses the dirham, and there are cash machines in every city.

Moroccan crafts are still made by hand, and you can watch them being made: carpets and kilims, leather from the tanneries, zellige tiles, cedar wood, brass lamps, pottery and argan oil. Bargaining is part of the fun, and a local guide can tell you what a fair price looks like.

Day to day, Morocco is good value next to Europe: a meal in a local restaurant, a taxi across town or a glass of tea cost little, and a private guide is within reach of most travellers. Our private tours in Tangier start from $25 per person.