Marocko

Need a break from the medina hustle? Head to Marrakesh’s Ville Nouvelle (new town), full of leafy parks, cafe culture, a thriving contemporary art scene and the best bars and gourmet restaurants in town. Gueliz is the central shopping hub, while Hivernage is a high-class neighbourhood bordered by gardens and home to a few remnants of art deco architecture.

Prepare for your senses to be slapped - Marrakesh's heady sights and sounds will dazzle, frazzle and enchant. Put on your babouches (leather slippers) and dive right in.

Erfoud makes a pleasant pit stop on the journey heading south to Merzouga from Fez or Meknes, with wood-fired madfouna (Berber 'pizza'), fossils dating back hundreds of millions of years and the photogenic ancient Ksar M’Aadid, 5km north of town. The souq at the southern end of Erfoud sells local dates and fresh produce, and in October the town has an increasingly popular date festival, with dancing and music.

There are numerous trekking opportunities of various durations in the vast 580-sq-km Talassemtane National Park, which begins just outside Chefchaouen. The name means ‘cold spring’ in Berber. Some popular destinations include the small villages of El Kelaâ and Akchour, and God’s Bridge, a natural formation that looks like a stone arch. The duration of these excursions depends on how much you wish to drive versus walk.

As foreign tourists head to the medinas for a taste of the "real" Morocco, Moroccan tourists find more favor with places such as Ifrane. Tidy, ordered and modern, it feels more like Switzerland relocated to the Middle Atlas than North Africa. Its clean air, scrubbed streets and leafy outlook make it popular with tour groups.

This windswept coast is home to Morocco's cultured capital, Rabat, and its economic hub, Casablanca. The refined Moorish architecture and liberal attitudes on display in both cities are a far cry from the medieval medinas and conservative lifestyles of inland cities such as Fez and Marrakesh.

As you travel along the N10 east of Taroudant, you will see frizzy argan trees, beloved of local goats and international chefs, growing near the road.

The original, iconic ‘Tombouctou, 52 jours’ (Timbuktu, 52 days) sign, featuring a nomad with a smirking camel, may have been swept away in an inexplicable government beautification scheme, but Zagora’s fame as a desert outpost remains indelible. The Saadians launched their expedition to conquer Timbuktu here in 1591, and desert caravans passing through Zagora gave this isolated spot cosmopolitan character. These days Zagora remains a trading post and meeting place, hosting a regional souq on Wednesday and Sunday and putting on a variety of lively festivals.

In its heyday, Fez attracted scholars and philosophers, mathematicians and lawyers, astronomers and theologians. Craftsmen built them houses and palaces, kings endowed mosques and medersas (religious schools), and merchants offered exotic wares from the silk roads and sub-Saharan trade routes. Although Fez lost its influence at the beginning of the 19th century, it remains a supremely self-confident city whose cultural and spiritual lineage beguiles visitors. Something of the medieval remains in the world’s largest car-free urban area: donkeys cart goods down the warren of alleyways, and while there are still ruinous pockets, government efforts to restore the city are showing results.

The Anti Atlas remains one of the least-visited parts of Morocco’s mountainscape, which is surprising, as it is beautiful and close to Agadir. The mountains are the lands of the Chleuh people, who live in a loose confederation of villages strung across the barren peaks. Living in areas molded by the demanding landscape of granite boulders and red-lava flows, the Chleuh have always been devoted to their farms in the lush oasis valleys, now some of the country’s most beautiful palmeraies (palm groves).