Marocko

The whitewashed town of Moulay Idriss sits astride two green hills in a cradle of mountains and is one of the country’s most important pilgrimage sites. Given its picturesque setting, pretty historic core and national importance, it's a mystery why more tourists don't visit. The good news is that its lack of popularity means you can often have the place all to yourself.

By the time caravans laden with gold and spice reached Skoura, the camels must’ve been gasping. After a two-month journey across the Sahara, blue-robed Tuareg desert traders offloaded cargo from caravans in Skoura, where Middle Atlas mountaineers packed it onto mules headed to Fez. Ouarzazate, 39km west, is now the region’s commercial center, but Skoura’s historic mudbrick castles remain, and traders throng Monday and Thursday souqs brimming with intensely flavorful desert produce. When market days are done and palm-tree shadows stretch across the road, no one seems in a hurry to leave.

The lanes that spool north from Djemaa El Fna sum up this old caravan city’s charm. Scents of cumin and grilled meat intermingle in alleyways where shafts of sunlight strike through palm-frond roofing and hawkers bid you hello in 10 languages. Throw away your map and go get lost in the helter-skelter for a while.

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.

Like the other towns on this stretch of the Atlantic, Larache is laid-back for most of the year but bursts into life in summer, when Moroccan tourists flock to nearby Ras R'mel beach. Occupied by the Spanish for most of the 17th century, the town developed a local industry building ships for the corsairs operating further south. It eventually became the main port of the Spanish protectorate in 1911. Though certainly as picturesque as its northern neighbor, Asilah, Larache gets far fewer visitors and is relatively hassle-free. Come here for local flavor rather than headline sights, and don't expect a lot in terms of accommodation and eating options.

The laid-back fishing village of Taghazout, once famous for calamari and hippies, is now considered Morocco’s premier surfing destination for both pros and learners.

With the help of some Hollywood touch-ups, this Unesco-protected red mudbrick ksar (fortified vilage) seems frozen in time, still resembling its days in the 11th century as an Almoravid caravanserai. Movie buffs may recognize it from Lawrence of Arabia, Jesus of Nazareth (for which much of Aït Ben Haddou was rebuilt), Jewel of the Nile (note the Egyptian towers) and Gladiator. A less retouched kasbah can be found 6km north along the tarmac from Aït Ben Haddou: the Tamdaght kasbah, a crumbling Glaoui fortification topped by storks’ nests.

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.

Temperatures are cooler in the shadow of snowcapped High Atlas peaks, and this blooming valley a little more than 50km south of Marrakesh is the city’s escape hatch from the soaring summer heat. The valley is especially mood-altering from February to April, when almond and cherry orchards bloom manically and wildflowers run riot.

Tiznit is an old walled medina town surrounded by modern development. It was originally the site of a cluster of forts that were encircled in the 19th century by some 5km of pisé (rammed earth) wall. It quickly became a trade center and remains a provincial capital and center for Berber jewelery, with a souq devoted to the silver stuff. This slow-paced and authentic spot is a convenient stop-off between the Anti Atlas and Atlantic Coast.