Marocko

Tetouan is a jewel of a town in a striking location at the foot of the Rif Mountains, and just a few kilometres from the sea. Despite seeing relatively few foreign visitors, there's an air of authenticity here that adds great value to a visit. The ancient medina, a Unesco World Heritage site, looks like it has not changed in several centuries. The modern center that abuts it gleams in white, its Spanish facades given a recent facelift to seductive affect.

Monkeys and fragrant cedar forest trails are what draw visitors to Azrou, but the town itself is a thoroughly unhurried, relaxing spot in which to wind down if you're feeling frazzled after too many big cities. It's an important Berber market centre deep in the Middle Atlas, with a shaggy mane of woods and high meadows that burst into flower every spring.

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.

Taroudant (also spelled Taroudannt) is sometimes called "Little Marrakesh," but that description doesn’t do the Souss Valley trading center justice. Hidden by magnificent red-mud walls, and with the snowcapped peaks of the High Atlas beckoning beyond, Taroudant’s souqs and squares have a healthy sprinkling of Maghrebi mystique. Yet it is also a practical place, a market town where Berbers trade the produce of the rich and fertile Oued Souss plain.

Midelt sits in apple country between the Middle and the High Atlas and makes a handy break between Fez and the desert. Coming from the north, in particular, the landscape offers some breathtaking views, especially of the eastern High Atlas, which seem to rise out of nowhere.

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.

Who would expect to find hundreds of modernist buildings, the second-largest such collection outside Barcelona, in North Africa? Yet here they are, along with one perfectly preserved medieval fortress, several fascinating museums and a wealth of tapas bars. The result is Melilla, a great place to spend the weekend.

In July and August, this town transforms into a heaving holiday resort popular with Moroccan families. A compelling reason for travelers to head here is to visit the Unesco-listed 16th-century Cité Portugaise, and this is something that can easily be done in an hour or two en route between Casablanca and towns further down the coast.