Marocko

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.

Guarding the Strait of Gibraltar, Tangier has for centuries been Europes's gateway to Africa. Its blend of cultures and influences is unique in Morocco – for much of its history it wasn't even governed by Morocco.

Welcome to North Africa’s highest mountain range, known by local Berbers as ‘Idraren Draren’ (Mountains of Mountains), and a trekker’s paradise from spring through to autumn. The High Atlas runs diagonally across Morocco for almost 1000km, encircling Marrakesh to the south and east from the Atlantic Coast just north of Agadir to Khenifra in the northeast. Its saw-toothed Jurassic peaks act as a weather barrier between the mild, Mediterranean climate to the north and the encroaching Sahara to the south.

Strategically located Ouarzazate (war-zazat) has gotten by largely on its wits instead of its looks. For centuries, people from the Atlas, Draa and Dadès Valleys converged to do business at Ouarzazate’s sprawling Taourirt Kasbah, and a modern garrison town was established here in the 1920s to oversee France’s colonial interests. The movie business gradually took off in Ouarzazate after the French protectorate left in the 1950s, and "Ouallywood" movie studios have built quite a resume providing convincing backdrops for movies supposedly set in Tibet, ancient Rome, Somalia and Egypt.

Ceuta is one of a handful of Spanish possessions on the coastline of Morocco. Located on a peninsula jutting out into the Mediterranean, it offers a compact dose of fantastic architecture, interesting museums, excellent food, a relaxing maritime park and bracing nature walks. The city is particularly beautiful at night, a skyline of artfully lit buildings and bursting palms.

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.

The small Berber town of Sefrou is a picturesque place situated on the edge of the Middle Atlas. Its annual Cherry Festival was inscribed in the Representative List of Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2012. As such, its medina walls have been restored, and some fanadiq (ancient inns used by caravans) are being rebuilt. Sefrou once hosted one of Morocco’s largest Jewish communities (as many as 8000 people, according to some accounts), and it was here that Moulay Idriss II lived while overseeing the building of Fez.

Rather than retracing the N10 back to Marrakesh via Tinerhir and Ouarzazate, adventurous desert travellers opt for the N12, which traces the southern foothills of Jebel Saghro via Alnif, Tazzarine and Nkob. The road sees little traffic and few tourists and provides an interesting link through prime fossil-hunting territory to the Draa Valley, where it emerges at Tansikht 63km north of Zagora and 98km south of Ouarzazate. Kasbah-studded Nkob is the most atmospheric place to stay and provides a good base for Jebel Saghro treks and exploration.

A little village that’s seen a whole lot of tourist action in the past decade, Setti Fatma is a scenic stop for lunch by the river and for hikes to seven waterfalls. The village is neatly nestled in a canyon beneath the High Atlas mountains at the southern end of the Ourika Valley road, 24km south of the Oukaimeden turn-off at Aghbalou.