Marocko

From Ouarzazate, the N9 plunges southeast into the Draa Valley, formed by a narrow ribbon of water from the High Atlas that occasionally emerges triumphantly in lush oases, particularly between Agdz and Zagora, a stretch of about 95km. The drive from Agdz to Zagora takes three to four hours, though the more scenic Circuits Touristiques route follows the piste through the oasis. Beyond that, a road takes you 96km further south to M’Hamid, a town 40km short of the Algerian border that marks the end of the road and the start of the desert proper.

One of Morocco's most significant national parks and bird reserves, Souss-Massa stretches down the coast from Inezgane, a block of more than 330 sq km of protected land between the main north–south highway and the beach. It is a spectacular and wild place of cliffs, sand dunes, farmland, coastal steppes and forests.

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.

As the local saying goes, the wind has a son who lives in Boumalne, which is why he rips down this valley to visit him in winter. Sitting in the rain shadow of the Central Atlas, the Dadès Gorge presents a dramatic landscape: ancient rust-red and mauve mountains stripped back to zigzagging layers of strata and knobbly rock formations. A rush of springtime water puddles in the valley where irrigation channels siphon it off to fields of wheat and orchards of fig, almond and olive trees. A series of crumbling kasbahs and ksour (fortified villages) line the valley in the Berber villages of Aït Youl, Aït Arbi, Aït Oudinar, Aït Ouffi and Aït Toukhsine.

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.

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.