Marocko

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Compared to the sensory overload provided by the medina, the Ville Nouvelle can seem boring: very modern, but with little actually going on. But for most Fassis, the Ville Nouvelle is where it’s at and, far more interesting and progressive than crumbling Fez El Bali. In the past few years, huge amounts of money have been poured into the area, the benefits of which can best be seen along the long boulevard of Ave Hassan II, with its manicured lawns, palm trees, flower beds and fountains. This is the 'real' Morocco as much as any donkey-packed lane in the old city. That said, Fez's Ville Nouvelle still lacks the panache of its equivalents in Marrakesh and Casablanca, and there's very little of interest here for visitors.

The delightful resort town of Oualidia (also spelled Walidiya) spreads around a gorgeous crescent-shaped lagoon fringed with golden sands and protected from the wild surf by a rocky breakwater. With a good selection of accommodation and great fish restaurants (the town is particularly famous for its oysters), it's a popular weekend and summer retreat for Marrakshis and Casablancais, and a perfect destination for those needing a break after the bustle of the Marrakesh medina.

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.