Marocko

Erfoud makes a pleasant pit stop on the journey heading south to Merzouga from Fez or Meknes, with wood-fired madfouna (Berber 'pizza'), fossils dating back hundreds of millions of years and the photogenic ancient Ksar M’Aadid, 5km north of town. The souq at the southern end of Erfoud sells local dates and fresh produce, and in October the town has an increasingly popular date festival, with dancing and music.

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.

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.

Need a break from the medina hustle? Head to Marrakesh’s Ville Nouvelle (new town), full of leafy parks, cafe culture, a thriving contemporary art scene and the best bars and gourmet restaurants in town. Gueliz is the central shopping hub, while Hivernage is a high-class neighbourhood bordered by gardens and home to a few remnants of art deco architecture.

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.

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.

Morocco’s political and administrative capital may be short on top-drawer tourist attractions, but it compensates with plenty of charm. The ville nouvelle's palm-lined boulevards are clean, well kept and relatively free of traffic – a blessed relief for those who have spent time in Casablanca. There's a clean central beach, an intact and evocative kasbah, and an attractive walled medina that is far less touristy than those in other large cities. All in all, the city is a good choice for a short sojourn.

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.

The Souss Valley, where goats climb argan trees beneath the sun-baked Anti Atlas, draws a line across Morocco. South of this fertile valley, the pace of life in mountain villages and Saharan gateways is seductively slow.