✦The catalogue
Every place we go
Twenty-one places across five regions, ranked by how many of our itineraries reach them. Open any one to see which trips include it and on which day.
- Sahara & the gorges
- 4 places
- The Atlas
- 9 places
- Imperial cities
- 4 places
- Atlantic coast
- 2 places
- The Rif & the north
- 2 places
✦Sahara & the gorges
Erg Chebbi
The dunes rise 150 metres out of flat hammada and run to the Algerian border. You leave the road at Merzouga, cross the last stretch by camel, and sleep under canvas with nothing between you and the sky.
- Reached by
- 23 itineraries
- Region
- Sahara & the gorges
Erg Chebbi, Morocco
✦The Atlas
Tizi n'Tichka
The pass over the High Atlas at 2,260 metres, and the reason the south feels like another country. The road switchbacks for two hours through bare red ridgelines, and the weather changes at the top.
- Reached by
- 21 itineraries
- Region
- The Atlas
Tizi n'Tichka, Morocco
✦The Atlas
Skoura & the Valley of Roses
A palm oasis full of half-ruined kasbahs, the finest of them Amridil. North of it the valley floor is planted with damask roses, harvested by hand over three weeks in April and May.
- Reached by
- 21 itineraries
- Region
- The Atlas
Skoura & the Valley of Roses, Morocco
✦Imperial cities
Marrakech
The red city, and the start of every southern road. The Koutoubia sets the skyline, the souks run for miles behind Jemaa el-Fnaa, and the High Atlas sits on the horizon with snow on it half the year.
- Reached by
- 21 itineraries
- Region
- Imperial cities
Marrakech, Morocco
✦Sahara & the gorges
Todra Gorge
Limestone walls three hundred metres high close to within ten paces of each other. A shallow river runs the canyon floor, and the light only reaches the bottom for an hour either side of noon.
- Reached by
- 20 itineraries
- Region
- Sahara & the gorges
Todra Gorge, Morocco
✦Sahara & the gorges
Dades Valley
Wind has eroded the rock above the valley into the fluted columns everyone calls the monkey fingers. Below them the floor is green with poplars and small irrigated plots, and red-earth kasbahs are built straight into the slope.
- Reached by
- 20 itineraries
- Region
- Sahara & the gorges
Dades Valley, Morocco
✦Sahara & the gorges
Ziz Valley
An unbroken corridor of date palms follows the river between sheer red canyon walls — the old caravan road south, and still the only green thing for an hour in either direction.
- Reached by
- 20 itineraries
- Region
- Sahara & the gorges
Ziz Valley, Morocco
✦The Atlas
Aït Ben Haddou
A fortified earthen village stacked against its hillside above the Ounila, continuously built and rebuilt in mud brick since the eleventh century. UNESCO-listed, and the backdrop to more films than anyone can list.
- Reached by
- 20 itineraries
- Region
- The Atlas
Aït Ben Haddou, Morocco
✦The Atlas
Azrou Cedar Forest
The Middle Atlas is nothing like the south — cool, green, and forested with cedars that have stood for centuries. Barbary macaques live in them, and the road to the desert runs straight through.
- Reached by
- 20 itineraries
- Region
- The Atlas
Azrou Cedar Forest, Morocco
✦Imperial cities
Fes
The oldest living medina in the world, and still a working one — nine thousand lanes, no cars, and the Chouara tanneries dyeing hides in stone vats exactly as they have since the eleventh century.
- Reached by
- 20 itineraries
- Region
- Imperial cities
Fes, Morocco
✦The Rif & the north
Chefchaouen
The blue city, painted lane by lane up the side of the Rif. It photographs well at any hour, but the light an hour before sunset from the Spanish Mosque is what people remember.
- Reached by
- 12 itineraries
- Region
- The Rif & the north
Chefchaouen, Morocco
✦Imperial cities
Rabat
The capital, and the quietest of the imperial cities. The Kasbah of the Udayas looks out over the river mouth in blue and white, and the Hassan Tower has stood unfinished since 1199.
- Reached by
- 10 itineraries
- Region
- Imperial cities
Rabat, Morocco
✦Atlantic coast
Casablanca
The commercial capital, and where most journeys land. The Hassan II Mosque stands out over the Atlantic on a platform above the water — one of the few in Morocco non-Muslims may enter.
- Reached by
- 10 itineraries
- Region
- Atlantic coast
Casablanca, Morocco
✦The Atlas
Ouarzazate
The door of the desert, and the point where the mountain road gives way to the kasbah country. The Taourirt Kasbah still holds the centre of town in rammed earth and geometric relief.
- Reached by
- 9 itineraries
- Region
- The Atlas
Ouarzazate, Morocco
✦Imperial cities
Volubilis & Meknes
The best-preserved Roman city in Morocco, standing in an olive plain with its mosaics still in the floors. Imperial Meknes and the Bab Mansour gate are twenty minutes down the road.
- Reached by
- 8 itineraries
- Region
- Imperial cities
Volubilis & Meknes, Morocco
✦Atlantic coast
Essaouira
A walled fishing port with the trade winds blowing through it, blue boats in the harbour, and ramparts running straight out over the rocks. The pace drops the moment you arrive.
- Reached by
- 4 itineraries
- Region
- Atlantic coast
Essaouira, Morocco
✦The Rif & the north
Tangier
Where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic and Europe is visible across the strait. The kasbah looks down on both, and the city has been a crossing point for everyone for three thousand years.
- Reached by
- 4 itineraries
- Region
- The Rif & the north
Tangier, Morocco
✦Day trip
Imlil
A Berber village at 1,740 metres and the walking base for Toubkal, North Africa's highest peak. Walnut groves, terraced fields, and mule tracks that were the only road until recently.
- Format
- Single-day escape
- Region
- The Atlas
Imlil, Morocco
✦Day trip
Ourika Valley
An hour from Marrakech the air cools and the river appears. Cafés put their tables in the water, and the path climbs to the Setti Fatma falls above the village.
- Format
- Single-day escape
- Region
- The Atlas
Ourika Valley, Morocco
✦Day trip
Agafay
A stone desert half an hour from Marrakech — no dunes, but the same emptiness, with the High Atlas laid out along the horizon. Best at the end of the day.
- Format
- Single-day escape
- Region
- The Atlas
Agafay, Morocco
✦Day trip
Ouzoud Falls
The highest falls in North Africa, dropping 110 metres in three stages through a red gorge. Wild macaques in the olive trees on the walk down, and boats that take you under the spray.
- Format
- Single-day escape
- Region
- The Atlas
Ouzoud Falls, Morocco
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