Explore Morocco

Marrakesh

Morocco's tourist capital and most visited city, where the medieval medina revolves around Djemaa el-Fna — a square that transforms each evening into an open-air theatre of storytellers, snake charmers, and food stalls. Intricate souks, dazzling mosaic palaces, and fragrant rose gardens make Marrakesh an assault on the senses that keeps visitors coming back.

Fez

The spiritual and intellectual heart of Morocco, home to the world's oldest continuously operating university and a 9th-century medina so vast and labyrinthine it has changed little since medieval times. The tanneries of the Chouara quarter — where leather has been dyed the same way for a thousand years — are one of the most iconic sights in all of North Africa.

Chefchaouen

Tucked into the Rif Mountains, this photogenic hilltop town is famous for streets and buildings painted every shade of blue and indigo, a tradition that began in the 1930s. Beyond the colour, Chefchaouen offers a relaxed pace, excellent hiking into the surrounding mountains, and a strong weaving and craft tradition rooted in its Andalusian Jewish heritage.

Casablanca

Morocco's largest city and economic powerhouse presents a very different face to the rest of the country: Art Deco boulevards, a corniche lined with seafood restaurants, and the spectacular Hassan II Mosque — one of the largest in the world, built on a promontory over the Atlantic. The cosmopolitan medina and thriving café culture reflect a city that straddles its French colonial past and modern ambitions.

Essaouira

A wind-scoured Atlantic port where 18th-century Portuguese ramparts frame a whitewashed medina full of art galleries, luthiers' workshops, and excellent seafood grills. The constant trade winds that batter the beach have made Essaouira a world-class destination for windsurfing and kitesurfing, while the laid-back atmosphere draws a creative international crowd year-round.

Rabat

Morocco's capital is a more orderly, spacious, and often overlooked alternative to Marrakesh, with a UNESCO-listed medina, the haunting unfinished Hassan Tower, and the ornate Mausoleum of Mohammed V. The Chellah, a medieval necropolis built atop Roman ruins on the edge of the city, is one of the most atmospheric archaeological sites in the country.

Meknes

The grand imperial city built by Sultan Moulay Ismail in the 17th century, featuring monumental gateways, vast granaries, and a royal stables complex that once housed 12,000 horses. Less visited than Fez or Marrakesh despite its UNESCO listing, Meknes rewards those who come with fewer crowds, lower prices, and proximity to the Roman ruins of Volubilis.

Agadir

Morocco's premier beach resort sits on a long sandy bay in the Souss region, rebuilt after a devastating 1960 earthquake as a planned modern city with wide boulevards and a high concentration of hotels. The beach itself is one of the finest on Morocco's Atlantic coast, and Agadir serves as a base for exploring the Sous-Massa National Park and the Anti-Atlas mountains to the south.

Ouarzazate

Known as the "Door of the Desert" and Morocco's "Hollywood," this desert town at the gateway to the Draa Valley has provided the backdrop for dozens of major film productions, including Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, and Game of Thrones. The Aït Benhaddou ksar — a UNESCO-listed mudbrick citadel — sits just 30 kilometres outside town on one of the country's most iconic landscapes.

Merzouga

The gateway to the Erg Chebbi, the most spectacular section of Moroccan Sahara, where dunes rise 150 metres above the rocky hamada and glow orange and gold at sunrise. Camel treks to remote Berber camps, sandboarding, and sleeping under the stars in the silent desert are among the most memorable experiences Morocco offers.

Tangier

Morocco's gateway from Europe sits at the crossroads of the Atlantic and Mediterranean, a port city with a storied history as a writers' haven — Burroughs, Kerouac, and Bowles all found inspiration here — and a turbulent international past written in its jumbled medina and clifftop Grand Socco. Tanger's seafront and the nearby Cape Spartel lighthouse mark the point where two seas meet.

Tétouan

A beautifully preserved Andalusian medina that received waves of Muslims and Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, giving its white-painted streets and ornate doorways a character quite distinct from other Moroccan cities. The UNESCO-listed old city and the thriving Royal School of Arts and Crafts make Tétouan the most Spanish-inflected destination in Morocco.

Asilah

A small fortified Atlantic port town where Portuguese sea walls enclose a tidy whitewashed medina that has attracted artists, musicians, and bohemian travellers for decades. Each August the annual Asilah Arts Festival turns the city into an open-air gallery, with murals painted directly onto the medina walls.

Taghazout

Once a quiet Berber fishing village north of Agadir, Taghazout has become one of Africa's best-known surf destinations, with world-class point breaks — Anchor Point, Hash Point, Killer Point — attracting international surfers from autumn through spring. The village's laidback riad-and-café scene makes it a satisfying destination even for non-surfers.

El Jadida

A Portuguese colonial stronghold on the Atlantic coast, El Jadida's walled historic town — inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site — contains one of the most haunting monuments in Morocco: a vaulted 16th-century cistern whose still water reflects its graceful arches in mirror-perfect symmetry. The town's beach and seafood restaurants draw Moroccan families in summer.

Dakhla

Stretching into a long lagoon at the southern tip of the Western Sahara, Dakhla has grown from a remote outpost into one of the world's premier kitesurfing and windsurfing destinations, its flat lagoon and consistent Atlantic winds drawing professionals for international competitions. The surrounding landscape of ochre desert meeting turquoise water is unlike anything else in Morocco.

Ifrane

A planned French colonial resort town in the Middle Atlas mountains that looks incongruously Swiss, with chalet-style architecture, manicured parks, and a ski resort at nearby Michlifen. Ifrane also sits at the edge of cedar forests where wild Barbary macaques can be watched from the roadside, a surreal Alpine scene with a distinctly Moroccan cast.

Tinghir

A lush oasis town in the Dades Valley, Tinghir's palm-shaded kasbah sits at the entrance to the spectacular Todra Gorge — narrow limestone canyons rising 300 metres where climbers and hikers come from around the world. The surrounding palmery and mudbrick ksar architecture paint a picture of southern Morocco at its most dramatic.

Zagora

A frontier town at the southern end of the Draa Valley, where the ancient caravan route to Timbuktu once passed through date palm groves and fortified ksour. A famous road sign at the edge of town used to read "Tombouctou 52 jours" — 52 days by camel — and the town remains a jumping-off point for desert expeditions into the Sahara.

Al Hoceima

A Mediterranean coastal town in the heart of the Rif Mountains, Al Hoceima sits above a bay of turquoise water framed by limestone cliffs that look more like the Spanish Costa Brava than North Africa. The Al Hoceima National Park protects pristine coastal wilderness just minutes from the town beach, making it a quiet alternative to the busier resorts further west.

Inscribed in 1981, the medieval medina of Fez el-Bali is one of the world's largest and best-preserved historic city centres, a UNESCO landmark that has barely changed in a thousand years of continuous habitation. The labyrinthine streets — many too narrow for a loaded donkey — contain a complete medieval urban complex including palaces, madrasas, hammams, and the Qarawiyyin Mosque, founded in 859 CE.

Morocco's most visited UNESCO site, the Marrakesh medina was inscribed in 1985 for its outstanding example of a Muslim city in the Maghreb, with its famous souks, the Koutoubia Mosque, Bahia Palace, and the great square of Djemaa el-Fna. Founded by the Almoravids in the 11th century, it remained the capital of successive dynasties and their architectural ambitions are still visible in its palaces and mosques.

Inscribed in 1987, this fortified village of mudbrick towers on the southern slopes of the High Atlas is one of the finest examples of southern Moroccan architecture and a crossroads of caravan routes between the Sahara and Marrakesh. The site has also served as the set for dozens of major films, including Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, and Game of Thrones.

Sultan Moulay Ismail transformed this city into a Moroccan Versailles in the late 17th century, building monumental gates, vast granaries, and royal stables for 12,000 horses within a single reign. Inscribed in 1996, Meknes is notable for the harmonious blending of Islamic and European architectural styles during the reign of Morocco's most powerful sultan.

The most important Roman site in Morocco, Volubilis was the westernmost capital of the Roman Empire in North Africa, and its remarkably well-preserved mosaics, triumphal arch, and colonnaded streets still rise from the wheat fields of the Middle Atlas. Inscribed in 1997, the site spans the pre-Roman Berber kingdom and the later 8th-century Arab settlement that grew around the ruins.

Inscribed in 1997, Tétouan's medina is the most complete example of an Andalusian town in North Africa, founded by Muslim and Jewish refugees expelled from Spain after 1492 and retaining its Spanish-Islamic character to an extraordinary degree. The UNESCO citation notes the city as a major link between Moroccan and Andalusian cultures over the centuries.

The fortified Atlantic port of Essaouira was built in the late 18th century as a planned trading city, and its grid of whitewashed streets, ramparts, and sea bastions represent an outstanding example of late Maghrebian urban architecture influenced by European military planning. Inscribed in 2001, the city's historic role as a meeting point between Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and the Arab world is reflected in its multilayered cultural heritage.

A Portuguese colonial settlement built in the early 16th century on the Atlantic coast, El Jadida's walled historic town contains the extraordinary Manueline-style cistern — a vaulted underground reservoir whose still waters create mirror reflections of its Gothic arches. Inscribed in 2004, the site represents an early example of European colonial architectural exchange with North Africa.

Morocco's capital was inscribed in 2012 as an outstanding example of a historic Islamic city that underwent significant modernisation during the French Protectorate, resulting in a city where medieval walls, minarets, and the ruins of the Almohad-era Hassan Tower coexist with planned colonial boulevards and gardens. The inscription celebrates the layered 20th-century dialogue between Islamic civilisation and European urbanism.