Travel and Tourism in Morocco

Top Attractions

Imperial Cities Route

The classic Moroccan itinerary threads together the four imperial cities in a route that provides the deepest possible introduction to Moroccan civilization and urban culture. Rabat, the current capital, offers the most approachable and modernized entry point, with its comfortable European-influenced new city providing a transitional space between the international visitor's home world and the full depth of the medina experience. Meknes, a short journey from Rabat by train or grand taxi, introduces the Moroccan imperial tradition on a somewhat smaller and more manageable scale than what follows. Fez, the intellectual and artisanal capital of medieval Morocco, provides the most complex and immersive medina experience available anywhere in the world. Marrakesh, completing the circuit from the north, delivers the greatest spectacle and the most accessible combination of traditional culture and contemporary comfort.

The contrast between these four cities is itself one of the most instructive aspects of the imperial cities route. Rabat is modern and governmental, with an ease of navigation and a café culture inherited from the French protectorate. Meknes is grandiose and slightly melancholy in its half-ruined imperial splendor, a city that clearly was once something much larger than it now appears. Fez is overwhelming and medieval, the most complete survival of the pre-modern Islamic city, demanding both patience and physical effort from its visitors. Marrakesh is theatrical and sensuous, a city that performs its own Moroccan-ness with awareness and flair, offering the visitor a curated version of the traditional experience within a framework of considerable contemporary sophistication.

The Andalusian influence present in all four cities is one of the most interesting threads to follow through the imperial cities route. The Muslim and Jewish refugees expelled from Spain following the Christian Reconquista, particularly after the fall of Granada in 1492, brought with them skills, tastes, and cultural memories that profoundly shaped Moroccan civilization. The riad, the inward-looking courtyard house with its central fountain garden, is an Andalusian tradition transplanted to Moroccan soil. The elaborate zellige tilework, the carved plasterwork arabesque, the painted and gilded timber ceiling, and the raised garden of orange and cypress are all elements of an Andalusian aesthetic that found in Morocco its last full expression. To walk through the finest riads and madrasas of Fez or Marrakesh is to experience the perfection of a civilization that was simultaneously Moroccan and the last great flower of Al-Andalus.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Morocco is home to nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites, reflecting the extraordinary concentration of historical, cultural, and natural significance within its territory. Each site represents a different aspect of Moroccan civilization and landscape, and together they provide a framework for understanding the depth and diversity of the country's heritage.

Historic City of Meknes (1996)

Meknes was added to the World Heritage List in 1996 as an outstanding example of an Ismaili imperial city from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, representing a unique fusion of Moroccan and European architectural influences within the context of a dramatically ambitious program of royal construction. The inscription covers both the historic medina of Meknes and the imperial city constructed by Moulay Ismail, the two components presenting the contrast between the organic urban fabric of the medieval city and the grandly conceived axial planning of an absolute monarch's capital.

The monumental scale of Moulay Ismail's construction program is what makes Meknes exceptional. The granaries, stabling complexes, and water storage systems of the Heri es-Souani represent engineering achievements of impressive scope, while the gates of the imperial city, above all Bab Mansour, demonstrate the highest levels of Moroccan decorative artisanship applied to monumental architecture. The combination of the medieval medina with its own rich tradition of mosques, madrasas, and artisan quarters, and the imperial complex with its baroque ambition and scale, gives Meknes an architectural diversity that other Moroccan cities do not quite match.

Portuguese City of Mazagan (El Jadida) (2004)

El Jadida, the eighth of Morocco's UNESCO cultural sites, preserves the remains of a Portuguese fortified colonial city built in the early sixteenth century on the Atlantic coast south of Casablanca. Established in 1513 as the Portuguese fortress of Mazagan, the city served as an important link in Portugal's chain of Atlantic trading posts until its evacuation in 1769 when Portuguese forces demolished much of the fortification before departing. The Moroccan population subsequently reoccupied and rebuilt the site, creating a distinctive layered urban environment in which Portuguese military architecture, including the magnificent bastioned walls and the extraordinary vaulted cistern with its central reflection pool, coexists with later Moroccan structures.

The Cistern of El Jadida is the most visited single monument at the site, a vaulted underground space of five aisles supported by Gothic columns, originally built to store fresh water for the Portuguese garrison and later used as an armoury. The water that covers its floor reflects the vaulted ceiling and the single skylight above, creating an image of extraordinary atmospheric beauty that has attracted artists and photographers since the nineteenth century, most famously Orson Welles, who used it as a location in his 1952 film of Othello.

Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City (2012)

The most recently inscribed of Morocco's historic cultural sites, Rabat's 2012 designation was unusual in recognizing not merely an ancient historic core but an entire cityscape that spans twelve centuries of urban development, from the twelfth-century Almohad ramparts to the twentieth-century French colonial urban planning that created the ville nouvelle alongside the historic medina. The inscription recognized the unique quality of Rabat as a place where different periods and cultures of urban development are still visible and legible within a coherent contemporary city.

The Outstanding Universal Value of Rabat encompasses the Kasbah des Oudaias with its Almohad gate, the Hassan Tower and its ruined mosque platform, the Chellah with its Roman and Merinid layers, the medina with its seventeenth and eighteenth-century character, and the French planned new city with its boulevards, public buildings, and residential areas in an architectural vocabulary that blended European modernism with Moroccan ornamental tradition. Together these elements tell the story of a city that has continuously adapted to new political and cultural realities while preserving the evidence of its past layers.

Outdoor Activities and Adventure

Morocco offers an extraordinary range of outdoor activities spanning desert, mountain, ocean, and Atlantic coast, making it one of the most versatile adventure travel destinations in the world.

High Atlas trekking is the flagship activity for outdoor enthusiasts visiting Morocco. The ascent of Jebel Toubkal, at 4,167 meters the highest peak in North Africa, is achievable by fit trekkers without technical climbing equipment, typically undertaken as a two-day trip from the trailhead village of Imlil, staying overnight at the Toubkal refuge at 3,207 meters before an early morning summit push. The views from the summit encompass a vast panorama of the Atlas ranges, on clear days reaching to the Saharan plains in the south and the Atlantic coast in the west, an experience that rewards the considerable physical effort involved. The longer Toubkal Circuit trek of three to five days loops around the massif through remote mountain villages where Berber families maintain traditional lifestyles at high altitude.

For those seeking a more remote and demanding mountain experience, the Mgoun Massif in the central High Atlas offers long-distance traverses at altitudes of 3,000 to 4,000 meters through landscapes of extraordinary wilderness character, passing through gorges, over high passes, and through villages where contact with outside visitors is still a relatively unusual event. These routes typically require a week or more and involve camping at altitude, requiring more substantial preparation and equipment.

Saharan adventure includes a range of activities beyond the standard camel trekking experience. Four-wheel-drive expeditions to the remote Erg Chigaga dune system near M'Hamid, requiring two to three hours of off-road driving from the last paved road, provide access to a much larger and more remote dune landscape than Erg Chebbi. Sandboarding on the dunes, using either improvised plastic board rentals or properly equipped boards brought by specialist operators, provides a satisfying adrenaline element to the desert experience. Overnight trips to nomadic family camps, arranged through local operators in the Merzouga area, provide a more intimate introduction to desert nomadic culture.

Surfing and windsurfing on Morocco's Atlantic coast have developed into major international attractions. Taghazout, a small fishing village north of Agadir, has developed over the past twenty years into one of Africa's premier surfing destinations, attracting intermediate and advanced surfers from across Europe to its collection of point breaks, beach breaks, and reef breaks that work with the consistent Atlantic swells of autumn through spring. The surrounding area, including Anchor Point and Killer Point, offers world-class wave conditions for experienced surfers. Agadir itself has developed a significant surf school and hostel culture catering to beginners. Essaouira, with its reliable strong winds, is the premier windsurfing and kitesurfing destination on the Moroccan coast, hosting international competitions and sustaining a substantial community of wind sports enthusiasts who return year after year for the reliable conditions. Dakhla, in the far south on the Atlantic coast of Western Sahara, is internationally recognized as one of the best kitesurfing destinations in the world, its lagoon offering flat water in sheltered conditions with steady offshore winds.

The rock climbing potential of Morocco's gorges and mountains is being progressively developed, with the Todra Gorge in particular having emerged as a significant international climbing destination offering hundreds of routes on limestone walls up to 300 meters high, graded from beginner to extreme difficulty. The French sport climbing organization has been active in developing and grading routes here, and guide services and basic accommodation are available in the gorge to support climbing visitors.

Mountain biking in the Atlas and pre-Saharan regions offers some of the most rewarding off-road cycling in the world, with dramatic scenery, varied terrain, and minimal traffic on the minor roads and tracks linking villages and kasbahs. Organized tours with support vehicles can carry bikes and luggage between accommodation points, making multi-day routes through the mountains or along the Route of the Kasbahs accessible to riders of moderate fitness. The Ourika Valley and the area around Imlil are popular day-cycling destinations from Marrakesh.

Bird watching in Morocco rewards serious ornithologists and casual enthusiasts alike, offering opportunities to observe resident North African species alongside the spectacular migrations of European species that pass through or winter in Morocco in enormous numbers. Merja Zerga lagoon on the Atlantic coast near Moulay Bousselham is one of the most important wetland bird sites in North Africa, hosting wintering flamingos, spoonbills, herons, egrets, and thousands of waders and ducks. The Souss-Massa National Park south of Agadir is the site of the most important breeding colony of the Northern Bald Ibis, one of the world's most critically endangered birds, with Morocco holding the largest remaining wild population.

Hot air ballooning over Marrakesh and the Atlas foothills at dawn is one of the most spectacular and peaceful ways to experience the Moroccan landscape, the patchwork of palmeries, villages, and mountain ranges spread below as the city wakes to the call of the muezzin. Several operators offer sunrise balloon flights from Marrakesh with Champagne landing, a popular choice for honeymoons and special occasions.