Morocco best places to visit

MARRAKECH

Discover the best places to visit in Morocco, from Marrakech and Fes to the Atlas Mountains, Sahara Desert and Atlantic coast.

CASABLANCA

Casablanca, is the largest city of Morocco, located in the western part of the country on the Atlantic Ocean. It is also the largest city in the Maghreb, as well as one of the largest and most important cities in Africa, both economically and demographically. The leading Moroccan companies and international corporations doing business there have their headquarters and main industrial facilities in Casablanca. Casablanca is considered the economic and business center of Morocco, while the national political capital is Rabat.

RABAT CAPITAL

Rabat is the capital of Morocco and its seventh largest city center with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014)and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. It is also the capital of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra administrative region. Rabat is accessible by train through the ONCF system and by plane through the nearby Rabat–Salé Airport.

FES CULTURAL CITY

Fes or Fes is the second largest city of Morocco, with a population of 1.1 million (2014). Fes was the capital of Morocco until 1925, and is now the capital of the Fès-Boulemane administrative region. The modern Turkish name for Morocco, Fas, originally referred only to the capital city. The city has two old medinas, the larger of which is Fes el Bali. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is believed to be one of the world's largest car-free urban areas. Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in AD 859, is the oldest continuously functioning madrasa in the world. The city has been called the "Mecca of the West" and the "Athens of Africa".

SAHARA DESERT

The town is well-known for its vicinity to Erg Chebbi, a Saharan erg, and is thus included on the itinerary of many visitors visiting Morocco. Merzouga features Morocco's largest natural subterranean lake of water. Near the dunes of Erg Chebbi there are some other less known villages: Hassilabied 4 km away, Tanamoust 3 km away, Takoujt 1.5 km away, Khamlia 7 km away and Tisserdmine 15 km away. Merzouga is a tiny community in southern Morocco, approximately 35 kilometres southeast of Rissani, approximately 55 kilometres from Erfoud, and around 50 kilometres from the Algerian border.

MEKNES

Meknes is a city in northern Morocco and the sixth largest city of the kingdom. Meknes was the capital of Morocco under the reign of Moulay Ismail (1672–1727), before it was relocated to Marrakech. A Berber tribe called the Miknasa, originally from the Tunisian south, settled here in the 9th century.Meknes has a Mediterranean climate with continental influences. Its climate is similar to that in Sevilla. Meknes saw its golden age as the imperial capital of Moulay Ismail following his accession to the Sultanate of Morocco (1672–1727). He installed under the old city a large prison to house Christian sailors captured on the sea, and also constructed numerous edifices, gardens, monumental gates, mosques (whence the city's nickname of "City of a Hundred Minarets") and the large line of wall, having a length of 40 kilometres (25 miles).

AIT BENHADDOU

Aït Benhaddou is a fortified city, or ksar, along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech in present-day Morocco. Most citizens living in the area now live in more modern dwellings in a nearby village, although there are 4 families still living in the ancient city. This giant fortification, which is made up of six Kasbahs and nearly fifty ksars which are individual Kasbahs, is a great example of earthen clay architecture. Which is also use in Moroccan architecture.

CHEFCHAOUEN

Chefchaouen is a city in northwest Morocco. It is the chief town of the province of the same name, and is noted for its buildings in shades of blue. Chefchaouen or Chaouen, as it is often called by Moroccans, is a well-known tourist destination because of its proximity to Tangier and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. The name refers to the shape of the mountain tops above the town, that look like the two horns (chaoua) of a goat. "Chef Chaouen" derives from the Berber word for horns, Ichawen. There are approximately two hundred hotels catering to the summer influx of European tourists. One distinction possessed by Chefchaouen is its blue-rinsed houses and buildings.

ESSAOUIRA

Essaouira is a city in the western Moroccan economic region of Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, on the Atlantic coast.The city was known in the time of 11th-century geographer al-Bakri and, as he reported, was called Sidi Megdoul. In the 16th-century, a corruption of this name became known to the Portuguese as Mogador or Mogadore. The Berber and Arabic names mean the wall, a reference to the fortress walls that originally enclosed the city.