Tours in Morocco

Start in the medina of Marrakech at the hour when the light goes orange and the square fills with smoke from the food stalls. You will smell grilled meat and orange juice before you see either. Then the drums start, the storytellers gather their circles, and you understand why people say Morocco is best taken slowly, one evening at a time.

The country runs from the Atlantic to the Sahara, and it changes every few hours by road. Fes is the maze: narrow lanes, tanneries, the sound of workshops behind every door, and a real chance of getting lost in the best way. Chefchaouen is the blue town in the Rif mountains, quiet and good for walking uphill without a plan. Casablanca is the big modern city, and its great mosque on the waterfront is worth seeing from the shore. Rabat is calmer, with a kasbah above the river mouth. Meknes, Essaouira and Ouarzazate each reward a stop.

Inland, the High Atlas rises behind Marrakech, with Berber villages, walnut trees and tracks you can follow on foot or by mule. Beyond it the land dries out. Aït Benhaddou and the kasbahs of the south sit in the red earth, and the dunes at Merzouga are where you go to watch the sky change colour from the back of a camel. Mint tea is poured high from the pot at every stop, and you should say yes each time.

On the coast south of Agadir the mood is different: long Atlantic beaches, surf villages like Taghazout and Tamraght, and sandy tracks through dunes near Tifnit. This is where we have a tour at the moment, a guided quad ride over the dunes with a camel ride and a tea break. It suits anyone who wants sea air and some dust on their clothes. If you want a guide for the Marrakech souks, a Fes medina walk or the Sahara, ask. A local guide can take the request.