Majorelle Garden / Berber Museum (entrance in side street off Avenue Yacoub el Mansour, Marrakech) — given by the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent as a gift to the city of Marrakech, this botanical garden was created in the 1920s by French artists Jacques and Louis Majorelle. Perfectly manicured gardens, with pools, giant cacti, bamboo, […]
Jidar Street Art Festival (Rabat) – first time visitors to Rabat in recent years may notice that portions of the city resemble an open-air art gallery, with local and international street artists painting elaborate works of art on the sides of buildings there. Every April, an independent organization called the Artistic and Cultural Education-L’Boulvart (EAC-L’Boulvart) […]
Jemaa el Fna (Marrakesh) — Jemaa el Fna square (a.k.a. Place of the Dead) is the center of medina life both day and night as a gathering place and unofficial stage for street theatre. It is also Marrakesh’s main square. For more than a millennium, the Jemaa el Fna’s daily bill has featured acrobats, henna […]
Jazz au Chellah (festival) — this musical festival is held in Rabat every September. Launched in 1996 by the European Union in Morocco (in partnership with the Moroccan Ministry of Culture), it is dedicated to the discovery of European jazz and the encounter between European and Moroccan jazz musicians. This Festival has featured 190 such […]
Fez Royal Golf Club (km 15, Route d’Imouzzer, Fez) — the Fez Royal Golf Club’s first-rate 18-hole course makes its way through luxuriant olive groves with the peaks of the Atlas Mountains as a backdrop. Designed by architect Cabell B. Robinson, its naturally undulating terrain has been accentuated to provide steeply cambered fairways and insidiously […]
Fez (city) — unravel the mystery of Fes, the refined ancient center of sacred learning and imperial power – located 3 ½ hours (289 km) east of Casablanca. Labyrinthine streets are anchored by the soaring minarets of the Al-Qarawiyin and Al-Andalus mosques (not open to visitors) and centuries of history are captured at the Dar […]
Essaouira (beach town) — with its picture-postcard medina and ramparts from an 18th century Portuguese fortress jutting into the sea, not to mention great seafood restaurants, boutique hotels and a charming souk, this historic, romantic, artistic seaside town on the coast west of Marrakech (located 4 ½ hours or 400 km southwest of Casablanca) is […]
Dades Valley – located 7 hours (500 km) southeast of Casablanca, this valley runs in between the Jebel Sarhro and the Atlas Mountains, and offers some of Morocco’s most spectacular scenery. The deep red cliffs on each side are lined with impressive Kasbahs, traditional Moroccan built forts. The best way to appreciate the valley and […]
Chefchaouen – located 5 hours (339 km.) northeast of Casablanca, this breathtaking old town, with a medina comprising painted blue houses scattered down a slope in the heart of the Rif Mountains, is one of Morocco’s prettiest. Having been claimed by Spain as part of Spanish Morocco in the 1920s, the architecture through its steep […]
Camel Treks (Merzouga) – some visitors to Morocco want the desert nomad experience. Various tour outfits offer such excursions from the desert village of Merzouga (located about 9 hours, or 670 km. southeast of Casablanca). Tourists can enjoy the comfort of the traditional Berber nomadic tents surrounded by the majestic Erg Chebbi dunes. Climb the […]