City Breaks in Morocco

Morocco's best-known city is set close to the foothills of the snow-capped Atlas Mountains. The city's medina, or old town, is a warren of intriguing alleyways. Negotiate for a carpet, slippers, or just about anything else in the souk. By night, the central square, the Djemaa El-Fna, is alive with street food vendors, storytellers and snake charmers.

Once an imperial capital, the ancient centre of Fez is one of the best preserved in the Arab world. A stroll around Fes el-Bali, as the car-free old city is known, is a day-long adventure. Be sure not to miss the Bou Inania Madersa, an exquisite 14th-century religious college. The interior boasts the finest traditional tilework and intricate lattice screens.

Best known for the classic film of the same name, modern-day Casablanca is Morocco's most cosmopolitan city. Morning coffee at a café on the Corniche is a must, as is seeing the King Hassan II Mosque, one of the largest in the world. Its show-stopping interior is partly open to the sky.

Morocco's intriguing capital city is set on the Atlantic Ocean. The Chellah, the remains of a city founded by the Carthaginians thousands of years ago, is now eerily populated by storks. The Kasbah of the Udayas, a medieval fortress, commands impressive ocean views.