Morocco Travel Information

Are you bored with the Balearics? Seen Spain a million times? Then try a different beach holiday: in Morocco.

The North African country is a neighbour of the Canary Islands, so you’re pretty much guaranteed sunshine.

And with fantastic beaches, friendly locals and super-cheap nights out, it’s a perfect getaway for anyone wanting to escape the usual tourist destinations.

The holiday resort in Agadir, one of Morocco’s largest cities, is less than half an hour’s drive from the airport and my fiance and I were dropped off at the Royal Atlas Hotel. Like many of the resort hotels, it was built in the past few years and is all-inclusive.

Its beautiful beach has proved to be the area’s saviour, which is overlooked by an imposing hill, on top of which lies the ruined kasbah, or fortress. Three Arabic words chalked into the hill spell out the country’s motto: God, King and Country.

We took a wander every evening along the prom. In the local restaurants a three-course meal featuring Moroccan specialities of couscous and tagine – a slow-cooked stew – is less than £6.

But alcohol prices are relatively expensive, thanks in part to this being a Muslim nation.

We spent the first half of the week relaxing by the pool and on the beach. But by our fifth day we fancied a change so we went on one of the tour company’s excursions, the 4x4 mini adventure.

A convoy of jeeps picked us up in the morning and took us on a brilliant ride lasting until 6pm.

First stop was a banana plantation followed by an exhilarating visit to the Sahara sand dunes. We then drove onto the silver-trading town of Tiznit and had a typical Moroccan lunch of salad and tagine in a local Berber tent.

Our waiters, dressed in long robes and leather slippers, make their living from tourist groups. They were hilarious and slightly surreal, shouting out English slogans they had picked up from the TV (“I feel like Chicken Tonight” being a special favourite) and were happy posing for photos.

After lunch we visited the Ben Youssef Dam, a man-made reservoir that stretches for miles and is used to help Morocco’s chronic water-shortage problem. We also went for a thrilling ride along the Sidi Rbat beach and drove through the Oued Massa nature reserve where flamingos perch in the river.

The following day, excited by the different side to the country we had seen, we took the excursion to the delights of Marrakech.

It’s a long slog of a journey, more than four hours on the bus via a winding road through the Atlas mountains, but Marrakech repays weary travellers with a 100mph whirlwind of sights, sounds and smells.

Agadir provides a beach holiday with an added, authentic twist. If you want to get a real feel for a country that feels fantastically different, this is for you.

But go soon – that gorgeous beach won’t stay a secret for long.

GETTING THERE

Stay seven nights all-inclusive at the four star-plus Royal Atlas from £544 per adult (based on two sharing), departing from London Gatwick on April 22.

There are also Agadir flights from Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham.

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