28 best things to do in Morocco

Trekking in the Atlas Mountains. Traversing the Sahara. Exploring souks, and surfing the Atlantic — there are so many memorable things to do in Morocco. Given that it's nigh impossible to do and see everything in one visit, read on to discover the best things to do in Morocco so you can make the most of your trip to Morocco. 

1. Go blue in Chefchaouen

Simply the one of the best places to visit in Morocco, Chefchaouen boasts blue-washed walls enclosed by mountains.

Reaching Chefchaouen requires venturing into the rugged Rif mountains. The setting, like much of the Rif, is largely rural, which means and the bright lights and bustling noise of the city — less than half a day’s drive away — is soon forgotten.

That’s not to say that Chefchaouen is completely isolated, for the town has long been a stop on the intrepid backpacker circuit – thanks in part to the easy availability of the Rif’s kif – and has now also become popular with mainstream tourists.

Discover the best things to do in Chefchaouen, Moroccos best kept secret.

2. Find culture and food in Fez

The most complete medieval city in the Arab world, Fez’s labyrinthine streets conceal ancient souks and iconic monuments, none more so than the exquisitely decorated Medersa Bou Inania.

The oldest of Morocco’s four imperial capitals and the most complete medieval city of the Arab world, Fez stimulates all the senses: a barrage of haunting and beautiful sounds, infinite visual details and unfiltered odours.

It has the French-built Ville Nouvelle of other Moroccan cities, but nearly a quarter of Fez’s one-million-plus inhabitants continue to live in the extraordinary Medina-city of Fez el Bali.

More than any other city in Morocco, the old town seems suspended in time somewhere between the Middle Ages and the modern world.

If that wasn't enough, Fez has also been hailed Morocco's new culinary capital.

3. Explore the Sahara

Head into the Sahara from Zagora, M’Hamid or Merzouga and spend the night in a desert camp.

Most people stay in a Berber camp, where you’ll get the kind of starry sky you rarely see anywhere else and a sunrise that makes the early wake-up worth it.

Meals, tea, and blankets are usually included, but pack extra layers and a sleeping bag: desert nights can be bitterly cold.

Looking to mix adventure and culture? Take inspiration from our 7 days in Morocco itinerary.

4. Take a ride through Atlas passes

The nerve-shredding Tizi n’Test and the higher Tizi n’Tichka wend up over the Atlas mountains, providing breathtaking views along the way.

Over the Tizi n’Test pass, the descent towards the Taroudant–Taliouine road is dramatic: a drop of some 1600m in a little over 30km. 

Throughout, there are stark, fabulous vistas of the Tizi n’Test mountains jutting out around the Nfis Valley with clusters of villages in view hundreds of feet below. Taking a road trip in this area is one of the best things to do in Morocco for picturesque views.

On the subject of road trips, read up on getting around Morocco, and arm yourself with our Morocco travel advice.

5. Hike to the Cascades d’Ouzoud

Tucked into a lush red-rock valley, the Cascades d’Ouzoud are the most dramatic waterfalls in Morocco.

The falls drop into natural pools perfect for a swim, with misty rainbows arching across the gorge in the late afternoon.

Though they feature in nearly every tourism brochure, the vibe remains laid-back. Overhanging cafés serve mint tea with a view, and there are peaceful trails through olive groves and down to the base of the falls. 

If you’ve got the time, it’s worth staying overnight — sunset and sunrise here are something else.

6. Marvel at Koutoubia Mosque

The symbol of Marrakesh (AKA the Red City), Koutoubia’s twelfth-century minaret is visible for miles around the city. The absence of architectural features on the Jemaa el Fna serves to emphasize the drama of the nearby Koutoubia Minaret, off Avenue Mohammed V. This is the oldest of the three great Almohad towers and the most complete.

The mosque to which it is attached (closed to non-Muslims) replaced an earlier structure whose meagre ruins are just next to it on the north side. 

At 60m by 80m, it’s the largest mosque in Marrakech.

Keen to uncover the Red City? Discover the best things to do in Marrakesh, and find out how to enjoy the perfect weekend in Marrakesh.

7. Visit Tin Mal Mosque

This great Almohad building stands isolated in an Atlas River valley. The Tin Mal Mosque, quite apart from its historic and architectural importance, is a beautiful monument – isolated above a lush reach of the river valley, with harsh mountains backing its buff-coloured walls. It has been partially restored and is a very worthwhile stop.

The mosque is set a little way above the modern village of Tin Mal (or Ifouriren) and reached by wandering uphill from the road bridge. The site is kept locked, but the guardian will soon spot you and open it up.

Looking for more Morocco itinerary ideas? Discover how to enjoy 5 days in Morocco.

8. Go shopping for traditional crafts

From carpets and carpentry to leatherwork and ceramics, Morocco’s craft tradition is extraordinarily vibrant, and on magnificent show in its souks (markets).

So, if shopping is among the things you're looking for, don't miss visiting the best souks and markets in Morocco. 

They are found everywhere: every town has a souk area, with large cities like Fez and Marrakech boasting labyrinths of individual souks, each filling a street or square, and devoted to one particular craft.

In the countryside, there are hundreds of weekly souks, on a different day in each village of the region.

9. Savor traditional tea

The national drink is mint tea (atay deeyal naanaa in Arabic). Or try another traditional tea: Chinese gunpowder green tea flavoured with sprigs of mint (naanaa in Arabic = the gift of Allah) and sweetened with a large amount of sugar, often from a sugar loaf.

In winter, Moroccans often add bitter wormwood (chiba in Arabic, absinthe in French), to their tea “to keep out the cold”. The main herbal infusion is verbena (verveine or louiza).

Wondering when to visit — summer, winter, or somewhere in between? Wise up with our guide to the best time to visit Morocco.

10. Walk through Bab Oudaïa, Rabat

The most beautiful gate of the medieval Moorish world stands in Rabat. The kasbah’s main gate, Bab Oudaïa, is from the Almohad period, like so many of Morocco’s great monuments. 

The walls in fact extended well to its west, leading down to the sea at the edge of the Medina and the gate cannot have been designed for any real defensive purpose – its function and importance must have been ceremonial.

The Souk el Ghezel – the main commercial centre of the medieval town, including its wool and slave markets – was located just outside the gate, while the original sultanate’s palace stood immediately inside.

11. Visit Kasbah Telouet

An evocative relic fortress of the time when the infamous Glaoui clan ruled over the Atlas and Marrakech, the Kasbah Telouet is one of the most extraordinary sights of the Atlas. 

Fast crumbling into the dark red earth, it still offers, in parts, a glimpse of the style and melodrama of Moroccan political government and power within living memory.

While many of the rooms have fallen into complete ruin, even after over a half-century of decay, there’s still vast drama in this weird, remote site.

12. Enjoy Jemaa el Fna — one of the best things to do in Morocco

There’s nowhere in Morocco like Jemaa el Fna square —– no place that so effortlessly involves you, and keeps you coming back for more.

By day, most of the square is just a big open space, in which a handful of snake charmers play their flutes. It isn’t until late afternoon that the square really gets going.

At dusk, as in France and Spain, people come out for an early evening promenade, and the square gradually fills until it becomes a whole carnival of storytellers, acrobats, musicians and entertainers. 

If you want a break from the bustle, head up to a rooftop terrace cafe for a fine view over the square.

13. Hike Todra Gorge

Take a walk (or a climb) in the majestic Todra Gorge on the Southern Oases Route, with its towering 300m canyon walls.

Few people visit the south without taking in the Todra Gorge, and with good reason. At its deepest and narrowest point, only 15km from Tinghir, this trench through the High Atlas presents an arresting spectacle, its gigantic rock walls changing colour to magical effect as the day unfolds.

Faux guides hang around the gorge, but the hassle is generally low-key, and at weekends and holidays, there’s a cheerfully laidback vibe – locals more than outnumber tourists, and families come to picnic by the river. 

As such, it's a great place to head when visiting Morocco with kids

14. Watch Barbary apes

Troupes of macaques populate the dense cedar forests of the Middle Atlas. 

Despite the name, they're actually members of the macaque family, and picked up the “ape” moniker due to their lack of a tail.

In fact, the Middle Atlas is home to three-quarters of the world's population — here they roam the forests in troupes of up to a hundred.

15. Experience Spanish colonial vibes at Sidi Ifni

The old Spanish colonial town of Sidi Ifni retains a seductive array of Art Deco buildings. Known as “Ifni” to its friends, Sidi Ifni is the most attractive town in southern Morocco, and uniquely interesting. Built in the 1930s, on a clifftop site, it is surely the finest and most romantic Art Deco military town ever built.

Many buildings from that era have been the victims of neglect, but with a realization by the authorities that they attract tourists, steps have been taken to conserve the town’s heritage. 

In addition, there’s the colonial aspect – this enclave was relinquished by Spain only in 1969 after the Moroccan government closed off landward access, and many locals still speak Spanish.

16. Enjoy the beach in Asilah

The relaxed seaside town of Asilah – setting for a first-class cultural festival in August – is home to one of the best beaches on the northwest coast and visiting it is one of the things to do in Morocco for a relaxing beach holiday.

Asilah (sometimes spelt Assilah) is one of the most elegant of the old Portuguese Atlantic ports, small, clean and easy to navigate. 

First impressions are of wonderful square stone ramparts, flanked by palms, and an outstanding beach – an immense sweep of sand stretching to the north halfway to Tangier.

17. Chill out by the sea in Essaouira

Once a haven for hippie backpackers, Essaouira has gradually been moving upmarket.

An eighteenth-century town, enclosed by medieval-looking battlements, Essaouira’s whitewashed and blue-shuttered houses and colonnades, wood workshops and art galleries, boat builders and sardine fishermen provide a colourful and very pleasant backdrop to the beach. 

Many of the tourists who come to Essaouira are drawn by the wind, known locally as the alizee, which in spring and summer can be a bit remorseless for sunbathing but creates much-sought-after waves for windsurfing and kitesurfing fun.

Like the sound of visiting the seaside ? Read our first-timers guide to Essaouira, and discover the best beaches in Morocco.

18. Explore Volubilis ruins

Volubilis was the chief city of Roman Morocco and is today a beautiful, extensive ruin. A striking sight, visible for miles on the bends of the approach roads, the Roman ruins of Volubilis occupy the ledge of a long, high plateau, 25km north of Meknes.

Below their walls, towards the town of Moulay Idriss, stretches a rich river valley; beyond lie the dark, outlying ridges of the Zerhoune mountains. 

The drama of this scene – and the scope of the ruins themselves – are undeniably impressive, so much so that Volubilis was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997 and the ruins were a key location for Martin Scorsese’s film The Last Temptation of Christ.

19. Visit Tangier

Tangier, the old “International Port”, sometime home of Bowles and Burroughs, has a seedy charm of its own. At the meeting point of two seas as well as two continents, Tangier's strategic location has made it a highly sought-after locale since ancient times.

Founded by Mediterranean trading nations, ruled by empirical Romans, and squabbled over by European powers before finally returning to the Moroccan nation in 1956, it’s perhaps no surprise that the city defies comparison with any other in Morocco.

The layout within Tangier’s Medina, like most throughout Morocco, was never planned in advance. As the need arose, a labyrinth of streets and small squares emerged that eventually became the various quarters there today. 

20. Get a movie feel in Casablanca

Casablanca’s colonial architecture blends traditional Moroccan designs with French Art Deco into a distinctive style known as Mauresque.

The French-built city centre and its formal, colonial buildings already seem to belong to a different and distant age. 

The style of the administrative buildings, in particular, is known as Mauresque, or sometimes as “Neo-Moorish”, essentially a French idealization and “improvement” on traditional Moroccan styles, with lots of horseshoe arches, and even the odd touch of darj w ktarf, originally an Almohad motif.

Casablanca’s most obvious sight is the Hassan II Mosque, and it also has the only Jewish museum in the Muslim world, but the city’s true delight remains the Mauresque and Art Deco architecture.

21. Travel the Route of a Thousand

Morocco’s southern oases are dotted with crumbling kasbahs and mud-built villages.

Stretching northeast from Ouarzazate, the Dadès Valley is at times harsh and desolate, but there’s a bleak beauty on the plain between the parallel ranges of the High Atlas and the Jebel Saghro. 

Along much of its length, the river is barely visible above ground, making the sudden appearance of its vast oases all the more astonishing.

Littered with half-hidden mud-brick houses – the Dadès is also known as the Route of a Thousand Kasbahs, for obvious reasons. The palmeries lie along the N10 from Ouarzazate to Erfoud, offering an easy opportunity for a close look at a working oasis and, in Skoura, a startling range of imposing kasbahs.

22. Partake in the Imilchil Moussem Festival

The Moroccan cultural calendar is packed with festivals but few can match the largesse of Imilchil’s three-day “Marriage Market”. 

The world-famous Imilchil Moussem – the “Fête des Fiancés” or “Marriage Market” – is the mother of all Moroccan mountain souks, a gathering of thirty thousand or more Berbers from the Aït Haddidou, Aït Morghad, Aït Izdeg and Aït Yahia tribes.

Over the three days of the September fair (Friday to Sunday), animals are traded; clothes, tools and provisions are bought and sold; and distant friends and family members reunited before the first snowfalls isolate their high villages. 

What makes it especially highly charged, however, is that it is here the region’s youngsters come to decide whom they’re going to marry.

Keen to uncover culture? Dive into our guide to the best festivals in Morocco.

23. Go birdwatching

Morocco has much for birdwatchers — from storks nesting on minarets, to desert bustards, bee-eaters, flamingos and falcons — with the Oued Massa, in particular, offering a rich mix of habitats.

The sandbars here are visited in the early morning by flocks of sandgrouse (black-bellied and spotted) and often shelter large numbers of cranes, while the ponds and reedbed margins conceal waders.

The deeper open waters provide feeding grounds for greater flamingo, spoonbill, white stork and black-winged stilt; and overhead the skies are patrolled by marsh harriers and osprey. 

24. Meander Jardin Majorelle

The Majorelle Garden, or Jardin Bou Saf, is a meticulously planned twelve-acre botanical garden.

Created in the 1920s and 1930s by French painter Jacques Majorelle, it was subsequently owned by fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

The feeling of tranquillity in the garden is enhanced by verdant groves of bamboo, dwarf palm and agave, the cactus garden and lily-covered pools.

If you are a connoisseur of fine art, visiting these gardens is one of the best things to do in Morocco. 

25. Relax in riads

These renovated old mansions — centred on a patio garden and often full of stylish designer touches — provide a tranquil retreat from the outside world. In fact, some of the best Morocco accommodation is in a riad.

The riad craze started in Marrakech (check out where to stay in Marrakech for some reccommendations), and quickly spread to Fez and Essaouira. 

Since then, it's gone nationwide and almost every town with tourists now has riads too. Even the Atlas mountains and the southern oases are dotted with them.

26. Trekking in the Atlas 

The High Atlas delivers some of the best trekking in Morocco, from day walks in the Toubkal Massif, to expeditions through isolated valleys. 

A number of long-distance Atlas routes can be followed, but most people stick to shorter treks in the Jebel Toubkal area — best in spring or fall, as conditions can be treacherous in winter.

27. Visit the rose festival in El Kelâa of the M'Gouna

Travelling through the Dadès in spring, you’ll find the fields around El Kelâa M’Gouna, laced with the bloom of thousands of small pink roses, cultivated into hedgerows dividing the plots. 

The roses – rosa damascena, probably brought here from Persia by the Phoenicians – are harvested by local women, who start very early in the morning before the heat dries the bloom.

There is an estimated 4200km of rose hedges around Kelâa, with each metre yielding around a kilogram of petals, and ten tonnes of petals are needed to produce just two or three litres of rose oil.

In late May (sometimes early June), a rose festival is held in the village to celebrate the new year’s crops – a good time to visit, with villagers coming down from the mountains for the market, music and dancing

28. Moulay Idriss Zerhoun

The holy town of Moulay Idriss, spread across the foothills of Jebel Zerhoune, 25km north of Meknes and 4km from Volubilis, takes its name from its founde — Morocco’s most venerated saint and the creator of its first Arab dynasty.

His mausoleum, the reason for its sacred status, is the object of constant pilgrimage, not to mention an important summer moussem.

Non-Muslims are barred from the shrine – but you could easily lose a happy half-day exploring the tangled lanes that shimmy between the sugar-cube houses scattered over the hills. 

Now you’re armed with inspiration for the best things to do in Morocco, you might want to browse our Morocco itineraries for more ideas while you plan your trip, while also making use of our guide to how to plan a trip to Morocco.

Not keen on planning? Our local Morocco travel experts can handle every last detail.