Morocco has a vibrancy that lingers in your memory long after you’ve left. From the route of a thousand kasbahs — the Dadès river — to the deep blue village of Chefchaouen, this country will blow your mind.
Editor’s note: These spots are all taken directly from travelstoke®, a new app from Matador that connects you with fellow travelers and locals, and helps you build trip itineraries with spots that integrate seamlessly into Google Maps and Uber. Download the app to add any of the spots below directly to your future trips.
The legend goes something like this: A well-off family denied support to an underprivileged woman and her son, which left God deeply upset. So he buried them under the dunefields of Erg Chebbi. This majestic rose-gold wealth of sand is now better known as one of Morocco’s two dream desert destinations.
A quick taxi ride out of Marrakesh will quickly recharge you after dusty medina walks. Think a sea of roses (15,000 to be precise), picture-perfect intimate pools, tropical greenhouses playing classical music, free-standing outdoor bathtubs, on-site potteries, and mouth-watering food.
The route of a thousand kasbahs — the Dadès river — leads you through a gorge like no other. Just when you think you’ve seen enough limestone pinnacles and volcanic rock formations for years to follow, a fertile oasis appears around the corner.
Its 210m-high minaret is the world’s tallest, while, overall, its space for 25,000 worshippers inside and another 80,000 in the courtyards makes it the world’s third largest mosque. Don’t forget to look up and marvel at the delicate carvings carefully patterned by no less than 6,000 craftspeople. Dress respectfully and have your shoulders and knees covered at all times.
Whether the tumult of the medina is having the best of you or not, an escape to this artistic paradise gifted to Marrakesh by no other than the great Yves Saint Laurent will do you good either way. Beat the crowds and come early.
