From the bustling, colourful waterfront of Tangier, the coast of Spain is tantalisingly close. And now, after decades of dreaming, Morocco and Spain have taken significant steps to adopt a plan to bore a 25-mile railway tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar.

They have commissioned a Swiss engineering firm to draft blueprints for an underwater rail route that would rank among the world’s most ambitious and complex civil engineering feats; alongside the Panama Canal and the Channel Tunnel.

At the moment day-trippers and travellers have to endure a one-hour ferryboat ride to cross the water from Spain. The driving force behind the plan for a tunnel is Morocco’s young and relatively liberal King Mohammed VI. Since taking power nine years ago, he has driven a dynamic development programme to boost tourist numbers from three million to 10 million a year by 2010. The underwater tunnel, with a target date of 2025, is projected to carry nine million passengers and eight million tons of goods annually.

Today, Morocco, with its sun, sea and souks just a three-hour flight from Britain, is earning a reputation as the latest property hotspot. More than 6,000 Brits now own homes there and the figure is growing.

Cosmopolitan charm
It’s easy to see why our love affair with Morocco has flourished. Tangier, one of Morocco’s oldest cities, has a colourful, cosmopolitan history but is now shaking off its raffish image. With its unique mix of Arabic and Mediterranean influences, much of its popularity is due to its fine beaches and enticing climate. The temperature never exceeds 26*C, yet it is warm well into October, when the minimum is around 16*C.

In the past, playboys, refugees and louche adventurers gravitated to the city that gave its name to tangerines. It was nicknamed “the ragamuffin city” by Truman Capote, and the faded cafes were once the haunts of Oscar Wilde, Jack Kerouac, Tennessee Williams and Ian Fleming, whose undercover work sparked ideas for the fictional James Bond.

Artists lured by its visual charms ranged from Henri Matisse to Winston Churchill, while Cecil Beaton photographed the brooding arches and white-washed alleyways.

Today, you can barter for ceramics and leather in the medina (old town) before escaping the bustle of the busy commercial centre to soak up the sun on a stunning sandy beach.

The Kasbah remains an absolute must-see. Built on the highest point in Tangier, it offers breathtaking sea views and within its gates lies a large open courtyard leading up to the Dar el-Makhzen, the Sultan’s palace from the 17th century, which is now a museum.

Property prices in Morocco have doubled in the past 12 months and are set to rise by up to 40 percent in the next three years. But if Tangier ticks your box, expect to pay about £175,000 for a three-bedroom beachfront apartment

Tickled pink
The pink city of Marrakesh has no beaches but its hidden palaces, exotic food, traditional spas and hypnotic Gnaoua trance music, continue to intrigue visitors. Celebs who have answered the call, by Crosby, Stills and Nash, to climb on board the Marrakesh Express in search of creative or spiritual inspiration, have included The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Yves Saint Laurent and William S. Burroughs
Nestling in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, Marrakesh has long been a fabled destination for travellers and traders alike.

Within the vast Djema El Fna square, in the dusky, pink-walled medina, the senses are bombarded. Smoke curls up lazily from cooking fires, carts are piled high with fruit and spices and the call to prayer competes with the wailing of a snake charmer’s flute. Not far away is the other Marrakesh: wide, French-style boulevards in desirable areas such as L’Hivernage, where new developments reveal flourishes of Arabic architecture.

Here, a modern three-bedroom house, with swimming pool and communal facilities such as a clubhouse and spa, carries a price tag of about £250,000.

Away from the heady delights of Tangier and Marrakesh, perhaps you are looking for a more laid-back location or a holiday pad at a bargain price. Just head for Saidia, a Mediterranean coastal resort close to the Algerian border in the north, or inland Fez, to the west.

These are the two places currently attracting more adventurous souls – including a clutch of England soccer stars – seeking the “real” Morocco with perhaps greater investment potential.

Exotic Fez, Morocco’s third’s largest city, has a modern airport and splendid new railway station plus a spacious, elegant European centre with boulevards and swanky shops.

The vast, buzzing medina, the largest car-free urban area in the world, is a bewildering labyrinth of market stalls and narrow backstreets, with about 3,500 ruined houses, priced from £20,000, crying out to be converted into stylish riads (traditional houses built round a courtyard).

Celebrity appeal

Elsewhere, England soccer stars Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Gary Neville have kicked into the Morocco property market by each buying a luxurious five-bedroom, three bathroom villas at Saidia’s Le Village Des Amis development, where prices range from £300,000 to £500,000.

If skiing is your idea of sports heaven, then you should head off to the small but busy ski station of Oukaimeden, an hour from Marrakech, in the Atlas Mountains. At 10,720 feet above sea level, this resort has almost year-round snow despite being on the doorstep of the Sahara desert. And it is in the process of being transformed into Africa’s only golf and ski resort, boasting spa facilities, swanky hotels and flats created by Dubai’s largest property developer, Emaar. Prices, though, are not cheap – starting at about £475,000 for a three-bedroom Moroccan-style villa with a private pool on a 1.5 acre plot.

Morocco factfile

Population: 34million.

Languages: Arabic and French.

Capital: Rabat.

Granted independence from France in 1956.

Legal system: based on Islamic law and French and Spanish civil law systems.

Moroccan culinary specialities: Tagines (slow-cooked stews), couscous, kebabs and harira (spicy chick pea) soup.

Religion: Islam.