Though it is less than three hours away by plane, Marrakech is deeply and fascinatingly foreign. Few places are more immediately and hypnotically alien than the great, broad Place de Jamaa el Fna in the walled Medina with its snake charmers, teeth-pullers, conjurors, snail sellers, beggars, donkey drivers and water carriers, and the narrow, noisy, crowded souk at its margins.

With the Atlas Mountains hanging like a curtain on the horizon, the city’s draw is also in its food, influenc...

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 ...

Long before the King of Morocco ratified the Vision 2010 national development plan to help diversify the economy and bring foreign investment, Morocco was a popular destination for international film producers. Films such as Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator’ and ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’ have recently been shot there and Morocco’s now so famous as a film set that it has a series of internationally acclaimed film festivals annually such as the Mediterranean Short Fil...

The Moroccan people are enigmatic at times; honour and dignity are the two most important concepts in most Moroccan’s lives and they will go far out of their way to avoid shaming themselves or their family. Many things are said and done in public because it is expected; good public perception is paramount. Yet take the time to get to know them and they are full of surprises.

Travellers should take the opportunity to lose themselves in the old streets, marvel at the architecture and t...