Agadir + Taroudant — Atlantic Beaches and the Walls of the Souss

A morning on the ten-kilometre bay, then the cable car up to Agadir Oufella, 236 metres above the sea. The kasbah was built in 1540; the earthquake of 29 February 1960 left only its gate and ramparts standing, and the hillside behind them is a memorial where the rubble was never cleared. The afternoon is for Souk El Had and its three thousand stalls (closed on Mondays), then the reconstructed medina built by hand from 1992 as a tribute to the vanished city.

BREAKFAST | LUNCH

Eighty kilometres inland on a dual carriageway, about an hour and a quarter, through the argan groves and citrus plantations of the Souss plain, with a stop for the goats that climb into the argan trees. Arrival at Taroudant, ringed by 7.5 kilometres of crenellated mud walls raised in the sixteenth century, with 130 watchtowers and five gates. Late afternoon, a horse-drawn caleche takes you right around the ramparts in forty-five minutes, leaving from Place Assarag.

BREAKFAST | LUNCH | DINNER

A full day in the medina, which locals call Little Marrakech without the crowds. The Arab souk for spices and textiles, the Berber souk for silver jewellery, pottery and carpets, and the tanners' quarter near Bab Targhount, where babouches sell from forty dirhams a pair, roughly half the Marrakech price. Lunch on a rooftop, then time with both guides to help you negotiate. Dar El Baroud, the sixteenth-century Saadian arsenal, is admired from the street only — it is closed to the public.

BREAKFAST | LUNCH

Twenty kilometres east of Taroudant, the oasis of Tiout: some two thousand palms watered by traditional seguia channels, below a ruined kasbah that looks out over the whole grove. We walk the irrigation paths with a village guide, and the more adventurous ride the palm grove by donkey or camel. Lunch under the palms. Bring cash — there is no cash machine in Tiout.

BREAKFAST | LUNCH | DINNER

The road back to Agadir, an hour and a quarter, then south to the Souss-Massa National Park: thirty thousand hectares created in 1991, where oryx, addax, ostrich and dorcas gazelle were reintroduced, and where the cliffs shelter one of the last wild colonies of northern bald ibis on earth. A guided 4x4 circuit follows thirty kilometres of tracks along the Oued Massa, a Ramsar wetland. Sunset over the Atlantic on the way home.

BREAKFAST | LUNCH

Sixty kilometres north into the Ida Outanane hills, an hour and a quarter, to Paradise Valley: a palm-lined gorge cut into pink rock, with natural pools deep enough to swim in from spring to early summer. The sentiers are waymarked and free — no guide is required, whatever you may be told at the car park. In the afternoon, the surf village of Taghazout, then sunset over the ocean. Closing dinner and screening of your photo report.

BREAKFAST | DINNER

A final Moroccan breakfast, then a private transfer to Agadir-Al Massira International Airport, with photos and a personal album to treasure. A reminder from your guides: dirhams cannot legally leave Morocco beyond a small allowance, so change any surplus before check-in and keep your original exchange receipts.

BREAKFAST