Head south of Agadir and Marrakech, and you’ll soon bump into the Atlas Mountains – a 2,000-kilometre-long range that careers through Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. This near-mystical region is a mix of stuck-in-time Berber villages and boutique hotels with celebrity credentials. (Richard Branson owns our handpicked hotel here, the Kasbah Tamadot.) And it’s all wrapped in a spectacular landscape of snow-dusted peaks, river gorges, juniper forests and dusty valleys.
Local Mount Toubkal is the highest point in Morocco. It’s best known as one of the only ski resorts in Africa, but you can also hike up to alpine meadows and waterfalls in the summer. Go with a local guide, and you’ll usually get a traditional picnic of lamb tagine and apricot salad, too.
And while the Atlas Mountains might seem a world away from civilisation, the souks and squares of Marrakech are only a 90-minute drive north.
