Advantages: beautiful beawch, laid back, the medina
Disadvantages: not enough there for a week,

...Marrakesch in Morocco is a wonderful place to visit but sometimes the hustle and bustle of this colourful city can just get too much. When this happens you need to escape the city and what better place to escape to than Essaouira, a lovely, peaceful town on Morocco's Atlantic coast. Essaouira, formerly known as Mogador is a fishing port with a Portuguese citadel and an 18th century Medina (old town ) which is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was a firm favourite with sixties musicians such as Janis Joplin and Jimmy Hendrix and is still a favourite with me due to its charm. . We visited it as a day trip during a weeks holiday in Marrakesh. We were captivated by its pretty whitewashed buildings and the fine golden beach leading to the blueness of the Atlantic Ocean. The easiest and probably cheapest way to make the thtee... Read review

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Advantages: It's cheap, fascinating, beautiful and not even that far.
Disadvantages: The hassle.....

...gallery. The El Badi Palace is the best of the palaces on offer. It is the largest of the palces and in a state of ruin but worth a trip in my opinion just to see the birds. Huge herons have built nests around the edges of the palace and the adjioning old city walls. The birds are unbelievably close and incredibly elegent. There are also a number of great places to take day trips to out of the city. Our favourite was our trip to the cascades d'Ouzoud (see picture). At 65km north east of Marrakech this is a good 3-31/2 hour drive as the roads (and the drivers) aren't going to win any prizes. The falls are the largest in Morocco and really are worth the trip. The scenery is amazing; olive trees, open restaurants, swimming in the pools; and there are some great walks to be had in the area. Essaouira... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap and Sunny
Disadvantages: Harasment and over charging so very comming.

...:30 it was just somewhere to get harassed and stressed. A state in which I spent a lot of time. After a day in the city we decided to head over the Essaouira , and I am so glad that we did. It is a small, medieval walled town where cars are not allowed which gives it a more relaxed atmosphere. The hotels were all clean and the French influence was very apparent in the town. The following day my friend and I were able to walk around without being overly harassed, which was a relief. We were even able to get two good meals and do a bit of surfing. This was the highlight of my time in Morocco, the town was beautiful, relaxing not overly expensive and friendly. If you go in July there is a music festival inspired by Jimmy Hendrix who lived there for a while. At the end of the day, there are a lot of good points about the country but the harassment... Read review

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Advantages: Small, chilled-out, friendly, pretty,place
Disadvantages: Not exactly the party capital of the world, if you do manage to find a bar serving alcohol, as a woman you will feel pretty uncomfortable in there.

...Having lived in Essouira for two months, I may be biased, but I can't recommend visiting Essouira enough. Having spent 5 months in Morocco as part of my gap year, I travelled extensively and didn't find anywhere in Morocco I liked as much as Essouira. As a young blonde white girl I had grown used to being hassled in the street, it's part of Morocco's charm, but if you want to get away from the hustle and bustle of places like Fez and Marrakesh, Essouira is definately the place to head for. It is a small white-washed chilled out market town on Morocco's West coast. It's definately a tourist town, but somehow it doesn't feel that way. In contrast to the built up concrete tourist trap that is Agadir, staying in Essouira will give you a taste of the real Morocco. Cafe culture is strong and the ancient walls and the fortress overlooking... Read review

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Advantages: The beautiful landscape, the food, the shopping and the prices!
Disadvantages: This review is too long!

...this is where my Moroccan adventure ends. Needless to say, I only saw a small part of this vast country and there are many other cities to visit there. Essaouira by the Sea, Casablanca, Rabat, Tangier and many others… ************************************* FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD You cannot possibly talk about Morocco without mentioning the local food. Moroccans turn into magicians the minute they enter a kitchen. They all seem to know how to cook and can turn any ingredients into the most succulent dishes. The variety of dishes is far too great to detail fully, but as many of you may know, Couscous is a major one. And once you have tried a home made Moroccan Couscous, you will know what couscous is meant to taste like. Tagines are absolutely delicious, and can be vegetables only, chicken or lamb based. They are cooked in a terracotta dish... Read review

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Advantages: Good centre for other outings
Disadvantages: Totally lacking in character

...– or is that just camel sh** on the wind? Rail buffs might like to know that Marrakech is the western end of Morocco’s, nay all of North Africa’s railways. The following day, after a peaceful wine-induced sleep at the Amine Hotel (I wonder which IDIot called it that), we set off on our return journey to Agadir via a coastal town founded by the Portuguese called Essaouira, but not before our last port of call in Marrakech, The Majorelle Gardens, lovingly restored by Yves St Laurent. Stepping inside is like entry to another peaceful world of tropical plants, fountains, ornamental ponds and an ecclectic mix of Arab and art deco buildings, some of which are painted such a vivid blue that they blended in with the sky in certain of my photos. Well worth the experience. ESSAOUIRA This is a picturesque fishing port complete with ramparts and cannon... Read review

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Advantages: Beautiful
Disadvantages: Remote

...So you want to go to the desert and indulge in your Omar Shariff fantasies whilst eating a Fry's Turkish Delight with a bedouin? Where do you go - Egypt? no, there's no real Lawrence of Arabia scenery there. Jordan? It's rocky (think Mars). Algeria? Now you're talking but hang on, it's a little dangerous at the moment, just ask those tourists who were held hostage for 4 months. Dubai? Could be, if you want to be on a tourist production line and pay through the nose. Saudi? Maybe but it's hardly a tourism hot-spot. Morocco - now you're talking. Just three hours or so from the UK or a short hop over from Spain but there's no real desert there - is there? Admittedly there's not much and you've got to trek all the way down to the border with Algeria to a place called Merzouga but it is definately worth it. Your jumping off point... Read review

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Advantages: Lots to see and do
Disadvantages: Food can be a bit suspect

...In '98, I went on what was billed a Morocco mystery tour which was organised by Escape from Samsara, a club in Brixton. The name was certainly apt as you did not know what was around the corner. From the Andalucian like medina of Chefchaouen, to the ramparts of Essaouira, to the desert sands of Zagora it was mysterious and a bit magical. The people were friendly and welcoming to varying degrees, often helping us out with any difficulties. We camped under the stars in the desert, the Rif mountains and in the pure clear airs of the Atlas. To be honest trying to do Morocco in 2 and a half weeks was slightly foolhardy, you could only get a glimpse. But I know that being in the middle of the High Atlas after our Ford Transit van broke down (we tried a short cut and it didn't work!), you just felt a million miles away from Britain. The air... Read review

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Advantages: Great places to visit, very scenic and picturesque
Disadvantages: Prices for taxi fares are expensive, guides just want to take advantage by charging over the top prices for giving useless information

...nice. Muggers: (let Dean and Jade walk away) This is the story as independently recounted by Dean and Jade. In Sevilla, we managed to find a hostel room that had neither heat nor hot water. We didn't recognize the importance of the absence of this until much later, though. We headed out for dinner. After walking around for a while looking for a place to eat, Mike began protesting loudly: "Why are we walking around so much? We're on holiday!" (This mirrored his explanation of why he wasn't coming to Morocco with us: "I'm on holiday! Why would I want to go somewhere where they don't have toilet paper?") Getting into the Spanish mentality, we had dinner from 10 pm until about 1:30 am. And many, many jugs of sangria (which I hadn't liked when I tried it in the States, but wow, it was good in Spain). And Jason got a bit too drunk!. Dean... Read review

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Advantages: friendly hot cheap
Disadvantages: none

...Up to now I can honestly say I enjoyed my holiday in Morocco more than any other, I have been twice now. The first time we went was in September 2001,it wasn’t a direct choice we where just looking for a cheap deal to somewhere hot, we found our holiday on teletext it cost us £200 half board for one week We stayed at the hotel Kamal, which although one of the cheapest off the tourist hotels , was clean, warm and friendly, our room had twin beds a nice spacious sitting area with a sofa coffee table and small dining table and a small balcony overlooking the pool. The pool is not very big but seemed ample for the hotel as it never got overcrowded, it had a poolside snack bar and the chips from there are really nice and made a good lunchtime snack. All in all the food was pretty good. Breakfast was a croissant and a selection... Read review

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